Pittsburgh/Western PA WINTER ‘25/‘26

[southpark]

8 hours ago, MikeB_01 said:

welp, I tried really hard to get it there, but im really close to the colonel and we got about the same. 11.4"

 

An awesome storm - We beat the DWTD. Thats a win by itself

Agree!

Seems like everyone thought the ratios were going to be higher for a lot of the storm. They didn't materialize. This was still a great storm though.

[Burghblizz]

1 minute ago, southpark said:

I agree. A lot of these reports need to be taken with a grain of salt. That one from Monessen at 14" at 3pm for example...2 other reports at the same time for Monessen had 8". That seems more reasonable and in line with what others were reporting around the area at that time.

I was looking at some other reports this morning and saw a lot of reports with a pretty wide spread in the same areas. I think the wind was a factor, and a lot people probably weren’t measuring in multiple spots.
 

But just a great storm overall. I don’t  want to dwell on that  too much!

[southpark]

Just now, Burghblizz said:

I was looking at some other reports this morning and saw a lot of reports with a pretty wide spread in the same areas. I think the wind was a factor, and a lot people probably weren’t measuring in multiple spots.
 

But just a great storm overall. I don’t  want to dwell on that  too much!

Agree!

[colonel717]

10 minutes ago, southpark said:

Agree!

Seems like everyone thought the ratios were going to be higher for a lot of the storm. They didn't materialize. This was still a great storm though.

Credit to Mr. Wilson early on pointing that out. 

[colonel717]

40 minutes ago, RitualOfTheTrout said:

Morning everyone, hope you all got some rest, 00z Euro had this beast last night for next weekend:

Lets see how this one evolves. Get the ridge out west more north and shift the axis west and this whole progression probably happens further inland. As it stands we still get a glancing hit. Obviously all the caveats 5 days out etc, but something to track at least for now. 

Looks like 2016...

 

[Burghblizz]

1 minute ago, colonel717 said:

Looks like 2016...

 

I have a few candidates, but 2016 might be my least favorite storm ever. I probably put 15 hours into that over the course of a few days. The models were just on point as far as cutting the big totals off right near me. I had 5”. Twenty miles down the road had 10”. Thirty miles down the road had 15”. Fifty miles had 20”  (you get the picture)

The good news - several days to try to reel it in. And honestly, even a moderate snowfall with a deep snowpack wouldn’t be the worst thing. 

[Burghblizz]

7 minutes ago, colonel717 said:

Credit to Mr. Wilson early on pointing that out. 

He has good analysis. Like our own personal Dr. No that keeps us grounded on what may actually happen. 

[southpark]

1 minute ago, Burghblizz said:

I have a few candidates, but 2016 might be my least favorite storm ever. I probably put 15 hours into that over the course of a few days. The models were just on point as far as cutting the big totals off right near me. I had 5”. Twenty miles down the road had 10”. Thirty miles down the road had 15”. Fifty miles had 20”  (you get the picture)

The good news - several days to try to reel it in. And honestly, even a moderate snowfall with a deep snowpack wouldn’t be the worst thing. 

Yeah. I got 8" when family 15 mi to SE got double that. I would still take 8in again though in that set-up. Especially like you said with solid snowpack already on the ground and seems like February can be snowy.

[colonel717]

Its awesome looking out my home office window and seeing piles of snow in peoples yards.  Gotta go and shovel what fell later last night and this morning.

[colonel717]

6z EURO was further east. Insane rates.

[TimB]

14 minutes ago, Burghblizz said:

I have a few candidates, but 2016 might be my least favorite storm ever. I probably put 15 hours into that over the course of a few days. The models were just on point as far as cutting the big totals off right near me. I had 5”. Twenty miles down the road had 10”. Thirty miles down the road had 15”. Fifty miles had 20”  (you get the picture)

The good news - several days to try to reel it in. And honestly, even a moderate snowfall with a deep snowpack wouldn’t be the worst thing. 

At the end of the day I’d take another 2016 over something like 1/19/19. It could be a whole lot worse than getting a high end advisory snowfall.

[Rd9108]

Maybe ill change my tune in a few days but am I the only person who doesnt want another heavy event right away?

[colonel717]

Looking at this past storm, the Canadian and the UKie seemed to be the best in painting lower totals in the area not like the crazy GFS. They never showed much beyond 14 inches with Kuchara and around 10-11 with 10-1.

[colonel717]

1 minute ago, Rd9108 said:

Maybe ill change my tune in a few days but am I the only person who doesnt want another heavy event right away?

Nope.. with you. I want the excitement and build up but I don't want the shoveling that comes with it. I am sure those on Joshs board is wanting it.  

