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Epic Stretches of Snow


Chicago WX

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With the NYC/NJ and SNE areas in a current epic period of snowfall, and also considering the snow blitz for the Mid Atlantic last winter, I was wondering what everyone's best 30-35 day period was in history. Now I don't want this to turn into a "woe is me, it never snows in the MBY anymore" crap...please. :) It doesn't have to be exactly in YBY (can be a close major climo site) and it can be from before you presence graced this earth. Plain and simple...just wondering what the best 30-35 day period of total snow was in everyone's locales.

I'll throw out the period from December 28, 1978 to January 31, 1979 for Chicago (35 days) using the MDW COOP for the stats. And yes I was alive for this, although only 3 years old at the time. :lol:

Stats regarding the Dec 28, 1978 - January 31, 1979 period at the MDW COOP:

-53.4" of total snow in this 35 day stretch.

-Snow depth reached a peak of 29" on the 14th, after the 1/13-14 blizzard.

-19 days with a snow depth of 20" or more. The streak actually reached 28 as it went through early February, before "dipping" to 19" for 3 days only to go back up to 20"+ through the 22nd of February.

-12 days with at least 1" of snow or more. 21 days with at least 0.1" or more. 24 days of at least a trace or more.

Below is the December 28, 1978 to January 31, 1979 stats for the MDW COOP. The last 2 columns are daily snowfall and snow depth (first three are high temp, low temp, and precip).

1978-12-28	29.0	18.0	0.12	1.7	1
1978-12-29	37.0	26.0	0.78	2.9	6
1978-12-30	37.0	23.0	0.25	0.8	3
1978-12-31	33.0	23.0	0.89	7.6	5
1979-01-01	25.0	4.0	0.08	0.9	11
1979-01-02	4.0	-13.0	0	0	10
1979-01-03	3.0	-12.0	0	0	10
1979-01-04	4.0	-5.0	0	0	9
1979-01-05	5.0	-8.0	0	0	9
1979-01-06	10.0	-12.0	0	0	9
1979-01-07	16.0	0.0	0	0	9
1979-01-08	6.0	-7.0	0	0	9
1979-01-09	18.0	0.0	0.005	0.005	9
1979-01-10	3.0	-7.0	0	0	9
1979-01-11	14.0	-10.0	0.01	0.3	9
1979-01-12	24.0	10.0	0.1	1.9	9
1979-01-13	31.0	20.0	1.11	16.5	14
1979-01-14	20.0	-14.0	0.17	2.3	29
1979-01-15	9.0	-19.0	0.07	2	26
1979-01-16	22.0	-2.0	0.01	0.3	27
1979-01-17	33.0	4.0	0.13	2.3	27
1979-01-18	21.0	-3.0	0.005	0.005	26
1979-01-19	34.0	16.0	0.18	1.2	26
1979-01-20	35.0	32.0	0.005	0	26
1979-01-21	34.0	24.0	0.01	0.1	24
1979-01-22	24.0	11.0	0.005	0.005	23
1979-01-23	34.0	23.0	0.2	2.1	21
1979-01-24	33.0	14.0	0.55	5.2	24
1979-01-25	17.0	3.0	0	0	27
1979-01-26	27.0	7.0	0.005	0.1	26
1979-01-27	32.0	24.0	0.34	4.2	26
1979-01-28	31.0	26.0	0.005	0.1	27
1979-01-29	27.0	8.0	0	0	27
1979-01-30	23.0	7.0	0.03	0.7	27
1979-01-31	21.0	8.0	0.01	0.2	27

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I agree with the '78-'79 stretch of snow. I believe it was the longest continuous stretch of snow cover in many years in IND. Living in the country north of Indy with a husband who was a school teacher and several children--I was unsure whether to enjoy the weeks off school or allow desperation with everyone home get to me!!

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This is a great thread idea Chicagowx! As Ive said time and time again, those in the east coast are a "feast or famine" winter climate (feast in the m.a. last year, feast nyc to sne this year). We are a more dependable winter climate. Still see numerous snowfalls in the absolute worst of winters, but while we do usually see tons of snow in the best winters, we are still not usually talking the magnitude of 3-4 massive snowstorms like parts of the northeast have had this winter. (few times weve had 5-6 storms of 6"+ though). That said, we have had some awesome stretches...and I will look those up to post later. Stay tuned :)

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Great thread idea.

