Rank 'Em

[Sundog]

records are records for a reason

if x happened, then this would have happened!

True. If the city wasn't a furnace covered in cement they would have gotten a good 10 inches out of that April 96 storm that affected areas Queens on east and Down the Jersey shore and the record would have stood somewhere in the mid to high 80s.

[Allsnow]

lol at the same people who constantly downplay boxing day... i'm sorry you got 18- 20" instead of 30"

This.............

[A-L-E-X]

True. If the city wasn't a furnace covered in cement they would have gotten a good 10 inches out of that April 96 storm that affected areas Queens on east and Down the Jersey shore and the record would have stood somewhere in the mid to high 80s.

It does show the fragility of records and how we've been breaking records left and right the past few years. Records aren't a ceiling they're just a pit stop Of course, when we get into another one of those snow droughts we'll be praying for an average winter lol. If the snow drought of the late 80s and early 90s or the late 90s rears it's ugly head again then we'll have a rash of weenie suicides. Good thing that the sun is supposed to go into the tank through about 2023.

[Allsnow]

Come on man, blizz 96 lasted much longer, impacted a larger area, had colder temperatures to start, and even with the city plows staying on top of the storm it still shut the city down. If the city haden't half assed the cleanup for boxing day, the impact would have been far less.

I was 11 in 96, so i remember bit and pieces. That being said i was pretty much the sweet spot during the boxing day storm. 24-30 inches of snow in my area and hours of blizzard conditions. Does not get much better then that for my area, plus it was around xmass. ORHWX some it up pretty well, and i was just lucky enough to be in the sweet spot.

[TheTrials]

Comparisons aside, since its clear so much of this is local, here is some more info on 96 for those who were too young or weren't around. The morning of the storm, it was -5F to -10F in the burbs of NYC and around 5F in the heart of the city. The snow started almost as soon as the precip moved in, a testament to the awesome WAA out ahead of the main system. By around 11am IIRC reports of thundersnow started to roll in, even one I believe from JFK or LGA. This wasn't even the height of the storm, there was still over 24 hours left of snowfall. By the afternoon snowfall rates were easily 1-2 inches area wide with 3 inches an hour kicking in over the city and obviously back towards the sw in philly etc. As the sun went down, the winds picked up and the banding started to move in in full force and it did that all night with a small break towards morning as the 700 low moved pretty close and then the final few deform bands moved back in. Just the entire progression was picture perfect and no one got screwed.

EDIT: Well, I am glad I said IIRC, because I am looking through the airport obs but don't see any thunder snow, but I am sure there was and remember the reports on tv clearly. Also, it was 12 in NYC when it started snowing, but still, impressive. It was def. below zero north of the city.

[Guest Pamela]

Top 15 / Since 1982-83 Winter...this is for out where *I* live...so no outrage if a favorite storm of yours is too low...

1/ February 11, 1983

2/ January 7, 1996

3/ February 17, 2003

4/ December 19, 2009

5/ January 11, 2011

6/ January 22, 2005

7/February 10, 2010

8/ January 26, 2011

9/ December 6, 2003

10/ March 4, 2001

11/ March 1, 2009

12/ December 26, 2010

13/ February 26, 2010

14/ February 11, 2006

15/ April 10, 1996

[MJO812]

DEC 25th 2002 is also in my top list.Went from an inch of rain in the Northern Bronx to nearly a foot in only a few hours.THe winds were memorable in that storm as well.

In my area, it went from rain in the morning to rain/sleet/snow in the afternoon to heavy winddriven snow at night. Temps fell all day from the upper 40's in the morning to the 20's at night. Total snow accumulation was around 6 inches. No one expected to see that much snow because the forecast was for mainly rain with a slight chance of snow at night. The forecasters really bombed this forecast.

