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PHL: biggest snowfall of the winter


famartin
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Someone was aghast that PHL might get their biggest snowfall in March.  So, I put together these stats to show, its not *that* uncommon.

 

1884-1885 6.9 on Feb 24-25

1885-1886 9.3 on Feb 3-4

1886-1887 5.0 on Jan 5-6

1887-1888 10.5 on Mar 12

1888-1889 2.0 on Feb 25

1889-1890 3.0 on Mar 31-Apr 1

1890-1891 3.5 on Mar 3

1891-1892 6.0 on Mar 16-17

1892-1893 10.4 on Jan 5-6

1893-1894 4.3 on Feb 25-26

1894-1895 7.3 on Feb 7-8

1895-1896 3.3 on Mar 23-24

1896-1897 7.1 on Dec 16

1897-1898 4.5 on Jan 10

1898-1899 17.7 on Feb 12-13
1899-1900 11.2 on Feb 17-18

1900-1901 3.2 on Jan 25

1901-1902 11.0 on Feb 17

1902-1903 6.8 on Feb 16-17

1903-1904 6.8 on Jan 29-30

1904-1905 9.1 on Jan 24-25

1905-1906 6.0 on Feb 8-9

1906-1907 12.5 on Feb 4-5

1907-1908 6.8 on Jan 23-24

1908-1909 6.0 on Dec 22-23

1909-1910 21.0 on Dec 25-26

1910-1911 9.2 on Dec 5-6

1911-1912 4.7 on Jan 12

1912-1913 7.5 on Dec 24

1913-1914 8.0 on Feb 13-14

1914-1915 19.4 on Apr 3-4

1915-1916 6.6 on Feb 2-3

1916-1917 7.6 on Mar 3-4

1917-1918 10.2 on Jan 27-28

1918-1919 3.0 on Mar 14

1919-1920 6.0 on Feb 4-5

1920-1921 7.0 on Feb 20

1921-1922 12.3 on Jan 27-28

1922-1923 5.8 on Feb 6-7

1923-1924 6.8 on Apr 1-2

1924-1925 6.7 on Jan 2-3

1925-1926 9.3 on Feb 9-10

1926-1927 5.3 on Jan 15-16

1927-1928 10.4 on Jan 28-29

1928-1929 8.3 on Feb 20-21

1929-1930 2.6 on Dec 23

1930-1931 2.1 on Dec 23

1931-1932 4.7 on Mar 21

1932-1933 8.4 on Feb 11

1933-1934 7.8 on Feb 25-26

1934-1935 14.8 on Jan 22-23

1935-1936 6.2 on Dec 29-30

1936-1937 3.5 on Mar 11

1937-1938 3.6 on Feb 20

1938-1939 7.2 on Nov 26-27

1939-1940 7.8 on Feb 14-15

1940-1941 15.1 on Feb 28-Mar 1

1941-1942 4.5 on Jan 4

1942-1943 2.9 on Dec 9

1943-1944 4.8 on Mar 4-5

1944-1945 7.7 on Jan 15-16

1945-1946 9.2 on Dec 19

1946-1947 10.6 on Feb 20-21

1947-1948 8.1 on Feb 4-5

1948-1949 7.4 on Dec 19

1949-1950 0.9 on Feb 1

1950-1951 1.8 on Jan 30-31

1951-1952 6.0 on Mar 1

1952-1953 7.1 on Mar 8

1953-1954 10.0 on Jan 10-11

1954-1955 3.9 on Feb 1-2

1955-1956 8.7 on Mar 18-19

1956-1957 2.0 on Jan 14-15

1957-1958 13.0 on Feb 15-16

1958-1959 2.9 on Jan 26-27

1959-1960 8.2 on Mar 3-4

1960-1961 14.6 on Dec 11-12

1961-1962 6.8 on Mar 6

1962-1963 4.4 on Jan 26

1963-1964 7.2 on Jan 12-13

1964-1965 6.6 on Jan 10

1965-1966 8.3 on Jan 29-30

1966-1967 12.7 on Dec 24-25

1967-1968 4.9 on Nov 30

1968-1969 4.6 on Feb 19-20

1969-1970 5.1 on Dec 25-26

1970-1971 5.5 on Dec 31-Jan 1

1971-1972 3.7 on Feb 19-20

1972-1973 Trace on many dates

1973-1974 6.0 on Feb 8

1974-1975 4.6 on Feb 4-5

1975-1976 6.9 on Mar 9

1976-1977 4.4 on Jan 14

1977-1978 13.6 on Feb 6-7

1978-1979 14.3 on Feb 18-19

1979-1980 5.2 on Jan 4-5

1980-1981 8.8 on Mar 5 (my birthday!)

1981-1982 9.1 on Jan 13-14

1982-1983 21.3 on Feb 11-12

1983-1984 7.3 on Mar 8-9

1984-1985 3.5 on Jan 17

1985-1986 4.0 on Feb 11

1986-1987 8.8 on Jan 22

1987-1988 3.9 on Jan 25-26

1988-1989 5.1 on Jan 6

1989-1990 4.6 on Nov 22-23

1990-1991 6.4 on Dec 27-28

1991-1992 2.1 on Mar 22

1992-1993 12.0 on Mar 13-14

1993-1994 5.6 on Feb 8-9

1994-1995 8.8 on Feb 3-4

1995-1996 30.7 on Jan 7-8

1996-1997 3.9 on Mar 31-Apr 1

1997-1998 0.5 on Jan 23-24

1998-1999 4.8 on Mar 14-15

1999-2000 8.5 on Jan 25

2000-2001 9.0 on Dec 30

2001-2002 4.0 on Jan 19-20

2002-2003 18.7 on Feb 16-17

2003-2004 4.8 on Dec 5-6

2004-2005 12.6 on Jan 22-23

2005-2006 12.0 on Feb 11-12

2006-2007 4.3 on Feb 13-14

2007-2008 3.2 on Feb 22

2008-2009 9.0 on Mar 1-2

2009-2010 28.5 on Feb 5-6

2010-2011 15.1 on Jan 26-27

2011-2012 2.3 on Jan 21

2012-2013 1.5 on Jan 25

2013-2014 13.5 on Jan 21

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1967-1977 was even worse.

