IrishRob17

45 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Taking a nice walk. Temp is 6.

I was just outside myself for a bit, deep deep winter, embrace it. 4/-8, windchill only -7.

25 minutes ago, wishcast_hater said:

Whats going on with the weather for the week?  

What’s your snowpack up there this morning?

Blowing and drifting snow across NYS 416 with a car off the road, as is tradition in these parts. 

What fell here is/will get blown into the woods and/or sublimate in the next day or so. 

9/-2 and dropping. 

.4” new, 11.5” at the stake, 38.9” YTD. Temp down to 12. 

1 hour ago, Pellice said:

I have a quick question about whether the NWS "Forecast Discussion" has changed.  The NWS seems to have dropped the "long-term" section of the discussion in favor of "key messages".  I had thought it was the result of my moving to a different NWS area, but Mt. Holly seems to have made this small change as well.  The long-term section was not that long ahead, usually just 4-5 days or so, but discussion  of it seems to have much diminished. Is this my imagination or has this been an across-the-board slight change?

On 12/16/2025 at 10:12 AM, IrishRob17 said:

NOUS41 KOKX 161406
PNSOKX

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service New York NY
0906 AM EST Tue Dec 16 2025

...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY TRANSITIONING TO A NEW 
FORMAT FOR THE AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION BEGINNING JAN 7 2026...

Beginning with the afternoon issuance on January 7th 2026, the 
National Weather Service New York, NY Forecast Office will 
transition to a Key Message format for the Area Forecast Discussion 
(AFDOKX).  

This strategic change aligns the Area Forecast Discussion (AFD) with 
an impacts-first message philosophy, enabling our office to 
streamline communication and reduce redundancy. This transition 
moves away from a strictly chronological layout to focus immediately 
on potential weather impacts and hazards. By prioritizing Key 
Messages, we aim to enhance clarity and eliminate duplication within 
the Area Forecast Discussion. 

A side-by-side comparison of the old format and the new format 
templates can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/erh/newAFD

The latest local AFD can be found at the following link: 
https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=okx&issuedby=OKX&product=AFD

For any questions, please contact:

Nelson Vaz 
Warning Coordination Meteorologist
National Weather Service New York NY
[email protected]

The flurries earlier turned into light snow in the past hour or so, 26/20. 

3 hours ago, weatherpruf said:

because people there actually pay attention to the winter olympics.....my wife is colombian; never heard of the winter olympics before she came here.

Just watched Curling earlier this evening, good day for the USA. 

2 hours ago, weatherpruf said:

ask anyone irish....it's always cold on st patty's day....i was down in monmouth co i think it was 2003 in march, we were at a meeting at a school in matawan and it started snowing. it started coming down heavy and our district called early; but we were already stuck at this meeting. it got very bad quickly going up the gsp; heavy wet flakes.

It's St. Paddy's Day, Patty is short for Patricia   I've had St Paddy's Day parties when I had to move snow banks for parking and I've had them where we all hung out on the deck. 14/8 here currently. 

11 minutes ago, Stormlover74 said:

Wonder if upton will follow mt holly and issue an extreme cold watch. Wind advisory also would seem likely 

They had mentioned it in their dicussion I read this morning.

6 minutes ago, CPcantmeasuresnow said:

Low of 2° this morning.

it seems to be a crapshoot the last couple of weeks on what mornings are gonna be the mornings of good radiational cooling. This morning seemed to be one of them at least in certain areas.

A crap shoot for sure. The wild fluctiuons, over short distances, this winter due to radiational cooling has been rad. Up to 20 now.

1 hour ago, SnoSki14 said:

Hopefully not. We'd be dealing with a lot of pot holes and even ice jams 

Not sure how bad the overall icing situation is though compared to 2015

Its been a while since we had to be concerned with ice jams but depending on how all of this thaws, this could be the year ice jams are an issue. Low of -2 this morning, making 8 below zero readings this season, my average is 3. This season is solidy in third for below zero lows IMBY, 2013-2014 had 11 and 2014-2015 had 15, my records here go back to 2005-2006. 12" at the stake.

4 hours ago, dendrite said:

Clearing every 6hrs is a nice interval so that places that get a lot of high ratio snow…like upslope areas and LES..don’t get penalized by compaction.

