34 Years ago today

[ORH_wxman]

The "in between" the two heavy '78 storms reminds me of a storm a year or two ago that we forecasted lots of snow (was it February '10??), only to end up with a few flurries <the heavier snow came later that night, at least here in Taunton>. They called off school and closed businesses early, only to see rain in Boston. Oh, and the TV reporters didn't let us hear the end of it!! Remember???

--Turtle

Oh yes...how can anyone who forecasted that storm forget it? The February 10, 2010 storm...we were all modeled to get 6-12" of snow and I woke up on the morning of Feb 10th around 9am to 8 mile vis flurries, then ended up with like 3". Awful storm. The northern edge of the precip shield was disgusting.

[Turtle]

Oh yes...how can anyone who forecasted that storm forget it? The February 10, 2010 storm...we were all modeled to get 6-12" of snow and I woke up on the morning of Feb 10th around 9am to 8 mile vis flurries, then ended up with like 3". Awful storm. The northern edge of the precip shield was disgusting.

Yep, that's the one. I was working short term desk that day. AWFUL is right. I saw the E winds and temps around 40 degrees along the coast, all the while the advisories and warnings were still up. I wanted to take things down, but was overruled. Wanted to wait for the 18Z special upper air run. Geez...awful. Hadn't felt that bad on the forecast job we did for quite a while on that one. THEN, the snow fell here that night!!! We ended up with 4.5" but seemed like a lot more due to blowing snow. One of my co-workers had 6.5" in Dighton. That's the one that NYC got nailed.

Here's the map (for those that are interested):

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/displayEvent.php?event=Feb_10_2010&element=snow

--Turtle

[vortex95]

I think as the low occluded, there was a weenie band that rolled in from BOS harbor and points sw into interior se mass and ri. Part mid level frontogenesis, but also part CF/OES perhaps. And yeah, I wouldn't even doubt mt grandparents had more. I'm being conservative with 3', but I think there was some still OTG before the storm happened, in shady areas. I saw a 55" report in Lincoln RI, but I think that's too high for that storm.

This is the first time I have heard 55". I have heard 50" in nrn RI before. These amounts look suspect. Did we

all see this map from BOX?

http://www.erh.noaa....38_image096.jpg

Note that it is a map of snow DEPTHS, not snowfall. So you can see how such amounts get throw in and misinterpreted

(which is common in the media). There was a similar case from the Dec 11-13, 1992 storm, when the 48" snowfall in

the Berkshires seemed a bit high, and they had a foot of snow several days earlier. Coastal Wx may disagree, but he

also says that the 41" snowfall in Bridgewater MA from the Bliz of 05 was suspect as well!

You to remember there was a decent snowpack interior sections prior to the event, despite the CLE Superbomb

SNE furnace storm Jan 25. BOS had 90402 (4/002) at the start, so inland sections had higher amounts. The spotter

network wasn't even a fraction of what it is now, and just the general knowledge on how to measure snow was

not as well known to the public or even those kids at the time who were uber weenies! Adding in the extensive

blowing and drifting, and you start to get amounts that do not sound very likely. General public and DPW

amounts I tend to be leery of. NWS has nothing higher than 38" and Kocin did not plot anything higher than

that as well. You have to be careful of anecdotal reports/stories when dealing with measured amounts, esp. due

to the psychological impact the storm made on so many. When such a historical events occur, exaggeration is not

uncommon. Pictures say a 1000 words but for estimating snowfall unless you have a ruler/yardstick photoed at

close range or something similar (i.e. spotter certification), such high amounts can't go down in the official records.

The Blizzard of 78 was to many a "larger than life" and almost mystical storm, esp. to those who were kids at

the time, so human bias will naturally make an event like that more than it actually was from an awe standpoint.

I'm not saying it wasn't a incredible storm, but you have to set personal biases, emotions (i.e. weenie-ism),

and all those anecdotal reports/stories aside to objectively document an event like this. There is value in

anecdotal reports/evidence, but you can't use that as proof (i.e. record snowfalls) speaking from a scientific

point of view, which what meteorology is...a science.

One of these days I will get the complete East Coast 4 day IR sat loop of this event I got from Harvey Leonard

some time ago transferred from VHS to DVD so I can put it up on YouTube.

[8611Blizz]

Not my photo but this was the typical depth of snow here.. http://somerville.patch.com/articles/blizzard-of-78-where-were-you-34-years-ago-today-ce554b86#photo-9022208

[CoastalWx]

This is the first time I have heard 55". I have heard 50" in nrn RI before. These amounts look suspect. Did we

all see this map from BOX?

http://www.erh.noaa....38_image096.jpg

Note that it is a map of snow DEPTHS, not snowfall. So you can see how such amounts get throw in and misinterpreted

(which is common in the media). There was a similar case from the Dec 11-13, 1992 storm, when the 48" snowfall in

the Berkshires seemed a bit high, and they had a foot of snow several days earlier. Coastal Wx may disagree, but he

also says that the 41" snowfall in Bridgewater MA from the Bliz of 05 was suspect as well!

