February 8-11, 1994

[North and West of Town]

I'm generally just a reader here, but in this lull of so far tranquil and mild early winter weather, does anyone have any reports or write-ups on the February 8-11, 1994 storm? This has always been one of my all-time favorites - partly because of the intensity, partly because of the back-to-back nature, partly because it's somewhat forgotten - and it seems to one the great underrated storms, along with December 30, 2000 and February 5, 2001.

We had terrific heavy snow and thundersnow the morning of February 8th near MMU. I vividly remember very cold temperatures, and then heavy, heavy snow that morning while I was in gym class. It was a great week (the 8th was a Tuesday, if I recall correctly), and school was disrupted Tuesday, Wednesday and then Friday, the 11th.

Just one of my favorites in the first truly monumental winter after terrible warm ones in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (Speaking of which, I remember just thinking in the winter of 1989-1990 to myself, "Well, we'll have a cold December and it's completely normal to have 60s in February, blossoming trees and then mid-70s in mid-March.")

[Stormlover74]

I always considered them 2 separate storms. But the I-80 corridor got incredibly lucky with both events. I remember the storm on the 8th was forecast to be 2 to 4" which most areas received. But there was a thin stripe of heavy snow dumping 8 to 12" over a very narrow area. the NYC metro managed to be in this strip and also received the heaviest amounts from the 2/11 event. EWR had something like 27" for the week while I think Philly squeezed out 1/3 of that from both events combined. Was amazing how much of a difference there was in the major I-95 corridor cities that winter.

I'm generally just a reader here, but in this lull of so far tranquil and mild early winter weather, does anyone have any reports or write-ups on the February 8-11, 1994 storm? This has always been one of my all-time favorites - partly because of the intensity, partly because of the back-to-back nature, partly because it's somewhat forgotten - and it seems to one the great underrated storms, along with December 30, 2000 and February 5, 2001.

We had terrific heavy snow and thundersnow the morning of February 8th near MMU. I vividly remember very cold temperatures, and then heavy, heavy snow that morning while I was in gym class. It was a great week (the 8th was a Tuesday, if I recall correctly), and school was disrupted Tuesday, Wednesday and then Friday, the 11th.

Just one of my favorites in the first truly monumental winter after terrible warm ones in the late 1980s and early 1990s. (Speaking of which, I remember just thinking in the winter of 1989-1990 to myself, "Well, we'll have a cold December and it's completely normal to have 60s in February, blossoming trees and then mid-70s in mid-March.")

[North and West of Town]

Agreed. I believe that the 11th gave approximately a foot to MMU and a foot and a half to EWR. We received something like 20" over a three-day period, which was incredible to someone who had never seen that before.

I didn't realize at the time because I was young, but it's interesting now to see the accumulation maps. But if you're in middle school at that time and not incredibly self-aware of things like that, it was great storm to be in that stripe that you mentioned. Even better when school is cancelled and the school bus is barely making it to your house.

Naturally, you don't appreciate that once you begin commuting. I remember this driving home white-knuckled on January 26, 2011. It was terrible and I laughed nervously thinking back how much I loved riding in a school bus up and down snowy and icy hills.

[Stormlover74]

Well if you haven't checked out Ray's winter storm site he has all storms archived back to '93 and it's a great resource (just google Ray winter storm and it should come up)

I remember out in State College walking to class in blinding snow on the morning of 2/8/94. Already had 6" of fresh snow on the ground not including what was on the ground from late December and the many many events during January. Even though only 2 to 4" total was forecast I think we ended up with around 9. The 2/11 event was too far east and didn't affect us out there.

Agreed. I believe that the 11th gave approximately a foot to MMU and a foot and a half to EWR. We received something like 20" over a three-day period, which was incredible to someone who had never seen that before.

I didn't realize at the time because I was young, but it's interesting now to see the accumulation maps. But if you're in middle school at that time and not incredibly self-aware of things like that, it was great storm to be in that stripe that you mentioned. Even better when school is cancelled and the school bus is barely making it to your house.

Naturally, you don't appreciate that once you begin commuting. I remember this driving home white-knuckled on January 26, 2011. It was terrible and I laughed nervously thinking back how much I loved riding in a school bus up and down snowy and icy hills.

[Chris L]

I believe Newark had 30" by February 12.

[Sundog]

For some reason I have a better memory of storms that happened in 94 than in 96. I can only remember two storms in 96 - the snow/ice storm about a week before the blizzard and the blizzard itself. I also remember the major meltdown afterwards and the pouring rain but that's not technically an event.

In 94 I remember the crazy icestorm in January, both systems in February, the freezing light rain that fell a day or two after that, and the insane cold spell in January. I was 11 in 94 and 13 in 96. The on;y storm I can remember clearly before 94 was the superstorm of 93. Before that they're all a blur; bits and pieces of memories that I can't associate with specific dates.

Those February storms were fantastic.

[North and West of Town]

Sundog, agreed.

