Grade Met. Winter 10-11 for your backyard

[Alpha5]

Well...the Meteorological Winter of 2010-11 has officially come to a close.

With 3 MECS's affecting the area and temps below average for 2 of the 3 months, most would agree it was a great winter for the NYC area.

Personally, I'd give the winter an A. The only thing that prevented me from giving an A+ was the lack of a 20"+ snowfall. I had 15, 14.5 and 14 from the 3 MECS's. 68.5 for the year is nothing to be ashamed of though...

Post your thoughts below.

[nzucker]

I voted A- for meteorological winter.

December was cold but very boring until the Boxing Day Storm. That being said, the powerful cold shot on 12/14 allowed local ponds and lakes to freeze earlier than I've seen in any other year living in Westchester. In terms of blizzard conditions, the 12/26 storm was the most severe I have witnessed....65mph wind gusts racked the town's uplands and snow blew sideways so as to sting the face. It was also a very emotional event given the drama in model guidance leading up to the system. My only gripe is that like many of the other events this winter, my backyard didn't jackpot...we only had 13" in Dobbs Ferry from the storm, and one other snowfall of 1.5" during December. This was paltry compared to the 30" totals seen in New Jersey.

January was clearly the best month of the winter; snow lay on the ground for every single day of the month, and temperatures were bone-chillingly cold at points. Snowfalls were constant and disruptive, with school being closed for four days. I really enjoyed the 1/7 Norlun when all the snow was pasted to the trees with temperatures hovering around 32F, and the two major snowstorms of 1/12 and 1/27 brought the snow depth in my front yard to around 25", the deepest snowpack I'd seen endure in Westchester. Although I missed the mega-band that affected NYC in the 1/27 coastal, some areas of the woods behind my home had 30" snow depths in drifted areas following the blizzard, and streets were nearly impossible to navigate due to snow banks blocking visibility. It was truly a magical time, with a weak coastal mid-month (1/21) and back-to-back clippers (1/28 and 1/29) keeping the snowpack fresh. White Plains Airport also recorded a low temperature of -1F, very cold for this area. One of the best stretches of winter ever.

February had two major events: a SW flow event that dropped 2" of snow and then changed over to 0.5" ice, and the 2/21 overrunning event. The overrunning event was a surprise, dropping 8" of fresh powder after Upton had only hoisted an advisory for Westchester County. Unfortunately, the persistently cold regime broke with temperatures soaring into the 50s and 60s on several days; we also missed a couple of major threats early in the month which could have sent us to record levels in terms of snowfall and snow pack. As the NAO and AO blocking disintegrated, winter lost its punch. This was a disappointment, as February is the snowiest month according to NYC climatology, and last February left 48" of snow in its wake here.

If March turns out to be a disappointment, A- will be the final grade for the winter, couldn't go less than that considering the epic stretch we endured. A solid March could raise this winter to an A, or even an A+ if we see a HECS that challenges that Dobbs Ferry snowfall record of 90" in Winter 60-61. Without a doubt, this was the top winter of my lifetime. Winter 10-11 FTW:

[A-L-E-X]

lol Nate you took a pic of a real estate sign. Before the pic had loaded completely I thought it was a headstone that read "RIP WINTER 2010-11"

[nzucker]

lol Nate you took a pic of a real estate sign. Before the pic had loaded completely I thought it was a headstone that read "RIP WINTER 2010-11"

I just thought it was a nice illustration of the snow depth and flake quality in the 1/27 storm.

[Alpha5]

Good points zucker, I had a similar experience here.

Anyways, I think we should rename this winter to the snowpack winter. For the first time in months, I'm starting to see parts of my land I have not seen in a long long time.... In fact, we spray painted some lines to the grass to play touch football on thanksgiving and today, those lines are starting to peep back through the snow, finally coming out from underneath the glacier that consumed them for weeks and weeks, still looking the same way they did when we first put them down.

The stretch of snowcover is simply amazing when you think about it. There was really only one storm where snow fell on bare ground, the rest of the time it was snow on snow, which presented some measuring problems, but was a truly unique experience.

As I think about it more and more, its just truly amazing how long its been since Ive seen the ground. Everything was just buried for so long, its sad to see it go

Just truly incredible......cant even put it into words

[A-L-E-X]

I just thought it was a nice illustration of the snow depth and flake quality in the 1/27 storm.

Wow, in hindsight, a head stone might have been appropriate as that storm was drawing to a close. That storm a week or 10 days ago was basically window dressing down here and in the city.

[CooL]

A...I lowered it 1/3 from an A+ because of a few reasons. One being a cruddy, warm, and boring february and so far march. Hmm, well thats about it, 68 inches total with constant storms for a 1 month period. It was intense while it lasted. An A+ winter would obviously be 96'..The grand daddy storm with a bunch of others for the entire entire winter.

[TheTrials]

No winter can be an overall A+ unless it snows every day as A+ means perfection.

Breaking it down into categories:

A for total accumulation

C+ for duration (pretty much a 35 day winter)

B- for cold

A+ for mayhem

A for threats to track.

