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White, Brown, or Green Christmas 2011


Damage In Tolland

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Talking to the met weenies at the GTG the other nite and most of them said chances are crappy that we have a white X-mas this year. Most gave between a 10-20% chance. Tough to swallow..but I remember other years when it looked bleak and we got a surprise on X-mas eve or the day before that wasn't forecast.

Hopefully no Grinch storm this year...though the way things have gone we'll end up with a screaming sou'easter for Christmas Day.

Post early and often in this thread and hopefully Bob doesn't delete it

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The odds generally suck in SNE other than the few places with elevations 1000+. Bet against the white Christmas and you'll always come out ahead.

Hmmm....I would say that's true, especially near the coast, but you don't need that kind of elevation to guarantee a white Christmas. In terms of the CT River Valley, I would say that it's 50/50 starting in Enfield and the odds go up from there. I live away from the valley but under 1000' and my experience has been a little better than 50% for 1"+ which is the standard.

Here's a map from the NCDC that looks pretty fair. A good chunk of SNE would be above 50%:

Probability_of_a_white_Christmas_in_the_United_States.gif

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Hmmm....I would say that's true, especially near the coast, but you don't need that kind of elevation to guarantee a white Christmas. In terms of the CT River Valley, I would say that it's 50/50 starting in Enfield and the odds go up from there. I live away from the valley but under 1000' and my experience has been a little better than 50% for 1"+ which is the standard.

Here's a map from the NCDC that looks pretty fair. A good chunk of SNE would be above 50%:

Probability_of_a_white_Christmas_in_the_United_States.gif

Correct ..more often than not inland away from the water has at least an inch OTG historically. I think he's just talking about where he lives right on the water

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Looks pretty good. Based on the current normals period and NCDCs Christmas morning snow depth data...using only stations with at least 23 of 30 Christmases:

                                     SNWD >=1 INCH
ID    ST ELEV STATION                 OCCUR YRS PCT
----- -- ---- ----------------------- ----- --- ---
BRKC3 CT  705 BARKHAMSTED                9  25   36
BDR   CT    4 BRIDGEPORT SIKORSKY AP     4  24   17
DANC3 CT  405 DANBURY                   10  25   40
FVLC3 CT  550 FALLS VILLAGE              4  27   15
GTNC3 CT   40 GROTON                     5  26   19
BDL   CT  190 HARTFORD                   6  28   21
MHLC3 CT  250 MANSFIELD HOLLOW LAKE      7  23   30
NFKC3 CT 1340 NORFOLK 2 SW              21  29   72
NRWC3 CT   20 NORWICH PUB UTIL PLT       6  27   22
STFC3 CT  190 STAMFORD 5 N               1  24    4
STRC3 CT  665 STORRS                     2  24    8
WTPC3 CT  370 WEST THOMPSON LAKE         8  30   27
WDBC3 CT  650 WOODBURY                   9  28   32

Hmmm....I would say that's true, especially near the coast, but you don't need that kind of elevation to guarantee a white Christmas. In terms of the CT River Valley, I would say that it's 50/50 starting in Enfield and the odds go up from there. I live away from the valley but under 1000' and my experience has been a little better than 50% for 1"+ which is the standard.

Here's a map from the NCDC that looks pretty fair. A good chunk of SNE would be above 50%:

Probability_of_a_white_Christmas_in_the_United_States.gif

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Am I reading that table correctly in that only 8 percent of Christmases have 1"+ at Storrs? I have no idea what is up with that place....I know they are just north of Wilimantic which is the snowhole of New England, but that's just bad! Groton & Norwich to their south have better chances....something just doesn't look right there.

Perhaps it's all the hot air coming out of the professors heads? lol

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Am I reading that table correctly in that only 8 percent of Christmases have 1"+ at Storrs? I have no idea what is up with that place....I know they are just north of Wilimantic which is the snowhole of New England, but that's just bad! Groton & Norwich to their south have better chances....something just doesn't look right there.

Perhaps it's all the hot air coming out of the professors heads? lol

went to grad school there and for the 5 yrs I was there, it did indeed suck most of the time. There were some heavy hitting storms though. Willi was definitely the snowhole and other type of "hole" if you catch my drift.

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Am I reading that table correctly in that only 8 percent of Christmases have 1"+ at Storrs? I have no idea what is up with that place....I know they are just north of Wilimantic which is the snowhole of New England, but that's just bad! Groton & Norwich to their south have better chances....something just doesn't look right there.

Perhaps it's all the hot air coming out of the professors heads? lol

Just crappy data I would assume due to observers not being diligent.

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Correct ..more often than not inland away from the water has at least an inch OTG historically. I think he's just talking about where he lives right on the water

Really? Looks like Norwalk at 1,300ft in the snowiest part of the state has a 70% chance which is almost 3 out of every 4 years, but all those other stations aren't even close to 50% or higher.

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Really? Looks like Norwalk at 1,300ft in the snowiest part of the state has a 70% chance which is almost 3 out of every 4 years, but all those other stations aren't even close to 50% or higher.

Just a slight correction: it's Norfolk in the NW hills. Norwalk is down by me in the concrete jungle. Most of Connecticut has a less than a 50% chance of a white Christmas. Maybe along I-84 in elevated areas it's a little better than 50%, but I'm guessing places like Waterbury and Hartford are still under 50%.

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That data is awful and shouldn't be used for anything

It may not be perfect, but it's definitely good enough to get a general idea. It's not like a place on that list that says 8 out of 25 years is suddenly going to jump to 17 out of 30 if not for imperfect record keeping. Some of those co-ops are pretty dedicated, certainly better than BDL. Also remember I'm using the definition of at least one inch snow depth at 12Z. Now I suppose if we want to follow the spirit of the definition of white Christmas we could expand that to include traces on the ground as well as any Christmases that report at least a trace of frozen precipitation.

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Strangley, some of the 0.9" I got almost a week ago is managing to hold on.

He must have a decent amount, but yeah... much of it will wash out/melt

Some of my 0.6" is still left in patches on the shady north sides. The lower wetbulbs over the past few days have helped that cause.
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