weatherMA Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Wow, now I feel bad about being upset about barely missing out on 2/6 last year. Even without that we got about 60-- and matched that total this winter. Well, to be fair I did nickel and dime my way to 57" last year, but that's still below average. To have a below average year with an epic year so close, sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-L-E-X Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Wow, good thing I wasn't born yet, lol. Yeah, I mean the only way I can describe it is having a deep south kind of climate. I mean the temps were 5-10 degrees above normal for weeks on end and we had like 22 out of 24 months above normal. Looking at the sunspot data, it looks like the sun was exceptionally active in the late 80s and early 90s. It might have been at its maxima. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzucker Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Honestly, its fortunate that my area did bad compared to Boston, since I was In Florida. I would've been pissed. With regards to measuring...the 17" on 1/12 might be under measured as Ray and Will came in with around 20", but it could be Will's elevation, too. With regards to snow pack, it was EPIC. I had 1" or more on the ground from 12/26-3/12. I had over a foot from 1/12 to 3/1. I also had a period of about 2 weeks from 1/27 to 2/10 or so with 30" or more on the ground, peak was 34". There are still a few epic piles left to remember this winter by. Heres my top 2 totals and the only 2 that verified warning criteria of last years pathetic winter: 19/19-20: 10.5 12/9: 7.2 I reached a peak depth around 25" in my yard on 2/2, although there were certainly drifts in the woods nearing 30"...the wooded areas at modest elevation retained snow from Boxing Day until March, a feat that speaks to the cold this winter. Although I'd probably never be able to get an inch on the ground for that long down here, we could have come close if we'd gotten the early February overrunning that hit AR/OK with 2' or just had a slightly more normal weather pattern in mid February....there was still like 10" snow cover in the woods after two days in the high 50s/60s! It wasn't until the rain in early March that the nature preserve finally gave up all its snow. And yes, we still have some great piles left.... Wow, you did pretty badly last year...I do remember that 12/9 event, it was the first real snowfall I'd seen all winter. I had just come home from Middlebury where we'd had almost nothing, I unloaded the car and immediately got the radar open. We had some heavy bands move through and scored about 3" before it changed to rain, giving me plenty of opportunity to take the traditional walk around my beloved hometown upon the first snowfall of a winter. I remember swearing that we'd get a big one with the pattern progged and the disappointment of going over to rain, and sure enough 12/19 did dump 8" in Dobbs Ferry with raging winds and temperatures around 18F. You must have been livid about the 2/25 Snowicane last winter....that storm was originally forecasted to hit New England before it decided to do an early retrograde and screw you. I remember looking at the various stations during the storm, seeing BTV reporting rain at 33/33, knowing they'd gone above 0C at 850mb while KNYC had +SN. I was thrilled that I'd driven home from Middlebury College to my house in NYC metro to see the storm. That storm did some weird things to the atmosphere: we had blizzard conditions on SW winds, 850s in Central Quebec spiked to 3C in a bubble of warmth ahead of the storm, and there was an eerie glow to the sky the next day with intermittent flurries signalling the presence of such a deep vortex. Only eastern NJ though, it certainly wasn't anything remotely historical for western NJ. Which is why the Boxing Day storm will never compare to January 1996 for overall areal coverage and impact. Honestly, the Boxing Day Storm had very limited extent of banding for a sub 970 low...I was disappointed in the radar images for the most part. I was expecting 12-16" and verified on the low end with 13". The winds and snowfall rates at the height of the storm were memorable here, however. Hastings, NY, which is one mile south of me, gusted to 65mph that night. My best friend and I took a walk and could barely see in front of our faces as the snow swirled down in the cold, dark night, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 This storm had some of the most insane frontogenesis I've ever seen. Now this shows the strong vv's near NYC and just east, but remember..everything in the atmosphere is tilted somewhat. Lift extended in an isentropic fashion to the west, which agreed with radar at the time. A little rule of thumb I have is that heavy precip is not only occurring under that blob of lift, but also downstream or in this case, to the west of this lift as well. Check out the back bent warmfront at H7. Just classic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthlight Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 This storm had some of the most insane frontogenesis I've ever seen. Now this shows the strong vv's near NYC and just east, but remember..everything in the atmosphere is tilted somewhat. Lift extended in an isentropic fashion to the west, which agreed with radar at the time. A little rule of thumb I have is that heavy precip is not only occurring under that blob of lift, but also downstream or in this case, to the west of this lift as well. Check out the back bent warmfront at H7. Just classic. Yup I remember this pretty clearly. What's remarkable is how the GFS was showing this feature so consistently in the medium range until it decided to drop it. The ECMWF had it as well..but I clearly remember the GFS nailing the frontogenesis at some obscene hour, like 160 hours or something. Once it got down inside 72 hrs the GFS was the best, surprisingly enough...the NAM was too far east. The SREFS caught up as the GFS did which was a clear sign this thing was coming back while the NAM waited until 12z/25 and the ECMWF until 0z/25 to show the signal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
