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January Banter 2019


George BM
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2 minutes ago, leesburg 04 said:

Its interesting to me that the areas that have not necessarily scored well this year tend to have the most disgruntled posters who are generally looking for the end of this winter or are quicker to point out the negatives. It's funny how that works 

DUH... but I definitely don't want it to end...I will take a snowstorm in April.  Hell I would take a snowstorm in June I dont care when it snows I want snow.  I am NEVER looking for it to end.  I will ride to the bitter end no matter what.  But if you are saying I am frustrated by the awful results YES DEFINITELY not denying that.  But for myself I am quick to point out both the good and the bad...but I probably am not as willing to gloss over or ignore the bad given my mood and skepticism based on the crappy results so far.  I think those that have had snow have a more positive outlook because "its been an ok winter".  My POV (right or wrong) is that the only 2 significant storms in the whole East were mostly a fluke and in general its been an awful year for snowfall.  Those are opposite attitudes and they probably skew our opinions of snow potential ahead.  

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58 minutes ago, showmethesnow said:

If you love modeled Fantasy storms you would have absolutely loved the GFS just a few years back. You would sneeze and it would throw up a HEC. The storms were a dime a dozen. Fun to look at but nothing to bank on. Think the old GFS is the reason Ji is the way he is to this day.

yep...the 18z GFS at 384 would give us a blizzard no matter what the pattern. They ruined the model

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26 minutes ago, Maestrobjwa said:

I'm looking for a Feb 1979 redux...because our snowfall pattern this winter is strikingly similar to that year, and the Feb 1899...:whistle:

BWI SNOWFALL TOTALS

Winter of 1978/79

20190131_150929.thumb.jpg.a213a991cca0c8f502db209a68d0ea4d.jpg

Winter of 1898/99

20190131_142346.thumb.jpg.fde54dbd670130b9bfd636a44d7b5864.jpg

Hm, what looks familiar about that (especially the 5 inches in Jan...lol) :whistle:

But March was a bummer in both years...

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22 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

March 58 or bust 

I'll ask for that if we don't get a blizzard, lol (oh, and don't forget about Palm Sunday, 1942!) Now the only thing about 1979 was...it was all gone within a week! (By my dad's account and another one I've read, the storm was actually on the front end if a warm front--so it warmed up, and then we got like 3" of rain. Poof, lol But hey, if we can get close to two feet or better again...I think I'll still take it!)

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1 hour ago, psuhoffman said:

DUH... but I definitely don't want it to end...I will take a snowstorm in April.  Hell I would take a snowstorm in June I dont care when it snows I want snow.  I am NEVER looking for it to end.  I will ride to the bitter end no matter what.  But if you are saying I am frustrated by the awful results YES DEFINITELY not denying that.  But for myself I am quick to point out both the good and the bad...but I probably am not as willing to gloss over or ignore the bad given my mood and skepticism based on the crappy results so far.  I think those that have had snow have a more positive outlook because "its been an ok winter".  My POV (right or wrong) is that the only 2 significant storms in the whole East were mostly a fluke and in general its been an awful year for snowfall.  Those are opposite attitudes and they probably skew our opinions of snow potential ahead.  

I hope you know that I appreciate your knowledge and contributions and hope you also know I'm giving you the business sometimes. We definitely have different styles but I know we both love snow. I hope we all get more this year

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47 minutes ago, leesburg 04 said:

I hope you know that I appreciate your knowledge and contributions and hope you also know I'm giving you the business sometimes. We definitely have different styles but I know we both love snow. I hope we all get more this year

I don’t mind your posts. I’m just argumentative. I’m a debate coach after all. 

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29 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Absolutely insane rates for this. I'm in awe of what I've seen.

Someone in South Watertown has 34.2" storm total (which is for the week I think). 

That's not snow depth (even though there are some huge piles) but man, we got smoked. 

Looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy. 

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Best squall I've experienced in my life was in Harford County MD near Jarrettsville.

It was Friday, January 25, 1985.  Story time!

I just got finished up with dinner.  Turned on the TV and was flipping through channels.  WTTG (Channel 5 in DC) was always sensitive to sferics and I used that to know in the summer when TRW was nearby or so.  Never expected to see white static and crashes through the speaker in Jan.  WTF!  So I watched and again, not even a minute later, another one!  So, I take a look out my den window facing due west and sure enough, I can see lightning in the distance.  While this would be no biggie in May, in Jan it is and this area rarely sees thundersnow.  As I kept watching, I noticed what I thought was a dog that got loose from one of the neighbors.  It waddled closer in and to my surprise it was a HUGE Canadian goose!  Well that surely was strange.  And then there was another flash that was bright enough that it took my attention off the goose.  I noticed a few flurries coming down as well.  There were two more flashes and I heard thunder.  This was sounding just like a decent thunderstorm approaching in the spring or summer.  But!  It was snow.  And boy did it snow.  The streetlights up on the main road disappeared and I thought perhaps the power went out, then the houses across the street completely obscured from view!  Not foggy-ish, just gone.  Then I realized what was happening.  It arrived.  What would normally be a torrential downpour was an intense snow squall that was a total white out.  Looking out the window was like looking out there with a white sheet over the glass.  Simply amazing.  There was a blinding flash followed by thunder less than a second later.  It was exceeding blue-white brilliant like a huge high intensity discharge (HMI) lamp starting up.  The wind was also roaring.  I ran downstairs to my shack and checked and the wind speed on my Heathkit ID4000 was at 49 mph.  It was a very high sustained wind during the event.  The peak gust was 53mph.  The anemometer was mounted at 10 meters on a free standing Rohn 25G tower so those numbers are legit.