[Rd9108]

1 minute ago, colonel717 said:

Looking at this past storm, the Canadian and the UKie seemed to be the best in painting lower totals in the area not like the crazy GFS. They never showed much beyond 14 inches with Kuchara and around 10-11 with 10-1.

Early in tbe storm it was reported 30-1 ratios so the crazy ratios existed just not long enough to give people the crazy numbers. Plus the heavy band north of the city gave them a head start.

[TimB]

For those hours when the NWS was adding .4” to the total, the airport ASOS station was recording .08” liquid equivalent. Did our ratios drop as low as 5:1?

[TimB]

This would be brutal.

[Burghblizz]

21 minutes ago, TimB said:

For those hours when the NWS was adding .4” to the total, the airport ASOS station was recording .08” liquid equivalent. Did our ratios drop as low as 5:1?

Some people on X were busting their balls over that. I’m about 25 miles northeast of the airport, and it was certainly what I would call powdery snow during that time. 

[TimB]

1 minute ago, Burghblizz said:

Some people on X were busting their balls over that. I’m about 25 miles northeast of the airport, and it was certainly what I would call powdery snow during that time. 

The problem is, with the liquid equivalent and snow accumulation being observed at different sites, we don’t really have an apples to apples comparison. @TheClimateChanger does the NWS office have some sort of ASOS/AWOS or just snow obs and that’s it?

[Rd9108]

1 hour ago, southpark said:

I agree. A lot of these reports need to be taken with a grain of salt. That one from Monessen at 14" at 3pm for example...2 other reports at the same time for Monessen had 8". That seems more reasonable and in line with what others were reporting around the area at that time.

Somebody on Facebook had a measurement in Brighton Heights (city) of 18 inches. Obviously thats a drift. The city probbaly only got between 10-12.

[Burghblizz]

7 minutes ago, Rd9108 said:

Somebody on Facebook had a measurement in Brighton Heights (city) of 18 inches. Obviously thats a drift. The city probbaly only got between 10-12.

I saw lots of 12’s and 13’s around the city but nothing more - clearly someone stuck their yardstick in a drift, lol.

Years ago my house had a north facing yard in a fairly dense neighborhood. It seemed to have more snow collected during windy events. So perhaps that could be a factor. 

[Burghblizz]

22 minutes ago, TimB said:

The problem is, with the liquid equivalent and snow accumulation being observed at different sites, we don’t really have an apples to apples comparison. @TheClimateChanger does the NWS office have some sort of ASOS/AWOS or just snow obs and that’s it?

I didn’t realize that. But still, they have to be very close, and it’s not like there was any sleet there. 

[Ahoff]

If the Accuweather forecast is to pan out, it’d be six straight nights below zero.  One of the longest streaks.

[Burghblizz]

54 minutes ago, Rd9108 said:

Maybe ill change my tune in a few days but am I the only person who doesnt want another heavy event right away?

Im in the withdrawal phase right now, so i would take it! And snow on snow makes for great scenes.  But I get your point. Back to normal life for awhile then hopefully get something big to track again. 

[TimB]

6 minutes ago, Ahoff said:

If the Accuweather forecast is to pan out, it’d be six straight nights below zero.  One of the longest streaks.

Record is 7 in Feb 1899. We had 6 in Jan 1936 and a bunch of years with 4 (most recently the 1994 one that includes our all timer of -22).

[SteelCity87]

9 minutes ago, Burghblizz said:

Im in the withdrawal phase right now, so i would take it! And snow on snow makes for great scenes.  But I get your point. Back to normal life for awhile then hopefully get something big to track again. 

I get the withdrawal and a hint of post storm blues. Especially after the week of heavy tracking. Sign me up too 

[SteelCity87]

I measured 11" here then slept for 11 hours to top it off. 

[TheClimateChanger]

50 minutes ago, TimB said:

The problem is, with the liquid equivalent and snow accumulation being observed at different sites, we don’t really have an apples to apples comparison. @TheClimateChanger does the NWS office have some sort of ASOS/AWOS or just snow obs and that’s it?

Not sure about that. I think the official numbers come from the ASOS, except for snowfall. Although they could be adjusted perhaps if there's an undercount? I know Denver used to measure snowfall at the former Stapleton Airport, even though official records were taken at DIA so there could be fairly large discontinuity between the precipitation and snowfall.

[RitualOfTheTrout]

55 minutes ago, Burghblizz said:

Im in the withdrawal phase right now, so i would take it! And snow on snow makes for great scenes.  But I get your point. Back to normal life for awhile then hopefully get something big to track again. 

Yeah, I am in withdrawal too, I'll do anything for the next storm tracking fix! I would hate if there were some super rare triple phaser and we completely miss out, but I'd also be ok with getting fringed... probably. 

I will say though the upcoming cold and every other day light refreshers do help take the edge off a little bit. 

[MikeB_01]

some mood snow flying around out there right now.