Grade Met. Winter 10-11 for your backyard

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

an Easy A. would of been A+ had something happenned in Feb and Mar but......any year where the backyard gets 22" and 18", one should rejoice.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

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.

wat, these were all in NewB?

[NJwinter23]

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.

54 consecutive days of snow cover observed at New Brunswick COOP. Starting with a 20" Depth on the morning of Dec. 27th, and ending with 1" depth on the morning of Feb. 18th. The 1" ob on 2/18 was the only day during the stretch with less than a 3" snow depth. A 3" snow depth was also observed on Jan 6th, though no other day was lower than 4" snow depth.

53 straight days with 3"+ snow on the ground is very very impressive for this area.

[EasternLI]

B+, I'm a hard grader. If the entire winter was like Jan. from start to finish that would be my A+. If we would have seen any action whatsoever in Feb. then I would have given an A. One month of winter, albeit one hard month of winter, but regardless just one month cannot get an A from me.

[RutgersWx92]

wat, these were all in NewB?

Sorry, I should've clarified - those were taken from my house in Bridgewater, NJ. The first total would've been WAY higher had it been measured here in New Brunswick.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

Sorry, I should've clarified - those were taken from my house in Bridgewater, NJ. The first total would've been WAY higher had it been measured here in New Brunswick.

ok yea..cuz i was gonna say if u were in NewB, your measuring is just a tad off lol.

and its pretty nuts that the differences were so big in such a short distance. i drove down rte 1 south on the 27th of Dec and i mean, within like 5 miles i was able to tell where the banding never made it any further W or SW.

[Isotherm]

what's the point of doing this?

For fun and discussion since the weather's boring as hell now.

[Isotherm]

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

IMBY OFC.

Agree, here too. 48.5" in that time frame 2010, 55.5" in 2011. Both phenomenal though.

[nzucker]

Agree, here too. 48.5" in that time frame 2010, 55.5" in 2011. Both phenomenal though.

Incredible stretches we've had....to see 50" snow in basically a month is just unreal, especially when it happens two years in a row. I had around 48" of snow in February 2010 and 40" in January 2011 here in Westchester. The stark contrast between these stretches and March 2010/2011 shows how important the NAO is to our winter; we can see feet of snow in a few weeks when blocking is favorable, but as soon as the pattern breaks down it takes us weeks to put together a few inches.

I wouldn't be surprised if we had another epic stretch next season; the sharp dip in global temperatures and overall quietness of the sun suggests we may have a long period of bitterly cold and snowy weather in Winter 11-12 IF the ENSO state is weak. I'd be more concerned if we moved into moderate Niña conditions again.

[NEG NAO]

54 consecutive days of snow cover observed at New Brunswick COOP. Starting with a 20" Depth on the morning of Dec. 27th, and ending with 1" depth on the morning of Feb. 18th. The 1" ob on 2/18 was the only day during the stretch with less than a 3" snow depth. A 3" snow depth was also observed on Jan 6th, though no other day was lower than 4" snow depth.

53 straight days with 3"+ snow on the ground is very very impressive for this area.

kind of weird because last year there were 54 - 90 degree plus days total for the year

[NEG NAO]

This year was an A + till the first week in February but since then has been a D - so give it a B + so far could end up even lower

[RutgersWx92]

ok yea..cuz i was gonna say if u were in NewB, your measuring is just a tad off lol.

and its pretty nuts that the differences were so big in such a short distance. i drove down rte 1 south on the 27th of Dec and i mean, within like 5 miles i was able to tell where the banding never made it any further W or SW.

Yup. I only got 9 inches but I could've driven 15 miles to my E/NE and I would've seen 25-30 inches.

[rygar]

B here.

Positives: 25% above normal snowfall, prolonged cold, multiple inches of snow still on the ground and haven't seen the grass since end of December

Negatives: No great snows for 1 storm, extreme jealousy of those to my east.

[WeatherX]

Solid A (93.7) here. The constant pummeling from Boxing Day through the end of January was simply unexpected and awe inspiring. Things were on auto pilot where you could go to bed and wake up feeling somewhat confident that another was on the way. The snow pack from the end of December and January still remains in it's waning form here as a constant reminder of the good fortune. Very intense and satisfying winter in my opinion, top 3 best ever in my life.

[Cfa]

I gave it a C-, the cool storms (while in progress) and days off is the only reason, the abrupt ending boosted the score a bit too. Other than that everything is an F, the well below average temps and super saiyan snowpack was a huge F in my opinion, the duration of cold was just terrible. This was the coldest winter I've ever experienced.

I also felt the coldest wind chill in my life, it didn't feel like how I thought it'd feel, it was a whole different level of cold that didn't even feel right. Felt like I was being attacked with an alien weapon or something lol, it didn't feel natural.

So basically an F but with extra credit (explained above) boosting it to a C-.