 

The funniest part of the story is when I pulled the curtain back to look outside, there was a blinding flash of light and right outside the window was that damn goose!  I scared him and he spread his wings and jumped in the air and I nearly fell backwards away from the window.  I actually recall screaming, it was that bad.  If you've ever seen the movie Free Willy, near the beginning where the kids were at the aquarium painting the tank windows with graffiti and the lightning flashes and Jessie sees Willy for the first time with mouth open and screams, well there you go, that's it right there! :)

Anyhow, after that was over, we had a good 6 or 7" of new snow in well under an hour, 40-45 minutes tops and most of that was in that heavy burst.  I would not want to be caught driving in something like that for sure.  Those are the kind of *instant whiteout* that cause big traffic pileups on the interstate.  Because someone is going to stop and someone isn't.

I've never seen this happen before.  Have seen thundersnow several times, but that was truly legit and it was wonderful.

Probably the most recent winter event that was exciting for me was January 26, 2011.  That was a pretty good "flash freeze" event for us.  And the second time I had to get help with clearing snow off the lane.  The Cyprus trees took a terrible beating with that one.

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Just now, Zanclidae said:

Best squall I've experienced in my life was in Harford County MD near Jarrettsville.

It was Friday, January 25, 1985.  Story time!

I just got finished up with dinner.  Turned on the TV and was flipping through channels.  WTTG (Channel 5 in DC) was always sensitive to sferics and I used that to know in the summer when TRW was nearby or so.  Never expected to see white static and crashes through the speaker in Jan.  WTF!  So I watched and again, not even a minute later, another one!  So, I take a look out my den window facing due west and sure enough, I can see lightning in the distance.  While this would be no biggie in May, in Jan it is and this area rarely sees thundersnow.  As I kept watching, I noticed what I thought was a dog that got loose from one of the neighbors.  It waddled closer in and to my surprise it was a HUGE Canadian goose!  Well that surely was strange.  And then there was another flash that was bright enough that it took my attention off the goose.  I noticed a few flurries coming down as well.  There were two more flashes and I heard thunder.  This was sounding just like a decent thunderstorm approaching in the spring or summer.  But!  It was snow.  And boy did it snow.  The streetlights up on the main road disappeared and I thought perhaps the power went out, then the houses across the street completely obscured from view!  Not foggy-ish, just gone.  Then I realized what was happening.  It arrived.  What would normally be a torrential downpour was an intense snow squall that was a total white out.  Looking out the window was like looking out there with a white sheet over the glass.  Simply amazing.  There was a blinding flash followed by thunder less than a second later.  It was exceeding blue-white brilliant like a huge high intensity discharge (HMI) lamp starting up.  The wind was also roaring.  I ran downstairs to my shack and checked and the wind speed on my Heathkit ID4000 was at 49 mph.  It was a very high sustained wind during the event.  The peak gust was 53mph.  The anemometer was mounted at 10 meters on a free standing Rohn 25G tower so those numbers are legit.

 

The funniest part of the story is when I pulled the curtain back to look outside, there was a blinding flash of light and right outside the window was that damn goose!  I scared him and spread his wings and jumped in the air and I nearly fell backwards away from the window.  I actually recall screaming, it was that bad.  If you've ever seen the movie Free Willy, near the beginning where the kids were at the aquarium painting the tank windows with graffiti and the lightning flashes and Jessie sees Willy for the first time with mouth open and screams, well there you go, that's it right there! :)

Anyhow, after that was over, we had a good 6 or 7" of new snow in well under an hour, 40-45 minutes tops and most of that was in that heavy burst.  I would not want to be caught driving in something like that for sure.  Those are the kind of *instant whiteout* that cause big traffic pileups on the interstate.  Because someone is going to stop and someone isn't.

I've never seen this happen before.  Have seen thundersnow several times, but that was truly legit and it was wonderful.

Probably the most recent winter event that was exciting for me was January 26, 2011.  That was a pretty good "flash freeze" event for us.  And the second time I had to get help with clearing snow off the lane.  The Cyprus trees took a terrible beating with that one.