earthlight Posted March 17, 2011 Author Share Posted March 17, 2011 Hey Earthlight, Didn't you post "The Christmas Miracle" at apprx 11 A.m Christmas Eve. Were you sleepwalking? lol It was definitely a bit later...after the GFS came out..so it may have been around 12 Christmas eve afternoon. I know my first post was definitely: "It's a Christmas miracle!! " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherMA Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I reached a peak depth around 25" in my yard on 2/2, although there were certainly drifts in the woods nearing 30"...the wooded areas at modest elevation retained snow from Boxing Day until March, a feat that speaks to the cold this winter. Although I'd probably never be able to get an inch on the ground for that long down here, we could have come close if we'd gotten the early February overrunning that hit AR/OK with 2' or just had a slightly more normal weather pattern in mid February....there was still like 10" snow cover in the woods after two days in the high 50s/60s! It wasn't until the rain in early March that the nature preserve finally gave up all its snow. And yes, we still have some great piles left.... Wow, you did pretty badly last year...I do remember that 12/9 event, it was the first real snowfall I'd seen all winter. I had just come home from Middlebury where we'd had almost nothing, I unloaded the car and immediately got the radar open. We had some heavy bands move through and scored about 3" before it changed to rain, giving me plenty of opportunity to take the traditional walk around my beloved hometown upon the first snowfall of a winter. I remember swearing that we'd get a big one with the pattern progged and the disappointment of going over to rain, and sure enough 12/19 did dump 8" in Dobbs Ferry with raging winds and temperatures around 18F. You must have been livid about the 2/25 Snowicane last winter....that storm was originally forecasted to hit New England before it decided to do an early retrograde and screw you. I remember looking at the various stations during the storm, seeing BTV reporting rain at 33/33, knowing they'd gone above 0C at 850mb while KNYC had +SN. I was thrilled that I'd driven home from Middlebury College to my house in NYC metro to see the storm. That storm did some weird things to the atmosphere: we had blizzard conditions on SW winds, 850s in Central Quebec spiked to 3C in a bubble of warmth ahead of the storm, and there was an eerie glow to the sky the next day with intermittent flurries signalling the presence of such a deep vortex. Yeah, the 12/9 storm was my favorite of lsat year belive it or not. It was about 7am-12pm on 1-2"/hour capped off with a t-storm that night, lol. The problem with the 12/20 event was the insane gradient and the snow took forever to start. I know that it was supposed to start at 6pm then it didn't start until after midnight because of the dry air hanging tough. Once it started, we ended up getting 10" in the overnight to early morning hours, but I was luck where I was. 15 miles north of me got 2" and 30 miles south got 15"!!! And yeah that 2/25 storm sucked...but was awesome to watch from a meteorological perspective. Weird storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SACRUS Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 12/26 to 1/27...Greatest winter period I ever lived through... I think I have to agree Non Stop..no breaks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1220 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I reached a peak depth around 25" in my yard on 2/2, although there were certainly drifts in the woods nearing 30"...the wooded areas at modest elevation retained snow from Boxing Day until March, a feat that speaks to the cold this winter. Although I'd probably never be able to get an inch on the ground for that long down here, we could have come close if we'd gotten the early February overrunning that hit AR/OK with 2' or just had a slightly more normal weather pattern in mid February....there was still like 10" snow cover in the woods after two days in the high 50s/60s! It wasn't until the rain in early March that the nature preserve finally gave up all its snow. And yes, we still have some great piles left.... Wow, you did pretty badly last year...I do remember that 12/9 event, it was the first real snowfall I'd seen all winter. I had just come home from Middlebury where we'd had almost nothing, I unloaded the car and immediately got the radar open. We had some heavy bands move through and scored about 3" before it changed to rain, giving me plenty of opportunity to take the traditional walk around my beloved hometown upon the first snowfall of a winter. I remember swearing that we'd get a big one with the pattern progged and the disappointment of going over to rain, and sure enough 12/19 did dump 8" in Dobbs Ferry with raging winds and temperatures around 18F. You must have been livid about the 2/25 Snowicane last winter....that storm was originally forecasted to hit New England before it decided to do an early retrograde and screw you. I remember looking at the various stations during the storm, seeing BTV reporting rain at 33/33, knowing they'd gone above 0C at 850mb while KNYC had +SN. I was thrilled that I'd driven home from Middlebury College to my house in NYC metro to see the storm. That storm did some weird things to the atmosphere: we had blizzard conditions on SW winds, 850s in Central Quebec spiked to 3C in a bubble of warmth ahead of the storm, and there was an eerie glow to the sky the next day with intermittent flurries signalling the presence of such a deep vortex. Honestly, the Boxing Day Storm had very limited extent of banding for a sub 970 low...I was disappointed in the radar images for the most part. I was expecting 12-16" and verified on the low end with 13". The winds and snowfall rates at the height of the storm were memorable here, however. Hastings, NY, which is one mile south of me, gusted to 65mph that night. My best friend and I took a walk and could barely see in front of our faces as the snow swirled down in the cold, dark night, I agree there. I'm not as well versed in the baroclinic/mesoscale features of a bombing low such as that one was, but it was extremely bandy for a storm of that nature, I thought. E NJ/NYC got clobbered, but many other areas got the relative shaft as well. I think the Twin Forks only had about a half foot. Even I almost shut off the snow for a time and I thought at around 11PM-12AM on the 26th that our storm was wrapping up until the remnants of the banding wrapped back into Long Island and slammed me again. In terms of impact, truly a memorable storm. Honestly not far from 1/96. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A-L-E-X Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 JM and all, I think the intense nature of the storm was responsible for the extreme banding-- it's usually the weaker systems that give us more overrunning and thereby a larger area of heavier snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooL Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 JM and all, I think the intense nature of the storm was responsible for the extreme banding-- it's usually the weaker systems that give us more overrunning and thereby a larger area of heavier snow. bingo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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