You to remember there was a decent snowpack interior sections prior to the event, despite the CLE Superbomb

SNE furnace storm Jan 25. BOS had 90402 (4/002) at the start, so inland sections had higher amounts. The spotter

network wasn't even a fraction of what it is now, and just the general knowledge on how to measure snow was

not as well known to the public or even those kids at the time who were uber weenies! Adding in the extensive

blowing and drifting, and you start to get amounts that do not sound very likely. General public and DPW

amounts I tend to be leery of. NWS has nothing higher than 38" and Kocin did not plot anything higher than

that as well. You have to be careful of anecdotal reports/stories when dealing with measured amounts, esp. due

to the psychological impact the storm made on so many. When such a historical events occur, exaggeration is not

uncommon. Pictures say a 1000 words but for estimating snowfall unless you have a ruler/yardstick photoed at

close range or something similar (i.e. spotter certification), such high amounts can't go down in the official records.

The Blizzard of 78 was to many a "larger than life" and almost mystical storm, esp. to those who were kids at

the time, so human bias will naturally make an event like that more than it actually was from an awe standpoint.

I'm not saying it wasn't a incredible storm, but you have to set personal biases, emotions (i.e. weenie-ism),

and all those anecdotal reports/stories aside to objectively document an event like this. There is value in

anecdotal reports/evidence, but you can't use that as proof (i.e. record snowfalls) speaking from a scientific

point of view, which what meteorology is...a science.

One of these days I will get the complete East Coast 4 day IR sat loop of this event I got from Harvey Leonard

some time ago transferred from VHS to DVD so I can put it up on YouTube.

And the July 1989 radar images.

[Ginx snewx]

ew, which what meteorology is...a science.

One of these days I will get the complete East Coast 4 day IR sat loop of this event I got from Harvey Leonard

some time ago transferred from VHS to DVD so I can put it up on YouTube.

Looking forward to the loop. Couple of things, were you here or alive for 78? Some of us were not kids and have lived through a lot, nothing compares. I guess if you take Dec 05 and keep it going for 24 hours it comes close to what it was like. Using today's measuring techniques I can easily see 40 inch amounts being common. SWE also is questionable because of the wind, like a TS expect those to be 25-35 % off. Compaction due to wind was incredible, shoveling that stuff was a tremendous chore, because of the compaction it took plows multiple tries to move it. Taking NWS depths at the end of the storm as an indicator does not portray the true amount of snowfall. You had to see it to believe it. Many of us in the weather community have questioned NWS final totals since the day they came out. FYI even interior areas only had 2-4 inches left OTG prior. Southern areas were barren.

[CapturedNature]

Looking forward to the loop. Couple of things, were you here or alive for 78? Some of us were not kids and have lived through a lot, nothing compares. I guess if you take Dec 05 and keep it going for 24 hours it comes close to what it was like. Using today's measuring techniques I can easily see 40 inch amounts being common. SWE also is questionable because of the wind, like a TS expect those to be 25-35 % off. Compaction due to wind was incredible, shoveling that stuff was a tremendous chore, because of the compaction it took plows multiple tries to move it. Taking NWS depths at the end of the storm as an indicator does not portray the true amount of snowfall. You had to see it to believe it. Many of us in the weather community have questioned NWS final totals since the day they came out. FYI even interior areas only had 2-4 inches left OTG prior. Southern areas were barren.

That's the problem that I have with the so-called "modern" techniques of measuring. I don't mean to turn this into a discussion about validity of the new method, but it makes comparing storms today to historic storms difficult. I think too much emphasis is placed on the snow total as opposed to the impacts of a storm and as the stories here show, February '78 was a big deal. As Ginx points out, we'd have ridiculous snowfall amounts due to compaction from the wind yet in the end, you'd still have the same amount on the ground whether you measured every 6 hours or only at the end.

Perhaps it's just me, but it's for that reason that I've kept using the same standard since I started keeping records.

[Barnsteader]

That's the problem that I have with the so-called "modern" techniques of measuring. I don't mean to turn this into a discussion about validity of the new method, but it makes comparing storms today to historic storms difficult. I think too much emphasis is placed on the snow total as opposed to the impacts of a storm and as the stories here show, February '78 was a big deal. As Ginx points out, we'd have ridiculous snowfall amounts due to compaction from the wind yet in the end, you'd still have the same amount on the ground whether you measured every 6 hours or only at the end.

Perhaps it's just me, but it's for that reason that I've kept using the same standard since I started keeping records.

I agree. My way of measuring snowfall is real simple. On a clean surface after a snowfall ends or reaches its greatest depth while falling (tough to do at night), measure several areas and average. Snow compacts as it falls. If you measure a cleaned surface every few hours you get a much higher total, but its BS since it was never really that deep. When I gaze at NWS oserver data today, I put more weight in the SOG stats. I would hope most folks can handle that.