[RutgersWx92]

lol at the same people who constantly downplay boxing day... i'm sorry you got 18- 20" instead of 30"

I only got 9'' and got completely screwed over, I think I have the right to downplay it. Seriously, as great as that storm was for the areas it really hit hard, its overall snowfall coverage wasn't nearly as impressive as a lot of other storms. The funny thing is that Boxing Day wouldn't even make my top 10 list because I was home when it happened, but if I hadn't been on winter break when it happened and had been in school just 25 minutes away, I think it would've easily been in my top 5 and maybe even my favorite of all time. I don't think I've ever experienced a storm more frustrating, and it followed an entire winter when I already felt like I had been screwed over. Thankfully 1/27/11 was a totally awesome storm (my number one personal favorite of all time in fact), which at least kind of made up for it. That second event at night was absolutely incredible: among the heaviest snowfall rates I've ever seen, and with wind and thunder/lightning to boot. I shot this video of the storm at its height:

[MJO812]

records are records for a reason

if x happened, then this would have happened!

True but I am still shocked that we didn't break records. I had 60 inches of snow by Feb 1st. Who would have thought that there wouldn't be a lot of snow after that.

[A-L-E-X]

True but I am still shocked that we didn't break records. I had 60 inches of snow by Feb 1st. Who would have thought that there wouldn't be a lot of snow after that.

The problem with "records" is that they are over a very limited timespan-- take a much larger sample size and those records are no longer records.

[ORH_wxman]

True but I am still shocked that we didn't break records. I had 60 inches of snow by Feb 1st. Who would have thought that there wouldn't be a lot of snow after that.

Climo for NYC after Feb 1st wouldn't have broken the record.

[nzucker]

I only got 9'' and got completely screwed over, I think I have the right to downplay it. Seriously, as great as that storm was for the areas it really hit hard, its overall snowfall coverage wasn't nearly as impressive as a lot of other storms. The funny thing is that Boxing Day wouldn't even make my top 10 list because I was home when it happened, but if I hadn't been on winter break when it happened and had been in school just 25 minutes away, I think it would've easily been in my top 5 and maybe even my favorite of all time. I don't think I've ever experienced a storm more frustrating, and it followed an entire winter when I already felt like I had been screwed over. Thankfully 1/27/11 was a totally awesome storm (my number one personal favorite of all time in fact), which at least kind of made up for it. That second event at night was absolutely incredible: among the heaviest snowfall rates I've ever seen, and with wind and thunder/lightning to boot. I shot this video of the storm at its height:

The Boxing Day storm had impressive winds and cold, but the snow totals were only exceptional for a small portion of NYC metro, and a tiny portion of the I-95 corridor. In my opinion, Boxing Day probably doesn't even make the Top 20 East Coast storms since 1950; I would have said the same thing even if I had received the enormous 30" totals. Indeed, while the 2/26/2010 Snowicane was the #1 storm for my backyard with 26", 25-30mph wind gusts, and long duration, I can clearly admit that on a larger scale, it wasn't an historic snowstorm in the same vein as the February 1983 Megalopolis or January 1996 Blizzards. For a 970mb low, the banding on 12/26/2010 was very fickle, and the storm was relatively short-lived...I had only light snow until 5-6pm, and the brunt of the action was over by 1am at the latest with just flurries continuing after that. Boxing Day was remarkable for a few hours of mind-blowing blizzard conditions along with model mayhem, but nothing more really.

To me, the one flaw of Winter 2010-2011 was that it lacked an all-encompassing East Coast snowstorm. Other great winters like 02-03, 95-96, and 60-61 had one major storm that paralyzed large sections of the East Coast; there's something special about a storm that affects millions of people from many different regions, that allows weather enthusiasts on boards like this to feel as if they are all sharing in a great experience, that transforms the landscape of so many areas. We didn't have that this year....12/26 was mostly a SE VA, NE NJ, and NYC storm, 1/12 was clearly a LI/New England storm, and 1/26 was mostly a NE NJ/NYC 5 Boroughs storm with some limited impacts down to DC/BWI. Even in my backyard where 70" of snow fell with two feet of snow lying in late January/early February, there wasn't a single storm that I see as being forever ingrained in my memory. Certainly there are moments that I will never forget (the conditions from 10-11pm on 12/26, the insane 40dbz band that rocked me during 1/27)....but my totals were 14.5" from 1/12, 14" from 1/27, and 13" from 12/26. Rather pedestrian for a big winter as this one certainly was.

