"Don’t do it" 2026 Blizzard obs, updates and pictures.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, OceanStWx said:

I actually can't myself. I know GYX has internal documents we keep of the top 10 lists, I know BOX has similar. But that's what I mean about them not being digitized. Without asking BOX directly, you can't really search on your own.

Over the years I've assembled top-15 snowfalls for sites from Wash D.C. to CAR, using several sources.  Mostly the Utah State site until it became quite cumbersome 7-8 years ago, then using the CLIMOD2 site from Cornell, also some tables seen on these forums.  I'm sure there re errors and omissions, but it's been a fun task, especially when I get to revise lists due to recent events.

The very light snow has stopped, but I can see a tiny bit still clinging to the Forester's windshield.  GYX had reduced yesterday's 3-5 forecast down to 1-3 this morning - moving in the right direction!

[EastonSN+]

10 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

Down here 

Kind of shocked 2017/2018 was not snowier.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

1 minute ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

There were signs but they got lost in the hype

They were all sorts of red flags for lots of areas, but people tend to ignore such things.
Still a great storm for most of Eastern 1/3 of MA.  

[dendrite]

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

 

Unfortunately ASOS is king, and that liquid is what goes in for the climate. Even if the snow observer reports more (or less). 

35” on 0.67” so far then 

[mcglups]

Arborvitaes in the backyard.  The top 2 feet of snow is actually quite dry and just the initial layer is medium wetness. Haven't heard a plow since 5am, kinda peaceful just to enjoy it!

[Chrisrotary12]

29 minutes ago, Greg said:

I'm being sincere here. Not doubting you just look at the depth change on the far-right column and one can clearly quite a discrepancy. If one measures fluffy snow every 6 hours thee will be inflated totals. This is why I believe it's more a snow depth than a snowfall

Isn’t measuring snow every 6 hours the NWS recommendation?!?!?

[78Blizzard]

I don't know all the models that go into the NBM, but given the projections from the GFS, Euro, and other standard models which appear to have missed the mark by a substantial amount, perhaps we should start looking at some of these other models, especially for storms like this. 

[moneypitmike]

9 minutes ago, dendrite said:

PVD 1/40”

It would really be a shame if they don't get 3' on the event.

Actually--if that's on the ground, is there an eventtotal for them  I figure there must be some compacting of today's snow in there.

[The 4 Seasons]

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

 

Unfortunately ASOS is king, and that liquid is what goes in for the climate. Even if the snow observer reports more (or less). 

I've been looking back at a lot of high wind blizzards...2015..2022 etc and noticed 30-70:1 ratios at the climate sites based on those liquid totals. Shame because its obviously wrong. 

Skews the overall climate data

[Great Snow 1717]

2 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

They were all sorts of red flags for lots of areas, but people tend to ignore such things.
Still a great storm for most of Eastern 1/3 of MA.  

Here in the Merrimack Valley it has been a good storm but not great....

[The 4 Seasons]

4 minutes ago, dendrite said:

35” on 0.67” so far then 

what 52:1 isn't realistic? Snow was fluffy, c'mon.

[Henry's Weather]

8 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

There were signs but they got lost in the hype

When the GFS slipped east, we should have known 

[GuitarFreak]

Fisheye view of the snow 

[dendrite]

Just now, moneypitmike said:

It would really be a shame if they don't get 3' on the event.

Actually--if that's on the ground, is there an eventtotal for them  I figure there must be some compacting of today's snow in there.

Yeah…they reported 32.8” at 1pm. The ASOS ob had a depth gain of 32” at that time. So their official is running a little over the depth change. So it’s probably 35-36” right now.

[ROOSTA]

Should be a snowdrift scale for Extreme Winter Events...LOL

Who's complaining now?

[Thunderblizzard]

14" or so here. Not bad but pales in comparison to the numbers out east... wow.

[dendrite]

2 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

what 52:1 isn't realistic? Snow was fluffy, c'mon.