I was 23 in 78 living in Bridgehampton LI. It was the strongest snowstorm Ive ever seen. Basically a Hurricane with snow. Because the area was all open fields then, the drifts were incredible. The town plows couldnt open any of the field roads. They had to use payloaders and it took a week to get them all open. Snow fall was reported at 18inches out there, 24 Riverhead. Extreme compaction was the rule.

[Hailstoned]

Looking forward to the loop. Couple of things, were you here or alive for 78? Some of us were not kids and have lived through a lot, nothing compares. I guess if you take Dec 05 and keep it going for 24 hours it comes close to what it was like. Using today's measuring techniques I can easily see 40 inch amounts being common. SWE also is questionable because of the wind, like a TS expect those to be 25-35 % off. Compaction due to wind was incredible, shoveling that stuff was a tremendous chore, because of the compaction it took plows multiple tries to move it. Taking NWS depths at the end of the storm as an indicator does not portray the true amount of snowfall. You had to see it to believe it. Many of us in the weather community have questioned NWS final totals since the day they came out. FYI even interior areas only had 2-4 inches left OTG prior. Southern areas were barren.

This is correct. I carried my XX skiis to work that morning and all that was left was a very hard packed base of 2" or so on the ground, compliments of the warm deluges of the Ohio Valley epic blizzard of a week or so previous. I drove a cab out of Wellesley MA, and what an afternoon it was through whiteouts and an underlying base of slick ice on the roads under the mounting snows. My last fare wanted me to take her to Chestnut Hill. I told her "no way" and dropped her off at the Riverside T just as a gust of wind roared through the trees that seemed to be a replay of the 38 Hurricane. It was a prudent decision, because no doubt I wouldn't have made it back had I tried. From Riverside, I was able to return, park the cab, then skied home along the deserted roads. Interestingly, for where I was west of Boston, the worst of the winds were done by early evening, though of course the snow continued to fall at biblical rates.

[Chris L]

Oh yes...how can anyone who forecasted that storm forget it? The February 10, 2010 storm...we were all modeled to get 6-12" of snow and I woke up on the morning of Feb 10th around 9am to 8 mile vis flurries, then ended up with like 3". Awful storm. The northern edge of the precip shield was disgusting.

It was crazy for BWI and PHL. Some incredible totals; 19.5" for BWI and 30" in Manchester, Maryland...

[NorthShoreWx]

I agree. My way of measuring snowfall is real simple. On a clean surface after a snowfall ends or reaches its greatest depth while falling (tough to do at night), measure several areas and average. Snow compacts as it falls. If you measure a cleaned surface every few hours you get a much higher total, but its BS since it was never really that deep. When I gaze at NWS oserver data today, I put more weight in the SOG stats. I would hope most folks can handle that.

I was 23 in 78 living in Bridgehampton LI. It was the strongest snowstorm Ive ever seen. Basically a Hurricane with snow. Because the area was all open fields then, the drifts were incredible. The town plows couldnt open any of the field roads. They had to use payloaders and it took a week to get them all open. Snow fall was reported at 18inches out there, 24 Riverhead. Extreme compaction was the rule.

As has been stated, the measurements of both snow and water equivalents were probably very difficult, but for better or worse here are LI coop reports from 2/6-7/78:

Bridgehampton - 18.5" with 2.39" liquid equivalent

Riverhead - 25" with 2.68" liquid equivalent

Patchogue - 24" with 2.16 liquid equivalent

[vortex95]

And the July 1989 radar images.

Coastal Wx doesn't really care...he hates svr wx!

[CoastalWx]

Coastal Wx doesn't really care...he hates svr wx!

[vortex95]

Looking forward to the loop. Couple of things, were you here or alive for 78? Some of us were not kids and have lived through a lot, nothing compares. I guess if you take Dec 05 and keep it going for 24 hours it comes close to what it was like. Using today's measuring techniques I can easily see 40 inch amounts being common. SWE also is questionable because of the wind, like a TS expect those to be 25-35 % off. Compaction due to wind was incredible, shoveling that stuff was a tremendous chore, because of the compaction it took plows multiple tries to move it. Taking NWS depths at the end of the storm as an indicator does not portray the true amount of snowfall. You had to see it to believe it. Many of us in the weather community have questioned NWS final totals since the day they came out. FYI even interior areas only had 2-4 inches left OTG prior. Southern areas were barren.

Yes, I was 9 at the time in North Woburn (still am). For those who did not experience it, it can be even more "larger than

life" b/c all you have are stories and pictures. I used to think of that of storms from the 50s and 60s when SNE really got

clobbered. My point was is that the knowledge of snow measurement and the density of trained spotters was not nearly

what it is today compared to 78. and many who could have reported were tied up in so many other matters that required

much more attention due to the magnitude of the event. I believe amounts to the low 40s, but 50" as a storm total is pushing

it IMHO.

Thing is in my weenie prime (the 80s), that decade was so bad for big snowstorms...other than Dec 1981, Apr 82, Feb 83,

and Mar 84, that was it until Dec 92! Woburn did not get a foot of snow in a single storm in over an 8 year period! This past

decade, a foot seems like nothing b/c 20" storms are becoming al too common! So once you actually experience the full

gamut (crappy winters and great winters), you tend to get a better perspective of it all.

