New England snowstorm memories.

[Fozz]

11 hours ago, The 4 Seasons said:

Today (and yesterday) is the 20th anniversary of the Feb 11-12th, 2006 Blizzard. An intense band from BOS to NYC dropped 16-27" of snow at rates over 4" per hour during the early morning and afternoon hours of the 12th. Widespread thunder was reported in the NYC area and i believe they picked up 10" of snow in 2 hours. In honor of this historic blizzard i recently re-mapped the entire event and included a new L. Northeast map with all the climo sites. 

I got a full radar animation on our site along with a bunch of other images related to the storm. 

Fun fact: This storm broke the all-time record in NYC with 26.9" that held for about 10 years when it was finally broken in 2016 with 27.5". Initially the record held as the final storm total in 2016 was 26.8", missed it by one tenth of an inch. But after nearly 2-3 months later, OKX reanalyzed the event and based on surrounding obs and radar they determined that it was an under report and changed it to 27.5". So the NYC record is technically an estimate rather than a direct ob. 

https://www.jdjweatherconsulting.com/feb-11-12-2006

I lived further south during the Feb 2006 storm (and it was a good one even there with 15”), but one specific thing I remember was one of the TWC mets asking a guy in Boston about the upcoming storm (just before it started) and he basically said “It’s not going to be that bad, we’re only getting a foot” and I chuckled. As I recall even the TWC met was a little stunned after hearing that.

[ORH_wxman]

8 hours ago, ma blizzard said:

As a young weenie in 3rd grade I remember 2/5/01 coming in like a wall with big rates right off the bat mid afternoon ish 

Yeah it was just after lunch. Prob between 1-2pm. IIRC ORH went from nothing to heavy snow inside 30 min and it stayed heavy snow on official ASOS for like 10-12 hours straight. Just a massive 10-12 hour crush job and then it was over. There wasn’t a ton of snow between that storm and the Mar 4-6, 2001 storm…but it mostly stayed OTG. Then March went gangbusters. 

[H2Otown_WX]

@The 4 Seasons you dropped the ball with missing the 25th anniversary of this bad boy:

 

EDIT: Oops, just found the post 

[The 4 Seasons]

20 minutes ago, H2Otown_WX said:

@The 4 Seasons you dropped the ball with missing the 25th anniversary of this bad boy:

 

EDIT: Oops, just found the post 

Foot meet mouth

 

I could never forget that one. Ima do something special for Mar 2001

[H2Otown_WX]

9 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

Foot meet mouth

 

I could never forget that one. Ima do something special for Mar 2001

You and @Sey-Mour Snow should do a green screen re-enactment of Bruce Schwoleger and the other dude with the mustache.

[codfishsnowman]

On 2/11/2026 at 4:21 AM, The 4 Seasons said:

We just crossed the 25th anniversary of what is my #1 all-time fav snowstorm. @CoastalWx just linked me to a page about the 25th anniversary of the great Apr 1, 97 blizzard and it got me to thinking about this one. It doesn't get mentioned very often and we've certainly had bigger storms, even recently. However, Feb 2001 is no slouch and a lot of areas received 1-2ft+ in a short amount of time. This storm as well as Dec 2000 and Mar 2001 are what got me interested in meteorology at young age. As Scott as mentioned with Apr 1, the nostalgia and way i felt that day can never be duplicated. Totals alone may not seem like that big of a deal but this stands out and holds my #1 spot for several reasons:

• Over performer to the max - Forecasts just a couple days before were for rain/snow showers with <1" possible . The day before, in the morning a WS Watch went up for 4-7". And even the morning of the event the forecast was only 5-7". Local news snowfall maps were generally 3-5/5-8/8-12 south to north. 12 hours later 14-25" of heavy wet snow blanketed the state. Road crews were caught off guard and secondary roads remained unplowed for over a day. 
• Flake size & Rates - To this day i haven't seen flakes that large, half-dollar sized aggregates stuck together. I read many reports about people noticing this during the beginning of the storm. Snowfall rates of 2-4" per hour late morning into early afternoon.
• Thundersnow - First time ever i witnessed thundersnow and at the time i had no idea that was even possible during a winter storm. I just happened to be looking outside right during dusk about 5pm or so and watched as a CG strike hit just a couple hundred feet away with heavy snow/sleet following it.
• Timing - The timing was perfect starting just after 9AM and lasted through the entire day with over a foot of snow by dark. Schools were closed for 2 days with a delay on the third.