1995-1996 was great, but I think 1993-1994 had more panache because it seemed to have a lot going for it - years of mild winters preceding it (I don't know know about everyone else, but I thought March 1993 wasn't that great at MMU. We had gotten passed over in December 1992 with snow snow, slush, then cold rain, and then had hours upon hours of sleet in March 1993 for about 13" of snow and sleet total.), extreme cold in January 1994, major ice storms, and then major snow in February. 1995-1996 came soon after 1993-1994, and it was just a lot of snow, in general. Still incredible, of course, but I think 1994 had so much more going for it. Just my feeling.

[Chris L]

North and West, were you in MMU for the Blizzard of '96? MMU got nearly 30" from JAN 96, I think.

[Stormlover74]

The Feb-March period of 93 was quite impressive and I'm sure MMU got at least 15" from the March blizzard as they would have mixed/changed over later than the coast. It was the first real snowy period since the Jan-March 87 timeframe (at least in terms of having 3 or more memorable events in a month). 93-94 was just insane for the shear number of events we had. Virtually every week from late December through early March had something. Maybe it was 2", maybe it was ice, snow to rain, rain to snow, heavy snow, icestorm, record cold. That winter truly had everything with the exception of not producing a widespread blizzard of 96 type storm. That was the only thing it lacked. Alot of the storms blasted the interior like the early March storm or hit isolated locations like 2/8-11.

Sundog, agreed.

1995-1996 was great, but I think 1993-1994 had more panache because it seemed to have a lot going for it - years of mild winters preceding it (I don't know know about everyone else, but I thought March 1993 wasn't that great at MMU. We had gotten passed over in December 1992 with snow snow, slush, then cold rain, and then had hours upon hours of sleet in March 1993 for about 13" of snow and sleet total.), extreme cold in January 1994, major ice storms, and then major snow in February. 1995-1996 came soon after 1993-1994, and it was just a lot of snow, in general. Still incredible, of course, but I think 1994 had so much more going for it. Just my feeling.

[North and West of Town]

Chris L, yes, I was in (and still am) MMU (overlooking the airport, for that matter) for January 1996. I vividly remember getting exactly 24". It was heaven.

PLF, I think we got 13" in the March 1993 storm. Also, being the first snowy period since January 1987, it meant that I went from being 4 in the winter of 1986-1987 to 10 in 1992-1993 made it seem like every winter meant mild spells and maybe some slush to a young kid.

[FPizz]

93-94 was the most memorable for me as well. I remember the one ice storm, the temperature was 17 degrees and it was totally pouring. I was 15 and my brother (who is a weather weenie as well) who was 21 were so pissed. The worst part though about the winter though was that my dad was dying of cancer, so I couldn't really enjoy the awsome weather.

[Absolute Humidity]

February 8-11, 1994 storms? Not sure they were even storms, more of overrunning events. Both started out great down this way then ended up as very cold sleet fests. had about 14" total with nearly a third of that in the form of sleet.

[Stormlover74]

That winter had a huge difference in snowfall between the major northeast/midatlantic cities. It seemed there was a stationary front parked right along the M.D. line almost all winter. We were on the cold side of most of the events as a result and ended up really cashing in on snow/ice events while DC and down to the coast really got screwed. Philly I believe ended up around average or slightly above while Boston had one of their snowiest winters on record...as did many interior locations. State College had ~ 110" and their snowiest on record too. Imagine tracking and forecasting that winter with all the changeover events and ice as opposed to snow.

February 8-11, 1994 storms? Not sure they were even storms, more of overrunning events. Both started out great down this way then ended up as very cold sleet fests. had about 14" total with nearly a third of that in the form of sleet.

[bluewave]

That winter had a huge difference in snowfall between the major northeast/midatlantic cities. It seemed there was a stationary front parked right along the M.D. line almost all winter. We were on the cold side of most of the events as a result and ended up really cashing in on snow/ice events while DC and down to the coast really got screwed. Philly I believe ended up around average or slightly above while Boston had one of their snowiest winters on record...as did many interior locations. State College had ~ 110" and their snowiest on record too. Imagine tracking and forecasting that winter with all the changeover events and ice as opposed to snow.

The block that winter was too far NW for them to cash in.

[Jefflaw77]

93-94 was awesome... The February 8-11th was incredible... From the Sleet/Ice Storm to the 9-10" event on Long Island on that Friday.. And as someone else stated- they were mostly overrunning events as there was a stationary front stretched along the M/D and the NYC area was just lucky to be to the north of that front..

Great times.. Hopefully, we can get some good stuff like that in the coming months..

Jeff

[bluewave]

93-94 was awesome... The February 8-11th was incredible... From the Sleet/Ice Storm to the 9-10" event on Long Island on that Friday.. And as someone else stated- they were mostly overrunning events as there was a stationary front stretched along the M/D and the NYC area was just lucky to be to the north of that front..

Great times.. Hopefully, we can get some good stuff like that in the coming months..

Jeff

That was my number one winter for snow, ice, and cold combined.