I kind of miss the mystery of coastal storms and re-development back when I was a kid, as the models blew it time a lot.

That uncertainty factor made it even more exciting before the event, and wx data was restricted to NOAA Wx Radio and the

local news (I did not get TWC on my local cable until Oct 1984). The surprise factor of a storm made it even better. Of

course, when it didn't pan out like forecast, it sucked! The LFM was notorious for making open waves into 985 mb coastal

bombs. One time I recall going to bed with a big storm in the forecast, and I woke to clear skies! NOAA Wx Radio said "the

storm has failed to develop"? What? A storm just doesn't fail develop within the 24 hr forecast period (of course I didn't

know that at that time)...it was the LFM up to its tricks again!

Dec 81...no snow forecast, Apr 82...way under forecast for snow amounts, Feb 83...heavy snow was not supposed to reach the BOS area but it did in force!, Mar 84...snow well under forecast due to borderline temps and the winds were sure a surprise (G to 108 mph at MQE). I loved each one of those events, but then I had to suffer through 8 years of lousy winters overall. Only one that was decent was 86-87, but there were no real blockbusters. Great Jan with 40" of snow that month, but the Cape got that surprise blizzard near the end of the month (only a few inches in the BOS area) and then the ultimate kick in face Feb 9 when we had a Blizzard Watch up two days in advance (which I had never seen before) and local OCMs were pulling all the stops out. Then the 09/00z runs came in, and ugh! LFM backed off a little, but the NGM big time for BOS. I think the AVN never really clobbered us from the start, but NGM was the model of choice in those days. Talk about a sinking feeling when I saw Harvey Leonard on at 11pm. Funny thing is he was the only one to back off at 11pm Sunday (he came in with Todd Gross due to the potential magnitude of the event). I ended up with 2" in Woburn, but CHH got 23"! The snowfall gradient was something else...it was like a inch every 3 miles as you went SE of Woburn to the Cape! The Feb 10 BOS Herald (I wish I saved it) had a classic mug shot line up of all the local mets and even one person from NWS BOS. All under there names...WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, but under Harvey's name RIGHT!

That storm was basically it for New England for the month. PWM had it driest Feb on record with only .04". It reminded me of Feb 78, when that blizzard locked up the pattern afterwards so any further storms stayed S of SNE.

In Feb 87, the Mid-Atl got a surprise storms (it's in Kocin's book). Here the entry in my historical wx files.

2/23/87

Surface "bombogenesis" took place on the Mid Atlantic coast as

a low pressure went from 1004 to 981 millibars in just 12

hours, resulting in a heavy, wet snowblitz. Snowfall rates

reached 5 inches per hour. Coatesville, Pennsylvania was

buried under 23.5 inches, Clarksville, Maryland recorded 18.2

inches, and Wilmington, Delaware had 14.4 inches. Much tree

damage occurred and power outages were widespread.

The rest of that winter was nada, except for the late April storm, which kind of made up for that Feb miss b/c it was so late in the season and a big forecast bust for most (Barry Burbank hit it the hardest two day before IIRC), and the surprise factor made it great!

87-88 was so-so, near normal snowfall, but again no blockbusters, 88-89 was one of the worst ever, 89-90 was also so-so...the cold Dec was nice, but not much snow, but what fell stuck around all month. Then it furnaced in Jan and Feb 90, totally wiping out the negative temp anomaly for Dec. There were a couple of moderate snow events, but it were those narrow band, sheary kind of systems that aren't nearly as exciting as a Miller A or B.

Once Dec 92 came along, that officially broke the snow drought for me...18" in Woburn, biggest since 78, and just how that storm was...day one was R+ and wind, and day two was S+ and wind. Costal flooding was among the worst since 78 as well. That winter was great of course, and I remember when the Bliz of 93 was progged 5 days out, and I said to myself "just give me this last one event, and I will never complain again!" Well, even though in the BOS area it was a "front end job" so to speak with just 6 hours of wild WAA S+, I still got 15" (2" of that was IP) and it was one of the craziest 6 hr periods I can recall. Here is the SAO from BOS at 2250z from 13 Mar. Note this is the actual SAO that I saved right after the event was done, not SAO to Metar back to SAO translation. It was still all SAOs for the US in 1993.

BOS RS 2250 W0 X 0TS+BS 875/31/31/0647G62/916/R04RVR06-V06 TB50

SW MOVG N OCNL LTGIC DRFTG SNW PK WND 0670/33 PRESFR SNOINCR 3/11/12

Were we done for that month?...no, two more storms gave me 45" for the month!

After that, the rest is history...the snowy winter pattern returned as had essentially stayed with us since (don't fret on this season...94-95 was a dud as well, but look what a happened the following season!).

[vortex95]

Leaves work at 1015pm, and just goes home, right on the forum again!

