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Spooky Season (October Disco Thread)


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59 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

I thought it was after Opal....I remember the frist snow event for my area was a rain to snow mess in latter November, which lest a few inches of slush.

I was up at UML back then, Merrimack Valley, which I know you're familiar with that setting ha.

We started getting deep radiationally cold nights with cold still air dead fall of foliage from around peak color dates on...  I recall that specifically around mid October, 24 F low type mornings with leafs flitting down.  The cold clips the leaf stems, probably because phase change expanding the freezing water fractures.  There was new leaf litter directly beneath trees while sloped morning sun cut ineffectively sideways.  It was annoyingly cold having to crossing the Univ Ave bridge expanse for early classes that year.  The water trickles that run down the granite blocks along the north/shadow side of the aqueduct's fascia had begun to freeze - I recall thinking that must be early behavior.  Well before Halloween and by the end of the month ... the days were no longer rising past the upper 40s. The chilly days and shadow side the ice survived, still in tact late in afternoons.

Something was in the air that the season to hurriedly leaving warmth beyond.  In early November, we did have a day - I think - that made a run at 65, but it did not last. In fact, the next cool down was the first 'smells like snow' air.  As it were, we had a mix event that put down 1-2" of sleet mixed with mangled snow and cold rain.   That froze to the ground as it went even colder by mid month, when we had another more significant 3-5" sleet and snow event.  Temps tanked around then.  Clearly a western limb -NAO circulation mode was holding proxy over the temperatures, SE Can and New England.  I think if memory also recalls, this was not digging SW into the CONUS very far at that time.   It was sort of gradated, with winter here, prior to Thanks Giggedy, while still trying to hold on to mild conditions at Pittsburgh type of thing.  But it was pressing... by early December, everyone was bricked earth with a lot places having snow pack all the way to PA.   We were some 15" of snow pack, in single digit cold By Dec 10, and the "MRF" model runs were consistently producing snow events out to the end of the 10 day visions.  

As it were, in the Merrimack Valley, we really lost the ground around Nov 15-ish for good... did not see it until the big winter bust up thaw in latter January.   At one time we had 33" on the level snow pack shortly after the "Megalopolis Blizzard".  In fact, there was one more coastal that put down 6-8" wet snow over top, and I remember a lot of local media headline warnings to clear snow from any roof loading.  *8" of blue glory on a historic pack tends to cause structural failures..etc...  But during that last event, there were already signs that a big change was right there in the charts and indices, and well...  two Minnesota bombs and 10 days later, all that snow was down to just field puddles, while steam rolled off snow piles.  

Winter tried to make a comeback in February... and did - but with the memory of the early loaded blitz so awesome, it eclipses the memory some.  I remember still getting wet snow events into early April and not liking it that late.   But I never do... I'm usually pretty checked out by March.  

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