What Is Your Favorite Type of Snowstorm?

[Thanatos_I_Am]

-Posted this is the banter thread but figured we could have good discussion here without cluttering that thread lol-

Like I said, personally, I love a light breeze with my snow. Big dendrites falling straight down. The silence of it all is what gets to me. Don't get me wrong, the 10ft drifts are awesome with blizzards, but I really am not a fan of pixie dust flying everywhere. It can become really hard to get a sense for rates as well. Plus it's so difficult to measure! Give me flakes the size of my fist, a 10mph breeze with a bottle of Lagavulin and I'm a happy camper.

[gymengineer]

I love this topic. Any excuse the reminisce over past snowstorms.

Part of the difficulty for getting the calm-ish conditions here is that we are close to the coast; most of our top snow-amount events also have a wind component. As many power outages as 2/5-6/10 caused in our area from down branches, I think a lot of people forget that that storm was actually *windier* than the Blizzard of '96 during the height of the storm at the airports. We gusted regularly to 35 mph during the heaviest snow near midnight. 

As far as other branch-toppling storms-- 1/26/11 had winds in the mid-teens gusting well into the 20's for most of the area during the peak. 2/11/06 was just as gusty into the 20's. Maybe 2/87 comes closest to just heavy snow blitzing in lower winds. 

(PD2 was gusting into the 20's mph during the peak on Sunday.)

Snowballs falling from the sky can overcome the winds to give the impression that we experienced a calm-ish storm. 

 

[MN Transplant]

I want a Jan 2016 that doesn't lull and gets really cold afterwards.  So, I'll take the wind.  

For some of the small events a nice calm snowfall is nice.

[EastCoast NPZ]

December ones.

 

 

 

[PrinceFrederickWx]

I want it all- a HECS with insane rates, high winds and one that is actually cold, like 1979 or 1899. I want to break the daily record low, lowest max and snowfall simultaneously. A massive arctic outbreak afterwards as well. I don't care what the dendrites look like as long as it delivers. Having this occur in December is optional but would be an added bonus.

 

[soadforecaster]

for me every hecs we had in 09/10 were my ideal storm. all 3 of those storms just had their own special event to it. I remember all three just went from no snow to heavy snow and did not let up till the storm was over. it was just a light wind and heavy snow for hours on end. perfect dedendrites just coming straight down at a unreal rate. The 12/19 was probably  my favorite due to the fact is the only time I saw a true white out. I mean the visibility had to be under 50 yards for a period of time.  I happened to be out driving and could not even see the traffic light till I was just about on top of it. I received 6" of snow in only a hour and 15 minutes.   

[Thanatos_I_Am]

for me every hecs we had in 09/10 were my ideal storm. all 3 of those storms just had their own special event to it. I remember all three just went from no snow to heavy snow and did not let up till the storm was over. it was just a light wind and heavy snow for hours on end. perfect dedendrites just coming straight down at a unreal rate. The 12/19 was probably  my favorite due to the fact is the only time I saw a true white out. I mean the visibility had to be under 50 yards for a period of time.  I happened to be out driving and could not even see the traffic light till I was just about on top of it. I received 6" of snow in only a hour and 15 minutes.   

Agreed. Back in Michigan we would get these crazy LES bands where you couldn't see across the street. It's pretty crazy huh? I think our county airport reported 15 inches of snow in 3 hours one time.

[attml]

I like this kind!

[soadforecaster]

1 minute ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

 

 

Agreed. Back in Michigan we would get these crazy LES bands where you couldn't see across the street. It's pretty crazy huh? I think our county airport reported 15 inches of snow in 3 hours one time.

 

hands down best weather memory in my life time (im 30 years old) I just never knew it could snow so hard to the point were you cant see period. just a pure wall of snow.

[Thanatos_I_Am]

I'm all in for that. I need to see LE at some point. 

In the meantime, give me a big daddy blizzard OR Feb 14, 2015.

If you want LES, spend a winter in Houghton, Michigan. Lived there before. It is absolutely nuts in some of those bands. Just hours of 3"/ Hour. Only one wind direction doesn't give snow up there (SW). Highly recommend!