[Chris L]

I gave it a C-, the cool storms (while in progress) and days off is the only reason, the abrupt ending boosted the score a bit too. Other than that everything is an F, the well below average temps and super saiyan snowpack was a huge F in my opinion, the duration of cold was just terrible. This was the coldest winter I've ever experienced.

I also felt the coldest wind chill in my life, it didn't feel like how I thought it'd feel, it was a whole different level of cold that didn't even feel right. Felt like I was being attacked with an alien weapon or something lol, it didn't feel natural.

So basically an F but with extra credit (explained above) boosting it to a C-.

. This winter wasn't even that cold. Try January-February 2005, now that was COLD...

[Fozz]

I gave it a C-, the cool storms (while in progress) and days off is the only reason, the abrupt ending boosted the score a bit too. Other than that everything is an F, the well below average temps and super saiyan snowpack was a huge F in my opinion, the duration of cold was just terrible. This was the coldest winter I've ever experienced.

I also felt the coldest wind chill in my life, it didn't feel like how I thought it'd feel, it was a whole different level of cold that didn't even feel right. Felt like I was being attacked with an alien weapon or something lol, it didn't feel natural.

So basically an F but with extra credit (explained above) boosting it to a C-.

lol you are definitely a warmista. You'd love DC

[Cfa]

This winter wasn't even that cold. Try January-February 2005, now that was COLD...

It was very cold, mid-December was abnormally very freezing, the whole month of January (minus the 1st & 2nd) went Antarctica mode, and February varied from Siberia to Florida. It just felt disrespectful and abusive lol.

It's probably just me, I have a high heat tolerance and a poor cold tolerance.

[Chris L]

It was very cold, mid-December was abnormally very freezing, the whole month of January (minus the 1st & 2nd) went Antarctica mode, and February varied from Siberia to Florida.

It's probably just me, I have a high heat tolerance and a poor cold tolerance.

it wasn't even THAT cold. I mean, YES it DID have its COLD moments, but.... it wasn't a constant arctic blast of cold the WHOLE month.

TON of SNOW, Yes....

[Cfa]

lol you are definitely a warmista. You'd love DC <img src='http://208.71.34.143/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=''

Lol it felt the exact same as here when I lived there (for one year) but now that I pay attention to this stuff I noticed they warm up a bit faster, I need a Tampa or Houston.

[Cfa]

it wasn't even THAT cold. I mean, YES it DID have its COLD moments, but.... it wasn't a constant arctic blast of cold the WHOLE month.

TON of SNOW, Yes....

I don't really remember 2005, I remember January 2004 was VERY cold though. Winter 2010-2011 is the coldest I can really recall, and me having to spend a lot of time outside just made it worse. I'm curious about how cold that windchill was, I think it was that night we went to like 8 degrees.

The constant storms week after week was very interesting.

[Isotherm]

Incredible stretches we've had....to see 50" snow in basically a month is just unreal, especially when it happens two years in a row. I had around 48" of snow in February 2010 and 40" in January 2011 here in Westchester. The stark contrast between these stretches and March 2010/2011 shows how important the NAO is to our winter; we can see feet of snow in a few weeks when blocking is favorable, but as soon as the pattern breaks down it takes us weeks to put together a few inches.

I wouldn't be surprised if we had another epic stretch next season; the sharp dip in global temperatures and overall quietness of the sun suggests we may have a long period of bitterly cold and snowy weather in Winter 11-12 IF the ENSO state is weak. I'd be more concerned if we moved into moderate Niña conditions again.

Yeah, we've now had a historic winter w/ a strong el nino and strong la nina. The common denominator -- strong blocking. Which proves that at least for the Northeastern US, PHL northeastward, the NAO/AO signal is most important to our winter. Interesting to see the gradient along the east coast though. Baltimore, DC, and Richmond did significantly better with the blocking/strong el nino couplet than blocking/strong la nina. Boston did much better with the latter, and NYC-PHL were in the transition zone. But PHL was much less snowy than last year for sure, and NYC was slightly snowier this winter. So it seems the cut-off is right around my area (CNJ) in terms of whether a strong nino or strong nina is snowier w/ the severe -NAO. Since I was on the northern fringe of the last year's big snows and the southern fringe (basically) of this winter's big snows, I cashed in with a phenomenal two year total of 127.5." For CNJ as a whole, 09-10 and 10-11 were about the same, but the Mid atlantic clearly does better with an el nino, and New England better with a la nina.

[KEITH L.I]

A+..I mean come-on..without a doubt..the period from Dec 26-Jan 26th was the best 30 days of winter weather I've ever experienced plus record snowcover a blizzard the day after Christmas..two other storms in January..has to rank in the top 3 winters of alltime

[Isotherm]

Nate -- the one aspect of this winter that was missing --> bitter cold. And I believe the strong ENSO regime of the past two winters definitely played a role in the lack of true, sustained arctic air into our region. If we can keep ENSO weak next winter with a low solar environment and potentially blocky north atlantic, we could really go to town w/ big time cold rivaling some of the greats, especially with global temps likely remaining below average this year. Don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think we're living in exciting times. A lot of major changes happening in the global sense, with the PDO reversal, solar minimum, the NAO flip, AMO declining, and now La Nina ruling the roost. We've got a barrage of natural factors pointed toward a cooler picture in the years to come...

