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Most Impressive DC Area wide event since 1980 OTHER than anything associated with 2009-10 winter

Deck Pic

By Deck Pic,
in Mid Atlantic

Most impressive  

73 members have voted

  1. 1. Pick one

    • August - September 1980
      0
    • Blizzard 1983
      2
    • Veteran's Day 1987
      5
    • December 1989
      1
    • Heat Wave March 1990
      1
    • Superstorm 1993
      2
    • January 19th, 1994
      4
    • January 6-13 1996
      13
    • PD2
      14
    • Isabel
      6
    • La Plata
      5
    • 93-94 Ice
      3
    • VD 2007
      0
    • March 2009
      0
    • Summers 2010-12
      4
    • March 2012
      0
    • Back to Back 1987
      0
    • June 2006
      2
    • Derecho
      10
    • June 4, 2008
      1

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ORH_wxman

ORH_wxman

Posted
Posted

-18F at Winchester? I apologize then. That is the opposite of meh. Don't know why I didn't recall that cold snap.

Still think Jan 1996 is most impressive, though. Snow > cold. Don't care if it was -100F.

I think what we prefer as weather (I.e. liking snow more than cold) is not the crux of the poll in this thread. Jan '96 definitely still deserves to be in the conversation as it was probably the largest DC area-wide storm in the past 100 years outside of the knickerbocker storm (though I could be wrong on this) and Feb 2010...both excluded from this poll.

Attaining a theoretical temp well below zero in DC (I won't use the hyperbolic -100F example) of say, -15F, would be a lot more impressive than getting 25-30" of snow. The latter is very difficult to attain but definitely possible...the former is almost impossible in the modern era.

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ORH_wxman

ORH_wxman

Posted
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If you put 10-29-11 on the list then you must put 10-10-79 on it as well. DCA got .3" I believe, but we got 14" of snow in eastern Warren County w/ incredible tree damage and power outages. By comparison, it occured nearly 3 weeks earlier than last October's storm, and produced more substantial accumulations in most locations, and much greater totals out this way.

10/10/79 is before the 1980 cutoff date in this poll.

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Bob Chill

Bob Chill

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Why isn't Jan 2000 on the list? Wasn't a huge storm but it sure was a surprise and plenty big. I remember watching radar all afternoon and evening and thinking "how are we not going to get hit hard by this?".

I had just moved back from CO and was used to driving in snow so I drove to work real early in a wind whipped whiteout. They let me go home around 10am and gave me a full days pay because I was either brave enough or crazy enough to drive 35 miles into downtown DC when the roads were basically untreated in many places.

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Deck Pic

Deck Pic

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Why isn't Jan 2000 on the list? Wasn't a huge storm but it sure was a surprise and plenty big. I remember watching radar all afternoon and evening and thinking "how are we not going to get hit hard by this?".

I had just moved back from CO and was used to driving in snow so I drove to work real early in a wind whipped whiteout. They let me go home around 10am and gave me a full days pay because I was either brave enough or crazy enough to drive 35 miles into downtown DC when the roads were basically untreated in many places.

i dont think it cracks the list but these things are subjective of course...

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mattie g

mattie g

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Posted

Ended up going with the summer heat of 2010-12. To have these three in a row is incredible. 1/19/94 was a runner up, solely due to the dramatic anomalous nature of the event. I couldn't choose any of the snowstorms or severe events because they do actually seem to happen with some frequency.

I have to agree. The heat the last three summers - while sickening - has been really impressive. The ease with which we've gotten well into the 90s is ridiculous.

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usedtobe

usedtobe

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I would tend to agree but only b/c of the events surrounding it which led up to that--the seemingly endless ice storms that winter (I remember coming out of my apartment and starting to walk up the hill to the bus only to find myself sliding backwards down the sidewalk because of the ice. I had to take off my boots and inch my way back into the building and wait for the temp to rise to 32 before I could go to work), and the fact the entire city closed down for a day and half because of issues getting fuel to power plants on the East Coast because of the high demand for heat. that was followed by a big ice storm in February and a massive sleet storm on President's Day. I had a friend in from MN and he could not understand why people seemed so happy to get sleet and I explained about all of the freezing rain we'd already had that winter.

for me, I think the derecho earlier this year was the most impressive one for me because of all of the damage out my way--buildings damaged, so many trees down, and the destruction of so much of the power grid in WV. plus the sounds of the wind gusting so high for so long, the incredible lightning and thunder, and how it stayed intact as it came over the mountains--that was the part we were all talking about as generally storms fall apart at that time.

