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April 1 Blizzard SNE


HoarfrostHubb

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I always wondered what was better for SNE.... April 1997 or January 2005 or December 2003?

Its probably between '97 and '05 as a whole for SNE if you are just talking about those 3...Dec '03 was pretty pathetic compared to those two except in pockets where some ocean enhancement occurred or a lucky rogue mesoband. Dec '03 was an impressive storm no doubt, but its coverage of huge 20"+ totals is far less than the previous two. Jan '05 was probably more impressive overall from a snow total stand point and wind especially down on the Cape...April '97 is far superior from a dynamics standpoint (i.e. incredible qpf rates often in the form of TSSN and convection)

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Its probably between '97 and '05 as a whole for SNE if you are just talking about those 3...Dec '03 was pretty pathetic compared to those two except in pockets where some ocean enhancement occurred or a lucky rogue mesoband. Dec '03 was an impressive storm no doubt, but its coverage of huge 20"+ totals is far less than the previous two. Jan '05 was probably more impressive overall from a snow total stand point and wind especially down on the Cape...April '97 is far superior from a dynamics standpoint (i.e. incredible qpf rates often in the form of TSSN and convection)

Thnaks Will. I always believed that when talking about SNE Blizzards, it's obviously #1 February '78 and #2 would be February 1969 or December 1992. then the rest you can debate about them, but it's very pathetic that PD II is actually up there in the top 10 storms when you compare all the storms, PD was pretty weak with the overall storm structure, but had ton of moisture.

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I always wondered what was better for SNE.... April 1997 or January 2005 or December 2003?

I think hands down Jan '05 over se mass...esp coastal se mass and the Cape. 70-80mph winds with 30"+ snow. That was their blizzard of '78.

The thing about 4/1/97 is that we probably had 1-2" of rain over a lot of ern mass, before we even flipped to snow. It was just an incredibly dynamic and moisture laden system, but you expect this in the Spring time. Off the chart dynamics.

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I think hands down Jan '05 over se mass...esp coastal se mass and the Cape. 70-80mph winds with 30"+ snow. That was their blizzard of '78.

The thing about 4/1/97 is that we probably had 1-2" of rain over a lot of ern mass, before we even flipped to snow. It was just an incredibly dynamic and moisture laden system, but you expect this in the Spring time. Off the chart dynamics.

Yeah, I was talking to Will earlier about December 1997 snowstorm, which had even better dynamics than April 1997 did, since there was 50 dbz all snow on the radar, which is pretty damn nuts and it fell in a short time.

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Yeah, I was talking to Will earlier about December 1997 snowstorm, which had even better dynamics than April 1997 did, since there was 50 dbz all snow on the radar, which is pretty damn nuts and it fell in a short time.

Dec '97 was more intense for a brief period of time, but 4/1/97 had a subtropical conveyor belt, that was dumping on sne. It was loaded with moisture.

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I think hands down Jan '05 over se mass...esp coastal se mass and the Cape. 70-80mph winds with 30"+ snow. That was their blizzard of '78.

The thing about 4/1/97 is that we probably had 1-2" of rain over a lot of ern mass, before we even flipped to snow. It was just an incredibly dynamic and moisture laden system, but you expect this in the Spring time. Off the chart dynamics.

In my area Jan 2005 could not hold a candel to April 1997....no event could.

Jan 2005 is my 4th most impressive event, behind April 1997 and Dec 1992 and Jan 2011.

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I loved the 4/97 storm. Expected only a slushy inch or two and we wound up with nearly a foot of the heaviest snow I've ever seen. Two small trees came down at my house around 250 feet. Closer to the coast near the center of town there was probably only 4 or 5" on the ground.

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Does anybody have a snowfall map for 4/1/97 storm? I think that one may have dropped 30+" at my place.

I'd assume you did there on the east slope... I'm pretty sure even the eastern Catskills (Hunter/Tannersville area) got over 30" but those towns are at like 2,000ft. Even so, given the snowfall on the Mass coastal plain, ORH area, and back towards the Catskills, you likely upsloped a lot with the deep, moist easterly flow. No doubt you had 30" or more.