[nzucker]

Nate -- the one aspect of this winter that was missing --> bitter cold. And I believe the strong ENSO regime of the past two winters definitely played a role in the lack of true, sustained arctic air into our region. If we can keep ENSO weak next winter with a low solar environment and potentially blocky north atlantic, we could really go to town w/ big time cold rivaling some of the greats, especially with global temps likely remaining below average this year. Don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think we're living in exciting times. A lot of major changes happening in the global sense, with the PDO reversal, solar minimum, the NAO flip, AMO declining, and now La Nina ruling the roost. We've got a barrage of natural factors pointed toward a cooler picture in the years to come...

Yes highly agree. I did think we had some pretty impressive cold shots this winter; as you mention, there was certainly nothing record-breaking or incredibly sustained, but it was cold in December and then again in mid January. I had 23/14 on December 14th, an anomaly close to -20F. I also had 19/2 on January 24th, which is about -20F as well. NYC was -4.5F for December and managed to maintain snow cover for almost two months straight, so there was obviously some good cold. I do concur, Tom, that it wasn't that extreme. People were talking about the January 24th "arctic outbreak" whereas I felt it was more of a typical mid-winter cold spell and not deserving of the title "arctic outbreak." 850s only dropped to -20C, and high temperatures still approached 20F...that's not very extreme at all. During January 1985 and January 1994, my house saw highs in the single digits with lows well below zero. So this was a cold winter, but not truly bitter like 76-77 or 70-71.

I agree that we're firmly pointed towards cold...UAH came in at -.02C for February, the coldest reading we've seen since the 2008 La Niña event. Large arctic airmasses prevailed this past month in Northern Canada and Western Russia, and the tendency for cold over the higher latitudes of North America looks to continue with the 12z GFS showing -40C 850s under a 474dm PV in mid-March, very impressive. With the continued low solar activity, -PDO/-ENSO, and the declining AMO, we should see the natural factors favoring cold overwhelming the anthropogenic factors weighted towards warmth, at least for the next 20-30 years when this regime is in place. I think we'll see some of our coldest winters in the 2020s once the arctic has had a chance to recover from the brutal +PDO/+AO/+ENSO stretch it had to endure...we also may get deeper into the solar minimum with an overall cumulative effect on both global temperatures and blocking. A weak ENSO state tends to produce the coldest winters in our area, thinking back to 03-04, 93-94, 83-84, 77-78, 76-77, 69-70, 60-61...those were all weak ENSO, and most on the El Niño side. A multi-year La Niña followed by a weak El Niño is the best recipe for extreme cold, and I think we may get that with a weak/moderate Niña in 11-12 and then an El Niño coming in 12-13 or 13-14. We had a similar situation in the 1970s at the end of the last -PDO phase: 1973-1976 was dominated by powerful La Niñas, and then the weak Niño in 76-77 delivered one of the coldest winters on record with a very strong -NAO/-EPO pattern.

[Chris L]

Next week: El Nino and Chuck's 2009-2010 analog FTW!

Maybe February 6, 2010 up the coast... NESIS 5 Blizzard.

[Dark Energy]

Next week: El Nino and Chuck's 2009-2010 analog FTW!

Maybe February 6, 2010 up the coast... NESIS 5 Blizzard.

[chazman]

Give it an A just for that period between 12/26 & 01/26.

Unprecedented snow pack in my lifetime, and two storms I will remember for years to come.

[jasonli18t]

A-

Two great storms, one very good storm, and a handful of minor events. 60 inches of snow overall makes it a good 100 percent above average. However, no record breaking snowfalls out here precludes me from giving it an A. I doubt ill see an A+ in my lifetime but my grading scale might be more difficult than others.

[CAT5ANDREW]

B+ overall.12/2-1/27 obviously the Greatest snow period in my lifetime but absolutetly nothing before that and little after it.Almost a carbon copy of 2003-04 winter.but warmer and snowier.2 HECS and just missing out on a 3rd was incredible.63 inches for a Strong NINA is historic.THese past 2 winters have been historic...dont look for a repeat.While this winter had the greatest depth of snowcover for the most consecutive days,1993-94 still remains the king for both snowcover and cold overall.I had snowcover for 90 days and that was the last winter to go to 0 and below here.The PV was over Europe so we missed out on the real serious cold,but it was still decent.It was still a fantastic winter,especially when we had to endure the hottest MARCH-SEPT on record last year.It made it worth it to a degree.Second year NINA events are usually colder.......I hope we get either a weak NINA or weak West based NINO.