I just finished replotting this event for the 25th anniversary and included a new lower northeast map as well. There's a full radar loop up on the site and surface animation but i really can't find much on this storm so if anyone has any free use images or radar please post em here.

https://www.jdjweatherconsulting.com/feb-5-2001

 

 

I remember just watching TWC and seeing the radar just exploding south of long island and off jersey. I lived in Bristol CT at the time and it was awesome. Snow instantly moderate to heavy with decent growth the whole storm. Some very heavy thunder snow with frequent lightning later in the evening. 18-19 inches but anyone doing six hour measurements would have had 20 or more. It was a denser snow too with temps in the upper 20s/30 degrees. We had a six to nine inch glacier already on the ground from past events so otg totals were 24 to 28 inches and that was deeper than any snowpack I had in Jan of 96 after that big one (21-24 otg, 15-17 storm).

[codfishsnowman]

19 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

Foot meet mouth

 

I could never forget that one. Ima do something special for Mar 2001

I can still hear the sleet against the windows in my mother's basement that Sunday night . I'll save my thoughts on that Monday for the real anniversary.

[The 4 Seasons]

13 minutes ago, H2Otown_WX said:

You and @Sey-Mour Snow should do a green screen re-enactment of Bruce Schwoleger and the other dude with the mustache.

We do, uh have a rather big storm on our hands,  it'll rival the Blizzard of 1978...

EVEN STRONGER

[H2Otown_WX]

49 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

We do, uh have a rather big storm on our hands,  it'll rival the Blizzard of 1978...

EVEN STRONGER

Imagine going on live TV and saying a storm will rival the Blizzard of '78 with 2001 NWP at your disposal 

[The 4 Seasons]

7 minutes ago, H2Otown_WX said:

Imagine going on live TV and saying a storm will rival the Blizzard of '78 with 2001 NWP at your disposal 

Eta, Avn, NGM, NOGAPS 

People think the NAM and HRRR is bad, they have idea about the NGM

[The 4 Seasons]

14 minutes ago, H2Otown_WX said:

Imagine going on live TV and saying a storm will rival the Blizzard of '78 with 2001 NWP at your disposal 

That was the sentiment at the time

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION..FINAL AFTN..
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
414 PM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

...SEVERE STORM COMPARABLE OR WILL EXCEED THE BLIZZARD OF 78 FOR
SNE WITH 60 HR DURATION OF SNW AND MAX INTENSITY OF WORST CONDS 18Z
TUE-00Z WED AND HURRICANE FORCE WIND GUSTS ARE HIGHLY LIKELY TO OCCUR
PARTS OF E MA COAST...DRAG

 

[vortex95]

 

On 2/12/2026 at 8:44 PM, CoastalWx said:

I was supposed to get 24-30

Supposed to??  According to who or what?  Did all models show 24-30" for NZW or did you just pick the one that showed the most?   Scott gets over a foot and still complaining? 

So when Hamden got 40" in the Bliz of '13 and you only got what, 26"?  You were mad then as well? 

Talk about spoiled.  I WANT THE MOST ALL THE TIME!!!"      Recently get buried all-time in Jan-Fen 2015 and 2 years later still complaining.

Coming soon, "the ratios were 'supposed to' be 20:1 and were only 12:1!  So I "lost" and for `12" instead of 20"!

 

[vortex95]

On 2/12/2026 at 10:32 PM, The 4 Seasons said:

You're doin better than Joe i think he forgot Jan 26 already. 

I guess 4"/hr was a bit conservative. That seems almost unbelievable I've heard of 7-8"/hr but damn

Wow, never heard of that outside of LES or Rockies/Sierra-Nevada upslope.  Ayer MA has 8"/hr on 12/23/97 and the 12/8/05 was up to 9"/hr near Andover MA.

So was it on the mountain at Sunday River  at 3000 ft?