I even had 12" at 250ft in the Hudson Valley near Albany from that one. I remember thinking my mom was playing a joke when she said school was canceled, then I looked out the window.

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From Don S.'s digital snow museum: http://wintercenter.homestead.com/photo1997.html

I'm pretty sure this is CoastalWx holding a yard-stick... what is the most impressive thing about this picture is that these large storm totals were not achieved by rigorous clearing of the snow board, but instead there actually was that much snow on the ground at the end of the storm. That's one difference I've noticed especially over the past 5 years, that a lot more snowfall measurements include clearing of the snow board and adding the values together (I'm guilty of that now, too)... and it definitely makes some of the older storms seem that much more impressive. These days it seems everyone is much more diligent in measuring multiple times, and I think it does lead to slightly higher totals in some of the present day big storms.

HydeParkMA04011997-4.jpg

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I'd assume you did there on the east slope... I'm pretty sure even the eastern Catskills (Hunter/Tannersville area) got over 30" but those towns are at like 2,000ft. Even so, given the snowfall on the Mass coastal plain, ORH area, and back towards the Catskills, you likely upsloped a lot with the deep, moist easterly flow. No doubt you had 30" or more.

I even had 12" at 250ft in the Hudson Valley near Albany from that one. I remember thinking my mom was playing a joke when she said school was canceled, then I looked out the window.

I'm pretty sure I got like 33" or 37", something like that. I'm At the most boring family get together right now so can't check myself.

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I'd assume you did there on the east slope... I'm pretty sure even the eastern Catskills (Hunter/Tannersville area) got over 30" but those towns are at like 2,000ft. Even so, given the snowfall on the Mass coastal plain, ORH area, and back towards the Catskills, you likely upsloped a lot with the deep, moist easterly flow. No doubt you had 30" or more.

I even had 12" at 250ft in the Hudson Valley near Albany from that one. I remember thinking my mom was playing a joke when she said school was canceled, then I looked out the window.

The highest in the KU map in western MA is 24". I could see amounts lower there if the too much was rung out in the ORH area. Data is somewhat sparse over there too, obviously.

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The highest in the KU map in western MA is 24". I could see amounts lower there if the too much was rung out in the ORH area. Data is somewhat sparse over there too, obviously.

Ahh, yeah I'm trying to find a listing of snowfall totals but did find this, which is probably the same as the KU map, just with different colors and make-up.

01apr97_snowfall.gif

And a visible satellite image...

970331_2145_vis.GIF

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* PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

National Weather Service Taunton MA
1102 PM EST Tue Apr 1 1997
    Here are reports of snow accumulations for the storm event which
    Began around 9 AM Monday morning March 31 st.
    This should be the final report on this storm.
    Thanks to all media and coop observers for the reports.
    Our homepage is:
    Http://www.Nws.NOAA.Gov/er/box and http://bristol.Wbox.NOAA.Gov

