List of strongest Nor' Easters to hit New England

[ORH_wxman]

I was thinking earlier today about compiling a list of strongest nor' easters....but they don't have to be snowstorms necessarily. Its hard to find a list of these, so I thought I would make one we can reference. I will undoubtedly miss some intense storms, so everyone can chip in if they remember some very intense ones that aren't listed. I'm mainly using wind criteria for these.

Feb 25, 2010 (we hate it because it screwed us for snow, but that was a ridiculous storm for wind)

Nov 3, 2007 (Noel remnants)

April 14-15, 2007

Dec 9, 2005

Jan 22-23, 2005

Mar 31-Apr 1, 1997

December 23-24, 1994

March 3, 1994

March 13-14, 1993

December 11-12, 1992

October 27-31, 1991

March 28-29, 1984

February 5-7, 1978

I only went back to 1978 because I know that I will miss a ton before that, and I probably already left out a lot. I purposely left out some strong nor' easters because they weren't THAT strong...storms like the ones we saw this last winter though Boxing Day I might be able to include on that list....it probably should be actually. Also storms like Jan 1996 werent overly powerful in New England. I debated putting March 4-6, 2001 on there but I didn't think it had enough oomph to it to make the list. Its max wind gusts remained under 70mph IIRC.

[Ginx snewx]

Ash Wed 1962 and the 965 bomb groundhog day 1976.

[H2Otown_WX]

I was thinking earlier today about compiling a list of strongest nor' easters....but they don't have to be snowstorms necessarily. Its hard to find a list of these, so I thought I would make one we can reference. I will undoubtedly miss some intense storms, so everyone can chip in if they remember some very intense ones that aren't listed. I'm mainly using wind criteria for these.

Feb 25, 2010 (we hate it because it screwed us for snow, but that was a ridiculous storm for wind)

Nov 3, 2007 (Noel remnants)

April 14-15, 2007

Dec 9, 2005

Jan 22-23, 2005

Mar 31-Apr 1, 1997

December 23-24, 1994

March 3, 1994

March 13-14, 1993

December 11-12, 1992

October 27-31, 1991

March 28-29, 1984

February 5-7, 1978

I only went back to 1978 because I know that I will miss a ton before that, and I probably already left out a lot. I purposely left out some strong nor' easters because they weren't THAT strong...storms like the ones we saw this last winter though Boxing Day I might be able to include on that list....it probably should be actually. Also storms like Jan 1996 werent overly powerful in New England. I debated putting March 4-6, 2001 on there but I didn't think it had enough oomph to it to make the list. Its max wind gusts remained under 70mph IIRC.

How bout April 1982?

[ORH_wxman]

Ash Wed 1962 and the 965 bomb groundhog day 1976.

Was Ash Wednesday really a big impact in New England though? Maybe it was. I recall it mostly being a huge impact from NJ southward.

[A-L-E-X]

Was Ash Wednesday really a big impact in New England though? Maybe it was. I recall it mostly being a huge impact from NJ southward.

March 2010 had 80 mph winds here. Not like that up in coastal NE?

[ORH_wxman]

March 2010 had 80 mph winds here. Not like that up in coastal NE?

No, they got decently strong, but not like those gusts that happened near NYC...you guys got into a bit of a warm sector at the sfc which helped.

[A-L-E-X]

No, they got decently strong, but not like those gusts that happened near NYC...you guys got into a bit of a warm sector at the sfc which helped.

Yep, the intensity for that one day exceeded anything December 1992 produced here-- however, 12/92 had more prolonged effects. I distinctly remember the 90s as the decade of the extreme noreasters. I think 3/10 was worse here than NYC or LGA or what the north shore got, AG still doesn't think it was much of a storm lol.

[ORH_wxman]

Yep, the intensity for that one day exceeded anything December 1992 produced here-- however, 12/92 had more prolonged effects. I distinctly remember the 90s as the decade of the extreme noreasters.

I don't think it got as bad as Dec 1992 on LI anyway...maybe in NYC metro it did. LI saw gusts over 90mph in Dec 1992 and I do not recall that in Mar 2010, but perhaps I'm wrong...and of course the duration in Dec 1992 was absolutely ridiculous.

[A-L-E-X]

I don't think it got as bad as Dec 1992 on LI anyway...maybe in NYC metro it did. LI saw gusts over 90mph in Dec 1992 and I do not recall that in Mar 2010, but perhaps I'm wrong...and of course the duration in Dec 1992 was absolutely ridiculous.

