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Grade This Winter


HoarfrostHubb

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Given the fickle nature of many weather weenies I guarantee that if we have a snow less March grades will be dropping quicker than drunks on St Patty's Day..

I dunno. I gave last winter a C/C- and this winter has been much more enjoyable... and so last year I had 8" more than I have had so far this year...

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Given the fickle nature of many weather weenies I guarantee that if we have a snow less March grades will be dropping quicker than drunks on St Patty's Day..

That's why I won't grade winter until its over. March is an important winter month...especially for the interior.

If March comes in as a total dead ratter, then I'd probably grade this winter a B/B+ but if it comes in good, it will be some form of an A...A+ if its a great month.

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My "C heading toward C-" of late Jan hasn't really changed, though whatever happens with all the systems these next 10 days could have a huge effect, pos or neg.

So far, winter has been thoroughly average IMBY. Current snowfall is within an inch or so of my avg thru now (will be at/slightly below avg when the next storm begins.) Unless there's a radical change in forecast temps, DJF will finish essentially right on the avg - Dec above avg, Jan at/just below, Feb like Jan. Two pushes toward the minus: all the near misses, and no storm larger than 8.9". At this location, it's hard to give a C or better grade for a winter without a double-digit storm.

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A++ for Dec 26-Feb 5th...Could've been an epic winter.

F- from Feb 5th onward....with no real snow in SNE in sight!

looks like at least 6-7 weeks without a decent snowfall!

Averaged out I'd give it a B.

Maybe with a mid to late March bomb I could upgrade it to a B+.

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I'm shocked some think that a good March can still rally an A or A+. Interesting grading outlook

December was disappointing, February terrible....January obviously epic.

1 of 3 months thus far have been A material, the other 2/3 C or worse.

Yeah, I give this winter a B so far because of the epic January and the January KU. If March blows, it'll get a C+/B-.

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For Newport I'm giving this winter a solid B. I've had around 35 inches IMBY near the southern tip of Newport (areas a few miles north and especially west of me have done much better) and if it doesn't snow again my seasonal total will be similar to what I had in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. But this winter has been better because of the continuous snow cover from December 26th-around February 10th. In 25 years of following weather down here we've never had snow cover for that long a stretch.

I've been following weather for this area since I was in third grade going back to 1986 and Newport has never had a solid A. 1995-1996 was only an A- because the January blizzard only produced 13 inches because of a dry/slot/snow grain mix. 2004-2005 and the Jan. 2005 blizzard didn't get a solid A because the heaviest 24 plus inch snows were about 10 miles east of me in SE MA. I was 10-25 miles too far west for a lot of the great storms in 2004-2005. 1993-1994 is my favorite winter of all time primarily because of the back to back double digit snowstorms in early February. The second snowstorm occurred on a Friday and I'll never forget 7 straight hours of S+ and the heavy wet nature of the snow made this storm so fun. Double digit wet-snow bombs are very rare down here because usually after 4-6 inches of wet snow we usually flip to rain.

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For Newport I'm giving this winter a solid B. I've had around 35 inches IMBY near the southern tip of Newport (areas a few miles north and especially west of me have done much better) and if it doesn't snow again my seasonal total will be similar to what I had in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. But this winter has been better because of the continuous snow cover from December 26th-around February 10th. In 25 years of following weather down here we've never had snow cover for that long a stretch.

I've been following weather for this area since I was in third grade going back to 1986 and Newport has never had a solid A. 1995-1996 was only an A- because the January blizzard only produced 13 inches because of a dry/slot/snow grain mix. 2004-2005 and the Jan. 2005 blizzard didn't get a solid A because the heaviest 24 plus inch snows were about 10 miles east of me in SE MA. I was 10-25 miles too far west for a lot of the great storms in 2004-2005. 1993-1994 is my favorite winter of all time primarily because of the back to back double digit snowstorms in early February. The second snowstorm occurred on a Friday and I'll never forget 7 straight hours of S+ and the heavy wet nature of the snow made this storm so fun. Double digit wet-snow bombs are very rare down here because usually after 4-6 inches of wet snow we usually flip to rain.

Well, far S RI has different standards than say PVD or NW RI...35" is nothing to sneeze at on the S coast oceanfront. Esp since you don't hang out into the ATL like Cape Cod and get much OES, or those last second hooks that can throw a few inches back into you.

SE CT/ S RI is winter lover heartache city, honestly.

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I'm shocked some think that a good March can still rally an A or A+. Interesting grading outlook

December was disappointing, February terrible....January obviously epic.

1 of 3 months thus far have been A material, the other 2/3 C or worse.

You are assuming a linear scale...which is fine if that's how you want to do it. But I do not do it that way. If it was always a linear scale, then you'd have winters like '04-'05 getting a B because December sucked.

Also this February was terrible if you exclude the early month storm...but I do not exclude it because it happened.

January was epic enough to offset the other months pretty hard. So I'd still give this winter an A easily if March comes in great. Its pretty hard to give lower than an A if the winter cracks 100" of snow. If March is a dud, then I'd still give the winter a B/B+ here as we are already about a foot above seasonal avg if we do not receive another flake.

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For Newport I'm giving this winter a solid B. I've had around 35 inches IMBY near the southern tip of Newport (areas a few miles north and especially west of me have done much better) and if it doesn't snow again my seasonal total will be similar to what I had in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. But this winter has been better because of the continuous snow cover from December 26th-around February 10th. In 25 years of following weather down here we've never had snow cover for that long a stretch.

