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NYC's worst snow years


uncle W

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there have been nine winters that produced less than 10" of seasonal snowfall since 1868-69...1996-97 had exactly 10"...I lived through five of these winters...here they are by the numbers...
season.....snowfall...1" snowfalls...
1972-73........2.8"........1.8"
2001-02........3.5"........3.0"
1918-19........3.8"........1.3" 1.4"
1931-32........5.3"........2.0" 1.1"
1997-98........5.5"........5.0"

2011-12........7.4"........4.3" 2.9"
1877-78........8.1"........8.0"
1988-89........8.1"........5.0" 2.6"
1900-01........9.1"........1.8" 4.0" 1.5"
.......................................................
season.....ave temp/relative to decade coldest temp...
1972-73........35.8........33.7....................7
2001-02........41.5........35.2....................19
1918-19........36.6........32.0....................10
1931-32........40.1........34.0....................15
1997-98........39.6........36.4....................14

2011-12........40.5........36.6....................13
1877-78........33.3........31.5....................7
1988-89........35.9........34.9....................5
1900-01........31.7........32.0....................4
................................................................
season.....precipitation ...
1972-73........15.17"
2001-02..........4.91"
1918-19........10.96"
1931-32..........9.59"
1997-98........15.28"

2011-12..........8.60"
1877-78..........8.89"
1988-89..........6.45"
1900-01..........4.22"
..............................................................................
1972-73 had the least amount of snowfall with above average precipitation...Mild/wet...
2001-02 was second with very little precipitation...It was the warmest winter on record...Mild/dry...
1918-19 was third withy two 1" March snowfalls...precipitation was slightly below...Mild...
1931-32 was fourth and was the second warmest ever...2" snow in November...Mild/dry...
1997-98 was wet and mild...5" March snowfall...wettest of them all...Mild/wet

2011-12 similar to 2001-02 but with an October snowstorm...
1877-78 had one snowstorm...was milder than the 1870's average...Dry as well...Mild/dry
1988-89 had two snowfalls over 2"...was very dry...was milder than the 1980's average...mild/dry...
1900-01 had three 1" snowfalls...was colder than the 1900's average...was the driest...cold/dry...
..............................................................................................................................
for me it's a toss up between 1997-98 and 2001-02 for the worst winter on record for snowlovers...
1972-73 is a close third...1918-19 had only about an inch of snow heading into March...1997-98 had less going into March and only a freak spring snowfall kept it from being the worst by plenty...
1972-73 and 1997-98 were strong El Nino years...1988-89 was a strong La Nina year...1900-01 was the only cold winter on average but was very dry...1931-32 had the warmest January ever Its biggest snowfall was 2" in November...1877-78 had one big snowfall on 3/31-2/1...hardly anything else before and after it...
...

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And that snowfall in March '98 if I remember correctly was on the backside of a rainstorm as the low pulled away. It wasn't even forecast and it melted in one day. We were dangerously close to not even getting one 1" snowfall.

I think for me though '01-02 was worse. We kept waiting for the cold air to come and it just never did. We managed one so so event though it was on the low end of what the forecast was for. 97-98 at least we knew with the overwhelming nino not to expect much, and we got a lot of nasty noreasters with wind and rain

there have been eight winters that produced less than 10" of seasonal snowfall since 1868-69...1996-97 had exactly 10"...I lived through four of these winters...here they are by the numbers...

season.....snowfall...1" snowfalls...

1972-73........2.8"........1.8"

2001-02........3.5"........3.0"

1918-19........3.8"........1.3" 1.4"

1931-32........5.3"........2.0" 1.1"

1997-98........5.5"........5.0"

1877-78........8.1"........8.0"

1988-89........8.1"........5.0" 2.6"

1900-01........9.1"........1.8" 4.0" 1.5"

.......................................................

season.....ave temp/relative to decade coldest temp...

1972-73........35.8........33.7....................7

2001-02........41.5........35.2....................19

1918-19........36.6........32.0....................10

1931-32........40.1........34.0....................15

1997-98........39.6........36.4....................14

1877-78........33.3........31.5....................7

1988-89........35.9........34.9....................5

1900-01........31.7........32.0....................4

................................................................

season.....precipitation ...

1972-73........15.17"

2001-02..........4.91"

1918-19........10.96"

1931-32..........9.59"

1997-98........15.28"

1877-78..........8.89"

1988-89..........6.45"

1900-01..........4.22"

..............................................................................

1972-73 had the least amount of snowfall with above average precipitation...Mild/wet...

2001-02 was second with very little precipitation...It was the warmest winter on record...Mild/dry...

1918-19 was third withy two 1" March snowfalls...precipitation was slightly below...Mild...

1931-32 was fourth and was the second warmest ever...2" snow in November...Mild/dry...