I also believe that January 1996 was severely undermeasured....EWR did come in with 27.6", and Bay Shore had 30.5", but I could see those amounts being more widespread with everyone basically having received 25-30". Although a young boy of 8, I still remember the scene, and I believe we must have had at least as much snow as the February 2010 Snowicane, in which I measured 26". Here is a picture my parents took:

True but I am still shocked that we didn't break records. I had 60 inches of snow by Feb 1st. Who would have thought that there wouldn't be a lot of snow after that.

NYC got screwed in several events...there was an overrunning event in the Plains/Midwest in mid-February, just before the torch (perhaps like 2/11?) that was originally forecasted by the GFS to hit the coast and bury us...parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas had over 2 feet with freezing rain falling in other areas of the Southern Plains. We had a brutally cold airmass to the North and would have received amazing ratios, but the PV dampened out the shortwave and prevented it from amplifying. It would have been really nice to get that storm, as it would have basically ensured we broke the record, and many of us would have had 35-40" snow cover, especially out in the wooded, higher elevation areas of the suburbs..I was pushing 30" in some spots in the woods, hollows that had accumulated favorably.

NYC also got screwed on the 3/24 overrunning event...parts of NNJ got hit hard with WAA snows, recording 8-10" from just the first wave. Central Park would have been too warm to see that much, but they could have easily had 3-6" if the banding hadn't run into a brick wall just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The radar had such a sharp cut-off in the first half of the storm, and then the second part was too disorganized and mild. Even so, places near JFK had up to 3", and some places just across from Manhattan in North-Central NJ had 5-6" total, like where the poster CooL lives. Central Park only got 1" from both waves.

And of course the 4/1 storm was an utter disappointment. After a poor March, we could have earned a reprieve if the H7 low had closed off earlier. At 72 hours, both the GFS and Euro had a monster Nor'easter that would have been an easy 6-12' for NYC, even with the warm boundary layer. The Nor'easter really fell apart and only a few parts of SNE scraped together 3-6". That was really the last chance of the season, although if you remember, the models also overdid the -NAO blocking's persistence. Originally, that block wasn't supposed to blow up completely until like 4/10 with the Pacific remaining favorable for a 2003 or 1996 style event, and several runs of the GFS were showing a late-season storm possible on 4/7, but we didn't maintain the Greenland block as some of the models had predicted, and spring came early. Here was the April 7th storm the GFS was showing in the long range:

I do have a nice picture from 3/21, when I got a 1" surprise snowfall, the penultimate event of the season:

[ORH_wxman]

The Boxing Day storm had impressive winds and cold, but the snow totals were only exceptional for a small portion of NYC metro, and a tiny portion of the I-95 corridor. In my opinion, Boxing Day probably doesn't even make the Top 20 East Coast storms since 1950; I would have said the same thing even if I had received the enormous 30" totals. Indeed, while the 2/26/2010 Snowicane was the #1 storm for my backyard with 26", 25-30mph wind gusts, and long duration, I can clearly admit that on a larger scale, it wasn't an historic snowstorm in the same vein as the February 1983 Megalopolis or January 1996 Blizzards. For a 970mb low, the banding on 12/26/2010 was very fickle, and the storm was relatively short-lived...I had only light snow until 5-6pm, and the brunt of the action was over by 1am at the latest with just flurries continuing after that. Boxing Day was remarkable for a few hours of mind-blowing blizzard conditions along with model mayhem, but nothing more really.