    ...Nws offices...             Time    snowfall inches
    NWSFO Taunton /BOX/           final     23.3
    Boston Logan /BOS/            final     25.4
    Worcester Airport /ORH/       final     33.0
    Blue hills obs /BHO/          305 PM    30.0 3rd highest ever
    Warwick RI /PVD/
    Bradley Intl /BDL/
         ...Peak wind gust...
    Boston Logan /bos/                    53 mph
    Worcester Airport /orh/               47 mph
    Blue hills obs /bho/                  72 mph
    Warwick RI /pvd/                      51 mph
    Bradley Intl /bdl/                    48 mph
    ...Eastern Massachusetts...
    Fairhaven                      Final    14.5 3.53 liquid
    Fall River                     Final    15.0
    Attleboro                      Final    22.0
    Randolph                       Final    27.0
    Hull                           final    24.0 5.32 liquid
                                                 Gust to 64 mph
    Acushnet                       Final    17.0
    New Bedford                    Final    14.0
    Newton                         Final    27.0
    Norton                         final    22.8
    Milton                         Final    22.5
    Hingham                        Final    23.0 2nd highest ever
    Scituate                       Final    18.0
    Onset                          final    15.0
    Danvers                        Final    16.0
    E. Falmouth                    Final     8.0
    Pocasett                       final     8.0
    Hyannis                        Final     6.5
    Martha/s Vineyard              final     5.0
    Nantucket                      Final   trace
    Winthrop                      355 PM    23.7
    Mansfield                     345 PM    20.3 2.93 liquid
    West Cranston                 345 PM    25.0
    Manchester                    340 PM    24.5
    Marshfield                    315 PM    20.0
    East Woburn                   200 PM    30.0
    Woburn                        200 PM    20.0
    Walpole                       100 PM    22.5
    North Woburn                  100 PM    27.0
    Maynard                       100 PM    24.7
    Lynnfield                     100 PM    21.0
    Carver                        100 PM    19.4
    Hingham                       100 PM    26.0
    West Townsend                1245 PM    27.0 liq. Eqv. 2.75
    Hanson                       1240 PM    18.0
    Littleton                    1200 PM    26.0
    West framingham              1200 PM    20.0
    Acton                        1155 AM    29.0
    North Cambridge              1136 AM    25.5
    Methuen                      1130 AM    18.0
    Cohasset                     1130 AM    19.0
    Wakefield                    1115 AM    25.0
    Swampscott                   1115 AM    21.1
    Marlboro                     1110 AM    30.0
    Wakefield                    1110 AM    18.0
    Tyngsboro                    1026 AM    20.0
       ...Peak wind gusts...
    Onset                                 64 mph
    West Island                           55 mph
    Nantucket                             55 mph
    New Bedford                           42 mph
    Pocasett                              46 mph
    ...Central Massachusetts... (Worcester county only)
    Milford                       Final     36.0 ties blzzrd 78' tot.
    Northbridge                  110 PM     30.0
    Grafton                     1130 AM     29.0
    Shrewsbury                   900 AM     30.3  5 ft drifts at 6 AM
    West boylston                730 AM     24.0
    ...Western Massachusetts...
    Worthington                  730 AM     24.0
    Charlemont                   730 AM     17.0
    Sunderland                   730 AM     15.1
    Westfield                    730 AM     16.5  2.0 liq. Eqv.
    Munson                       700 AM     17.0
    ...Southern New Hampshire...(Hillsborough and Cheshire counties)
    Nashua                       1040 AM    16.0
    Wilton                        900 AM    26.0
    Weare                         800 AM    19.6
    Manchester                    730 AM    14.0
    Marlow                        730 AM    14.0
    Otterbrook                    730 AM    12.0
    Keene                         730 AM    12.0
    Surry Mountain Dam            730 AM    11.0
    Francestown                   700 AM    20.0
    ...Northern Connecticut...  (Hartford/tolland/windham counties)
    W. Suffield                   final     17.0
    Union                       1100 AM     18.3
    Vernon                      1100 AM     13.5
    Farmington                  1100 AM     15.5
    Wethersfield                1100 AM     12.3
    Mansfield                   1100 AM     12.5
    Putnam                      1100 AM     21.0
    Avon                        1100 AM     14.0
    East Granby                 1100 AM     11.0
    Bristol                      935 AM     13.0
    Mansfield                    930 AM     16.0
    Storrs                       930 AM     12.0
    Chaplin                      930 AM     10.0
    Scotland                     930 AM      7.0
    Windham                      930 AM     12.0
    ...Rhode Island...
    N. Foster                     final     24.7  3.58 liquid
    Middletown                    Final      4.0
    Providence (downtown)         final     19.5  3.06 liq. Eqv.
    Tiverton                      Final     14.0  3.08 liq. Eqv.
    West Warwick                 415 PM     18.0
    West Cranston               1245 PM     24.0
    Woonsocket                  1130 AM     21.7
    Warwick                     1100 AM     16.5
    Burrillville                1100 AM     30.5
    Cumberland                  1100 AM     24.0
    Johnston                    1049 AM     16.0

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From Don S.'s digital snow museum: http://wintercenter..../photo1997.html

I'm pretty sure this is CoastalWx holding a yard-stick... what is the most impressive thing about this picture is that these large storm totals were not achieved by rigorous clearing of the snow board, but instead there actually was that much snow on the ground at the end of the storm. That's one difference I've noticed especially over the past 5 years, that a lot more snowfall measurements include clearing of the snow board and adding the values together (I'm guilty of that now, too)... and it definitely makes some of the older storms seem that much more impressive. These days it seems everyone is much more diligent in measuring multiple times, and I think it does lead to slightly higher totals in some of the present day big storms.