[nzucker]

Good points zucker, I had a similar experience here.

Anyways, I think we should rename this winter to the snowpack winter. For the first time in months, I'm starting to see parts of my land I have not seen in a long long time.... In fact, we spray painted some lines to the grass to play touch football on thanksgiving and today, those lines are starting to peep back through the snow, finally coming out from underneath the glacier that consumed them for weeks and weeks, still looking the same way they did when we first put them down.

The stretch of snowcover is simply amazing when you think about it. There was really only one storm where snow fell on bare ground, the rest of the time it was snow on snow, which presented some measuring problems, but was a truly unique experience.

As I think about it more and more, its just truly amazing how long its been since Ive seen the ground. Everything was just buried for so long, its sad to see it go

Just truly incredible......cant even put it into words

Yes, absolutely...it's rare to have snow on snow here, much less have a consistent snowpack for almost all of meteorological winter. Even living in Vermont during college, we rarely had the endurance of the snowpack that's been seen in Westchester and SW Connecticut this year. I measured 48" of snow last February including 26" in the Snowicane, but there was bare ground between events despite their magnitude. Some of my favorite scenes from Winter 10-11 were after the 2/2 ice storm, seeing that solid 2' snowpack glittering in the ice. We didn't just have a snowpack, we had a snowpack worthy of the Green Mountains at times. Very impressive!

I, too, am feeling very melancholy about the end of winter. There are still patches of snow remaining in the woods behind my house, but landmarks are beginning to resurface after the two months of snowpack, and the few patches left have not long to survive. Although I enjoy the change of seasons, this has been a magical winter, starting with the miraculous turn of events when the 12z GFS trended west for the Boxing Day Blizzard. From that point through February 2nd, almost everything worked out as we desired...snow, arctic outbreaks, ice storms, you name it. It's just so hard to leave behind. I would love to relive the excitement with one more blizzard in March to cement Winter 10-11 as the greatest of all time.

I do have a feeling that NYC metro may be seeing snowier winters with more snow cover in the coming years, however. A -PDO regime tends to cool North American temperatures, and when you combine that with a severe -NAO/-AO due to the solar minimum, what results is a much more stable winter regime. So I don't think the good times are all behind us either. We may be entering a stretch of epic winters such as occurred from 57-58 through 68-69. The wild card, of course, will be how low the solar activity gets and whether we can combine it with a well-timed volcanic eruption in the tropical latitudes.

[ag3]

Gave it an A.

Can't give it an A+ because of February.

An A+ is 95-96 so no way can anyone rate this year to that one, IMO.

But regardless a very high A.

If we get lucky and add another 10"+ storm, then I can go with an A+ for entire winter.

[MJO812]

I gave it an A

This winter featured Consistent cold with a great snowpack from late December - Februrary.. Also, hitting the 60 inch mark is really impressive. The reason why I didn't give it an A + was because of February and the pattern so far in March.

[Rjay]

Most convective snow storms in a season around here that I've ever seen. A+

[Guest Pamela]

It has never occurred to me to rate met. winter (or astronomical winter, for that matter). When it is evident that no more snow will fall for what I dub the "cold season", I'll evaluate it.

[Chris L]

A+ for the HECS in December... Greatest Blizzard I have ever witnessed.

A overall for getting long days with snow on the ground, DEC 26 to FEB 18, 55 days...

and....

January was a DREAM month, better than JAN 1996.

FEB wasn't so much fun.... Had we got the Chicago BLIZZARD, we would seen 30-40" snowfall, the DYNAMICS were ABSOLUTELY INSANE with that one, and they had NO CCB, which WE GET WITH OUR HECS.

I talked to Terpeast of the Mid-Atantic Fourm, he said it would have been like Blizz of 96 with bigger snow totals....

[uncle W]

A+

[Absolute Humidity]

A grade, primarily for the 54 days of continuous snow cover and the triple MECS season in a Nina was way over the top for expectation, only the snowless Feb prevented the +.

[Isotherm]

A grade, primarily for the 54 days of continuous snow cover and the triple MECS season in a Nina was way over the top for expectation, only the snowless Feb prevented the +.

Gave it an A for basically the same reasoning. Excellent snow cover, about as exciting as you can get in the one month Dec 26-Jan 26 period, but then about as boring as you can get the past month. Saving grace for the last 1/3 of met winter was the snowpack hanging on until a couple weeks ago.

I think there's only one A+ winter and that remains 1995-96.

[nzucker]

Gave it an A for basically the same reasoning. Excellent snow cover, about as exciting as you can get in the one month Dec 26-Jan 26 period, but then about as boring as you can get the past month. Saving grace for the last 1/3 of met winter was the snowpack hanging on until a couple weeks ago.

I think there's only one A+ winter and that remains 1995-96.

95-96 was probably an A here with the torches.

60-61 was an A+ for Westchester. Perhaps 57-58 as well.

