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Let's Talk Winter!!

Steve

By Steve,
in Lakes/Ohio Valley

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dilly84

dilly84

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, buckeye said:

Could be our biggest snow in 2 years....  God that's pathetic lol.

Got 2" in Apple valley on Christmas Eve/Christmas. It's just becoming a fact that if you like snow, get out of central Ohio. Looks like we're in for another dry winter. Dry and cold then wet but warm...

Central Ohio for snow is dead now.

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jbcmh81

jbcmh81

Posted
Posted

I don't get all the "this area sucks for snow" comments.  Compared to other periods, the last 10 years have been a relative winter bonanza for Ohio.  Let's just look at Columbus.

4 of the coldest winters on record have occurred just since 2009 (09-10, 10-11, 13-14 and 14-15), a rate of 1 every 1.75 years.  No other 10-year period or decade had a faster rate of occurrence. Here are the individual decades.

1. 2010s: Every 2.3 years (3 in 7 winters)

1. 1900s and 1960s: Every 2.5 years (4 in 10 winters)

2. 1880s, 1890s, 1910s and 1970s: Every 3.33 years (3 in 10 winters)

3. 1930s, 1980s and 2000s: Every 5 years (2 in 10 winters)

4. 1940s and 1990s: Every 10 years (1 in 10 winters)

5. 1920s and 1950s: 0 occurrences

Of the 24 Decembers, Januarys and Februarys since 2010, 15 have been either normal or colder than normal. 

Considering the depth of the current cold, and the historic evidence that weeks-long cold traditionally translates to a below normal winter, perhaps 2017-18 may end up in the mix, but it's way too early to determine that.

Of the top 25 snowiest single days on record, 5 occurred since 2008, again a very high rate.  Of those, 3 are top 10 (March 8, 2008, February 5, 2010 and February 15, 2010).  Snows of at least 5" have occurred 13 times since 2010, a little less than 2 per winter, which is more than the historic average.

Of the top 25 snowiest months on record, 6 have occurred since 2008.  (March 2008, January 2009, January and February 2010 and January and February 2014), greater than any similar period.

Of the top 25 snowiest winters on record, 6 have occurred since 2002, including 3 since 2009.  6 of 10 winters since 2008 have had above normal snowfall.  Average snowfall during the 2000s-2010s has been 29.5", nearly 14" above the average during the 1930s-1940s and more than 10" above the longer 1920-1960 period.  Only the 1960-1980 period has greater average annual winter snowfall since 1878, and by only 1". 

And of the top 25 snowiest years on record, 7 have occurred since 2000. 

So really, there's no reason to complain.  Maybe the area hasn't seen every storm, and maybe every storm isn't a record breaker, but winter has been far from absent in recent years.

 

 

 

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HighTechEE

HighTechEE

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, jbcmh81 said:

Awesome stats!  I grew up in the 60's and 70's, my stand outs are Jan of 67 or 68 we got 28" in one storm in Nelsonville (NW corner of Athens Co) for the heaviest snow I ever saw (4" per hour at times), then all three winters of 76/77,77/78,78/79 for cold and total snow, but no big snows (in Jan of 78 alone we got just under 3ft total with about 2ft on the ground when the blizzard hit, but no storm over 6").  Last day of Feb 1980 got 15" in 5 hours for the 2nd heaviest snow I ever saw.  Honorable mentioned I had moved to Dayton but my brother said we go 18" in one day in the April 87 storm and the blizzard of 93, we got like 1.5" of pixie dust in Dayton but Athens county got 2ft.  Then things got quite until Jan of 96 and Dec 2004.

 

 

 

 

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buckeye

buckeye

Posted
Posted
18 hours ago, jbcmh81 said:

I don't get all the "this area sucks for snow" comments.  Compared to other periods, the last 10 years have been a relative winter bonanza for Ohio.  Let's just look at Columbus.

4 of the coldest winters on record have occurred just since 2009 (09-10, 10-11, 13-14 and 14-15), a rate of 1 every 1.75 years.  No other 10-year period or decade had a faster rate of occurrence. Here are the individual decades.

1. 2010s: Every 2.3 years (3 in 7 winters)

1. 1900s and 1960s: Every 2.5 years (4 in 10 winters)

2. 1880s, 1890s, 1910s and 1970s: Every 3.33 years (3 in 10 winters)

3. 1930s, 1980s and 2000s: Every 5 years (2 in 10 winters)

4. 1940s and 1990s: Every 10 years (1 in 10 winters)

5. 1920s and 1950s: 0 occurrences

Of the 24 Decembers, Januarys and Februarys since 2010, 15 have been either normal or colder than normal. 

Considering the depth of the current cold, and the historic evidence that weeks-long cold traditionally translates to a below normal winter, perhaps 2017-18 may end up in the mix, but it's way too early to determine that.

Of the top 25 snowiest single days on record, 5 occurred since 2008, again a very high rate.  Of those, 3 are top 10 (March 8, 2008, February 5, 2010 and February 15, 2010).  Snows of at least 5" have occurred 13 times since 2010, a little less than 2 per winter, which is more than the historic average.

Of the top 25 snowiest months on record, 6 have occurred since 2008.  (March 2008, January 2009, January and February 2010 and January and February 2014), greater than any similar period.

Of the top 25 snowiest winters on record, 6 have occurred since 2002, including 3 since 2009.  6 of 10 winters since 2008 have had above normal snowfall.  Average snowfall during the 2000s-2010s has been 29.5", nearly 14" above the average during the 1930s-1940s and more than 10" above the longer 1920-1960 period.  Only the 1960-1980 period has greater average annual winter snowfall since 1878, and by only 1". 

And of the top 25 snowiest years on record, 7 have occurred since 2000. 

So really, there's no reason to complain.  Maybe the area hasn't seen every storm, and maybe every storm isn't a record breaker, but winter has been far from absent in recent years.

 

 

 

I always appreciate your research and stats.  

I don't think the complaints are centered around a general "columbus sucks for snow", mantra.   The complaints come from "what have you done for me lately?"

No self respecting snow weenie is going to find comfort coming off of 2 miserable back to back winters, (including the latest being a single digit season), based on climatology and seasonal comparisons dating back decades.  No more than a hunter should be expected to find satisfaction in a season where he bagged nothing....based on the big one he bagged 3 years ago.

Although we had some good winters very recently, the degree to which we surpassed normal in those winters was not as great as areas around us.  IOW, if we go 20% above normal in a winter where the rest of the sub went 40% above normal...we got the shaft, (relatively speaking).

On top of that, we have had the heartbreaking southern and eastern scrapers in the past two winters which just serve to pile on the frustration.  Lets not forget we are also approacing, (if we haven't exceeded), 2 years since we've had a warning issued.

Most of us are weenies with day jobs.  We come here to chase snow not stats.  

That being said, I'm thrilled about our current snow cover, thankfully we don't have to go through this arctic outbreak with bare ground.  Lets see what happens with our next real threat.  My gut says rain.  That's how we roll.

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