1997-98 was wet and mild...5" March snowfall...wettest of them all...Mild/wet

1877-78 had one snowstorm...was milder than the 1870's average...Dry as well...Mild/dry

1988-89 had two snowfalls over 2"...was very dry...was milder than the 1980's average...mild/dry...

1900-01 had three 1" snowfalls...was colder than the 1900's average...was the driest...cold/dry...

..............................................................................................................................

for me it's a toss up between 1997-98 and 2001-02 for the worst winter on record for snowlovers...

1972-73 is a close third...1918-19 had only about an inch of snow heading into March...1997-98 had less going into March and only a freak spring snowfall kept it from being the worst by plenty...

1972-73 and 1997-98 were strong El Nino years...1988-89 was a strong La Nina year...1900-01 was the only cold winter on average but was very dry...1931-32 had the warmest January ever Its biggest snowfall was 2" in November...1877-78 had one big snowfall on 3/31-2/1...hardly anything else before and after it...

so far this year we have 2.9" from the October storm that seems like it came last winter...It's been mild to say the least...I still think we will get over 10" for the season...maybe 20" if February rocks...If not this winter will end up as one of the worst for winter weather lovers...

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there have been eight winters that produced less than 10" of seasonal snowfall since 1868-69...1996-97 had exactly 10"...I lived through four of these winters...here they are by the numbers...

season.....snowfall...1" snowfalls...

1972-73........2.8"........1.8"

2001-02........3.5"........3.0"

1918-19........3.8"........1.3" 1.4"

1931-32........5.3"........2.0" 1.1"

1997-98........5.5"........5.0"

1877-78........8.1"........8.0"

1988-89........8.1"........5.0" 2.6"

1900-01........9.1"........1.8" 4.0" 1.5"

.......................................................

season.....ave temp/relative to decade coldest temp...

1972-73........35.8........33.7....................7

2001-02........41.5........35.2....................19

1918-19........36.6........32.0....................10

1931-32........40.1........34.0....................15

1997-98........39.6........36.4....................14

1877-78........33.3........31.5....................7

1988-89........35.9........34.9....................5

1900-01........31.7........32.0....................4

................................................................

season.....precipitation ...

1972-73........15.17"

2001-02..........4.91"

1918-19........10.96"

1931-32..........9.59"

1997-98........15.28"

1877-78..........8.89"

1988-89..........6.45"

1900-01..........4.22"

..............................................................................

1972-73 had the least amount of snowfall with above average precipitation...Mild/wet...

2001-02 was second with very little precipitation...It was the warmest winter on record...Mild/dry...

1918-19 was third withy two 1" March snowfalls...precipitation was slightly below...Mild...

1931-32 was fourth and was the second warmest ever...2" snow in November...Mild/dry...

1997-98 was wet and mild...5" March snowfall...wettest of them all...Mild/wet

1877-78 had one snowstorm...was milder than the 1870's average...Dry as well...Mild/dry

1988-89 had two snowfalls over 2"...was very dry...was milder than the 1980's average...mild/dry...

1900-01 had three 1" snowfalls...was colder than the 1900's average...was the driest...cold/dry...

..............................................................................................................................

for me it's a toss up between 1997-98 and 2001-02 for the worst winter on record for snowlovers...

1972-73 is a close third...1918-19 had only about an inch of snow heading into March...1997-98 had less going into March and only a freak spring snowfall kept it from being the worst by plenty...

1972-73 and 1997-98 were strong El Nino years...1988-89 was a strong La Nina year...1900-01 was the only cold winter on average but was very dry...1931-32 had the warmest January ever Its biggest snowfall was 2" in November...1877-78 had one big snowfall on 3/31-2/1...hardly anything else before and after it...

so far this year we have 2.9" from the October storm that seems like it came last winter...It's been mild to say the least...I still think we will get over 10" for the season...maybe 20" if February rocks...If not this winter will end up as one of the worst for winter weather lovers...

1997-98 was more fun from a tracking storms standpoint than 2001-02. Even if they did not produce snow here, we at least had storms to track.

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I've mentioned before that 1997-1998 was the only winter with more snow in astronomical spring that astronomical winter. Wouldn't it be ironic if we saw more snow this cool season in astronomical fall than astronomical winter? That, even for this winter though is relatively unlikely.

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And that snowfall in March '98 if I remember correctly was on the backside of a rainstorm as the low pulled away. It wasn't even forecast and it melted in one day. We were dangerously close to not even getting one 1" snowfall.

I think for me though '01-02 was worse. We kept waiting for the cold air to come and it just never did. We managed one so so event though it was on the low end of what the forecast was for. 97-98 at least we knew with the overwhelming nino not to expect much, and we got a lot of nasty noreasters with wind and rain

March 22,1998, was the only time I actually did not WANT it to snow. I was hoping we could get the record for futility in snowfall that year. But lo and behold, it snowed!