[WinterWxLuvr]

I like the 8" snow the best.

A dream scenario would be an over running event with temps in the low 20's that lasted about 60 hours with a Jan of 85 cold front on its heels.

But the ultimate fantasy would be to see March of 93 happen again in this age of a million weather products to follow.

[gymengineer]

To answer the question, blizzards are no doubt my favorite type of snowstorm. Without the winds, you can't get the drifts. And drifting snow makes for severe road impacts and crazy occurrences like the entire shutdown of I-270.

 

[Thanatos_I_Am]

To answer the question, blizzards are no doubt my favorite type of snowstorm. Without the winds, you can't get the drifts. And drifting snow makes for severe road impacts and crazy occurrences like the entire shutdown of I-270.

 

I would love blizzards if I could actually see what was going on lol. I love watching the snow fall from the sky... plus the silence is great!

[gymengineer]

2 minutes ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

 

I would love blizzards if I could actually see what was going on lol. I love watching the snow fall from the sky... plus the silence is great!

 

Plowing and road treatment operations have gotten good enough that even 14" of snow paste (2/06) can be cleared pretty easily so impacts are minimized. It takes either 20" or full-on blizzard conditions to really shut down the area now. And for some twisted reason, that's important to me. 

I was just thinking that if 2/5-10/10 had occurred in the 60's, entire communities would have been trapped in for like two weeks. Like, the Blizzard of '66 with "only" its 14" on top of 4-6" on the ground was good for a week-long isolation of the less urban areas. Plowing just wasn't done frequently or at all during the peak snow and subsequent windiest part of the event (after the snow had ended), allowing for severe drifting over roads.

Even if placed in the late 80's (1987 for example), the 2/5-10/10 period would have been more panic-inducing and crippling. This area has come a long way in facing the largest storms. 

[mattie g]

19 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

I'm all in for that. I need to see LE at some point. 

In the meantime, give me a big daddy blizzard OR Feb 14, 2015.

Congrats, New England?

[BristowWx]

24 hour overrunning that produces steady light snow with temps in low 20s.  its more fun falling and sticking then it is cleaning it up afterwards. 

[wxdude64]

21 hours ago, attml said:

I like this kind!

I'll second this. Love the silence after a good deep snow.

[PrinceFrederickWx]

20 hours ago, gymengineer said:

Plowing and road treatment operations have gotten good enough that even 14" of snow paste (2/06) can be cleared pretty easily so impacts are minimized. It takes either 20" or full-on blizzard conditions to really shut down the area now. And for some twisted reason, that's important to me. 

I was just thinking that if 2/5-10/10 had occurred in the 60's, entire communities would have been trapped in for like two weeks. Like, the Blizzard of '66 with "only" its 14" on top of 4-6" on the ground was good for a week-long isolation of the less urban areas. Plowing just wasn't done frequently or at all during the peak snow and subsequent windiest part of the event (after the snow had ended), allowing for severe drifting over roads.

Even if placed in the late 80's (1987 for example), the 2/5-10/10 period would have been more panic-inducing and crippling. This area has come a long way in facing the largest storms. 

It was out of scope to my earlier poll, but the January 26-30, 1966 was another epic wintry period from the stats I've seen. I don't know the details of it but it looks like two separate events that, when combined, give you a HECS total snowcover. Very cold too. The big one on the 29th broke lowest max records and daily snowfall records at all three airports.

[Eskimo Joe]

I like storms that are forecast to be rain -> that bust on the cold/snowy side.  There has to be some rain to start that prevents pre-treatment of roads and catches everyone off guard.  EX:  Jan 27, 2011 but with another 6" - 9" of snow on top of it and falling temperatures and very windy conditions.  I really enjoy the storms with a high impact on society.

[Thanatos_I_Am]

I like storms that are forecast to be rain -> that bust on the cold/snowy side.  There has to be some rain to start that prevents pre-treatment of roads and catches everyone off guard.  EX:  Jan 27, 2011 but with another 6" - 9" of snow on top of it and falling temperatures and very windy conditions.  I really enjoy the storms with a high impact on society.