[vortex95]

2 hours ago, The 4 Seasons said:

That was the sentiment at the time

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION..FINAL AFTN..
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
414 PM EST SUN MAR 4 2001

...SEVERE STORM COMPARABLE OR WILL EXCEED THE BLIZZARD OF 78 FOR
SNE WITH 60 HR DURATION OF SNW AND MAX INTENSITY OF WORST CONDS 18Z
TUE-00Z WED AND HURRICANE FORCE WIND GUSTS ARE HIGHLY LIKELY TO OCCUR
PARTS OF E MA COAST...DRAG

 

"Will exceed?"  That is unwise to forecast an all-time record storm w/ absolute wording.  It is so hard to say "may approach?"  That is the more reasonable thing to do, rather than go all out.  This sets one up for big failure in the eyes of the public if it does not happen esp, when comparing it to a benchmark storm for a region.  The psychological impact here is huge.

Was 40-50" explicitly forecast  by any model for parts of SNE?  Were storm tides forecast to match or exceed the Bliz of 78?  Was there a 1055 mb high in place NW of New England w/ a 70 mb plus high/low difference?

Was the synoptic pattern over NAMR similar to the Biz of 78, b/c that 500 ridge/trough evolution was exceptional, unlike anything in the KU cases.  You not only had a massive cut-off low form just S of New England, but a massive cut off high form at the same time over western Canada.

The worst case scenario is the least likely to happen in any given storm situation, so you better have a darn good reason to go for it.  The notion "better safe than sorry" is a tired and invalid excuse.  Going for worse all the time has real world consequences and impacts, and you will be wrong more often than not.

Extraordinary events require extraordinary circumstances.  

 

[Ginx snewx]

2 hours ago, vortex95 said:

Wow, never heard of that outside of LES or Rockies/Sierra-Nevada upslope.  Ayer MA has 8"/hr on 12/23/97 and the 12/8/05 was up to 9"/hr near Andover MA.

So was it on the mountain at Sunday River  at 3000 ft?

1500 slopeside. Convective city tsnow for an hour 

[The 4 Seasons]

3 hours ago, vortex95 said:

"Will exceed?"  That is unwise to forecast an all-time record storm w/ absolute wording.  It is so hard to say "may approach?"  That is the more reasonable thing to do, rather than go all out.  This sets one up for big failure in the eyes of the public if it does not happen esp, when comparing it to a benchmark storm for a region.  The psychological impact here is huge.

Was 40-50" explicitly forecast  by any model for parts of SNE?  Were storm tides forecast to match or exceed the Bliz of 78?  Was there a 1055 mb high in place NW of New England w/ a 70 mb plus high/low difference?

Was the synoptic pattern over NAMR similar to the Biz of 78, b/c that 500 ridge/trough evolution was exceptional, unlike anything in the KU cases.  You not only had a massive cut-off low form just S of New England, but a massive cut off high form at the same time over western Canada.

The worst case scenario is the least likely to happen in any given storm situation, so you better have a darn good reason to go for it.  The notion "better safe than sorry" is a tired and invalid excuse.  Going for worse all the time has real world consequences and impacts, and you will be wrong more often than not.

Extraordinary events require extraordinary circumstances.  

 

I mean it's an AFD in 2001, saying it on TV to tens of thousands of people is a very  different thing.

And the next AFD you can hear the disappointment and fear in drags words. Forecasts didn't change all that much but did go down a notch

[The 4 Seasons]

4 hours ago, vortex95 said:

"Will exceed?"  That is unwise to forecast an all-time record storm w/ absolute wording.  It is so hard to say "may approach?"  That is the more reasonable thing to do, rather than go all out.  This sets one up for big failure in the eyes of the public if it does not happen esp, when comparing it to a benchmark storm for a region.  The psychological impact here is huge.

Was 40-50" explicitly forecast  by any model for parts of SNE?  Were storm tides forecast to match or exceed the Bliz of 78?  Was there a 1055 mb high in place NW of New England w/ a 70 mb plus high/low difference?

Was the synoptic pattern over NAMR similar to the Biz of 78, b/c that 500 ridge/trough evolution was exceptional, unlike anything in the KU cases.  You not only had a massive cut-off low form just S of New England, but a massive cut off high form at the same time over western Canada.

The worst case scenario is the least likely to happen in any given storm situation, so you better have a darn good reason to go for it.  The notion "better safe than sorry" is a tired and invalid excuse.  Going for worse all the time has real world consequences and impacts, and you will be wrong more often than not.

Extraordinary events require extraordinary circumstances.  

 

Radar

https://www.jdjweatherconsulting.com/mar-4-6-2001