To me, the one flaw of Winter 2010-2011 was that it lacked an all-encompassing East Coast snowstorm. Other great winters like 02-03, 95-96, and 60-61 had one major storm that paralyzed large sections of the East Coast; there's something special about a storm that affects millions of people from many different regions, that allows weather enthusiasts on boards like this to feel as if they are all sharing in a great experience, that transforms the landscape of so many areas. We didn't have that this year....12/26 was mostly a SE VA, NE NJ, and NYC storm, 1/12 was clearly a LI/New England storm, and 1/26 was mostly a NE NJ/NYC 5 Boroughs storm with some limited impacts down to DC/BWI. Even in my backyard where 70" of snow fell with two feet of snow lying in late January/early February, there wasn't a single storm that I see as being forever ingrained in my memory. Certainly there are moments that I will never forget (the conditions from 10-11pm on 12/26, the insane 40dbz band that rocked me during 1/27)....but my totals were 14.5" from 1/12, 14" from 1/27, and 13" from 12/26. Rather pedestrian for a big winter as this one certainly was.

I also believe that January 1996 was severely undermeasured....EWR did come in with 27.6", and Bay Shore had 30.5", but I could see those amounts being more widespread with everyone basically having received 25-30". Although a young boy of 8, I still remember the scene, and I believe we must have had at least as much snow as the February 2010 Snowicane, in which I measured 26". Here is a picture my parents took:

NYC got screwed in several events...there was an overrunning event in the Plains/Midwest in mid-February, just before the torch (perhaps like 2/11?) that was originally forecasted by the GFS to hit the coast and bury us...parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas had over 2 feet with freezing rain falling in other areas of the Southern Plains. We had a brutally cold airmass to the North and would have received amazing ratios, but the PV dampened out the shortwave and prevented it from amplifying. It would have been really nice to get that storm, as it would have basically ensured we broke the record, and many of us would have had 35-40" snow cover, especially out in the wooded, higher elevation areas of the suburbs..I was pushing 30" in some spots in the woods, hollows that had accumulated favorably.

NYC also got screwed on the 3/24 overrunning event...parts of NNJ got hit hard with WAA snows, recording 8-10" from just the first wave. Central Park would have been too warm to see that much, but they could have easily had 3-6" if the banding hadn't run into a brick wall just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The radar had such a sharp cut-off in the first half of the storm, and then the second part was too disorganized and mild. Even so, places near JFK had up to 3", and some places just across from Manhattan in North-Central NJ had 5-6" total, like where the poster CooL lives. Central Park only got 1" from both waves.

And of course the 4/1 storm was an utter disappointment. After a poor March, we could have earned a reprieve if the H7 low had closed off earlier. At 72 hours, both the GFS and Euro had a monster Nor'easter that would have been an easy 6-12' for NYC, even with the warm boundary layer. The Nor'easter really fell apart and only a few parts of SNE scraped together 3-6". That was really the last chance of the season, although if you remember, the models also overdid the -NAO blocking's persistence. Originally, that block wasn't supposed to blow up completely until like 4/10 with the Pacific remaining favorable for a 2003 or 1996 style event, and several runs of the GFS were showing a late-season storm possible on 4/7, but we didn't maintain the Greenland block as some of the models had predicted, and spring came early. Here was the April 7th storm the GFS was showing in the long range:

I do have a nice picture from 3/21, when I got a 1" surprise snowfall, the penultimate event of the season:

While seeing an entire east coast blockbuster is nice for a major winter, it's not required. I doubt a lot of people near BOS would consider '77-'78 a bit of a failure because Feb '78 screwed DC. Same with '04-'05 in SE New England.

But I suppose NE is a bit different because its more likely that NE sees some huge storms that miss areas solely because of latitude. Its a weird thing to discuss. NYC is tucked in pretty far SW and often sees some weird screw jobs and also some jackpots because of that.

[nyratk1]

Top 5 winter storms, a few ties here since accumulations or impact on me were similar - I was born in 1985 so basically the '93 Superstorm was the first storm I remember (but mostly rain and wind here) but the Blizzard of '96 was the king:

The accumulations were what I measured or what observers measured. (If my town wasn't on the list, I used Shirley or other nearby towns on the snowfall total list like Patchogue, East Patchogue or Medford.)

1) 23": Blizzard of 1996 - A load of everything.

2) 24": December 19-20th 2009 - Accumulation was pretty much at 1996-levels, wind was good but Boxing Day was better.