I've been following weather for this area since I was in third grade going back to 1986 and Newport has never had a solid A. 1995-1996 was only an A- because the January blizzard only produced 13 inches because of a dry/slot/snow grain mix. 2004-2005 and the Jan. 2005 blizzard didn't get a solid A because the heaviest 24 plus inch snows were about 10 miles east of me in SE MA. I was 10-25 miles too far west for a lot of the great storms in 2004-2005. 1993-1994 is my favorite winter of all time primarily because of the back to back double digit snowstorms in early February. The second snowstorm occurred on a Friday and I'll never forget 7 straight hours of S+ and the heavy wet nature of the snow made this storm so fun. Double digit wet-snow bombs are very rare down here because usually after 4-6 inches of wet snow we usually flip to rain.

Newport is in a very tough area. Even up into parts of Bristol county mass, sometimes they are too far west or southwest to get into a good ccb or even get some oes enhancement that may occur in pym county. Either that, or your area taints quickly aloft from the southwest.

But, the fact you had almost continued snowcover with 35" of snow is pretty remarkable. For me, there are many things that go into grading a winter, so even a bad month can be boosted by cold or snowpack. It's all subjective, but on my scale..it's not just if a month was snowy or not. What happens if you have 3' on the ground and it's gone within 10 days?

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For me, there are many things that go into grading a winter, so even a bad month can be boosted by cold or snowpack. It's all subjective, but on my scale..it's not just if a month was snowy or not. What happens if you have 3' on the ground and it's gone within 10 days?

Lots to agree with this. At my location, snowpack is very important, both for my own evaluation of winter and for winter sports beyond reach of the snowguns. The boldface is somewhat like my memories of 1995-96. I measured 138.8" snow (in Gardiner, Maine), and only 2007-08 tops that during the 25 full winters since I moved out of Ft. Kent. Yet the frequent snow-eating thaws of that winter resulted in the snow depth days (1,290) being only 5th of 13 winters in Gardiner, much below 1993-94 (1,993) despite having 51" more snowfall.

If I include New Sharon, 95-96 is 13th of 25 - the median winter for SDD despite its being a close #2 for total snowfall. 2007-08, with only 3.5" more snow than 95-96, had nearly 3x the SDD, 3,835. (Of course, that's the snowpack giant. Only 2 of my 9 winters in Ft. Kent top that, with 83-84 the max at 5,715.)

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To update this:

December-D

January-A

February so far-C-

I would give this winter a B- to date, but that grade has potential to go up or down, depending on the balance of Feb/March

End of Feb update:

With 18.25" this past weekend, I am at 31.50" for Feb, and 81.00", which is about 15" above average. Therefore, Feb goes from a C- to an A-, and the season so far goes up to a B+.

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I'm shocked some think that a good March can still rally an A or A+. Interesting grading outlook

December was disappointing, February terrible....January obviously epic.

1 of 3 months thus far have been A material, the other 2/3 C or worse.

I hate Februarys that only drop 3 feet! Terrible!

1 day to Spring!!! I know those crocuses are there below the 3 feet of snow!sun.gif

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Here's an interesting statistic about this winter that shows just how rare warm rains have been.

Between Dec 2, 2010 and Feb 27, 2011 (not including today's storm):

BDL - Every storm with at least 0.05" QPF had at least some non-liquid precipitation. 14 of 17 storms had measurable snow.

ORH - All but 1 storm (Feb 18) with at least 0.05" QPF had at least some non-liquid precipitation. 14 of 18 storms had measurable snow.

Between Dec 26, 2010 (the beginning of nearly continuous snow pack) and Feb 27, 2011:

BDL - only 0.08" of rain fell at temps at or above 35F (Jan 2, Feb 18)

ORH - only 0.16" of rain fell at temps at or above 35F (Jan 2, Feb 18)

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for the Northeast Kingdom of vermont I give it a solid B lower elevations, B+ higher elevations mainly due to the quality of the snowpack and consistent cold air from Jan-Feb.We will likely end up above normal for snow by the end of March.

For the North Shore of MA I give it an A-. Amazing how much snow fell in January and Feb and also how long the snow has been on the ground. some places have not been bare since late december! most places above normal on snowfall and its been around average or slightly below for temps.

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Again, I refuse to grade the winter until its over when we pass the time frame in April of realistic 6"+ events (about mid month though there have been rare exceptions).

But if we didn't get another flake, I'd still rate it a B+ because we have nearly 90" and had a ridiculous snow pack. If we can even muster up 6" of slop during garbage time without any of it being a significant event, then I'd up to an A-.

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February had somewhat below normal temsp IMBY (C+) and well above normal snow (B+, would've been A- had we gotten anything 10"+; largest was 8.9".) The month as a whole gets a B-, missing a solid B due to the lack of either a big snowstorm or serious cold - my coldest daily mean was right at zero (11/-11 on 2/1), good NNE winter temp but pretty meh as Feb's lowest. The 16-day stretch midmonth with no measurable snow doesn't help the grade, either.

That pulls the season up to C+, so far. An epic March plus decent April could slide this up to a B; only a total and abject failure (repeat 2010, only w/o the 3.5" on 4/17) could take it below a C-.

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