HydeParkMA04011997-4.jpg

Actually, it's a piece of strapping! I could not find a yard stick. Here is the other thing to ponder. I was 17 and that snow was up to my quads. I'm standing in the middle of a backyard. I have a lot more pics, but here is anothe rpic of the depth. Notice the walkway. That's pure snow OTG. Not a path that a cut through full of shoveled snow banks. I'm pretty sure I had over 30" in Hyde Park. Also note the stairs. Yes that was the actual snow depth. Some of that drifted off the rood, which you can see if you look closely, but still that's incredible.

post-33-0-92298500-1301182024.jpg

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Actually, it's a piece of strapping! I could not find a yard stick. Here is the other thing to ponder. I was 17 and that snow was up to my quads. I'm standing in the middle of a backyard. I have a lot more pics, but here is anothe rpic of the depth. Notice the walkway. That's pure snow OTG. Not a path that a cut through full of shoveled snow banks. I'm pretty sure I had over 30" in Hyde park.

post-33-0-92298500-1301182024.jpg

If Logan airport got 25.4", then I'd bet that most of the area west of Boston Common got 28-30". Even an extra 50-100 feet probably really helped and of course getting out of the middle of Boston Harbor.

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If Logan airport got 25.4", then I'd bet that most of the area west of Boston Common got 28-30". Even an extra 50-100 feet probably really helped and of course getting out of the middle of Boston Harbor.

best storm after 78 imo. anomalous for time of year and qpf

are there NO radar LOOPS of this thing?

two feet fell in my town of raynham, ma (90' asl) and i could gauantee areas up by / N easton / /shaon around 300-400' had 28-30 or so.....i bet ashland and nobscot framingham milford bellingham wrenthem foxborough (300'+)got smoked silly as well. i believe there were many 30 amounts in those towns.

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I think hands down Jan '05 over se mass...esp coastal se mass and the Cape. 70-80mph winds with 30"+ snow. That was their blizzard of '78.

The thing about 4/1/97 is that we probably had 1-2" of rain over a lot of ern mass, before we even flipped to snow. It was just an incredibly dynamic and moisture laden system, but you expect this in the Spring time. Off the chart dynamics.

I was living in Cambridge for the Jan 2005 storm. There were definitley totals over 30" in Cambridge and Somerville.

The drifting was insane! The city streets were unrecognizable and most sidewalks impassable for several days after.

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I was living in Cambridge for the Jan 2005 storm. There were definitley totals over 30" in Cambridge and Somerville.

The drifting was insane! The city streets were unrecognizable and most sidewalks impassable for several days after.

Boston severely undermeasured for January 2005 Blizzard. I mean, didn't the Boston Common got 28+?

IMO, Jan 2005 probably is 30" at Boston.

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Actually, it's a piece of strapping! I could not find a yard stick. Here is the other thing to ponder. I was 17 and that snow was up to my quads. I'm standing in the middle of a backyard. I have a lot more pics, but here is anothe rpic of the depth. Notice the walkway. That's pure snow OTG. Not a path that a cut through full of shoveled snow banks. I'm pretty sure I had over 30" in Hyde Park. Also note the stairs. Yes that was the actual snow depth. Some of that drifted off the rood, which you can see if you look closely, but still that's incredible.

post-33-0-92298500-1301182024.jpg

Hey Scott- I turn 17 this week haha. Maybe I can get my April 1st Blizzard? You can even cut totals by 1/2 or even 1/3. That would still work. laugh.gif

Also, UCONN is in the final 4 baby!! thumbsupsmileyanim.gifthumbsupsmileyanim.gif

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