January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[SomeguyfromTakomaPark]

Just now, Eskimo Joe said:

 

Our road crews are working the best they can but this is very heavy sleet and snow.

Oh yeah no disrespect to them.  Normally in this area things melt off. We aren’t built for this road crew wise like upstate or Boston. 

[nw baltimore wx]

4 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said:

Good call - a few minutes after reading this some very light snow is falling. 

Same here. @Eskimo Joe mentioned it was possible last night.

[poolz1]

Didn't separate sleet from snow qpf just due to so much mixing.  1.58" total.  7" otg.

[Eskimo Joe]

14 minutes ago, Imgoinhungry said:

Any thoughts on when mcps reopens, eskimo?

Nope every parking lot and sidewalk is a sheet of ice

[poolz1]

13 hours ago, Chris78 said:

@poolz1 @Bubbler86

What did you all end up with?

I had just under 7" prior to the switch over and atleast 1.5" of sleet. Maybe a little more

Thinking I'm going with 8.5 

Very similar.  Just difficult to measure.  Had around 6" snow and 2"-2.25" sleet.  I was going to go with 8" total.  Some of the worst stuff to shovel.

[baltosquid]

Pixie dust light snow in canton

[Miss Pixee]

25 minutes ago, SomeguyfromTakomaPark said:

Oh yeah no disrespect to them.  Normally in this area things melt off. We aren’t built for this road crew wise like upstate or Boston. 

Completely different topography/climo to negotiate here with hills, narrow streets and more ice. Massive equipment we can't use here makes the difference. I've seen people in Chicago abandoning cars on the freeway. You're only as good as equipment no matter what location. It's annoying when people in other climo say stuff because its powdery snow, wide flat open and monster trucks can make easy/clean passes. It's got nothing to do with the public's ability to drive.

[SomeguyfromTakomaPark]

2 minutes ago, Miss Pixee said:

Completely different topography/climo to negotiate here with hills, narrow streets and more ice. Massive equipment we can't use here makes the difference. I've seen people in Chicago abandoning cars on the freeway. You're only as good as equipment no matter what location. It's annoying when people in other climo say stuff because its powdery snow, wide flat open and monster trucks can make easy/clean passes. It's got nothing to do with the public's ability to drive.

Yeah and normally here it warms up in a few days, we rarely have a week of Adirondacks in Feb temps after a storm. 

[grhqofb5]

Son just tried to stick a ruler into the snow on patio table, couldn’t punch it through.  Other son shoveled a bunch of driveways with his friends for $$$ Yesterday but won’t do ours for less than $50 now.  Dog still won’t take a crap.  Wife has yelled at all 3 this morning.  Trying to work remotely.  This is going to be a hell of a day.

[adelphi_sky]

So, silly me, I shoveled the snow and figured I'd get to the sleet this morning. I'm 288lbs. My feet did not go through the 2 inches of sleet. So, ummm. Yeah. I'll throw some salt on it. See what happens later. But this stuff is no going anywhere. If temps get close to 30 degrees today, it will cause some melting but make everything even more supplely when it refreezes. 

[baltosquid]

Clouds associated with this band of flurries are rolling in. Picking up a little. Gorgeous out. And dangerous!

[aldie 22]

Getting some light snow here in Stephenson

[clskinsfan]

2 minutes ago, aldie 22 said:

Getting some light snow here in Stephenson

Always ahead of me man

[Kay]

Flurries

[jayyy]

Went to sleep, and not only was the 0z euro good, 6z was insane too. EPS on board. Oh boy. And here I thought I’d catch up on sleep this week.

[dallen7908]

12 minutes ago, adelphi_sky said:

So, silly me, I shoveled the snow and figured I'd get to the sleet this morning. I'm 288lbs. My feet did not go through the 2 inches of sleet. So, ummm. Yeah. I'll throw some salt on it. See what happens later. But this stuff is no going anywhere. If temps get close to 30 degrees today, it will cause some melting but make everything even more supplely when it refreezes. 

Yes, very 1993-like with respect to how solid the snow/sleet/glaze is.  I was able to walk the dogs on 4" of sleet this morning without falling through or leaving an imprint.  However, we did fall through in places where there was 4" of sleet on top of 6" of snow.  

We haven't seen any plows on our street yet - and we're not on a cul de sac. I could try to guess when schools will open, but I wouldn't laugh at a guess of February 12th.  I grew up in northeast Iowa and my dad always talked about January 1936, when schools were closed all month. 

[coolio]

Shoveled last night after the last game. Here in S. Arlington we got about 6–8 inches. Everyone said you should shovel while the sleet was still coming down. I didn’t — and honestly, it wasn’t too bad.

The bottom layer of snow was powdery but semi‑compacted. The top layer, though, was about 4 inches of really dense, compacted sleet. Sometimes I’d break off long sheets of it with the other side of the shovel. It was heavy, but if I had started shoveling midday, all I would’ve had tonight was that solid sleet layer. The early snow actually helped me move the top crust.

If I had shoveled midday, would it have glazed over and needed one of those flat ice spades? I think so, but who knows.

Anyway, that’s my experience — could be wrong.

[SomeguyfromTakomaPark]

This stuff is bulletproof, a pickup just came down my block and didn’t event dent this stuff. You could ice skate. 

[baltosquid]

My strategy has been wedge the shovel under it to break off a chunk and carry it away by hand… thick gloves are worth their weight in gold. Not a lot of places to pile this stuff though!

[MillvilleWx]

37 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

I went with 8.3. But I know it was more than that if I been religious about clearing my snow board.

I can tell you we got over 9” for our areas. We went with 9.4” official. It was just hours on end of moderate precip throughout the event. Never got heavy, but never got truly light either. Just steady as could be in reflectivity. 

[aldie 22]

After compaction not too bad

[clskinsfan]

Not looking forward to shoveling the snow plow wall at the bottom of my driveway. I am getting too old for this crap man.

[grhqofb5]

11 hours ago, AlexD1990 said:

Well you can't just say that without a pic of canine Jesus 

Dog won’t even go outside now haha

[katabatic]

I've never had to dig out with a pick ax before, but the colossal amount of sleet demanded it. Hard to believe that Wisp recorded 19" and about 10 miles south, and at about the same elevation, I recorded a third of that. Began the day at 27.9 and it's now 7 degrees. Regardless of accumulation, it's about as deep of winter as I've seen around here. 

[Interstate]

Wasn’t too bad. Took me around an hour last night.  I am current at 21.4 degrees which is my high for the storm  

[adelphi_sky]

Temps may rise above freezing at this rate. Forecast says 26. Already at 27 and rising. 

[Interstate]

1 minute ago, adelphi_sky said:

Temps may rise above freezing at this rate. Forecast says 26. Already at 27 and rising. 

I doubt it. Is cold is coming. Temp should start falling throughout the day. 

[LeesburgWx]

Who's ready for below zero?! 

[MillvilleWx]

Looking at my forecast and verification via LSR’s, I think I did a decent job in capturing the event. I wish I stuck with my higher totals I had for the region because those verified. QPF was pretty incredible and helped a ton, even with all the sleet. Overall, not bad. I give myself an A- or B+. I’ll take it. Any feedback is welcome  

[adelphi_sky]

5 minutes ago, Interstate said:

I doubt it. Is cold is coming. Temp should start falling throughout the day. 

I hope so. At 29F right now. lol It's like someone took out a hair drier. lol