I almost feel immoral rooting for the city being shutdown for a week. Is that wrong?

[WinterWxLuvr]

9 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

I like storms that are forecast to be rain -> that bust on the cold/snowy side.  There has to be some rain to start that prevents pre-treatment of roads and catches everyone off guard.  EX:  Jan 27, 2011 but with another 6" - 9" of snow on top of it and falling temperatures and very windy conditions.  I really enjoy the storms with a high impact on society.

Major truth in this one.

Any bust toward snow.  The Jan 30, 2010 storm will forever be one of my favorites.

[WinterWxLuvr]

9 minutes ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

 

I almost feel immoral rooting for the city being shutdown for a week. Is that wrong?

 

If you're talking about DC, it's dysfunctional anyway, so no big deal.

[Thanatos_I_Am]

Major truth in this one.

Any bust toward snow.  The Jan 30, 2010 storm will forever be one of my favorites.

Wasn't here, what happened?

[PrinceFrederickWx]

12 minutes ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

 

Wasn't here, what happened?

 

Storm came much further north than modeled at the last minute. I was living in Glen Burnie at the time and we were supposed to get only flurries but wound up with a WSW event.

[WinterWxLuvr]

1 hour ago, Thanatos_I_Am said:

 

Wasn't here, what happened?

 

Yeah it was a storm that trended in an awful direction until 24 hours out.  I went from a 20% chance of snow in my Fri morning forecast to a Winter Storm Warning by my 11pm forecast that night.

[gymengineer]

4 hours ago, PrinceFrederickWx said:

It was out of scope to my earlier poll, but the January 26-30, 1966 was another epic wintry period from the stats I've seen. I don't know the details of it but it looks like two separate events that, when combined, give you a HECS total snowcover. Very cold too. The big one on the 29th broke lowest max records and daily snowfall records at all three airports.

It was three events actually, with the first one a bit too warm for the cities (IAD got a decent accumulation). The second one was heavier South and East and the third one-- the blizzard--- was a classic phased bomb that tilts negatively, where it can be in the single digits to the west of the low while east of the low is mixing and changing to rain (like 11/50). DC stayed to the west of the low so we got the incredible cold with the snow. The winds, though, really didn't kick up to gale force inland until after the precip ended. But the cold powder was easily whipped around by 50 mph winds, causing paralyzing drifting on even major roads. 

[eurojosh]

Favorite type of storm? Any that involves the letters o, p and m.

[psuhoffman]

4 hours ago, losetoa6 said:

1-3 " inch hr. rates of heavy wet snow the size of silver  dollars with or without wind. I imagine the late  March 1958 blizzard was like this.

March 58 would be something I'd love to see a repeat. Heavy wet snow piling up to 30"+. 

[psuhoffman]

My favorite single storm of all time was feb 9-10 2010.  It had everything. Overachieved. Heavy rates. Wind and drifting later. I expected about a foot going in. Then it started with a 3 hour burst of heavy wet snow that put down a nice even 10" quick. Then the lull before the wraparound and being stuck in steady snow all the next day and another 15" or so on top of the 20" otg to start the storm.  For non hecs level storms I liked the October 2012 storm most. Novelty for that time of year. 8" of wet snow. No wind to blow it around. And no lull just a nice steady heavy wet snow all day. Honorable mention are the feb clipper that bombed in 1996 and the super bowl storm 2000. Both also steady heavy snow with no dry slot issues. The 1996 clipper is underrated as a surprise snow also. We talk about 2000 but I remember even the night before there was nothing in the forecast on the 10 news and they said the storm would develop in time for NJ but nothing around D.C. Then woke up in Herndon va to heavy snow and ended up with 9". 

[Redmorninglight]

I'm at your latitude but not longitude. Anyway one storm that id love to see again was March 09. It started as cold rain and transitioned to sleet then finally snow by dark. By 9 pm we had 4-5" snow but winds weren't too crazy yet. Perfect time for 3 mile walk with the dog through woods fields and beaches. The gravity wave literally woke me up and shook the house. I think we ended with close to 10" and it ended a very long significant snow drought for us.