LibertyBell

Remember when we were saying JFK was coming close to having its earliest last snowfall lol?

We came up with the idea (well Chris did) that it takes time for the pattern to reload, especially after such an anomalous early season snowfall. If the first snowfall is later, then it's not so anomalous.

Feb 1983 was the prototype for Jan 1996, PD2 and Jan 2016. The odd storm out was Jan 1996, which happened in an la nina, the others were all el nino.

I cant wait for when we stop complaining about JFK snowfall measurements when JFK is underwater /sarcasm

Looks like the Gulf Stream is the most rapidly warming part of the Atlantic, thanks to AGW?

1-2 inch events if we got them as frequently as we did in January 2009, would make for a nice snowcover and wintry feel. But generally you do need at least a few 6-8 inch events to make it feel like a good winter.

Yes, the thing I dont want is snow changing to rain. I am fine with lots of 6-8 inch storms that stay all snow even if the bullseye is to my east. The one big 30" storm was great enough to make the rest of winter not matter though lol. I wanted that one historic storm. The only good winter in the 80s was 1983. As for the 90s, 93-94 and 95-96 were two of the best winters, the rest were junk, outside of 92-93 which was average.

March 2014 was disappointing because the main area of snow was to our south.

and an epic February 2015 also! That was an amazing month!

oh that reminds me, what about 1966-67?

I thought that was 2014-15 with the bitter cold and long lasting snowpack lol. SST were below freezing and we got freezing drizzle on a sea breeze!

all I remember from that winter is a lot of change to rain scenarios. 2014-15 was far better, especially for Long Island

Yes, I believe 6" is a good criterion to use because we had plenty of 4" and less snowfalls in bad scenarios during the 80s lol.

the barometer with a pointer and dial, sort of like the things you measured blood pressure with before the digital stuff came out lol. It responded far too slowly to air pressure changes and I ended up breaking it because I put it outside when that wasn't even necessary lol. My digital barometer measures outside air pressure just fine from inside my bedroom!

I always find ".0" readings as suspect because they seem like an estimate.

I didn't even have an accurate thermometer until I got my first digital one from Radio Shack back in 1995. It was far more accurate than any of the liquid ones. All those "scientific" ones with the red liquid (alcohol!) were not accurate. I used to think they used mercury but they didn't. And they were extremely slow in responding to radiational cooling or any rapid temp drop. And those aneroid barometers dont work either- what a rip off! I didn't have any accurate weather equipment until I went all digital, which wasn't until 2005.

Just imagine it, back in those days we were begging for scraps because the weather only came on for a few minutes every day. I used to wait for AM Weather on PBS, 15 min every morning! And Joe Cioffi on WOR radio! Could you imagine if we didn't have the internet during this snowy era? It's good that it waited until now. Even 93-94 and 95-96 could have been a lot better if we had discussion boards like these back then! I got weather radio just in time for the 95-96 winter :-)

Jer, was all 7.1 of that from the last storm at Logan?

it depends though, if you look back at the 80s, January temps averaged in the 20s and there was a scarcity of snow. If you look at our snowiest winters, they actually weren't all that cold. Storm track is actually more important than Arctic air for snowfall at the coast. Arctic air is very fragile at our latitude and near the coast, you need a storm that takes the right track to keep it in place with the right wind direction.

I think he meant that Dec 2010 (Boxing Day Blizzard) was the one that snuck up on us.

my first encounter with thundersnow that I remember was Feb 1994, it happened during the day and the snowfall rates were crazy and I actually saw the bolts of lightning and heard the thunder!

1993-94 though is the all time snowiest winter at Allentown.

Feb 1961 was one of the greatest storms of all time, 25" of snow even though rain and sleet mixed in. Central Park undermeasured back then, and JFK kept better numbers.

also please check 2002-03 and 2010-11 and 2014-15

for snow pack 10-11 eventually topped 93-94. If the winter had continued beyond the end of January it would have topped 95-96 too. I would have loved a combo of 10-11 and 14-15 what a winter that would have been! Combine the December and January of 2010 with the February and March of 2015 lol.