January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[Snowciopathic Snow Bro]

5 minutes ago, nj2va said:

WTF is that DCA measurement?  That is absurdly low

Normal for them.  Frankly I'm shocked they didn't report partly cloudy and 72F.

[WxUSAF]

~2” liquid at all 3 airports. We actually overperformed by a healthy amount.

[nj2va]

1 minute ago, balltermen said:

you surprised?   I think i predicted 7.1"

yesterday when things were looking good for 8"+.  They measure on a small strip of grass right in front of Terminal A and they have a history of not really caring.  They probably just stuck a ruler in the ground.   They didn't get only 1.5" of sleet. 

Plenty of 8"+ reports nearby 

Oh yeah not surprised - but such a joke. They don’t even stick a ruler in the ground…they stare out the window and take a wild guess I bet.

[Jebman]

I had so much fun reading all the posts tracking this storm then watching folks get buried by snow and sleet. Buda got smacked, too. We had a glacier just not as deep as the Eastern US has.

[Snowciopathic Snow Bro]

2 minutes ago, nj2va said:

Oh yeah not surprised - but such a joke. They don’t even stick a ruler in the ground…they stare out the window and take a wild guess I bet.

Stevie Wonder was their celebrity guest observer today.

[mattie g]

1 minute ago, WxUSAF said:

~2” liquid at all 3 airports. We actually overperformed by a healthy amount.

Biggest QPF producer since...no idea! And it happened when one of the coldest airmasses in recent memory decided to make itself known. We lucked out big time!

[wxmeddler]

2 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

~2” liquid at all 3 airports. We actually overperformed by a healthy amount.

Yes, this is honestly the big takeaway. The ensemble means were all 1.3-1.6" and we passed that significantly. 

[J.Mike]

50.4% of the lower 48 now covered by snow. WOW.

[balltermen]

2 minutes ago, nj2va said:

Oh yeah not surprised - but such a joke. They don’t even stick a ruler in the ground…they stare out the window and take a wild guess I bet.

FAA should have ceded this years ago.  It's the not caring. It doesn't really matter if I got 7" or 8", but they're creating an official body of record. I don't think eyeballing it is acceptable 

[Amped]

4 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

~2” liquid at all 3 airports. We actually overperformed by a healthy amount.

Its unusual to overperorm with that. I expected a bigger dryslot given the low track.

[hstorm]

23 minutes ago, George BM said:

Airport storm totals updated this evening:

DCA: 6.8"

IAD: 7.8"

BWI: 11.1"

IAD report seems low. We ended up with somewhere between 9.5 and 10 and we are typically pretty close to IAD on accumulations. Would be surprised if they had 2” less than us. 

[Steve25]

So by the looks of it we are counting the sleet measurements in our snowfall totals for the season? 

[Scraff]

Sure there was some wind and maybe some blowing and drifting before the sleet hit, but WTF!? This was straight out as far as my arm could reach on my deck without me falling face first into it. I’m not saying that’s my official call, but I’m just impressed. Period. 

[MillvilleWx]

26 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Question: If I measured 5" of snow before the flip, then measured 4.5" of sleet, that's a total of 9.5" even if I only measure 6.5" after the precip ends, right?

Correct! 

[goodwidp]

Are there any websites that have updated "official" observed snowfall totals aside from the NWS Public Info. Statements?

[mdhokie]

11 minutes ago, Scraff said:

Sure there was some wind and maybe some blowing and drifting before the sleet hit, but WTF!? This was straight out as far as my arm could reach on my deck without me falling face first into it. I’m not saying that’s my official call, but I’m just impressed. Period. 

Is there a roof overhang nearby? I noticed a lot extra sleet around my house under the gutters and a foot or so out. All the sleet from the roof was sliding down and piling up. 

I measured 6" of snow when I woke up before the sleet started. Who knows how much sleet, maybe another 5-6"? 

[balltermen]

18 minutes ago, hstorm said:

IAD report seems low. We ended up with somewhere between 9.5 and 10 and we are typically pretty close to IAD on accumulations. Would be surprised if they had 2” less than us. 

I think sterling measures for IAD at their office and they do NOT under measure lol. so maybe it is a mistake or they were just in a bad location 

[JakkelWx]

Still ripping here in Harriman NY, just SE of Kiryas Joel. Staying at a hotel until tomorrow morning. DEEP SNOW! Eyeballing 20 inches OTG. Started snowing at 5 degrees, and stayed there until about 3 PM. Now 9 degrees and 1/4 SM visibility. One of my all time favorite snowstorms.