3) 17": December 26, 2010 - The intense wind gusts (60-70 mph at Patchogue - next town over) helped this higher on the list.

4) 17": PDII

5) 17": February 12-13, 2006

Honorable Mentions

15": January 22-23, 2005 and December 5-6, 2003

[nzucker]

While seeing an entire east coast blockbuster is nice for a major winter, it's not required. I doubt a lot of people near BOS would consider '77-'78 a bit of a failure because Feb '78 screwed DC. Same with '04-'05 in SE New England.

But I suppose NE is a bit different because its more likely that NE sees some huge storms that miss areas solely because of latitude. Its a weird thing to discuss. NYC is tucked in pretty far SW and often sees some weird screw jobs and also some jackpots because of that.

I think there are basically two approaches to rating a winter: one that focuses on persistent cold, snowfall, and snow cover (what one lives in the moment); and then there is the method of rating based on historical/anomalous single events that occurred during that winter (what one will remember, what belongs in the history books). In our climate, a snowy winter almost always includes 1-2 interesting/high impact storms; we don't live in a nickel-and-dime area, for the most part, where we can get a snowy winter without seeing any 8"+ events that are fun to track. Therefore, there is some intermingling between the two approaches, but at the same time very much a large distinction.

Clearly, many in the NYC forum tend to believe having a storm like January 1996 or February 1983 with large aerial coverage and massive disruption made the winter much more historical/higher rated, despite the fact that Winter 10-11 can be argued to be much more solid/wintry than certainly 82-83 and probably 95-96. Although I think 10-11 was the best winter Dobbs Ferry has seen since 60-61, I still have to give 95-96 an A here with last year being an A-. Objectively, Winter 10-11 had much better snow cover, colder departures from normal, fewer melt-downs; statistically, it was a better winter, and I constantly felt as if I were in the midst of a harsh winter with the persistent bitter NW flow in December, the 1-2' of snow cover I had from 1/12 to 2/10, etc. However, thinking about it in a larger scale, I know 95-96 was more memorable...when I'm older and memories of general conditions start to fade in favor of anomalous events, I know 95-96 will seem the most impressive winter, simply because everyone remembers the Blizzard. January 6-8, 1996 was a national news story, a storm that closed my school for 3 days with a delay on the 4th, a meteorological phenomenon so rare with a 522dm closed low stalling for days just east of NYC. Over the course of lifetime, Winter 95-96 has to rate a bit higher. even though an "instant grade" could be lower...and I try to rate a winter based on how much it will dominate my memories, and the collective memory of our society. This includes the large-scale geographical impact of a storm. 95-96 had several events that paralyzed the Eastern Seaboard, and everyone got a crapload of snow that year, not just selective areas.

In my opinion, there are tiers of winters...the 1st tier can be occupied only by winters that were great in my backyard for several reasons, and had widespread impacts elsewhere that disrupted/changed/transformed society. The 2nd tier is for winters that were excellent here, but not paralyzing along the entire East Coast. The third tier are winters that were good/solid here, with variable impact along the seaboard. Here's what I was thinking since 1960...

1st Tier:

2009-10: 68" here, 26" with near-blizzard conditions on 2/25, 50" in February, miss for Southern New England but snowiest winter ever for DC/Baltimore (50" in 1 week), largest snowstorm ever at BTV

2002-03: 55" here, 16" with brutal cold and drifting in PDII, surprise 11" storm on XMAS that was supposed to be rain, BWI+JFK get over 2' from PDII, arctic outbreak before MLK weekend, BOS 67.7"

1995-96: 82" here, 25-30" widespread from DC-BOS on 1/7, probably biggest I-95 event in 200-300 years, unusual snow in Nov and April, arctic shot in February, snowiest ever at NYC, BOS 107.6"

1977-78: ~60" here, N RI/SE Mass gets 40" in Feb blizzard, three huge storms in a month from Jan '78 surprise storm, Cleveland Superbomb at 955mb, Feb blizzard, -10F departures in Feb, BOS 85.1"

