coastalplainsnowman

Was just reading NOAA's definition of a blizzard, because reading through this thread and the clips from 1982 I was surprised to see that the April '82 storm was actually a blizzard, which apparently it was around here. Saw that the definition of a blizzard on NOAA's site includes the line "Sustained wind OR frequent gusts to 35 miles an hour or greater." (my emphasis.) How is 'frequent' defined?

My favorite part of this is how the realtor pics of the house show it just buried in snow. On LI, the realtor would do anything to get a pic of the house on a sunny spring or summer day, almost never with snow in the pic. Here it's like, "That's right, snow. Deal with it."

Regular reminder that it's pretty impressive that this whole thing was identified on this forum, what, 8 days ago? Heavy rain turning into a icy, wind-whipped finale, and since at least 5 days ago even the timing pretty well nailed? You mets and advanced hobbyists here hold yourselves to a high standard I know, but from a layman's standpoint this was really well done. I always tell people that in winter if you never want to be caught off guard by a potential snowstorm, just check in on this site every now and then.

Any thoughts on how this compares to Christmas Day 2002? Up until that storm I had never seen any real 'wraparound snow' follow heavy rain, but that one was pretty awesome - about 6" of absolute paste. Haven't seen anything remotely close to that storm since then either.

B- here. Just based on total snowfall and average temperatures it would be a C, but it's tough to give any winter on the south shore of LI a C when we've had a 15+" snowstorm and solid winter weather for all of January. Compared to N&W, where expectations and averages are higher, yet the snow totals were lower, the Ds and Cs I'm seeing are justified there.

Thanks for sharing -- what's the rationale for the difference? Surprised that central PA, which (I would think) would be much more acclimated to icing and winter weather in general than, say Long Island, gets a warning at just 1/4", while Long Island needs to be forecast for 1/2"? Seems like it should be the opposite.

This thread is underrated right now. The whole 'if a snowflake falls in the woods but no one is awake to see it' riff is pretty funny.

That was fun today. Facing north at a red light I could see the snow come at me like a wall - was looking off in the distance about '10 o'clock' and watched the falling/blowing snow move in toward me across an open space rapidly from NW to SE, with blue skies off to the east. The low clouds ahead of it looked just like a big T storm might.

Foggy AND gusty here. Fairly rare combination I suppose? I can't recall ever experiencing both simultaneously, not to this degree at least.

Yeah it feels great out there. Whatever one's thoughts on this winter so far, once got past our usual Christmastime 60s it hasn't been above 50 much right? Today reminds me of the old days when a sunny mid 50s day in Feb after nothing like it since December, feels like early Spring.

This would make two snowy Super Bowl Sundays in a row.

This is great information. So essentially flat in terms of snowcover days despite what looks like (eyeballing it) rolling average increase of 10-12 inches annually? Makes sense I guess that the somewhat rising average temperatures over that timeframe offset the additional snow. Pretty interesting too that for all the memorable storms particularly in the latter two-thirds of that timeframe, that it amounts to only about 10-12 inch increase in annual snowfall. Understood that's a like a 30-40% increase, but in terms of actual snow, just seems like it would be more, given how we think of the 80s as so snowless and the 2000s/2010s as the best of times. Maybe we used to get smaller, more frequent storms (like all those decent clippers) that offset the big ones that we never got?

What's with the trend lately of posters who want to speak to the manager after the dust settles after a storm? - Last week a suggestion was made that there shouldn't be threads created for [checks notes] potential upcoming winter weather too far in advance [whatever that means], basically because it creates sadness if doesn't come true. Not to mention that when those threads were created they are invariably accompanied by great analysis which I'm sure must take hours and hours to prepare. How about we all be a-ok with experts providing such analysis and creating such threads whenever they please, and the rest of us can choose whether or not to read it? - Now we have a suggestion that the moderators work harder so that the rest of don't have to scroll over some replies once in awhile that they don't like. How about we leave it to the moderators - since they're the ones doing the work - to decide when something is out of bounds, and handle it as they see fit? And if there's too much east/west talk for one's liking, one can always close the browser for a few hours, and check back later.

Hi all, apologies for stretching the definition of what goes in an obs thread here, but just wondering if any of the LI folks know have been on any of the big roads from Nassau westward. Have to head upstate early tomorrow. I figure getting off LI will be the toughest part. Any quick insights would be really appreciated. Thanks.

Yeah he's a well known weather enthusiast. (Edit: and from NJ.) It would not shock me if he's on this board. Mike c'mon say hello!

Coming down kinda light right now - seems like I'm in between heavier stuff to either side of me at the moment. Somewhere between 10-12 based on random ruler measurements, but who knows really. Noticed again with this storm, that KFRG (Farmingdale) often does not report snow when it is snowing. See the example link below. Is that automated or it is a person reporting? On this note, basic question, if someone wouldn't mind answering - how is it determined whether snowfall is light, medium, or heavy? https://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KFRG.html

Most probably have this - traffic camera at the circle in Montauk. I love the contrast between the stock photo when the site first loads and current conditions. Picturing myself strolling around there on vacation on a beautiful summer morning, then comparing to what it looks like there now. https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/usa/new-york/montauk-downtowncircle.html

That would be nice. The snow is accumulating sort of quietly here so far. Looking out the window throughout this event the rates have never looked great, yet here we are with I guess 10-12 so far?

"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." I think because we're all so close to this stuff that we take it for granted, but the fact that we have models that days and days out called for that development to start right there roughly around this time will always be impressive to me. When we talk about these models being in 'disagreement', in the big picture they are actually in pretty good agreement - they all called for a snowstorm, they're just apart by what, a few hundred miles on a planet with 200 million square miles of surface area? (had to look it up.) Been great following this one and learning. See y'all in the obs thread..

Regarding last minute shifts, I always think about Feb '83 and Feb '89, and how each ultimately played out. - Feb '83 leaving for school that morning the forecast was mostly out to sea, maybe 2-5 . By 3PM with 6" down, NWS (remember the awesome TWC red scroll and even more awesome red background screen?) was still saying only 8-10. Ended up with 16 by me. - Feb '89 leaving for school we were expecting to be crushed. Ended up with not a flake, w/Montauk & AC getting crushed. If this board existed back then, would I have known the real score heading out the door that morning, i.e. was it already really apparent in the morning and TV/radio hadn't caught up yet? How does that compare to today?

we are all weenies now.

Are you hungry maybe?

On the naming I totally agree. I don't care that much, but am surprised that this group is accepting of it. Seems like the sort of overly commercial thing that would get pulverized here. On the other hand it's a sign of the greatly increased frequency of snowstorms over the last 20 years. Growing up I would have had Aaron ('83.) That's it.

Here's what I've learned this on this forum about this, but if I'm messing up this answer someone let me know. It's the apparently sandy soil at that location which makes for great radiational cooling. It's probably calm there currently. With a little breeze the disparity would largely disappear. The thing that's always still interesting to me regardless is when there are times in the past where they'll have a temp like this ahead of a cutter, and soon as things start going, their temp is instantly, like immediately, in line with their neighbors.

Question for the experts - I'm trying to square what I see on the Upton site, which as of 3:20 PM has all of LI with about a 25% chance of 18+ inches and an expected snowfall of a foot for the Nassau/Suffolk border, with, at least what I'm perceiving, as a 'show's [basically] over, oh well' vibe here. I realize that the pros on here won't necessarily agree Upton all the time, but surprised that there's this much disparity. Why is that? Is in part because most posters here are more north & west, where it is a different story even on Upton's maps?