:weenie: :weenie: :weenie:

[ORH_wxman]

Looking forward to the loop. Couple of things, were you here or alive for 78? Some of us were not kids and have lived through a lot, nothing compares. I guess if you take Dec 05 and keep it going for 24 hours it comes close to what it was like. Using today's measuring techniques I can easily see 40 inch amounts being common. SWE also is questionable because of the wind, like a TS expect those to be 25-35 % off. Compaction due to wind was incredible, shoveling that stuff was a tremendous chore, because of the compaction it took plows multiple tries to move it. Taking NWS depths at the end of the storm as an indicator does not portray the true amount of snowfall. You had to see it to believe it. Many of us in the weather community have questioned NWS final totals since the day they came out. FYI even interior areas only had 2-4 inches left OTG prior. Southern areas were barren.

I think they had more than that...ORH had an official snow depth of 11 inches prior to the '78 blizzard.

[CoastalWx]

Yes, I was 9 at the time in North Woburn (still am). For those who did not experience it, it can be even more "larger than

life" b/c all you have are stories and pictures. I used to think of that of storms from the 50s and 60s when SNE really got

clobbered. My point was is that the knowledge of snow measurement and the density of trained spotters was not nearly

what it is today compared to 78. and many who could have reported were tied up in so many other matters that required

much more attention due to the magnitude of the event. I believe amounts to the low 40s, but 50" as a storm total is pushing

it IMHO.

Thing is in my weenie prime (the 80s), that decade was so bad for big snowstorms...other than Dec 1981, Apr 82, Feb 83,

and Mar 84, that was it until Dec 92! Woburn did not get a foot of snow in a single storm in over an 8 year period! This past

decade, a foot seems like nothing b/c 20" storms are becoming al too common! So once you actually experience the full

gamut (crappy winters and great winters), you tend to get a better perspective of it all.

I kind of miss the mystery of coastal storms and re-development back when I was a kid, as the models blew it time a lot.

That uncertainty factor made it even more exciting before the event, and wx data was restricted to NOAA Wx Radio and the

local news (I did not get TWC on my local cable until Oct 1984). The surprise factor of a storm made it even better. Of

course, when it didn't pan out like forecast, it sucked! The LFM was notorious for making open waves into 985 mb coastal

bombs. One time I recall going to bed with a big storm in the forecast, and I woke to clear skies! NOAA Wx Radio said "the

storm has failed to develop"? What? A storm just doesn't fail develop within the 24 hr forecast period (of course I didn't

know that at that time)...it was the LFM up to its tricks again!

Dec 81...no snow forecast, Apr 82...way under forecast for snow amounts, Feb 83...heavy snow was not supposed to reach the BOS area but it did in force!, Mar 84...snow well under forecast due to borderline temps and the winds were sure a surprise (G to 108 mph at MQE). I loved each one of those events, but then I had to suffer through 8 years of lousy winters overall. Only one that was decent was 86-87, but there were no real blockbusters. Great Jan with 40" of snow that month, but the Cape got that surprise blizzard near the end of the month (only a few inches in the BOS area) and then the ultimate kick in face Feb 9 when we had a Blizzard Watch up two days in advance (which I had never seen before) and local OCMs were pulling all the stops out. Then the 09/00z runs came in, and ugh! LFM backed off a little, but the NGM big time for BOS. I think the AVN never really clobbered us from the start, but NGM was the model of choice in those days. Talk about a sinking feeling when I saw Harvey Leonard on at 11pm. Funny thing is he was the only one to back off at 11pm Sunday (he came in with Todd Gross due to the potential magnitude of the event). I ended up with 2" in Woburn, but CHH got 23"! The snowfall gradient was something else...it was like a inch every 3 miles as you went SE of Woburn to the Cape! The Feb 10 BOS Herald (I wish I saved it) had a classic mug shot line up of all the local mets and even one person from NWS BOS. All under there names...WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, but under Harvey's name RIGHT!

That storm was basically it for New England for the month. PWM had it driest Feb on record with only .04". It reminded me of Feb 78, when that blizzard locked up the pattern afterwards so any further storms stayed S of SNE.

In Feb 87, the Mid-Atl got a surprise storms (it's in Kocin's book). Here the entry in my historical wx files.

2/23/87

Surface "bombogenesis" took place on the Mid Atlantic coast as

a low pressure went from 1004 to 981 millibars in just 12

hours, resulting in a heavy, wet snowblitz. Snowfall rates

reached 5 inches per hour. Coatesville, Pennsylvania was

buried under 23.5 inches, Clarksville, Maryland recorded 18.2

inches, and Wilmington, Delaware had 14.4 inches. Much tree

damage occurred and power outages were widespread.

The rest of that winter was nada, except for the late April storm, which kind of made up for that Feb miss b/c it was so late in the season and a big forecast bust for most (Barry Burbank hit it the hardest two day before IIRC), and the surprise factor made it great!

87-88 was so-so, near normal snowfall, but again no blockbusters, 88-89 was one of the worst ever, 89-90 was also so-so...the cold Dec was nice, but not much snow, but what fell stuck around all month. Then it furnaced in Jan and Feb 90, totally wiping out the negative temp anomaly for Dec. There were a couple of moderate snow events, but it were those narrow band, sheary kind of systems that aren't nearly as exciting as a Miller A or B.