Take BUF in late Dec 2001.

24th
starting 6z depth 0”
New snow 20.5”
ending 5z depth 18” (+18”)

25th
5z depth 18”
new snow 4.9”
ending 0z depth 18” (0”)

26th
12z depth 18”
new snow 8.0”
6z depth 25” (+7”)

27th
6z depth 25”
new snow 21.9”
6z depth 33” (+8”)

28th
6z depth 33”
new snow 26.2”
20z depth 44” (+11”)
0z depth 41” (or +8”)
12z depth 38” (or +5”)

That’s 48.1” in the final 2 days with only 13” to 19” depth gain depending on when you caught the last depth measurement.

Imagine it snowing hard enough to produce 26” new with 6 hourly clearings, but it only goes in the books as 5” the next morning because of compaction? 

This is always an interesting discussion, do you clear every 6 hours?

21 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Do you want to measure the amount of snow that fell or just compacted snow. 24 hrs with say a 8 hrs snow event.  I measure 6 and then 2. The next day after either melting or drying out your measure could for arguments sake be 5 inches. That's what often happened in the record book. So how much snow actually fell . I say 8

Agreed, if one waits hours after its done to measure its going to be off. You always measure at the end of the event, so in that case I measure after 8 hours because the storm is over. You also need to measure at the point there's a change in precipitation type. I'm a snowpack guy anyway so what truly matters to me is what is at the stake each day. 

21 minutes ago, NorthShoreWx said:

It's not technically an under-measurement if the observer is following the standard that they are supposed too.  The problem is that there are different standards for different types of observers.  I'll never beat ISP in a big storm unless they rain and I don't because they are supposed to wipe the board every 6 hours and I am not.  In the most recent storm, ISP reported 13.2" and I had 11.4".  I don't think they had more snow than I did (plus we snowed heavily a little longer before changeover to sleet), but both measurements can be technically correct.

I suspect the once in 24 hours max depth standard might be designed to make it easier for observers, plus in some instances (not all) it is a more accurate way to portray the snowfall.  Wiping the board more often makes sense for airports because it relates more directly to wiping the snow from runways.  It is frustrating that we can't do apples to apples comparisons, especially when doing projects like The 4 Seasons is doing.

For my money, snow depth and LE of the snowpack are the best way to compare between sites.

If I did the every 6 hours thing my 38.5" YTD would be closer to 50".

1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

Totally under measured. All 24 

 

Totally under measured as it was the 24 hr method. I bet 3 foot plus coops had up to 4.5 inches qpf 

Key Snowfall Totals (March 31 – April 1, 1997)

Milford, MA: 36 inches

Worcester, MA: 33–34.5 inches

Jaffrey, NH: 27 inches

Boston, MA (Logan Airport): 25.4 inches

Burrillville, RI: 30.5–31 inches

Shrewsbury, MA: 30 inches

Cranston, RI: 24 inches

Westfield, MA: 24 inches

Providence, RI (Downtown): 19.5 inches 

You mentioned "it was the 24 hour method"? How are you measuring these days, do you clear the board ever 6 hours? It's the constant debate whether we should clear every 6 or 24 hours and in the last NWS guidance @NorthShoreWx and I have found the 6 hour method is out for hobbiests like ourselves. 

It's a balmy 26 this morning. 

8 hours ago, NorthShoreWx said:

With the hard crust on top of the snow, it really stands out how much the deer crap everywhere here.

I'm wondering how many deer I may find in the spring. Spring of 2015 we found three deer carcasses, all had starved to death due to the snow cover and size of the herd at the time. 

3 hours ago, IrishRob17 said:

1.6° currently, maybe I can sneak in another below zero morning. 

-1° for the low. 

1.6° currently, maybe I can sneak in another below zero morning. 

46 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

If anyone has season-to-date snowfall totals let me know as i'm thinking about doing another update this week for seasonal snowfall maps. 

-Thanks

38.5"

My station is up to 34.

Up to 31.6 at home

5 minutes ago, hudsonvalley21 said:

I’m in the cold pool of air to your east/northeast. My low was -3 currently it’s +6. It’s a rare occurrence where my temps get lower than yours. 

I'm up to 24 at home now. The below freezing streak may end today for me, at nine days, which is the second longest streak I've recorded.