I wouldn't pick the low max day but would pick the ice storm followed by the 5 or 6 inch sleet storm. Both were very rare events and having them almost back to back tops even the veteran's day storm. I rmember a friend at work telling his kids they'd never see an ice storm like that again only to have another couple after he made the statement and he had grown up in this area.

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usedtobe

usedtobe

Posted
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that sleet storm was phenomenal. the only thing close was the 2007 Valentine's Day sleet storm--I think we had 4" out in WV from that.

I was in DC for the ice storm in 1994 and it wasn't as impressive in the city as it was in other areas, but it was just another layer of icing on iced up sidewalks.

another event that I found really impressive was the rapid warm-up after the '96 storm and the river flooding after the rain.

The warming was a big deal and the flooding associated with it was noteworthy. The strong winds, warm temps and high dewpoints really ate up snow. Pretty cool watching the fog. In the mountains of PA the flooding started even before the rain if I'm not mistaken. Rich Grumm did a talk on it years ago.

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mattie g

mattie g

Posted
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Early 1994 was awesome as a college student in central PA. We only had one TV in our dorm, so we didn't really have a chance to get the weather that way. It was also the time before the internet is what it is now, so we dialed up on a modem and got DOS weather updates online. It just wanted to snow up there in January and February (and I think in December, too). I do remember driving back to school after the semester break - while crossing the bridge into Philly it was an incredible scene to see everything iced over. The Delware was frozen solid and I'll never forget the looks of the "clouds" coming out of the industrial plants and the like along the river. It looked like something out of Russia.

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Fozz

Fozz

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Early 1994 was awesome as a college student in central PA. We only had one TV in our dorm, so we didn't really have a chance to get the weather that way. It was also the time before the internet is what it is now, so we dialed up on a modem and got DOS weather updates online. It just wanted to snow up there in January and February (and I think in December, too). I do remember driving back to school after the semester break - while crossing the bridge into Philly it was an incredible scene to see everything iced over. The Delware was frozen solid and I'll never forget the looks of the "clouds" coming out of the industrial plants and the like along the river. It looked like something out of Russia.

Whoever went to PSU (main campus) all four years and graduated in 1996, experienced three winters with 90"+ of snow. What an amazing run they had.

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mattie g

mattie g

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Whoever went to PSU (main campus) all four years and graduated in 1996, experienced three winters with 90"+ of snow. What an amazing run they had.

I graduated in '97 from a little school about an hour east of State College. I remember '94 and '96 being great (got back to school in January with over 40" on the ground). I think '95 was a stinker though. Can't quite remember what '97 was like.

I've tried to find historical snow records for Williamsport (closest decent-sized town likely to have them), but haven't been able to. I'd love to see how much we actualy got in those years. I'd think '96 was the king where I was.

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MN Transplant

MN Transplant

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Posted

1994 was impressive up in MN. I remember being out of school for the cold, and being able to just sit around and watch the earthquake coverage.

However, '96 was king. The three coldest days I've ever experienced:

Feb 2, 1996 -8 -35

Feb 3, 1996 -14 -35

Feb 4, 1996 -10 -32

Maybe I would have rated 1/19/94 higher if I had been around DC for it. It probably had a greater impact here.

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Deck Pic

Deck Pic

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Id have to go with recent summers unless they're the new norm. Partly since I did not witness most of the other conteders.

I went with jan 1994 even though I wasnt here just because of the incredible anomaly....to put up the 2nd lowest max ever in 1994 is stunning....I was in Atlanta at the time and we went to Buckhead that Tuesday night..Cold was a major story throughout the country....KATL dipped to 6 and up in buckhead probably around 3-4.....I remember leaving the bar at about 1am and walking around without my jacket on...The therm read either 6 or 8....I forget...I think KATL well south of the city was 10 by midnight...insane for Atlanta...We had a 28/14 day a few days prior...negative readings werent too far to the NW....I remember something similar though on a lesser scale on January 10, 2004....I went out with D to Lucky Bar and I also walked around without a jacket with temps in the low teens and brutal wind...I did get the good fortune of being home for 12/28/93 which was one of the only all snow events that winter...went to see Phish at Bender Arena at AU and me and Adam got stuck in the city and had to get a hotel room at the Holiday Inn on Wisconsin Ave

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