Once Dec 92 came along, that officially broke the snow drought for me...18" in Woburn, biggest since 78, and just how that storm was...day one was R+ and wind, and day two was S+ and wind. Costal flooding was among the worst since 78 as well. That winter was great of course, and I remember when the Bliz of 93 was progged 5 days out, and I said to myself "just give me this last one event, and I will never complain again!" Well, even though in the BOS area it was a "front end job" so to speak with just 6 hours of wild WAA S+, I still got 15" (2" of that was IP) and it was one of the craziest 6 hr periods I can recall. Here is the SAO from BOS at 2250z from 13 Mar. Note this is the actual SAO that I saved right after the event was done, not SAO to Metar back to SAO translation. It was still all SAOs for the US in 1993.

BOS RS 2250 W0 X 0TS+BS 875/31/31/0647G62/916/R04RVR06-V06 TB50

SW MOVG N OCNL LTGIC DRFTG SNW PK WND 0670/33 PRESFR SNOINCR 3/11/12

Were we done for that month?...no, two more storms gave me 45" for the month!

After that, the rest is history...the snowy winter pattern returned as had essentially stayed with us since (don't fret on this season...94-95 was a dud as well, but look what a happened the following season!).

Those two Cape storms were a bigger kick in the nads for me. I got close to 10" iirc in each run, but 20-24" 30-40 miles away was painful. Actually, I think I got over a foot in the Jan '87 storm.

[Logan11]

I'm surprised they had that much. As I recall we were essentially wiped out in ENY by that bomb cutter into the lakes in very late January. It demolished our 24"+ of snow pack in one day of +RN and 55-60F.

So I'm not recalling that we had much of anything left before the Blizzard hit. Got the two feet back then. Wonderful volatile and fun winter. The anti-2012 winter.

I think they had more than that...ORH had an official snow depth of 11 inches prior to the '78 blizzard.

[vortex95]

Yep, that's the one. I was working short term desk that day. AWFUL is right. I saw the E winds and temps around 40 degrees along the coast, all the while the advisories and warnings were still up. I wanted to take things down, but was overruled. Wanted to wait for the 18Z special upper air run. Geez...awful. Hadn't felt that bad on the forecast job we did for quite a while on that one. THEN, the snow fell here that night!!! We ended up with 4.5" but seemed like a lot more due to blowing snow. One of my co-workers had 6.5" in Dighton. That's the one that NYC got nailed.

Here's the map (for those that are interested):

http://www.erh.noaa....10&element=snow

--Turtle

This was the worst media hype induced storm I have yet to see. Just b/c the DCA to NYC area got (or was going get)

clobbered, somehow the media extrapolated to New England, which is oversimplistic thinking. The word "Snowmaggedon"

has been recently first used as well. This is typical of knee jerk reactions politicians/authorities have to the overhype. They

take the "course of least regret" and implement worst case scenario procedures that essentially shuts everything down. The

models were never completely agreement on a SNE clobbering, and even if we got 10-15"...ok, so what? We've dealt with

that many times before and it is very manageable. Yet the event was portrayed as like the "end of days". What a joke the

day of the event...wall to wall coverage in the local news for a basically a non-event, and you wonder why the public thinks

negativity of meteorologists? The problem from a media end is that when an event is forecast, resources are already totally

committed ahead of time to cover (hype) the event, so they can't back out the day of the event if it looks like it will not pan

out, despite OCMs changing the forecast and telling those in charge at the station that it isn't going to be a big deal.

Weather has become so important for ratings in local news, this is one of the unfortunate side effects.

The models have got a lot better in the last few decades, so we should be able to fine tune things better and not just take

"the course of least regret" and overwarn so much This leads to public apathy, to say the least, and it detrimental to the

forecast process and how it serves the population. The NWS is doing the best job it can, but the media distorts the

forecasts to pump each event up for ratings IMHO.

And for tropical systems?…forget it. Stick a name on something, and goes to the next level. It can be a weak piece of crap

TS coming up clearly in an unfavorable environment, and the reactions are not appropriate in a practical sense. One only

needs to look back to Hermine in 2004 for a example. It clearly was not a TS as it approached MVY. All deep convection

had been sheared away 8 hours before and it was merely small low level swirl. It passed over MVY and their peak wind

was 27 kt (gust). If it had been away from land, I bet it would have been downgraded to a TD.

http://weather.unisy...RMINE/track.gif

[vortex95]

Those two Cape storms were a bigger kick in the nads for me. I got close to 10" iirc in each run, but 20-24" 30-40 miles away was painful. Actually, I think I got over a foot in the Jan '87 storm.

He's complaining he got "only" 10" for each Cape blizzard...back then that was "a lot"!

Which Jan 87 storms?...the syzygy storm on 1/2, or the "worst since 78" for traffic jams on 1/22?

