Cobalt

Also, I'm guessing the storm was a very fast mover? Unleashing that amount of QPF in 1 day is pretty crazy. 

16 minutes ago, MillvilleWx said:

'83 was a very dynamic storm. Very heavy snow over MD, DC and NoVa during the height with thundersnow across the area. It was a moisture bomb, so the snow consistency was a bit on the wet side, but it was a higher ratio at its height when best lift was centered over the area. My Father told me he ended up with 23" at the end of the storm with over a foot in a 4 hour span. Thundersnow woke him up and visibility was below 100 yards at one point. Great storm. You should go read up on it. One of the best the area has had in last 50 years.  

Heard about it, and only read about it in a CWG article. Reminds me of what I saw while browsing through the Snowpocalypse 2009 thread where a poster from Long Island had gotten 21" in 7 hours. Insane.

1 minute ago, MillvilleWx said:

That record precip value in 1983 was not rain either  

Less than 10:1 ratio in a HECS. Was it a paste bomb? Sounds awesome!

Nailed it!

For me in my short lifespan:

Feb 2010 (Was young at the time, but I remember a ton of it)

Jan 2016 (Lame aftermath, but the storm itself was magical)

Dec 2009 (Probably will never be topped for the month of December)

Feb 2014 (Got a dog the month before, and we had to shovel a path for her to use the bathroom outside. Kind of lame aftermath)

Jan 2011 (Paste bomb in January. What else can you ask for?)

March 2015 (Perfect end to that season)

Late bump. Can't believe we're nearing in on 10 years since this storm. 

1 hour ago, Upstate Tiger said:

It's hard to believe how bad the NAO has been this winter.  Geez, this is ugly....

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/pna/nao_index_mrf.shtml

 

Love how it teased us in November and went positive near the first few days of met winter and never looked back. Just brutal 

11 minutes ago, KingJWx said:

Severe drought for DC!

Only time we're ever in the bullseye

In all seriousness, this is an issue. Good news is, typically extremely dry periods are followed by extremely wet periods. I hold out hope that we get our share of rain this summer, but as you pointed out, too little too late if it were the case. 

51 minutes ago, stormy said:

The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors were addressed by their senior extension agent yesterday. They were told to expect a dangerous drought situation this spring unless they receive at least 8 inches of rain by the end of March or 12 inches by the end of April. His terminology to describe the current situation: It is becoming critical. 

Private wells are beginning to fail. People are asked to not wash vehicles from private wells and conserve water anyway possible.

I'm experiencing it pretty harshly too. Here's the view of my front lawn:

18 minutes ago, stormy said:

It will take 5 - 10 inches of rain over a slow period of 3 - 5 weeks to remove this drought condition.

Yes, but it's a start. Pretty sure we haven't had a single event this whole winter that has dropped even half of that precip. 

23 minutes ago, KingJWx said:

There's a small patch near Fredericksburg in severe drought:

 

Some relief hopefully with this weekend's system

22 minutes ago, ATreglown said:

I am happy with snowfall today. Puts me at 17" for the season, well above average with still half the season to go. Hopefully we can continue this into the second half! But, looks like we have a bit of warm to deal with first.

How much did you get from this event?

3 minutes ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

You can't weight it against what amounts to lowered expectations based on ENSO state.  It was either BN, or it wasn't.  10" amounts to about 60% of DCA climo, no?  60% on a test gets you an 'F'.  And, as you mention, that total basically came in one 5 hour storm.  Basically, nothing else for the winter.  Better than many winters, but still bad enough IMO to include in that awful stretch of winters.

According to this CWG article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-snow-in-washington-d-c/?utm_term=.faff75a19b3e

The average Moderate La Nina winter gives DC 10.8" of snow, which is also near the Median I believe. Certainly not awful, but bad from the typical standpoint of course. 

33 minutes ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

2011, 12, &13?

2010/2011 actually was closer to an average Nina. In fact, I think it was above average for the typical Moderate La Nina, with DCA getting near 10". 1/26/11 was also incredibly memorable too.

1 minute ago, tramadoc said:

Can you post a link to the RAP? I looked on TT, but can’t find it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Use pivotalweather.com . It has a map of it, albeit from a CONUS view. 

Snowfall totals keep on getting upped just SE of Richmond, as seen on every meso/operational model as of now.

I hope you folks get shellacked and get a really good event. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere it that band someone measures 8" of snow.

I'm rooting for you guys! 

3 minutes ago, stormy said:

"Not great" is 20/20.  Most of Virginia and Maryland has been in an abnormally dry pattern since early September. There is nothing apocalyptic about this as some seem to believe I have been insinuating. Perhaps, my approach to this fact was incorrect. If so, I am sorry. This pattern has resulted in much of Virginia now being classified as being in a moderate drought. This is not minor and it is not major. But, it has serious implications if it persists much longer and it almost certainly is a factor in our low snowfall for many locations.

Last winter I was also in an abnormally dry pattern and received only 4 inches of snow compared to a normal 24 inches. This dry pattern broke in April and I received normal to above normal rainfall through the summer until another dry pattern began in September and persists. 

During January of 1996, I received 33 inches of snow during an abnormally wet month that witnessed 9.36 inches of qp compared to a normal 2.95".

Normal to above normal snowfall often correlates to normal to above normal precipitation. The reverse is also true. I convert snowfall to qp at a 10/1 ratio unless my 13 inch freeze resistant rain gage indicates otherwise.

This pattern will break and when it does, we may swing to above normal precipitation as Mother Nature tends to balance. Normals are only averages of extremes.

The question is will it break in February, March or April.  Our late winter snowfall is probably contingent on the answer.

Hopefully this all does turn for the better and we develop a moderate El Nino come next Fall. Looks like we may break out of this La Nina, but we all remember saying that last year too.

25 minutes ago, Paleocene said:

triggered

Forbidden post

1 minute ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Wait... if our events are busting because we are in a drought, and hence it can’t rain/snow in a drought, are we literally going to be stuck in a drought forever? Has someone done the math?! Cancel the next 50 winters until global warming moves the ocean close enough to help us out.

We obviously need to create a heated late in replacement of the Appalachian mountains. Sure, we'd lose CAD, but I'm pretty sure we'd be fine

Drought thread wars?

Edit: Nvm

Isn't this what we do best in La Nina winters? Cold and dry, warm and wet? 

I wonder if the Bengals playoff win drought will continue next year