 

Yeah - ouch. We have been spoiled rotten these last 2 decades, far more hits than duds. It would be interesting to see a comparison of the 20- or 25-year means to the historical means for DCA, PHL, NYC and BOS, I'd bet at least one of those sites has seen a ridiculously high anomaly.

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1967-1977 was even worse.

 

I had an old pic of me and my sister after the blizzard of '66 (we had on Yogi Bear boots :lmao: ), which I think was a 12"er.  After that, '67 - '77 (1st grade --> sophmore in HS) was essentially a snow drought. Decent sleddng conditions were few and far between.  First decent snowman was crafted in '78.  But then senior class trip to the Poconos in January '79 resulted in 40s and rain that weekend. :axe:
 
I think in comparison, the past 5 years have been pretty phenomenal for snow lovers.
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Here are the odds for all months:

 

November - 2%

December - 14%

January - 32%

February - 33%

March - 18%

April - 3%

 

That adds up to a bit over 100 because I counted the cross-over storms between months once for each month (double count).

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Here are the odds for all months:

 

November - 2%

December - 14%

January - 32%

February - 33%

March - 18%

April - 3%

 

That adds up to a bit over 100 because I counted the cross-over storms between months once for each month (double count).

Looks almost normally distributed but phase shift towards Feb. 1, that surprises me

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Ocean water temps probably have something to do with that. 

Thats what I thought too. In my system dynamics our class talked about weather modeling and ocean temps in particular as a non-linear example, although it wasn't my profs expertise so he couldn't answer all of my questions. The shifting makes sense to me, the distribution less so. 

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  • 4 years later...

Thanks for this information. I was actually looking for the first snowfall of 1979, which I remembered as being in February because it happened right after my mother died of cancer. We were having oxygen tanks brought in and I remember being concerned about deliveries being blocked by snow, but we had a long snowless period until very soon after she passed, and then we got clobbered. (Another family member has all the family records in another state so I couldn't look it up there.)

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1 hour ago, SvensKenR said:

Thanks for this information. I was actually looking for the first snowfall of 1979, which I remembered as being in February because it happened right after my mother died of cancer. We were having oxygen tanks brought in and I remember being concerned about deliveries being blocked by snow, but we had a long snowless period until very soon after she passed, and then we got clobbered. (Another family member has all the family records in another state so I couldn't look it up there.)

Philadelphia had measurable snowfall in January 1979 (first was 1/5 when 1.2" fell). The February days with measurable snowfall were as follows:

2/7 7.6"

2/12 4.8"

2/14 0.4"

2/15 0.3"

2/16 0.2"

2/18 0.4"

2/19 13.9"

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49 minutes ago, donsutherland1 said:

Philadelphia had measurable snowfall in January 1979 (first was 1/5 when 1.2" fell). The February days with measurable snowfall were as follows:

2/7 7.6"

2/12 4.8"

2/14 0.4"

2/15 0.3"

2/16 0.2"

2/18 0.4"

2/19 13.9"

Thanks Don... I remember that winter around here as 2 weeks of cold and snow culminating in PD1 on the 19th. Not much of a winter before and after. Only 2 weeks of winter, but quality if you like snow.

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24 minutes ago, KamuSnow said:

Thanks Don... I remember that winter around here as 2 weeks of cold and snow culminating in PD1 on the 19th. Not much of a winter before and after. Only 2 weeks of winter, but quality if you like snow.

The President's Day snowstorm was the highlight of a remarkably cold winter. Almost the entire CONUS was colder to much colder than normal.

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15 hours ago, donsutherland1 said:

The President's Day snowstorm was the highlight of a remarkably cold winter. Almost the entire CONUS was colder to much colder than normal.

True story but that 1979 storm (my senior year in HS) was the first time (at least since the 1966 storm) that my sisters and I had enough snow to finally MAKE a decent snowman.  We made it on the front lawn and we were amazed when cars would drive slowly by and take pics of it. :D

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6 minutes ago, RedSky said:

Mystifying because the 60's was a very good decade for snow 

 

There were more double digit snowfalls in the suburbs. Many of the Nor'easters gave an additional 50% or more snow to the northwest suburbs than where they measured in PHL. For example, Dec. 24 1966 has PHL at 12.7", in NW Delco we had 20", and Chesco had 24" I believe.

Pretty sure there were one or more coastals with snow every winter from 1960-61 through 1966-67.

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5 minutes ago, KamuSnow said:

There were more double digit snowfalls in the suburbs. Many of the Nor'easters gave an additional 50% or more snow to the northwest suburbs than where they measured in PHL. For example, Dec. 24 1966 has PHL at 12.7", in NW Delco we had 20", and Chesco had 24" I believe.

Pretty sure there were one or more coastals with snow every winter from 1960-61 through 1966-67.

My parents first winter in their new Horsham home and I was often told tales of that storm growing up. 

 

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