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It was also in the 80s 5 days later

I've mentioned before that 1997-1998 was the only winter with more snow in astronomical spring that astronomical winter. Wouldn't it be ironic if we saw more snow this cool season in astronomical fall than astronomical winter? That, even for this winter though is relatively unlikely.

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1972-73 was the worst for me as it was the first time in my life that we had so little snow. It was the first time that NYC had less than 10 inches of snow in my experience - I was born in 1946 - and I had grown to think that less than 10 inches was almost impossible. Well, as your statistics show it certainly is possible.

Vic V

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March 22,1998, was the only time I actually did not WANT it to snow. I was hoping we could get the record for futility in snowfall that year. But lo and behold, it snowed!

I was turning 15 in a few days but I remember it clearly. I woke up early and to my astonishment there was heavy snow coming down. Those were some big flakes and lots of them too.

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1972-73 was the worst for me as it was the first time in my life that we had so little snow. It was the first time that NYC had less than 10 inches of snow in my experience - I was born in 1946 - and I had grown to think that less than 10 inches was almost impossible. Well, as your statistics show it certainly is possible.

Vic V

that winter had many chances for snow but there was not enough cold air...The one storm that gave us over an inch was the late January rain to snow event...I remember staying up late waiting for the storm to change to snow and it did mix with sleet by midnight...But it stayed rain and sleet for a longer period than expested and changed to snow on the back end...There were other dustings that winter including one the first day of Spring...There was snow just north of the city in October and April that year...Where I lived on Staten back in 1998 we got 3" on 3/22/98...My back yard hit 90 on 3/31/98...1997=98 had many noreasters with no cold air,,,2001-02 was warm and dry...

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1997-1998 was a great winter for everything but snow along the coast. Plenty of high wind coastal flooding events. Well inland and with elevation it was a solid winter. I remember getting stuck in NE PA in a white out trying to get to my uncles place with 3 feet of snow on the ground at 1900 feet. So overall it was a good winter if you were willing to travel.

This winter, even up north its been awful.

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Just something I thought about... the last two winters defied their predictions and were quite unusual from a historical perspective; more snow fell in the central Mid Atlantic than many parts of SNE in 09-10, and last winter was a second consecutive -NAO/-AO winter with plenty of blocking and more snow further north. There are only two other years without snow in December, both of them bringing well below average snowfall (06-07, 1877-78). There is already stratospheric warming going on right now, and although it's definitely taking a lot of time to unfold, the possibility is there that by the end of the month we start to see some more snow chances than we have now. Although I highly doubt that any change would still bring snowfall above average, if it even gets to the average, perhaps the second half of the winter could once again end up differently than the two winters with snowless Decembers and end up with more snow than 06-07 and 1877-78 had?

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I really lowered my expectations for snow during January 2002 so that the low seasonal total was not that bad.

I was more annoyed with missing out on the surprise December 1988 snowfall to my east.

I remember this like it was yesterday.. I was in 6th grade.. We got 8-9" in Dix Hills, NY... Was this a product of a NORLUN Trough??

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01-02 was the worst for me-literally nothing to track for weeks on end-not even a rainstorm

That is why that winter will always be the worst for me. At least if there's no snow to track, we can track a heavy rain event or a high wind event. In '01-'02, there was NOTHING.

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That is why that winter will always be the worst for me. At least if there's no snow to track, we can track a heavy rain event or a high wind event. In '01-'02, there was NOTHING.

That was such an anomalous winter that it exceeded the previous record warmest winter by the widest margin of any warmest season.

http://www.erh.noaa....oldseasons.html

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And that snowfall in March '98 if I remember correctly was on the backside of a rainstorm as the low pulled away. It wasn't even forecast and it melted in one day. We were dangerously close to not even getting one 1" snowfall.

I think for me though '01-02 was worse. We kept waiting for the cold air to come and it just never did. We managed one so so event though it was on the low end of what the forecast was for. 97-98 at least we knew with the overwhelming nino not to expect much, and we got a lot of nasty noreasters with wind and rain

There were a couple of near misses in early January 2002. The biggest one came on 1/6, there were actually Winter Storm Watches or Warnings for 5-10 inches possible for NYC but the system tracked too far west and pounded the Hudson Valley and NE PA. Scranton saw 16 inches in about 6 hours and Albany 13 inches in 4 hours.

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That was such an anomalous winter that it exceeded the previous record warmest winter by the widest margin of any warmest season.

http://www.erh.noaa....oldseasons.html

season to date, we have to be right there with the warmth...granted it's Jan 4th, but if the warmth of Dec continues, we'll give 01-02 a run for the money at least temperature wise...

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