This is a tough one.

For me personally it would be the period between Jan 6th/Feb 11th 1996. This had the Blizz of 96 ( 17 imby. Had mixing where i was ) and then a massive coastal dump in early Feb with 29" total from that. Had another moderate event as well. This was at the DEL coast.

Next is 12-15-2008 to Jan 19 2009 here. This gets the award with days in a row with accumulating snows and most snow i have ever seen in the space of 35 days. Only thing that comes close is the period of Nov 20th 2000 and Dec 30th 2000 at this location.

2008-12-15	50.0	8.0	0.24	1.4	
2008-12-16	20.0	10.0	0.33	3	
2008-12-17	27.0	11.0	0.17	2.5	
2008-12-18	26.0	12.0	0	0	
2008-12-19	24.0	12.0	0.25	6.3	
2008-12-20	25.0	10.0	0.005	0.2	
2008-12-21	19.0	-2.0	0.14	4	
2008-12-22	18.0	-2.0	0.03	3.5	
2008-12-23	28.0	0.0	0.03	2.5	
2008-12-24	39.0	10.0	0.33	2.8	
2008-12-25	26.0	10.0	0.005	0.2	
2008-12-26	38.0	8.0	0.06	0	
2008-12-27	62.0	28.0	0.41	0	
2008-12-28	54.0	14.0	0.1	0	
2008-12-29	48.0	22.0	0	0	
2008-12-30	37.0	22.0	0	0	
2008-12-31	32.0	8.0	0.02	2.3	
2009-01-01	28.0	12.0	0	0	
2009-01-02	32.0	0.0	0	0	
2009-01-03	27.0	12.0	0	0	
2009-01-04	34.0	14.0	0.03	0.1	
2009-01-05	37.0	12.0	0	0	
2009-01-06	30.0	8.0	0.005	0.1	
2009-01-07	32.0	13.0	0.04	2	
2009-01-08	30.0	12.0	0.11	6.5	
2009-01-09	23.0	11.0	0.05	4.5	
2009-01-10	23.0	15.0	9999	8.4	
2009-01-11	25.0	1.0	0.01	2.5	
2009-01-12	24.0	15.0	9999	1.2	
2009-01-13	30.0	1.0	0.13	2.4	
2009-01-14	14.0	-6.0	0.07	1.3	
2009-01-15	13.0	-10.0	0.01	1	
2009-01-16	23.0	-16.0	0.01	1.3	
2009-01-17	20.0	-18.0	0.04	3.4	
2009-01-18	23.0	10.0	0.08	5.3	
2009-01-19	23.0	-6.0	0.005	0.8	

Close would be 1-27-1979 to 2-27-1979 just outside of DC. This gets the award for one of the deepest snow cover i have seen thanks to PD 1 ( 24" IMBY ) and a couple of moderate events right before it. Feb 1996 after the big event would be the other.

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without checking stats, (our OV statitician guru, jbcmh left the bldg awhile back), I would have to bet two winter periods, one in 77-78 timeframe and one in late jan to late feb last year, (almost 30" in that stretch).

From JB, to answer your question:

I'm most familiar with Columbus. January 1978 had the most snow of any month, at 34.4", and it was also 10 degrees below normal. For cold it would be January 1977, with an average temp of 11.4, and almost 17 degrees below normal. February 2010 was the 2nd snowiest month on record, with 30.1" and January 1918 was the second coldest, with an average temp of 15.8.

Snowy months off the top of my head that were 20" or greater:

February 2010: 30.1"

January 2009: 20.0"

March 2008: 21.8"

February 2003: 26.3"

January 1996: 24.5"

January 1985: 21.9"

January 1978: 34.4"

January 1918: 25.4"

February 1910: 29.2"

January 1910: 24.3"

March 1906: 26.2"

The 3 consecutive winters of 2007-08 to 2009-10 was the first period in history to all have at least one month with 20" or more of snow.

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