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Remembering the blizzard of 2/9-10/2010


Fozz

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I was holed up at a hotel for this one while PEPCO attempted to restore power to my neighborhood. We got out toward the end of the short break window between Snowmageddon and this one. Ended up at a hotel in Greenbelt watching the snow roll in.

You need to move to a neighborhood with at least 20th century utility infrastructure.. The slightest fart in the wind seems to bring down your power.

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I almost went back to College Park before the storm, but late Monday evening the closing for the next day was finally announced so I got to stay home where climo is much more favorable for heavy snow, and particularly for a storm that was expected to favor northeast MD.

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9th floor rooftop deck in Arlington. Look at the table to the right, almost covered! And those are high seated chairs around it.

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Blizzard of 2010 Part 2: Horizontal Snow from 9 Floors Up

That link is a video I took from my 9th floor apt bay window in Arlington... it was riduclous the amount of snow that coming down and just blowing every which direction.

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Yep, that storm ushered in our year-long trend of being shafted in each storm. A very disappointing day as I got to watch DC news coverage of a raging blizzard until the nightime hours all the while the snow in Front Royal (where I lived at the time) had stopped a little before noon and the howling winds and partly sunny skies went to work melting and sublimating the meager 3" that fell. Believe this or not, we had less snowcover on the ground at the end of that day then we did the day before the Feb 10 storm. Then I got to talk to my sister in BelAir (MD) and hear about the nearly 4-feet of snow cover. This day is the single-biggest weather disappointment of my 40 years.

Unlike you, I could never have enough snow.

We didnt do as well out here with this 2nd storm. And to be honest I had enough at that point from the storm just a few days before.

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I almost went back to College Park before the storm, but late Monday evening the closing for the next day was finally announced so I got to stay home where climo is much more favorable for heavy snow, and particularly for a storm that was expected to favor northeast MD.

And we got three more days after that too lol

:snowman::snowman::snowman:

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Since my wife's due date was during this storm, I was not really enjoying it actually. Don't think I even took any pictures. I spent the 10th trying to finish some work before I'd take a week off after my son was born. He ended up being born on the 14th after she started laboring late on the 12th.

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The best part of that storm is almost no one believed it. The NWS was very bullish throwing around 10 to 20 inch amounts and most thought they were smoking something. It wasn't possible, many thought, to get to back to back HECS within less than 5 days.

On the Tuesday it began, the snow never stuck cause it was too warm and local forecasters were feverishly downgrading potentials. LWX stayed firm, however, but even they began sounding a bit like they were starting to hedge.

Then, we got a front-end thump of snow Tuesday evening in DC. But after a few hours, it turned to sleet and then we got dry slotted. Everyone pretty much assume the storm was over. I went to bed, only to wake up at 8 a.m. to a full blown white out. Initially, I thought these conditions would last an hour or two.

LIttle did I know the white out would last basically till 1 or 2 p.m., and the snow never really ended where I was in Northwest DC till 6 p.m. I remember remarking that afternoon I think I am standing in what seems like the most snow to ever have accumulated in a major East Coast city in my lifetime when you consider the 2 feet previously on the ground from Feb. 5. Not sure if that was true , but it certainly was maybe close.

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The best part of that storm is almost no one believed it. The NWS was very bullish throwing around 10 to 20 inch amounts and most thought they were smoking something. It wasn't possible, many thought, to get to back to back HECS within less than 5 days.

On the Tuesday it began, the snow never stuck cause it was too warm and local forecasters were feverishly downgraded potentials. LWX stayed firm, however, but even they began sounding a bit like they were starting to hedge.

Then, we got a front-end thump of snow Tuesday evening in DC. But after a few hours, it turned to sleet and then we got dry slotted. Everyone pretty much assume the storm was over. I went to bed, only to wake up at 8 a.m. to a full blown white out. Initially, I thought these conditions would last an hour or two.

LIttle did I know the white out would last basically till 1 or 2 p.m., and the snow never really ended where I was in Northwest DC till 6 p.m. I remember remarking that afternoon I think I am standing in what seems like the most snow to ever have accumulated in a major East Coast city in my lifetime when you consider the 2 feet previously on the ground from Feb. 5. Not sure if that was true , but it certainly was maybe close.

A lot of that was my feeling too. In the days leading to Snowmageddon, I was very spoiled, to the point of demanding 20"+ even several days before the storm. It was a great HECS that brought 25", but I missed out on the 30+ totals and it didn't really seem like something I've never seen before. I was still amazed to get two HECS in one season, which had never happened since records began, but all the hype saturated my excitement to some extent.

But with the next storm, I too was absolutely shocked when LWX called for 10-20". I was skeptical of that call for a while, and I remember other posters hoping this storm didn't happen in MD and the DC area, because of the devastating impact they anticipated. But then models waffled and there were those who were highly skeptical that a Miller B could succeed in this area. Things slowly got better for northern and northeast MD, but DC was still on the edge of this and many respected posters thought there's no way DC could get 10". But I was extremely excited about possibly getting another HECS and if nothing else, it reminded me of the Day After Tomorrow, in the way that I expected central MD to look afterwords.

On the night of the 9th, the snow turned over to sleet, even though areas 10 miles north of me stayed all snow. Around midnight or so, the radar looked awful, and weenie storm cancels and b*tching were rampant. I told some people to cut it out and stop panicking over the radar, but to be honest even I got a bit nervous, not about the radar as much as the possibility of developing too late or too far east. However, later on I woke up and found that the entire area was in a blizzard warning, with the best conditions expected to begin around 9-10am.

And then I witnessed the most severe winter weather that I've ever seen, with very heavy snow, much stronger winds than Snowmageddon, and visibility below 0.1 miles. I've never seen anything like this before, and I'm not even sure if MD in its entirety had ever been in a blizzard warning before this storm.

I definitely enjoyed this storm more than the first blizzard. 20" here, and 25" from the first storm.

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I was definitely skeptical of it just since most miller b's are horrible here. I figured we'd get snow because it managed to snow at every good opportunity last year, but I definitely was close to bailing overnight as the changeover ended with a dry slot. I remember going to bed because I was frustrated with radar and then waking up and watching it explode.

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I was definitely skeptical of it just since most miller b's are horrible here. I figured we'd get snow because it managed to snow at every good opportunity last year, but I definitely was close to bailing overnight as the changeover ended with a dry slot. I remember going to bed because I was frustrated with radar and then waking up and watching it explode.

I was also skeptical. though I thought We'd see some snow I didn't think DC would get double figures as I was worried that the dry slot might get us unless the upper low tracked to our south and put us in the deformation zone. That's exactly what happened. If I remember the NAm put me in the max precip but then kept trending north until I was on the southern edge of the good stuff and only ended up with 8 inches. I did have white out conditions because of the winds and think the feb 10 stomr was a true blizzard in terms of winds and visibility.

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I was also skeptical. though I thought We'd see some snow I didn't think DC would get double figures as I was worried that the dry slot might get us unless the upper low tracked to our south and put us in the deformation zone. That's exactly what happened. If I remember the NAm put me in the max precip but then kept trending north until I was on the southern edge of the good stuff and only ended up with 8 inches. I did have white out conditions because of the winds and think the feb 10 stomr was a true blizzard in terms of winds and visibility.

cwg got linked on drudge! :P

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