Not even NYC-- just this little parcel of the south shore of Long Island..... fences and trees down everywhere, lots of sparklers and downed wires turning into electrical fires.... it was pretty scary. I never saw any sparklers in 12/92-- it was like what you might see in one of those hurricane movies. If you check the JFK obs, the winds were stronger for that than they ever were in 12/92-- but they didn't last nearly as long.

[A-L-E-X]

I don't think it got as bad as Dec 1992 on LI anyway...maybe in NYC metro it did. LI saw gusts over 90mph in Dec 1992 and I do not recall that in Mar 2010, but perhaps I'm wrong...and of course the duration in Dec 1992 was absolutely ridiculous.

No I think you are right.... 12/92 had stronger wind gusts on long island but they were out in Suffolk County.

I have a weird memory-- I remember minutiae trivia involving numbers lol. I remember Babylon had winds of 98 mph in December 1992. I think they were close to that in March 1993 also.

[ORH_wxman]

No I think you are right.... 12/92 had stronger wind gusts on long island but they were out in Suffolk County.

I have a weird memory-- I remember minutiae trivia involving numbers lol. I remember Babylon had winds of 98 mph in December 1992. I think they were close to that in March 1993 also.

Yeah I remember the pocket of really strong winds in March 2010 near NYC...but they were much more localized than December 1992 and of course the duration was much shorter. Its like Cape Cod....Cape Cod in December 9, 2005 had wind gusts over 100mph which they never got to in December 1992, but December 1992 was a much more destructive storm there because the 60-90mph winds lasted much much longer and they lost a lot of homes into the ocean during that.

[H2Otown_WX]

How bout April 1982?

I assume this one wasn't close to making the list? I don't really know much about it but it keeps popping up in the KU book.

[A-L-E-X]

Yeah I remember the pocket of really strong winds in March 2010 near NYC...but they were much more localized than December 1992 and of course the duration was much shorter. Its like Cape Cod....Cape Cod in December 9, 2005 had wind gusts over 100mph which they never got to in December 1992, but December 1992 was a much more destructive storm there because the 60-90mph winds lasted much much longer and they lost a lot of homes into the ocean during that.

That Feb 26, 2010 noreaster also had winds around 100 mph, I've heard. Not here, of course. Was there a blizzard warning anywhere for that? It was a good storm, but trust me you didn't miss that much-- December 1992 was FAR superior!

[ORH_wxman]

I assume this one wasn't close to making the list? I don't really know much about it but it keeps popping up in the KU book.

Amazing late season KU storm, but I do not think it had excessive winds...it was strong, but I'd have to see evidence of frequent 70+ mph gusts to include it. How strong were the winds? I do not think they got that strong on a wide area in southern New England.

[ORH_wxman]

That Feb 26, 2010 noreaster also had winds around 100 mph, I've heard. Not here, of course. Was there a blizzard warning anywhere for that? It was a good storm, but trust me you didn't miss that much-- December 1992 was FAR superior!

I listed Feb 25, 2010 as the first storm on my list. The winds were ridiculous in NE MA and NH...but obviously it wasn't a snowstorm, but this thread doesn't exclude Nor' Easters that didn't dump a bunch of snow....hence why I have December 23-24, 1994 and October 1991 on the list.

[A-L-E-X]

Amazing late season KU storm, but I do not think it had excessive winds...it was strong, but I'd have to see evidence of frequent 70+ mph gusts to include it. How strong were the winds? I do not think they got that strong on a wide area in southern New England.

I really wish we had some way of categorizing all of these storms in terms of wind, like we do with hurricanes. Boxing Day storm would definitely go on this list-- there were gusts of 70-80 mph in that with very heavy snow.

[ORH_wxman]

I really wish we had some way of categorizing all of these storms in terms of wind, like we do with hurricanes. Boxing Day storm would definitely go on this list-- there were gusts of 70-80 mph in that with very heavy snow.

I never got a good look at the data for Boxing Day winds...I do not recall a lot of 70mph gusts, but there might have been. I know there were gusts over 70mph on the Cape but not sure how widespread they were. Maybe they were bigger down on LI...but since this is a New England-centric thread, I can't use data outside of here. But Boxing Day may be worthy of being on this list because I am now remembering there might have been hurricane force gusts on the Cape.