1966-67: 70" here, near 100" in NNJ suburbs, latest accumulating snowfall for Dobbs on 4/24 with 0.2", 37.1" at DCA, near record cold Mar/Apr, some NJ suburbs get 3" snow on 4/27, flakes in late May

1960-61: 90" here with 3 18"+ storms, 104.3" at ORH, 10 consecutive nights w/single-digit lows here, 40.3" DCA, 30-40" snowpack in NYC suburbs after 2/4 storm

2nd Tier:

2010-11: 70" here, 3 12"+ storms, 61mph wind gust 1 mile away in 12/26 blizzard which dumped 15" at ORF/VA Beach, NYC -4.5F in Dec, -2.3F in Jan, SNE 20-30" in 1/12 Miller B, nada for DC/BWI

2004-05: 50" here, cold January froze Hudson partially, 86.6" BOS, LI >70", Cape Cod ~100", 38" at Mashpee MA on 1/22 w/high winds, Mar had "flash freeze"....little snow south of NYC

2003-04: 50" here with multiple arctic clippers in January, NYC lows of 1F, 3F, 1F, Dec 03 12" storm in early season, but DCA only 12.4", BOS 35.1"

1993-94: 52" here, no large snowstorms over 10", last sub-zero for NYC, two separate arctic shots, Jan 19-21: 11/-3, 11/-2, 24/-5 here, major icestorm but BOS 96.3", DCA 13.2"

1968-69: 45" here but 22.2" in Lindsey storm that paralyzes NYC, Feb -6 to -10F departures in East Coast, DC misses Lindsey storm with only 9.1" total snow

3rd Tier/Notables:

08-09, 00-01, 76-77, 63-64

Photos from the greats...

January 27, 2011:

Boxing Day 2010:

2/25/10:

Central Park in February 2006:

PDII on the Weather Channel:

3 miles from home, January 1996:

February 1983 totals:

1978 in Woonsocket, Rhode Island:

Long Island in February 1961:

[MJO812]

Climo for NYC after Feb 1st wouldn't have broken the record.

February is usually a snowy month for the NYC area. The strong La Nina really kicked into gear in February.

[tamarack]

But the mother of all snowstorms on the East Coast took place in portions of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, 1992. The excerpt below was taken from The Weather Doctor.

1,2 February 1992, Moncton, New Brunswick: A major winter storm blasts the Maritimes dumping 60-90 cm (2-3 feet) of snow across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Moncton registers 163.7 cm (64 inches) of snow setting their all time single storm record.

Again, thanks for some great links! I was a bit surprised that, even with the huge winds, all that snow never got more than 1.2 meters deep.

And of course, "Mother of All Snowstorms" depends on one's location. For much of NS and southwestern NB, it's the "White Hurricane" above. For the Cape, it's 1/2005 while for the rest of E.Mass and for RI it's 2/1978. In central Maine it's 12/1962. For E.NY state and W. New England one must look to 3/1888. For total disruption of large populations, that last is tops, IMO, but that's largely a function of its times and then-current infrastructure.

Edit: Had last winter matched 1981-2010 climo from Feb. 1 onward, the total would've been about 68", 10% short of 1995-96 but a solid #2.

[NJwinter23]

Thank you for this great info!

Do you have the hourly observations for Jan. 1996 for LGA and other locations? Thanks again.

I can't do it right now, but I will get into it in the next 2 days

[MJO812]

To me, the one flaw of Winter 2010-2011 was that it lacked an all-encompassing East Coast snowstorm. Other great winters like 02-03, 95-96, and 60-61 had one major storm that paralyzed large sections of the East Coast; there's something special about a storm that affects millions of people from many different regions, that allows weather enthusiasts on boards like this to feel as if they are all sharing in a great experience, that transforms the landscape of so many areas. We didn't have that this year....12/26 was mostly a SE VA, NE NJ, and NYC storm, 1/12 was clearly a LI/New England storm, and 1/26 was mostly a NE NJ/NYC 5 Boroughs storm with some limited impacts down to DC/BWI. Even in my backyard where 70" of snow fell with two feet of snow lying in late January/early February, there wasn't a single storm that I see as being forever ingrained in my memory. Certainly there are moments that I will never forget (the conditions from 10-11pm on 12/26, the insane 40dbz band that rocked me during 1/27)....but my totals were 14.5" from 1/12, 14" from 1/27, and 13" from 12/26. Rather pedestrian for a big winter as this one certainly was.