Both were more rain S of BOS, so I dobut it was either of those storms in Brockton. There was

a surprise bordeline wet snow event on 1/30, and I got 10.5", but again not sure what a happened

to the S.

[ORH_wxman]

I'm surprised they had that much. As I recall we were essentially wiped out in ENY by that bomb cutter into the lakes in very late January. It demolished our 24"+ of snow pack in one day of +RN and 55-60F.

So I'm not recalling that we had much of anything left before the Blizzard hit. Got the two feet back then. Wonderful volatile and fun winter. The anti-2012 winter.

The pack was crusted with sleet and ice before the big January event...so it had a base under it...I'm sure the CAD east of the Berkshires helped a bit...the snow pack was like 2 feet before that cutter superbomb...so it did wipe a lot even if it was still 11" after.

[Logan11]

Yeah that trifecta of snowstorms out here in January were all pure snow ..maybe a few pings so not encrusted. Great week to have three 10"+ storms.

The pack was crusted with sleet and ice before the big January event...so it had a base under it...I'm sure the CAD east of the Berkshires helped a bit...the snow pack was like 2 feet before that cutter superbomb...so it did wipe a lot even if it was still 11" after.

[40/70 Benchmark]

Leaves work at 1015pm, and just goes home, right on the forum again!

:weenie: :weenie: :weenie:

LOL

Imagine if that intermediate event in Jan didn't cut.....

[Ginx snewx]

Yes, I was 9 at the time in North Woburn (still am).  For those who did not experience it, it can be even more "larger than

life" b/c all you have are stories and pictures.   I used to think of that of storms from the 50s and 60s when SNE really got

clobbered.  My point was is that the knowledge of snow measurement and the density of trained spotters was not nearly

what it is today compared to 78. and many who could have reported were tied up in so many other matters that required

much more attention due to the magnitude of the event.  I believe amounts to the low 40s, but 50" as a storm total is pushing

it IMHO.

Thing is in my weenie prime (the 80s), that decade was so bad for big snowstorms...other than Dec 1981, Apr 82, Feb 83,

and Mar 84, that was it until Dec 92!  Woburn did not get a foot of snow in a single storm in over an 8 year period! This past

decade, a foot seems like nothing b/c 20" storms are becoming al too common!  So once you actually experience the full

gamut (crappy winters and  great winters), you tend to get a better perspective of it all.

I kind of miss the mystery of coastal storms and re-development back when I was a kid, as the models blew it time a lot.

That uncertainty factor made it even more exciting before the event, and wx data was restricted to NOAA Wx Radio and the

local news (I did not get TWC on my local cable until Oct 1984).  The surprise factor of a storm made it even better.  Of

course, when it didn't pan out like forecast, it sucked!  The LFM was notorious for making open waves into 985 mb coastal

bombs.  One time I recall going to bed with a big storm in the forecast, and I woke to clear skies!  NOAA Wx Radio said "the

storm has failed to develop"?  What?  A storm just doesn't fail develop within the 24 hr forecast period (of course I didn't

know that at that time)...it was the LFM up to its tricks again!

Dec 81...no snow forecast, Apr 82...way under forecast for snow amounts, Feb 83...heavy snow was not supposed to reach the BOS area but it did in force!, Mar 84...snow well under forecast due to borderline temps and the winds were sure a surprise (G to 108 mph at MQE).  I loved each one of those events, but then I had to suffer through 8 years of lousy winters overall.  Only one that was decent was 86-87, but there were no real blockbusters.  Great Jan with 40" of snow that month, but the Cape got that surprise blizzard near the end of the month (only a few inches in the BOS area) and then the ultimate kick in face Feb 9 when we had a Blizzard Watch up two days in advance (which I had never seen before) and local OCMs were pulling all the stops out.  Then the 09/00z runs came in, and ugh!  LFM backed off a little, but the NGM big time for BOS.  I think the AVN never really clobbered us from the start, but NGM was the model of choice in those days.  Talk about a sinking feeling when I saw Harvey Leonard on at 11pm.  Funny thing is he was the only one to back off at 11pm Sunday (he came in with Todd Gross due to the potential magnitude of the event).  I ended up with 2" in Woburn, but CHH got 23"!  The snowfall gradient was something else...it was like a inch every 3 miles as you went SE of Woburn to the Cape!  The Feb 10 BOS Herald (I wish I saved it) had a classic mug shot line up of all the local mets and even one person from NWS BOS.  All under there names...WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, but under Harvey's name RIGHT!

That storm was basically it for New England for the month.  PWM had it driest Feb on record with only .04".  It reminded me of Feb 78, when that blizzard locked up the pattern afterwards so any further storms stayed S of SNE.

In Feb 87, the Mid-Atl got a surprise storms (it's in Kocin's book).  Here the entry in my historical wx files.

      

        2/23/87

        Surface "bombogenesis" took place on the Mid Atlantic coast as

        a low pressure went from 1004 to 981 millibars in just 12

        hours, resulting in a heavy, wet snowblitz.  Snowfall rates

        reached 5 inches per hour.  Coatesville, Pennsylvania was

        buried under 23.5 inches, Clarksville, Maryland recorded 18.2

        inches, and Wilmington, Delaware had 14.4 inches.  Much tree

        damage occurred and power outages were widespread.

