I need a 'second'' for my motion that the PSUHoffman Storm be deemed a "HECS".

[gymengineer]

Hmm, I thought the clipper happened on the 10th, not the 9th. But I might be wrong.. my memory might not be what it used to be, lol

The blizzard ended around noon on Monday. The clipper came in Tuesday morning.

[Terpeast]

The blizzard ended around noon on Monday. The clipper came in Tuesday morning.

If there was an almost 24 hour space between the two, they shouldn't be put together.

[gymengineer]

If there was an almost 24 hour space between the two, they shouldn't be put together.

Oh, I definitely agree-- the clipper was completely a different system than the blizzard. I think LWX just wanted to format the snowfall records in the same way that NCDC keeps theirs-- with the 1, 2, 3-day records. Those never distinguished among which were from one event and which were from distinct events.

PDII gets more sketchy-- LWX decided to include the initial shot of snow with the main event (even with the long break in between), but Mt. Holly decided to separate them.

[TowsonWeather]

Come on now, WHAT howling winds. It was windy, but it was NOTHING like the second Feb storm last year, which was a true blizzard. This wasn't remotely in that class of storm. Not that it was a bad storm, but, let's be real. And there is no way you got 13 inches from just last night's snow. Maybe 10, I guess. But I am just over from you, and measured 7.5 from last night's event, only adding in the morning total do I get to 11. It's okay, not every storm is historic. But it was fun.

1. I didn't say I got 13 inches "just from last night's snow". I got about 9-9.5 last night on top of the 4 which fell earlier in the day. Which is why I used the word "most". ;-)

2. I don't know what to tell you about the winds except for what I mentioned earlier - that I took long walks in both storms and the wind was comparable, at least imby. Maybe it was thunder-instability related, we def. got a ton of thundersnow in my neighborhood. But the snow was going sideways for about 3-4 hours, and my subjective observation of how it FELT and how it impacted me when I was outside was almost identical to the second Feb storm in 2010 (i.e. had to walk backwards at times walking into the wind, blinding snow, feeling like the wind was pushing me over, etc.). Last year's storm def. had high winds that last LONGER - but the intensity at its peak was very comparable. And yes, there were many times last night when it was quite literally "howling" - my wife was laughing because the train-whistle audio sounded so eerie and bizarre a few times.

3. Again, not trying to make any kind of grand claim about the power/impact of the storm as a WHOLE - just pointing out my experiences imby.

4. My family lives in Severna Park - and I know that they didn't have nearly the same experience as I did (not just talking snow totals - they claim 4 inches - but general intensity), so I totally realize that this storm was a pretty localized phenomenon in some respects.

[haudidoody]

This isn't even close to a HECS, it's a typical SECS in the DC metro. We've probably received more from our best over-performing clippers a few times.

[Fozz]

This isn't even close to a HECS, it's a typical SECS in the DC metro. We've probably received more from our best over-performing clippers a few times.

Many areas got over a foot of snow from this storm, including my hometown. DC itself was unlucky since the temp was too warm by 1-2 degrees F so there was only 3-6" in spite of 1.5" of liquid.

[haudidoody]

Many areas got over a foot of snow from this storm, including my hometown. DC itself was unlucky since the temp was too warm by 1-2 degrees F so there was only 3-6" in spite of 1.5" of liquid.

That's true, but most of those reports weren't in the DC metro. Yes in western MOCO and parts of Howard, but otherwise almost all Baltimore north.

I'd guess a population weighted average of about 8" maybe.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Yeah, I agree - think those breakdowns are interesting to READ, but I prefer the raw totals too.

If a 2-day or 3-day storm hits you with a ton of snow, that should count MORE, not less when considering where it "ranks".

Overall I agree with these thoughts on 1-day vs. 2-day vs. 3-day. I prefer the raw number totals for the most part.

Another thing that has always bothered me, DCA seems to be an abysmal place for snowfall measurements, and many in here have commented/questioned reports before. Whether or not their totals are open for debate, it just in general does not seem to be representative of the metro area as a whole, or even the District proper itself. Heck, I saw two 25"+ reports from Feb. 5-6 last year in northwest DC, and my experience in the years I lived on Capitol Hill was that I always got more than what DCA reported. Yet it's used as the "official" report for the District. Note that the two biggest storms on record, including the famed Knickerbocker event, were probably measured somewhere right in-town (I'm guessing) and NOT where DCA is located. Kind of makes ranking the top storms a little inconsistent because the official measuring location changed but they're all lumped together.