[H2Otown_WX]

Amazing late season KU storm, but I do not think it had excessive winds...it was strong, but I'd have to see evidence of frequent 70+ mph gusts to include it. How strong were the winds? I do not think they got that strong on a wide area in southern New England.

I found this article which says the Blue Hills obs. recorded a 75 mph wind gust..I mean I guess that doesn't mean there were frequent 70+ mph gusts but maybe a few here and there.

http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2011/04/06/1982-april-blizzard-with-14-inches-of-sn?blog=161

[A-L-E-X]

I never got a good look at the data for Boxing Day winds...I do not recall a lot of 70mph gusts, but there might have been. I know there were gusts over 70mph on the Cape but not sure how widespread they were. Maybe they were bigger down on LI...but since this is a New England-centric thread, I can't use data outside of here. But Boxing Day may be worthy of being on this list because I am now remembering there might have been hurricane force gusts on the Cape.

Yes, I think there were winds of around or just over 80 mph on Nantucket and Marthas Vineyard. It was around or just under 70 here. Over 70mph on Suffolk County too I think.

[ORH_wxman]

I found this article which says the Blue Hills obs. recorded a 75 mph wind gust..I mean I guess that doesn't mean there were frequent 70+ mph gusts but maybe a few here and there.

http://www.capecodto...-of-sn?blog=161

That's impressive but Blue Hill is so exposed and I'd like to see a lot of other 70mph gusts on the Cape or other lower down exposed places to put 1982 on the list. But there is no doubt that it was a big storm. Storms that I am more likely to forget are the big autumn storms. I included October 1991, but I think there's probably a couple others that I do not remember or just flat out missed when making the list.

[ORH_wxman]

March 8, 2005 is a marginal candidate too...that had huge wind gusts. I think Block Island gusted huge in that one, but the rest of the area was kind of marginal...lots of 55-65 gusts. Very strong storm though.

[H2Otown_WX]

March 8, 2005 is a marginal candidate too...that had huge wind gusts. I think Block Island gusted huge in that one, but the rest of the area was kind of marginal...lots of 55-65 gusts. Very strong storm though.

Was that the infamous "flash freeze?"

[ORH_wxman]

Was that the infamous "flash freeze?"

Indeed it was. I remember being like 34F and heavy rain...just pouring and then all of the sudden the wind shifted more northerly and we dumped 6F in about 45 minutes. We were upper 20s and heavy snow so quickly. All of the water froze very quickly. Usually flash freezes are hard to come by because when the temp plummets, we dry out, but we were still 100% RH, so you get the flash freeze rather than evaporation of standing water. It was incredible. Then we got massive gusts from the NNW and NW as the storm completely bombed out E of BOS. I had a 64mph wind gust on a crappy anemometer here which is very impressive. We lost a big tree in the backyard on winter hill.

[ski MRG]

I was thinking earlier today about compiling a list of strongest nor' easters....but they don't have to be snowstorms necessarily. Its hard to find a list of these, so I thought I would make one we can reference. I will undoubtedly miss some intense storms, so everyone can chip in if they remember some very intense ones that aren't listed. I'm mainly using wind criteria for these.

Feb 25, 2010 (we hate it because it screwed us for snow, but that was a ridiculous storm for wind)

Nov 3, 2007 (Noel remnants)

April 14-15, 2007

Dec 9, 2005

Jan 22-23, 2005

Mar 31-Apr 1, 1997

December 23-24, 1994

March 3, 1994

March 13-14, 1993

December 11-12, 1992

October 27-31, 1991

March 28-29, 1984

February 5-7, 1978

I only went back to 1978 because I know that I will miss a ton before that, and I probably already left out a lot. I purposely left out some strong nor' easters because they weren't THAT strong...storms like the ones we saw this last winter though Boxing Day I might be able to include on that list....it probably should be actually. Also storms like Jan 1996 werent overly powerful in New England. I debated putting March 4-6, 2001 on there but I didn't think it had enough oomph to it to make the list. Its max wind gusts remained under 70mph IIRC.

Not me, that was an awesome snowstorm here. 3 day event that burried us.

