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the October snowstorm Ian Disaster its going to be a long winter thread


Ji

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What was 79? Didn't someone say they had thundersnow with it? The anomalies look like a cutter or clipper / cold front or something. The 87 one is definitely a better look for snow around here.

Indeed, thundersnow in Warren County, VA. Storm started during the night as rain. I remember being woken up by thunder at some point during the night, assumed it was like "oh, cool a thunderstorm" and fell back asleep. Sometime later everyone in the house was woken up by a loud thud and by my brother who came screaming out of his bedroom. It turned out that a large tree limb had fallen onto the roof of the house over his bedroom. We soon realized why. I remember every one of us looking in disbeleif when we saw that everything outside was white. Someone quickly ran and turned on the outside flood lights and I was shocked to see giant wet snowflakes literally pouring from the sky. Imagine a summer T-storm deluge only with snow. It was by far the heaviest snow I've ever seen (Feb '83 put down 4-inch/hour snows here, but it was very dry, fluffy snow). The storm lasted only a few hours as best I could tell (since it mostly happened in the middle of the night), but at first light I went out and measured 14". We lived east of Front Royal out in Warren County at about 1200' elevation, though even in town the snowfall was significant. Due to the leaves still being on the trees, there was incredible tree damage; we had them down all over our property, including several accross our driveway and power lines. I remember hauling wood all afternoon as my mom and older brother chain-sawed through the big oaks that blocked our driveway. It was eerie to have the incredible quiet that occurs in deep snow periodically interrupted by what sounded like gunshots ringing through the hills as tree after tree snapped under the weight of all that snow. We didn't have power for 3 or 4 days, so we all went to stay with various family members (no power = no water). The snow melted quickly and was gone in a couple of days, but it will never be forgotten.

Looking at the 500mb chart from that day, I'm even more shocked at that storm. As you said, looks only like cold front, squall-line type storms.

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We even had snow in north Central North Carolina in that 87 storm, almost an inch at my house about 30 miles north of Raleigh. That was not the earliest snowflakes I saw growing up down there, I remember one year playing high school football at the end of October and having flurries. In the late 90's we had a good dusting in mid November.

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Why do you think I teamed up with Ian? He is the science, I am the maps and together we get into the Washington Post! :thumbsup:

I make the maps that make the weather world sing.

I make the maps of snow and tropical things.

I make the maps that make the weenies cry.

I make the maps, I make the maps.

I am mapgirl, and I make the maps.

(With apologies to Neil Diamond)

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Nah...they will all suck at some point

although I don't disagree with that statement, eventually we get a feel for which models are closest to reality and at how many days out

it's not precise, but it gives us a decent idea

my gut says go with the Euro, but the Euro really fooked with us in 08/09 4 days +/- out if you recall, which is why I'm pretty reluctant to get real interested

otoh, it ain't like we can expect our next legit threat next week at this time of the year, so it's a nice practice run if nothing else :axe:

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I'm not sure about the euro op either. It does have some support from the ensembles which are a good tool to have 5 days out....but 5 days out is also enough to shift things around too. Given the origins of the system, I suppose it is possible.

I think you guys are the ones that need to be invested in this one. ANybody down here getting excited is in for a world of hurt. Like Matt said, 1%.

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