[mob1]

27 minutes ago, Steve25 said:

So by the looks of it we are counting the sleet measurements in our snowfall totals for the season? 

That's always been the case. NYC saw similar totals to BWI, and a decent amount of it was sleet as well (probably 2-3 inches). 

[IronTy]

What a day.  We drove back from DCL to Calvert this afternoon.  It was a surreal drive, like mad max.  All the way from DCL to the beltway I encountered less than ten cars on my side of the interstate.   It was like some nuclear winter or something.  Nobody anywhere.  Roads were slick but whatever it was worth it to have zero traffic.   ...and then came the beltway.  Traffic was minimal but then we got stuck behind a plow train that I kid you not had at least 25 plows in it.  No joke.  So that was 90min of 5mph torture being stuck behind it.  Then they all went North on I-95 and it was free sailing the rest of the way.  

 

Got home to moderate rain and a solid 10" of slush and snow in Calvert.  I decided to snow blow the driveway before it had a chance to turn into a glacier tonight, and tomorrow I have to prep for a Tuesday colonoscopy so I figure I wouldnt be up for much physical work tomorrow.  Going to sleep well tonight.  

[GreyHat]

Magnolia Delaware 

32F

Passing .41" freezing rain 

[ravensrule]

11 minutes ago, JakkelWx said:

Still ripping here in Harriman NY, just SE of Kiryas Joel. Staying at a hotel until tomorrow morning. DEEP SNOW! Eyeballing 20 inches OTG. Started snowing at 5 degrees, and stayed there until about 3 PM. Now 9 degrees and 1/4 SM visibility. One of my all time favorite snowstorms.

Send my regards to my peeps in KJ. 

[SnowDreamer]

29 minutes ago, goodwidp said:

Are there any websites that have updated "official" observed snowfall totals aside from the NWS Public Info. Statements?

This is my go-to, but it can often take up to a day to fully update after a storm. 
https://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/interactive/html/map.html?var=snowfall_24_h&snap=1&bgvar=dem&shdvar=shading&o9=1&o13=1

[MN Transplant]

I’m going to call it 8.5” total.  Insane precip at 2.33”.  

[NorthArlington101]

8.4” storm total, that was a lot of fun today.  Beats out similar 8” storms that were all snow. 

I was gonna go with 7.5” off vibes but I need to see what the spotters around me do. Initial reports made no sense… one 7.0” in Anacosta at 12:30 and a 7.5” in NW… math not mathing.

Took a super quick walk and it’s a glacier. My fairly main DC roads are not awesome. Wonder if we really get back to regular commute on Tuesday.

[bncho]

3 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

I’m going to call it 8.5” total.  Insane precip at 2.33”.  

12:1 ratios = 28" of snow!

[MillvilleWx]

9 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

I’m going to call it 8.5” total.  Insane precip at 2.33”.  

That is incredible. What a storm 

[jayyy]

Still ripping here in Harriman NY, just SE of Kiryas Joel. Staying at a hotel until tomorrow morning. DEEP SNOW! Eyeballing 20 inches OTG. Started snowing at 5 degrees, and stayed there until about 3 PM. Now 9 degrees and 1/4 SM visibility. One of my all time favorite snowstorms.

Hometown homie! My parents live in Middletown. I grew up up there. Happy for you guys. 13-14” spotter reports @ 3 pm in the area so 18-20” is certainly possible

Edit - I see you may be visiting the area. Nice chase!

[mattie g]

11 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

I’m going to call it 8.5” total.  Insane precip at 2.33”.  

Gotta say...that seems kind of low for the amount of liquid equivalent since folks around us started off with 5" or so of snow (depending on where you are).

[JakkelWx]

5 minutes ago, jayyy said:

Hometown homie! My parents live in Middletown. I grew up up there. Happy for you guys. 13-14” spotter reports @ 3 pm in the area so 18-20” is certainly possible

Makes sense, after about 4:30 or 5 PM it started coming down heavy again with over an inch/hour rates for a few hours. Bigger flakes after 2 hours of poor growth. I had about 15" at 3 PM. Looking like just over 20 or even 21" now.