NYC also got screwed on the 3/24 overrunning event...parts of NNJ got hit hard with WAA snows, recording 8-10" from just the first wave. Central Park would have been too warm to see that much, but they could have easily had 3-6" if the banding hadn't run into a brick wall just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The radar had such a sharp cut-off in the first half of the storm, and then the second part was too disorganized and mild. Even so, places near JFK had up to 3", and some places just across from Manhattan in North-Central NJ had 5-6" total, like where the poster CooL lives. Central Park only got 1" from both waves.

And of course the 4/1 storm was an utter disappointment. After a poor March, we could have earned a reprieve if the H7 low had closed off earlier. At 72 hours, both the GFS and Euro had a monster Nor'easter that would have been an easy 6-12' for NYC, even with the warm boundary layer. The Nor'easter really fell apart and only a few parts of SNE scraped together 3-6". That was really the last chance of the season, although if you remember, the models also overdid the -NAO blocking's persistence. Originally, that block wasn't supposed to blow up completely until like 4/10 with the Pacific remaining favorable for a 2003 or 1996 style event, and several runs of the GFS were showing a late-season storm possible on 4/7, but we didn't maintain the Greenland block as some of the models had predicted, and spring came early. Here was the April 7th storm the GFS was showing in the long range:

D.C got screwed by many storms this season

I received 3 inches of snow from the March 24 event. It was a surprise because I thought I wasn't going to see anything. The storm in April was a big dissapointment. Like you said, the GFS and the Euro showed a monster storm to hit the coast with big snows for NYC-Boston. I remember the board exploding when the Euro ( I think it was on a Tuesday ) showed a SECS-MECS for a lot of people. The storm was barely strong at the end.

[CAT5ANDREW]

My favorite winter remains 1993-94 for its consistent snowcover and mostly a cold pattern.The warmup in FEB 1994 after the 2 snowstorms was just a brief thaw,then it was back into the deep freeze for march.DEC,JAN,FEB and March each saw at least a 4 inch snowfall that winter.The 2010-11 winter was in reality a 32 day wonder.On either side of 12-26/1-27,it was benign.It had a chance to be the greatest of all time iut the +NAO ruined that idea.

[A-L-E-X]

Either 03-04 or 10-11 could have gotten past 95-96 but the fact that winter ended before February even began is a huge black mark on both winters.

[nzucker]

My favorite winter remains 1993-94 for its consistent snowcover and mostly a cold pattern.The warmup in FEB 1994 after the 2 snowstorms was just a brief thaw,then it was back into the deep freeze for march.DEC,JAN,FEB and March each saw at least a 4 inch snowfall that winter.The 2010-11 winter was in reality a 32 day wonder.On either side of 12-26/1-27,it was benign.It had a chance to be the greatest of all time iut the +NAO ruined that idea.

93-94 was a wonderful winter, and my first snow memories come from building snow forts in the Poconos in early 1994. NE PA got absolutely slammed in 93-94, must have had one of the biggest positive snowfall anomalies that year as well as Eastern New England. There was easily 3' on the ground at my house at 1500' elevation looking back at photos taken by my parents, can't imagine what snow depth the higher ridges at 2400' were holding. The snow pack really held that winter because the -EPO allowed the PV to sit over Hudson Bay for most of Jan/Feb and bring frigid weather to the East...as some have commented, the Pinatubo eruption may have strengthened the PV significantly and allowed for more low-level cold.

