87storms

Lol. 2016 comeback victory

Very 96-like 500mb look. Seems the big ones are epic at the upper levels

i'm thinking jan 2017. i really like the way the fall pattern is shaping up.

snow from start to finish, none of that snow to mix/rain crap we had a number of times the last couple of years. 2009/10 is a legend.

https://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/current/mcview.phtml?prod=usrad&java=script&mode=archive&frames=60&interval=60&year=2009&month=12&day=18&hour=0&minute=0

was on my way to atlanta a couple winters ago and was lucky to find a gas station open in central nc between raleigh and durham because an ice storm they had. pretty much everything was shut down. i take ice storms more seriously now.

and i think that's what puts 96 and 03 over 10 for me because even with the period of sleet mixed in, when it was snowing it was a cold/powdery snow. jan 00 was like 96 in that regard.

snoverkill was better around the baltimore area. we had that squall come through dc and mont. county, but at my location i was right on the back edge and so it was primarily light to moderate after that albeit for most of the day. still a fun event, but feb 5/6 was the big show and i think out of the big three (96, 03, 10), that 96 was the mother ship simply because of just how widespread it was. that was a storm i'm not sure i'll see again. feb 10 seems like a storm we could repeat before we see 96 and 03 because of just how cold those airmasses were. just my penny.

just because a pattern allows for multiple storms in a short period of time doesn't mean they should be considered as one. they definitely should be separate, even feb 2010, which for what it's worth i don't think we will see again in this lifetime. 09/10 winter was like our snow version of what south carolina is experiencing right now. feb 10, 2010 was fun, but i really don't know how that can be in the same league as feb 5/6, 2010. the blizzard conditions were primarily due to the existing snowpack from snowmageddon.

I don't remember watches either. I think because it wasn't even expected to stick much. i could see the flakes falling at night. The flakes were epic. It was Jan 2011 on PEDs.

Around the DC area it went from a 1-3" or 2-4" snow to about a foot or more and if I recall correctly we had the whole week off of school due to power lines down from the weight of the snow. It was definitely not expected to be such a big event at least here.

i said feb 87.

jan 2000 is probably in the hall of fame, but i can't put it in the top 5 winter storms here. i guess i could see why it might be a "favorite" for some, but we've had bigger and better events. i was too young for 83, but from what i heard the rates were legendary. feb 87 had pretty absurd rates too (heavy, wet snow) and was a surprise event on the scale of jan 2000.

at the end of the day, it's hard to compare 96, 03, and 10. they were the big dogs of the last 30 years. from what i hear, 83 was up there too. having to choose the order is tough, but based off of where i was at the time i would go 96, 03, and 10 in a close finish.

yea the wind wasn't it for me, though i do remember more drifting at the end. it's the temps that won me over. it was just colder and pure powder. i also feel like it looked more epic afterwards than 2/10 did (just counting the first one). 96 and 03 made cars disappear.

it's not a slam dunk, but i would probably take that storm again over 2/10 due to the temps, wind, and how large of an area it snowed. the combination of both feb storms would probably give the edge to 2010 though.

now that one i would agree with.

i said "some", which means i don't think 96 was better for everyone, but that i think the poll results could unfairly lean towards some of the more recent storms.

wheelhouse

i have a feeling some of the people voting for 2/10 weren't here for 96.

yea i was driving around 11pm as well when the 96 blizzard first started. it was steady and sticking everywhere in silver spring.

94 was silly cold. i remember the 4-6" of pure sleet. for about 2 minutes it changed to heavy snow toward the beginning in the street lights and then i turned away, came back minutes later and it was back to sleet and pretty much stayed that way. biggest sleet storm i'd seen though i was in ny in '07 and remember a pretty good one there, but it wasn't like the one in '94. the freezing rain event that season was crazy. i remember there was definitely about an inch of ice. one of the few true ice storms i can recall here.

good point regarding road accumulation. i felt like with 96 and 03 it was a legit snowed in situation. instant accumulation on all surfaces during both storms. i gotta give the edge to those over 10 even with the sleet because of just how cold those first two were. doesn't diminish feb '10, which was still a great storm here.

the next 3 years after that were comical.

Terrible storm if you dont like 24+ hours of continuous snowfall with 20"+ totals.