[RutgersWx92]

I'll give it an B+. It would've been an A or A- but I got really jipped by the 12/26 storm compared to a lot of places. And aside from the February 2 ice storm, February was just about as boring as it can get. With all that aside, this was still a very good winter, with the one month period from December 26 to January 26 being an incredible month for cold and snow (topped off by the January 26-27 storm).

I'll raise the grade to an A- if we get something good in March (which I really doubt though).

[Guest Pamela]

60-61 was an A+ for Westchester. Perhaps 57-58 as well.

I'd feel uncomfortable ranking a winter I did not personally witness...no matter how many stats I had access to...just as I am reluctant to rate baseball players I haven't personally watched in live action.

[nzucker]

I'd feel uncomfortable ranking a winter I did not personally witness...no matter how many stats I had access to...just as I am reluctant to rate baseball players I haven't personally watched in live action.

Totally agree...I'm just saying I don't think 95-96 can be rated an A+ here when there is clearly a winter that was much better in the recent record. 60-61 had 90" of snow, three storms over 18", ten days in a row with single-digit minimums, 32" snowpack downtown, etc.

[Analog96]

95-96 was probably an A here with the torches.

60-61 was an A+ for Westchester. Perhaps 57-58 as well.

I would rate 60-61 behind 1995-96, because 1960-61 had no snow after early Feb.

[Fozz]

To all of you guys who are saying this doesn't deserve an A+ because of February, 1995-96 had a horrible torch in mid-January and another blowtorch in late Feb.

I think this winter has been colder and more persistent with snow cover than 1995-96.

[Chris L]

To all of you guys who are saying this doesn't deserve an A+ because of February, 1995-96 had a horrible torch in mid-January and another blowtorch in late Feb.

I think this winter has been colder and more persistent with snow cover than 1995-96.

THIS FTW!

[nzucker]

To all of you guys who are saying this doesn't deserve an A+ because of February, 1995-96 had a horrible torch in mid-January and another blowtorch in late Feb.

I think this winter has been colder and more persistent with snow cover than 1995-96.

This winter doesn't deserve an A+ here because we simply haven't had enough snow, and my backyard hasn't seen a storm bigger than 14.5" which is paltry compared to the giants.

I've measured 66" this season....we're still behind a bunch of winters in recent history including last year, which was driven by the 48" I measured in February 2010:

60-61: 90"

95-96: 82"

57-58: 80"

66-67: 70"

09-10: 68"

[Fozz]

This winter doesn't deserve an A+ here because we simply haven't had enough snow, and my backyard hasn't seen a storm bigger than 14.5" which is paltry compared to the giants.

I've measured 66" this season....we're still behind a bunch of winters in recent history including last year, which was driven by the 48" I measured in February 2010:

60-61: 90"

95-96: 82"

57-58: 80"

66-67: 70"

09-10: 68"

Well, if you didn't get HECS totals from any of the big ones this year then I understand.

[Chris L]

December 2010-January 2011 beats January 2010-February 2010.

IMBY OFC.

[nzucker]

Well, if you didn't get HECS totals from any of the big ones this year then I understand.

I missed all the really heavy banding in the 12/26, 1/12, and 1/27 storms...my totals were 13", 14.5", and 14" which were among the lowest in the region. They were still great storms, especially the Boxing Day Blizzard with its 60mph winds and biting cold, but I can't say any of the events paralleled a HECS like the 26" I saw in the 2010 Snowicane or the 20" I witnessed in February 2006. I could only go up to an A+ for this winter if we had a HECS in March, which is looking improbable given the lack of blocking so far.

I do have to say, the time period between the Boxing Day Blizzard and the February 2nd Ice Storm was the most wintry I've experienced in Westchester in over 20 years of living here. Epic stretch and best to have it in the heart of winter when we could retain the snowpack.

[forkyfork]

what's the point of doing this?

[RutgersWx92]

I missed all the really heavy banding in the 12/26, 1/12, and 1/27 storms...my totals were 13", 14.5", and 14" which were among the lowest in the region. They were still great storms, especially the Boxing Day Blizzard with its 60mph winds and biting cold, but I can't say any of the events paralleled a HECS like the 26" I saw in the 2010 Snowicane or the 20" I witnessed in February 2006. I could only go up to an A+ for this winter if we had a HECS in March, which is looking improbable given the lack of blocking so far.

I do have to say, the time period between the Boxing Day Blizzard and the February 2nd Ice Storm was the most wintry I've experienced in Westchester in over 20 years of living here. Epic stretch and best to have it in the heart of winter when we could retain the snowpack.

My totals from the three big storms: 9'', 8'', and 15''. The first one I experienced back home and there it was a pretty big disappointment and one of the worst teases I've ever gone through (seeing 30+'' totals just 15-20 miles to my east), but the second and third were both great storms that lived up to expectations. Still, what the 12/26 storm put me through prevents me from ranking this winter higher than a B+.

I agree that the time period between 12/26 and 2/2 was probably the most wintry that I've ever experienced in all of my years tracking the weather. The incredible number of days with snow on the ground (not sure what the exact final total was here in New Brunswick, something like 50+?) also makes this winter memorable. Last winter didn't have that.