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CT Snowfall Record


CT Rain

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I posted this on my blog but wanted to repost here....

 

According to the National Weather Service in Upton, NY the 36.0″ of snow recorded by the cooperative observer in Ansonia, CT during the February 8-9, 2013 blizzard is being investigated as a possible state record.

“At Ansonia, an official NWS Coop observer recorded 36.0 inches during the standard 24 hour observing period. This breaks the previously established greatest daily snowfall record for CT of 28.0 inches,” a National Weather Service statement said.

The National Weather Service went on to say, “The record set at Ansonia is currently unofficial. A state climate extremes committee has been established to analyze and certify the data.”

According to the NCDC the daily snowfall record is 28.0″ from Middletown on January 28, 1897. The 24-hour record (which is different from a daily record) is 30.0″ according to NCDC from Falls Village in 1969. It is likely that this record would be broken as well if the Ansonia, CT observation becomes official.

A daily record is from new snowfall that is measured at the start of a new observation day. A 24-hour snowfall record can be set for snowfall that fell in any 24-hour period not necessarily ending at the official observation time.

The 40″ snowfall report from Hamden was ineligible for the record since it was reported by the public and not a trained spotter or cooperative observer.

 

What's remarkable is that if the 36" daily snowfall holds it is a very impressive number for anywhere in the northeast. Here are the other daily snowfall records (though I think 24 hour records are much more worthwhile than daily records)...

 

Daily Records

NY - 45" Watertown 1900

NH - 41" Cannon '63

PA - 38" Morgantown '58

 

ME - 35" Middle Dam '43

VT - 33" St. J '69

NJ - 33" Elizabeth 1899

RI - 30" Woonsocket '78

 

MA - 29" Natick '97

CT - 28" Middletown 1897

 

24 Hour Records

NH - 49.3" Mt Washington '69

NY - 49" Watertown 1900

VT - 42" Jay Peak '95

NJ - 32" Rutherford 1915

CT - 30" Falls Village '69

RI - 30" Woonsocket '78

MA - 29" Natick '97

 

 
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Yeah I can't believe there's no coop station that was able to beat that. Weird, right?

 

 

ORH beat it in the same storm getting 33"...all falling in under 24 hours...but NCDC didn't use their data as that was when all the ASOS crap was going on and there was no official observer. I would have thought even without that though, some place like Savoy had to have beaten it.

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ORH beat it in the same storm getting 33"...all falling in under 24 hours...but NCDC didn't use their data as that was when all the ASOS crap was going on and there was no official observer. I would have thought even without that though, some place like Savoy had to have beaten it.

 

Yeah I would have thought you'd see a higher number in the coop forms for 1 day from any number of storms. 

 

Was there no official ORH observer for those years? That's a shame. 

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Yeah I would have thought you'd see a higher number in the coop forms for 1 day from any number of storms. 

 

Was there no official ORH observer for those years? That's a shame. 

 

 

Yes...the airport still reported during most storms though. However, they weren't diligent about every 6 hours or anything...they probably stuck a yardstick in the ground at the end of 1997 storm...I would not have been surprised if it was closer to 36-38 in that one up at the airport using 6 hour method since I had like 31-32 actually on the ground at 600 feet back then.

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I'd be curious what the ME record would look like if there were more official reporting stations. You have to think that somewhere in the mountains, or even in northern ME, there were some pretty big snowfalls that went without official measurements.

 

Yeah it's really a shame there's not a denser network everywhere. What I thought made the CT record(s) so interesting was that so many coop stations came close to or broke the records. The old daily record from the 1800s I think was broken by 4 separate coops which is really impressive.

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NY LES record is certainly higher than 49".

 

Lowville in Lewis County, NY nearly missed the US record in 1997 when it recorded 77" in 24 hr.  Unfortunately, the observer measured 6 times in a 24 hr period.

 

BUF's 24hr record is 37.6".

 

 

Ahh, the famous Montague NY storm.....I remember that.

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Ahh, the famous Montague NY storm.....I remember that.

 

yep that was a classic.

I'd actually like to review the info for the Feb 3-12 snowstorm.  I think Oswego got about 4 ft on Feb 5, 2007.

 

Also, I'd be shocked if somewhere on the Tug didn't record more than 4 ft in the Dec. 2001 snowstorm when 127" was recorded in Montague.

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snowfall measurement is the worst...easily least accurate record we keep.

 

 

By far too...snowfall is terrible..especially with the homogenuity issues compared to the early 20th century and prior. Both with siting and technique.

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By far too...snowfall is terrible..especially with the homogenuity issues compared to the early 20th century and prior. Both with siting and technique.

And even with the best technique, wind makes siting impossible. As much as I can understand the whole snowboard thing, temperature/snowfall rates/compaction are impossible to account for. It sure is good fun for weenies though.

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I'd be curious what the ME record would look like if there were more official reporting stations. You have to think that somewhere in the mountains, or even in northern ME, there were some pretty big snowfalls that went without official measurements.

Orono

12/29/1962...115...30...10....0....0

12/30/1962...115...29...-6..4.20"..9999

12/31/1962...115...16...-4..0.25"..3"

It's unfortunate that the snowfall amount is missing for the 30th. Folks who were at U.Maine at the time have said 40-45" fell in that storm. Also, Long Falls Dam recorded 56" from the late Feb storm in 1969, including 30" on 2/26 and 19" on 2/27, but I don't know what their max for 24 hr was. (And Eustis, at the opposite end of Flagstaff Lake, averages 15% more snow than LFD, but was not measuring in 1969 - pity.)

Trivia note: The 35" at Middle Dam came from the same pre-Thanksgiving storm that dumped 56" on Randolph, NH and 55" on Berlin.

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Yeah it's really a shame there's not a denser network everywhere. What I thought made the CT record(s) so interesting was that so many coop stations came close to or broke the records. The old daily record from the 1800s I think was broken by 4 separate coops which is really impressive.

I imagine NCDC would take that into account, right? Given how widespread the 30-40" totals were, I have a hard time seeing the CT record not falling. And why your preference for daily totals? More likely a single storm gets broken in two.

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I imagine NCDC would take that into account, right? Given how widespread the 30-40" totals were, I have a hard time seeing the CT record not falling. And why your preference for daily totals? More likely a single storm gets broken in two.

 

Oh yeah no doubt the record is broken. By how much is the question. And I don't have a preference for daily (it's sort of silly I think) but that's one of the records that they're investigating. I think the 24-hour record is more interesting in the daily record to be honest.

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Oh yeah no doubt the record is broken. By how much is the question. And I don't have a preference for daily (it's sort of silly I think) but that's one of the records that they're investigating. I think the 24-hour record is more interesting in the daily record to be honest.

Gotcha...read your first post backwards regarding daily v 24 hour records. Agree that the 24 hour is more telling than daily records.

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