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Top 10 Worst I-95 Winters since 1970


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Used average snowfall for DCA/NYC/BOS

1972-73: 4.4"

2001-02: 7.3"

1988-89: 9.8"

1997-98: 10.4"

1994-95: 12.3"

2006-07: 13.0"

1991-92: 13.7"

1979-80: 15.2"

1980-81: 15.4"

1985-86: 15.5"

NYC was above the average in 1980-81 only...it was probably the coldest of the bunch...

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'96-'97 was pretty terrible but BOS bailed out the average with over 25" in the April 1997 storm. '07-'08 was awful too south of BOS. I think '79-'80 was pretty sickening north of DC/BWI.

My personal worst is 1994-1995 followed by 1988-1989.

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'96-'97 was pretty terrible but BOS bailed out the average with over 25" in the April 1997 storm. '07-'08 was awful too south of BOS. I think '79-'80 was pretty sickening north of DC/BWI.

My personal worst is 1994-1995 followed by 1988-1989.

December 1996 was pretty good for you in 1996-97 also :)

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Didn't 1997-98 have somewhat -NAO?

It was technically slightly positive. But I'd basically call it neutral. The PAC was definitely the biggest culprit that winter. A solidly -NAO perhaps could have saved that winter a bit, but obviously it didn't happen.

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It was technically slightly positive. But I'd basically call it neutral. The PAC was definitely the biggest culprit that winter. A solidly -NAO perhaps could have saved that winter a bit, but obviously it didn't happen.

1993-94 and 2002-03 also had positive NAO..... 1993-94 overwhelmingly positive and I don't see how Analog could say or think NAO is the only thing that matters, because he got a ****load of both snow and cold that winter.

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It was technically slightly positive. But I'd basically call it neutral. The PAC was definitely the biggest culprit that winter. A solidly -NAO perhaps could have saved that winter a bit, but obviously it didn't happen.

Yeah, I think if we had a neg nao timed appropriately that winter it could have ended up like 1982-83 (which might also have been influenced by the volcano.) I'd rather have a great pacific pattern first though because that seems to be easier to sustain but if everything else is bad a neg nao can sometimes bail us out ;)

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It was technically slightly positive. But I'd basically call it neutral. The PAC was definitely the biggest culprit that winter. A solidly -NAO perhaps could have saved that winter a bit, but obviously it didn't happen.

That's exactly my point. The NAO was close to neutral, so the strong El Nino overwhelmed the pattern. We have seen in the last two winters that if the NAO is strongly negative, it doesn't matter if we have a strong ENSO on either side. And we saw in 2001-02 that a completely neutral ENSO (which was SUPPOSED to be good for snow in the NE) is garbage with a strong +NAO. Yet, I'm sure CPC will still use 100% ENSO to make their outlook this winter.

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Yeah, I think if we had a neg nao timed appropriately that winter it could have ended up like 1982-83 (which might also have been influenced by the volcano.) I'd rather have a great pacific pattern first though because that seems to be easier to sustain but if everything else is bad a neg nao can sometimes bail us out ;)

A strong -NAO that year could have given us a combination of 1982-83 and 2009-10. The writing was on the wall in the fall, but the pattern never set up.

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Monthly NAO index for those years...

year........Dec...Jan...Feb...Mar...

1972-73...1.7...0.5...2.3...0.9

1979-80...1.3..-1.7...0.5...0.0

1980-81...1.5...1.0...1.2..-1.1

1985-86..-1.2...2.4..-2.7...3.9

1988-89...0.5...2.4...3.2...3.2

1991-92...0.2..-1.0...2.0...2.0

1994-95...1.6...1.4...2.3...1.8

1997-98..-0.5..-0.7...0.7...0.5

2001-02..-4.1...0.5...1.7...0.9

2006-07...2.1...1.1..-0.2...3.1

http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/jhurrell/indices.data.html#naostatdjfm

The neg nao in December 2001 was pretty strong but was a short dip...

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That's exactly my point. The NAO was close to neutral, so the strong El Nino overwhelmed the pattern. We have seen in the last two winters that if the NAO is strongly negative, it doesn't matter if we have a strong ENSO on either side. And we saw in 2001-02 that a completely neutral ENSO (which was SUPPOSED to be good for snow in the NE) is garbage with a strong +NAO. Yet, I'm sure CPC will still use 100% ENSO to make their outlook this winter.

But then as someone pointed out, you have 1993-94 which was postive neutral ENSO and had +NAO...so clearly the NAO is not all that matters.

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That's exactly my point. The NAO was close to neutral, so the strong El Nino overwhelmed the pattern. We have seen in the last two winters that if the NAO is strongly negative, it doesn't matter if we have a strong ENSO on either side. And we saw in 2001-02 that a completely neutral ENSO (which was SUPPOSED to be good for snow in the NE) is garbage with a strong +NAO. Yet, I'm sure CPC will still use 100% ENSO to make their outlook this winter.

Well '01-'02 didn't have a strong +NAO, that was another winter were it was weakly positive. The PAC was absolutely horrendous that winter with a strong vortex over W AK and the Bering Straight region.

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Monthly NAO index for those years...

year........Dec...Jan...Feb...Mar...

1972-73...1.7...0.5...2.3...0.9

1979-80...1.3..-1.7...0.5...0.0

1980-81...1.5...1.0...1.2..-1.1

1985-86..-1.2...2.4..-2.7...3.9

1988-89...0.5...2.4...3.2...3.2

1991-92...0.2..-1.0...2.0...2.0

1994-95...1.6...1.4...2.3...1.8

1997-98..-0.5..-0.7...0.7...0.5

2001-02..-4.1...0.5...1.7...0.9

2006-07...2.1...1.1..-0.2...3.1

http://www.cgd.ucar....tml#naostatdjfm

The neg nao in December 2001 was pretty strong but was a short dip...

The problem with the -NAO dip in 2001 was that it did not last long enough, and it happened to coincide nicely with a period when there were no storms on the map. That winter, it did everything it could to NOT snow here.

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But then as someone pointed out, you have 1993-94 which was postive neutral ENSO and had +NAO...so clearly the NAO is not all that matters.

We also had a strong +PNA. Very odd winter. But you would note, the further South you go, the more important the NAO becomes, which is why 1993-94 had such a sharp gradient.

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Well '01-'02 didn't have a strong +NAO, that was another winter were it was weakly positive. The PAC was absolutely horrendous that winter with a strong vortex over W AK and the Bering Straight region.

That sure didn't help matters, creating a strong -PNA, which overwhelmed the weak variances of the NAO.

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That PV in NW Canada really is the key. If that is in NW Canada..then we (especially NYC-BOS) has the benefit of a nice banana high reaching in from the Great Lakes to help lock in the cold. If that PV is stuck in AK or especially the Bering Sea...we're fooked. Even with a +NAO..so long as the cold is in Canada..we have a shot.

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NAO first, then PNA. My point is that local teleconnections are more important in this part of the world than ENSO.

It's almost a chicken or the egg argument because you could say that ENSO helps drive teleconnections..or at least allows them to settle in their base state if ENSO is not too strong.

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