That being said, 93-94 lacked a KU storm, so I couldn't rank it as high as 95-96 and 10-11. There were lots of 4-8" events, but nothing much larger than that. Dobbs Ferry had about 52" on the winter, but all from nickel-and-dime events. Having a low of -5F was remarkable, however, as it's been a long time since the inner suburbs got that cold.

Either 03-04 or 10-11 could have gotten past 95-96 but the fact that winter ended before February even began is a huge black mark on both winters.

It's amazing that 10-11 didn't pass 95-96....we all had close to 50" at the end of January, and models were showing a very cold/stormy pattern for the beginning of February. But then the disappointments began, as the 2/2 system delivered much less snow than expected with more icing, the next overrunning event slammed the Lower Mississippi Valley (esp Arkansas) but dampened out before hitting us, the -NAO didn't come back after the torch etc...Few people remember how cold early February was this year, as the warmth later overshadowed it, but I had several nights in the single digits as well as many days of highs in the 20s.

03-04 was another winter that looked promising to challenge 1996, but didn't get even close to that point. December 5, 2003 dumped about a foot here, we had two clippers and one superclipper in January...but that was about it until late March. Westchester did well, however, in the twin events of late March 2004 around the Equinox.

[ag3]

Excellent analysis and points guys! Great thread this is.

Some amazing info.

[Isotherm]

96 blizzard will probably be #1 for a long time in Monmouth County (clarification: Monmouth County save for the SE shore towns, Dec 2010 is their new best), high winds, snow totals of 30-32", but as far as what I remember and experienced, Dec 2010 takes the cake. I have very little memory of 1996.

1. December 26th-27th 2010 - 25" IMBY, raging winds, several hours of 2-3"/hr rates, drifts to 8-10ft, and the longest I've ever witness my area being shut down. The main road connected to our neighborhood stayed desolate for about 24 hours after the snow stopped, which is quite remarkable, usually its plowed anywhere between 3-6 hours after depending on the storm. I saw helicopter rescues off route 18, and Eatontown's rt 36 was closed for 3 days. Roads around Belmar, an area which likely approached 3 feet of snow in spots, was essentially at a stand still for 5 days - complete with cop cars stranded in the middle of the highway. Absolutely astonishing to see the area so dead for so long.

2. PD II - 24" IMBY, long duration event, snow started Sunday around 3pm with temps in the upper 10s, finished Monday about 5-6pm. Pretty good winds and drifting.

3. December 19th-20th 2009 - 22.5" IMBY, and the start of the the best 2 year winter stretch in Monmouth County arguably in over 100 years.

4. January 2005 - the morning of the snowstorm is quite clear to me; it was -2 degrees, but temps rose rapidly to 32 prior to the energy transfer to the 2ndary low. BLM actually went to RN temporarily. Ended up with 19" total.

5. December 2003 - featured thundersnow with vivid lightning at the height of the storm, rates of 3"/hr for a couple hours in the deformation banding. GSP was impassable for a time; NJ declared state of emergency. Finished with 18", massive gradient in Monmouth, only a few inches on the shore.

Photos of my top 5.

1. Boxing Day blizzard:

This table's about 30" high and the chairs near 4 feet.

That drift on the left is over 7 ft high.

2. No pics for PD II

3. December 2009

4, January 2005

[uncle W]

my video of the 96 blizzard...The am/pm on the time is reversed by mistake...

[MJO812]

Boxing Day Storm.

[tamarack]

Boxing Day Storm.

That snowfall map has lots of data in support of where the 12-18" stripe goes thru Maine, but the Route 2 corridor in western Maine is right in the middle, and got 8". Haven't quite figured out why (and we made up for it a bit on April 1.)

[MJO812]

That snowfall map has lots of data in support of where the 12-18" stripe goes thru Maine, but the Route 2 corridor in western Maine is right in the middle, and got 8". Haven't quite figured out why (and we made up for it a bit on April 1.)

It's probably because of the banding.

[TheTrials]

best thread ever!

[Diego]

Boxing Day Storm.

I'll take this over the best works of art anywhere. It's just too bad it couldn't have stalled or performed a mini-left handed loop for about 6-8 hours at this point.