[SnowGoose69]

The 2/8 event was badly forecast as far as amounts go, there was a WSW issued the morning before, so there was 24 hours notice but the amounts were not even close mostly due to mesoscale banding and the usual situation of overruning events being underforecast by models. Remember too, this was in the early days of the ETA model and the AVN model performed atrociously on both the 2/8 and 2/11 events. The NWS forecast was 2-4 inches the morning of 2/8, by 11am I think we already had 5 or so and ended with 9 where I was on LI at the time. The heaviest fell from 10am-noon or so.

[uncle W]

I lived in Brooklyn and we got 8" from the 2/8-9th event and 9" from the 2/11th event...The first one lasted over 24 hrs...It started as snow but after 6" it changed to sleet and freezing rain...the mix continued over night and ended as snow on the 9th...The 11th event started as snow but changed to sleet and freezing rain after 8" fell...there was around 16" on the ground after the second event...It was cold with single digits on the 10th...

[Stormlover74]

Yep same out in State College, 2-4" was the forecast the night before all said and done. I woke up to 6" at 8am. 2/11 I believe was also not forecast very well, there was a like 4-12" spread or something odd like that depending on who you listened to. I wasn't home at the time but I remember turning on the weather channel around noon and the snowfall history map was up with NE NJ/NYC in the 6-12" swath and I thought it was a mistake that that much could have fallen that quickly.

I remember the early March event was supposed to be a coastal HECS but eventually they backed off and took the track inland with a changeover at the coast. We ended up with 32" out in Central PA in 18 hours.

The 2/8 event was badly forecast as far as amounts go, there was a WSW issued the morning before, so there was 24 hours notice but the amounts were not even close mostly due to mesoscale banding and the usual situation of overruning events being underforecast by models. Remember too, this was in the early days of the ETA model and the AVN model performed atrociously on both the 2/8 and 2/11 events. The NWS forecast was 2-4 inches the morning of 2/8, by 11am I think we already had 5 or so and ended with 9 where I was on LI at the time. The heaviest fell from 10am-noon or so.

[tmagan]

February 9^th, 1994 09Z Observations

[North and West of Town]

Amazing map and good memories from that February.

I think January 17-18, 1994 (I remember this coinciding with the Northridge Earthquake) also had some temperature gradients I haven't seen since. Simultaneous Heavy Freezing Rain/Rain in MMU and low 30s while mid-to-upper 40s in EWR and CPK, the flash freezing afterwards.

[Superstorm]

Living in south central pa, that was the most wicked winter I can remember. My parents house literally had over 5 feet of snow and ice accumulated in the front yard. Snow was on the ground from Dec to Mar.

[SnowGoose69]

Amazing map and good memories from that February.

I think January 17-18, 1994 (I remember this coinciding with the Northridge Earthquake) also had some temperature gradients I haven't seen since. Simultaneous Heavy Freezing Rain/Rain in MMU and low 30s while mid-to-upper 40s in EWR and CPK, the flash freezing afterwards.

Scranton got 6 inches of snow in one hour that evening I believe.

[famartin]

http://www.njfreeways.com/weather/

[famartin]

I think the earliest storm I have a clear memory of was December 27, 1990. I was 9. We had a bit over 7".

I don't remember anything clearly from 1991-1992, except maybe one of the early December clippers.

I have several clear memories from December 1992 and March 1993, along with one of the later February 1993 events.

From 1994, I have decent memory of the first January (3-4) storm, pretty good memory of the big central Jersey ice storm (7-8), and the Martlin Luther King Day / Northridge Earthquake storm (17-18). I also remember the flash freeze and extreme cold that followed the latter event.

I have a vague memory of the last January event (27-28). Then I have good memories of February 8-9, and a vague memory of February 11. After that, nada.

I have clear memories of every 1996 storm which dumped at least an inch.

[North and West of Town]

FA, if I remember correctly, I think the December 27, 1990 storm was poorly forecast (originally supposed to get around 2-4" at MMU, got far more than that), but then it warmed up quickly after that with flood advisories. I think we may have had something in March of 1991. 1991-1992 was similarly terrible; perhaps something happened in March again.

[Stormlover74]

March of 92 had back to back events around st. Patrick's day after an extremely lame winter

and yes dec 90 storm was supposed to be 1-3 but was upgraded to 3-6 but most places got 6-8...within 72 hours it was completely gone

FA, if I remember correctly, I think the December 27, 1990 storm was poorly forecast (originally supposed to get around 2-4" at MMU, got far more than that), but then it warmed up quickly after that with flood advisories. I think we may have had something in March of 1991. 1991-1992 was similarly terrible; perhaps something happened in March again.

[North and West of Town]

Thanks, PLF. Those were some tough winters to go through when you knew nothing else as a kid. December 1990 was difficult since it seemed like a decent amount, then gone by New Year's.

March of 92 had back to back events around st. Patrick's day after an extremely lame winter

and yes dec 90 storm was supposed to be 1-3 but was upgraded to 3-6 but most places got 6-8...within 72 hours it was completely gone