[H2Otown_WX]

Indeed it was. I remember being like 34F and heavy rain...just pouring and then all of the sudden the wind shifted more northerly and we dumped 6F in about 45 minutes. We were upper 20s and heavy snow so quickly. All of the water froze very quickly. Usually flash freezes are hard to come by because when the temp plummets, we dry out, but we were still 100% RH, so you get the flash freeze rather than evaporation of standing water. It was incredible. Then we got massive gusts from the NNW and NW as the storm completely bombed out E of BOS. I had a 64mph wind gust on a crappy anemometer here which is very impressive. We lost a big tree in the backyard on winter hill.

Holy cow, and weren't temps in the 60s the day before? Everyone has that storm that they missed for one reason or another and for me this was it. I was in FL on vacation so all I have is stories about it from my dad and now you and anyone else that's willing to share.

[ORH_wxman]

Not me, that was an awesome snowstorm here. 3 day event that burried us.

Nah, you actually got rained on for most of that storm...you got snow in the Feb 23-24 part and the aftermath when it occluded on the 26-27....you rained heavy on Feb 25th during the brunt of it. The rain got to Albany. Nasty screwjob.

[nzucker]

Nah, you actually got rained on for most of that storm...you got snow in the Feb 23-24 part and the aftermath when it occluded on the 26-27....you rained heavy on Feb 25th during the brunt of it. The rain got to Albany. Nasty screwjob.

Correction stands!

He probably got like 30" on Feb 24 though, that storm had a lot of QPF streaming up from the developing coastal. We still pulled 20" with no elevation at Middlebury, probably on like 2.5" QPF given the weight of the snow.

The Catskills did the best in those twin storms, getting 20-30" in both events. Places like Slide Mountain probably had close to 100" on the ground after the 2/27 occlusion snows.

[ORH_wxman]

Correction stands!

He probably got like 30" on Feb 24 though, that storm had a lot of QPF streaming up from the developing coastal. We still pulled 20" with no elevation at Middlebury, probably on like 2.5" QPF given the weight of the snow.

The Catskills did the best in those twin storms, getting 20-30" in both events. Places like Slide Mountain probably had close to 100" on the ground after the 2/27 occlusion snows.

He got near 24" on Feb 23-24 and then another 10" after it occluded....but MRG sometimes forgets the rain part of those storms...but I don;t blame, who the hell wants to remember those parts?

I think you are exaggerating the Catskills part though...they got destroyed, but probably more like 5 feet on the ground. Its almost impossible to get 100" on the ground unless you are far enough north to never melt out. Compaction gets greater and greater on an exponential scale when you get above 25".

[nzucker]

He got near 24" on Feb 23-24 and then another 10" after it occluded....but MRG sometimes forgets the rain part of those storms...but I don;t blame, who the hell wants to remember those parts?

I think you are exaggerating the Catskills part though...they got destroyed, but probably more like 5 feet on the ground. Its almost impossible to get 100" on the ground unless you are far enough north to never melt out. Compaction gets greater and greater on an exponential scale when you get above 25".

Did Feb 24th mix with rain at all in the Berkshires? I seem to remember Middlebury was just far enough north, in the valleys of Vermont, to stay all snow. I remember surface temperatures were very mild for that event, but I guess Pete's elevation reduced the boundary layer problems. Even we were expecting some mix as far north as the central regions of the Champlain Valley, and it was a pure paste even on the 800' hill near campus.

I also doubt Slide Mtn had 100", but I think they did get 20-30" in each event. At 4000' elevation, perhaps there was like 70" on the ground. The most I've seen while hiking the higher Greens like Mansfield (4393') is around 5' or so...but I am not counting all of the glens well off the trail, which would have had more.

[ORH_wxman]

Did Feb 24th mix with rain at all in the Berkshires? I seem to remember Middlebury was just far enough north, in the valleys of Vermont, to stay all snow. I remember surface temperatures were very mild for that event, but I guess Pete's elevation reduced the boundary layer problems. Even we were expecting some mix as far north as the central regions of the Champlain Valley, and it was a pure paste even on the 800' hill near campus.

I also doubt Slide Mtn had 100", but I think they did get 20-30" in each event. At 4000' elevation, perhaps there was like 70" on the ground. The most I've seen while hiking the higher Greens like Mansfield (4393') is around 5' or so...but I am not counting all of the glens well off the trail, which would have had more.

Berks actually did eventually change in the Feb 24 event, but not until the very end. They did get rain in that one too. Feb 25 was almost all rain in the berks, but they stayed that 35F type rain which didn't kill the snowpack like a 45F rain would.