Winter s.w.e. is so bad at a lot of sites. Pure junk.

[weathafella]

1 hour ago, Masswx said:

 

Beats 10” of sand right?

[The 4 Seasons]

Just now, dendrite said:

Winter s.w.e. is so bad at a lot of sites. Pure junk.

ive recently learned that this year. Unusable data. 

go with cocorahs/COOP

go with God

[OceanStWx]

3 minutes ago, 78Blizzard said:

I don't know all the models that go into the NBM, but given the projections from the GFS, Euro, and other standard models which appear to have missed the mark by a substantial amount, perhaps we should start looking at some of these other models, especially for storms like this. 

The NBM includes just about everything. In the extended it's primarily the ensembles members and then starts to bring in meso models in higher weights as you get inside 36 hours.

There is dynamic weighting based on recent model performance (which is great when the pattern is stable, not so great when big changes occur). And some NBM fields are bias corrected on a grid by grid basis.

Overall it's pretty good, but there are blind spots that humans can still improve on.

[SouthCoastMA]

27 minutes ago, moneypitmike said:

 

It will never snow again in Mattapoisett during my lifetime.

Getting close to its annual average with one storm is impressive. 

[Hoth]

5 minutes ago, GuitarFreak said:

Fisheye view of the snow 

It's like a 90s Puff Daddy video.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

[The 4 Seasons]

1 minute ago, OceanStWx said:

The NBM includes just about everything. In the extended it's primarily the ensembles members and then starts to bring in meso models in higher weights as you get inside 36 hours.

There is dynamic weighting based on recent model performance (which is great when the pattern is stable, not so great when big changes occur). And some NBM fields are bias corrected on a grid by grid basis.

Overall it's pretty good, but there are blind spots that humans can still improve on.

Is the V5 experimental going to overtake the current version 4.3? I noticed its significantly lower in the snowfall mean than the operational in almost every event. 

[WxWatcher007]

 

24 minutes ago, The 4 Seasons said:

BDR just hit 20" for their storm total! 

Tied with #2 all-time PD2

That's absolutely awesome. Hoping I can pick up a little more from this final part that's about to pass through. Not nearly as good as other parts of the state, but I lucked out. 

To be honest though, it kind of pisses me off that the only time I do better than West Hartford is when we're getting screwed to begin with.  

[HIPPYVALLEY]

9 minutes ago, Great Snow 1717 said:

Here in the Merrimack Valley it has been a good storm but not great....

I thought you guys into S NH would’ve done better.  I was also a little surprised Hartford to Springfield didn’t do a little bit better.  

[The 4 Seasons]

Just now, WxWatcher007 said:

 

That's absolutely awesome. Hoping I can pick up a little more from this final part that's about to pass through. Not nearly as good as other parts of the state, but I lucked out. 

To be honest though, it kind of pisses me off that the only time I do better than West Hartford is when we're getting screwed to begin with.  

does 11.6 in BDL seem high to you?

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

1 hour ago, butterfish55 said:

I swear, there's an inground pool just off the porch here. If you look close, you can see the very top of the black 4 foot fence in the background

That’s 40” !!

[CoastalWx]

3 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Which ex-wife lives on that shed?

[Greg]

51 minutes ago, Chrisrotary12 said:

Isn’t measuring snow every 6 hours the NWS recommendation?!?!?

Actually, it is not a true rule. Many Coops that I see and I'm one of them, do it the "old School" method. We use a board but don't clear it off every 6 hours. We wait till the storm ends or every 24 hours. If a storms longer in duration than that, then we clear the board. In a storm like this, we take multiple measurements in the a "snow survey" area and get an average and report. A snow gauge can be used for far less windier storms, but I find them a little on the inaccurate side. They are better used for collecting rainfall. The National Weather Service in Norton, MA does show rules on this. In fact, I find some of the rules somewhat on the ridged side. This can be found on their site.