I remember that event. I was living in Carroll County then. Was just about to go out for the evening and there was talk of thundersnow to the NW. I looked outside and it was calm and sort of foggy- By the time I got my coat on and went out the front door it was instant whiteout. I didn't go out lol. It was awesome to watch. My brother was out already with friends and got stuck on the roads in the flash freeze. Temps dropped from the upper 30s to low 20s very quickly. Ended up with around 4" in 45 mins as I recall.

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22 minutes ago, C.A.P.E. said:

I remember that event. I was living in Carroll County then. Was just about to go out for the evening and there was talk of thundersnow to the NW. I looked outside and it was calm and sort of foggy- By the time I got my coat on and went out the front door it was instant whiteout. I didn't go out lol. It was awesome to watch. My brother was out already with friends and got stuck on the roads in the flash freeze. Temps dropped from the upper 30s to low 20s very quickly. Ended up with around 4" in 45 mins as I recall.

Finally some people remember this event. The most intense squall I've ever seen and probably this region outside of garret county ever saw. I was 12 at the time. My father and I got caught in it. Snow was coming down so heavy I has to get out of the car to clear the windshield for him. We were about 10 minutes from home when it hit and took us 2 hours to get home on reisterstown rd. About 4 inches sounds right. Haven't seen anything close since. 

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6 minutes ago, HighStakes said:

Finally some people remember this event. The most intense squall I've ever seen and probably this region outside of garret county ever saw. I was 12 at the time. My father and I got caught in it. Snow was coming down so heavy I has to get out of the car to clear the windshield for him. We were about 10 minutes from home when it hit and took us 2 hours to get home on reisterstown rd. About 4 inches sounds right. Haven't seen anything close since. 

Only thing that comes close for me was the mid Feb squall in 2015. It wasn't as intense with the wind until the very end but insane snowfall rates. Ended up with 3" in less than an hour. Pretty much maximized that one- was hoping for an inch.  Very impressive for here.

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2 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Absolutely insane rates for this. I'm in awe of what I've seen.

Someone in South Watertown has 34.2" storm total (which is for the week I think). 

That's not snow depth (even though there are some huge piles) but man, we got smoked. 

That is awesome. Going up and experiencing some heavy LE has always been on my bucket list. Just never had the time. I was up in Rochester for a week in January 2015. It snowed every single day but that was just the norm there and it was nothing like that. And people acted like it was July at the beach or something. None of them even cared it was snowing while I was having weenie attacks every day.

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3 minutes ago, C.A.P.E. said:

Only thing that comes close for me was the mid Feb squall in 2015. It wasn't as intense with the wind until the very end but insane snowfall rates. Ended up with 3" in less than an hour. Pretty much maximized that one- was hoping for an inch.  Very impressive for here.

I got 2 inches from that one. No doubt a top notch squall. We got close to an inch yesterday and that was decent but it took an hour to achieve it 

Going back to the 85 squall, there was some weird stuff that happened right before it. It was damp out with some light rain and fog. Then it suddenly got breezy for short time, then suddenly dead calm and out of nowhere a few random flakes started falling. The flakes to this day were the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen.  That lasted for about a minute and then out of nowhere a sideways wall of white swept in front of us. Almost looked like a tornado sweeping across the road. Then total whiteout. 

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Just now, HighStakes said:

I got 2 inches from that one. No doubt a top notch squall. We got close to an inch yesterday and that was decent but it took an hour to achieve it 

Going back to the 85 squall, there was some weird stuff that happened right before it. It was damp out with some light rain and fog. Then it suddenly got breezy for short time, then suddenly dead calm and out of nowhere a few random flakes started falling. The flakes to this day were the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen.  That lasted for about a minute and then out of nowhere a sideways wall of white swept in front of us. Almost looked like a tornado sweeping across the road. Then total whiteout. 

This is exactly what I remember. Could not even discern actual snowflakes. It was completely insane.

I also recall it being mild and damp that evening. Temp was around 40 I think and a bit foggy. The suddenness of that event is something I will never forget. Was like a switch.

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Damn. In that second video those birds are hardcore man. I didnt even know birds could survive that kind of cold while flying around.

On a side note Fox 5 needs a lot of help not to bust horribly with their winter call. I need 21 inches to hit their minimum for my area. They (and we) need a hecs badly.

photo

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10 hours ago, HighStakes said:

I got 2 inches from that one. No doubt a top notch squall. We got close to an inch yesterday and that was decent but it took an hour to achieve it 

Going back to the 85 squall, there was some weird stuff that happened right before it. It was damp out with some light rain and fog. Then it suddenly got breezy for short time, then suddenly dead calm and out of nowhere a few random flakes started falling. The flakes to this day were the biggest snow flakes I've ever seen.  That lasted for about a minute and then out of nowhere a sideways wall of white swept in front of us. Almost looked like a tornado sweeping across the road. Then total whiteout. 

I did a search and this is the only reference I could find to that mega squall.

https://newspaperarchive.com/hanover-evening-sun-jan-26-1985-p-1/

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