The rest of that winter was nada, except for the late April storm, which kind of made up for that Feb miss b/c it was so late in the season and a big forecast bust for most (Barry Burbank hit it the hardest two day before IIRC), and the surprise factor made it great!

87-88 was so-so, near normal snowfall, but again no blockbusters, 88-89 was one of the worst ever, 89-90 was also so-so...the cold Dec was nice, but not much snow, but what fell stuck around all month.  Then it furnaced in Jan and Feb 90, totally wiping out the negative temp anomaly for Dec.  There were a couple of moderate snow events, but it were those narrow band, sheary kind of systems that aren't nearly as exciting as a Miller A or B.

Once Dec 92 came along, that officially broke the snow drought for me...18" in Woburn, biggest since 78, and just how that storm was...day one was R+ and wind, and day two was S+ and wind.  Costal flooding was among the worst since 78 as well.  That winter was great of course, and I remember when the Bliz of 93 was progged 5 days out, and I said to myself "just give me this last one event, and I will never complain again!"  Well, even though in the BOS area it was a "front end job" so to speak with just 6 hours of wild WAA S+, I still got 15" (2" of that was IP) and it was one of  the craziest 6 hr periods I can recall.  Here is the SAO from BOS at 2250z from 13 Mar. Note this is the actual SAO that I saved right after the event was done, not SAO to Metar back to SAO translation.  It was still all SAOs for the US in 1993.

BOS RS 2250 W0 X 0TS+BS 875/31/31/0647G62/916/R04RVR06-V06 TB50

SW MOVG N OCNL LTGIC DRFTG SNW PK WND 0670/33 PRESFR SNOINCR 3/11/12

Were we done for that month?...no, two more storms gave me 45" for the month!

After that, the rest is history...the snowy winter pattern returned as had essentially stayed with us since (don't fret on this season...94-95 was a dud as well, but look what a happened the following season!).

Great synopsis and memories. I kept written records and looked at them when I read this, twas a frustrating period for sure. I especially would get pissed when the 6:00 weather news , which was basically it for info, would pump up the incoming storm then around 9 they would run 11:00 teasers which would cast doubt. at that point you knew we were cooked, sure enough 11 Harvey et al would come on and declare it over. So glad the internet is what it is, man those hours of wondering with no info other than NOAA radio sucked. Many a night I had the radio on listening to the Marine forecasts and reports from Hotel Buoy to try to figure out if a storm was intensifying and what direction it was heading.

[Momza]

lived in Babylon Long Island..my favorite storm of alltime..from the Nassau Suffolk border north and east it was the greatest snowstorm,winds,snow 7 ft drifts,major parts of the LIE and Sunrise hwy closed for days

Yup..still my favorite LONG duration

[Momza]

LOL

Imagine if that intermediate event in Jan didn't cut.....

Thought that event wasted an all time possibility...Little did I know

[CoastalWx]

He's complaining he got "only" 10" for each Cape blizzard...back then that was "a lot"!

Which Jan 87 storms?...the syzygy storm on 1/2, or the "worst since 78" for traffic jams on 1/22?

Both were more rain S of BOS, so I dobut it was either of those storms in Brockton. There was

a surprise bordeline wet snow event on 1/30, and I got 10.5", but again not sure what a happened

to the S.

The one that nailed the Cape iirc.

[vortex95]

All these stories goes to show you how epic the storm was. These weren't some old farmers tale from 1750 about snow up to thy knickers or whatever the hell they wore, this was the real deal.

It also goes to show how mad Coastal Wx is b/c he was not yet around to experience it! He needs something like this

to *completely* satisfy his weenie-ism! Hey, I'd welcome a storm like that again. I recall there was one

run of the GFS back for the Feb 25-26, 2010 event. It stalled the low in a similar position of the Bliz of 78, and

the QPF was through the roof for SNE. That taken literally would have been the snow to end all snows for us.

All the blocking we had in the previous two years, and we couldn't quite get a "perfect storm" so to speak

for the ultimate dumping of snow!

My biggest interest now for such a storm is the coastal flooding. Storm surges, tides, water where it isn't supposed

to be, etc always has fascinated me, and seeing it in places I am very familiar with, like Hampton Beach or

Gloucester, it is even more fascinating. The alkaline foam build up and how it takes over ahead of the storm tide is

a sight to behold! I saw a great example of this at Hampton Beach for the Patriots Day Storm in Apr 07.

[CoastalWx]

It also goes to show how mad Coastal Wx is b/c he was not yet around to experience it! He needs something like this

to *completely* satisfy his weenie-ism! Hey, I'd welcome a storm like that again. I recall there was one

run of the GFS back for the Feb 25-26, 2010 event. It stalled the low in a similar position of the Bliz of 78, and

the QPF was through the roof for SNE. That taken literally would have been the snow to end all snows for us.

All the blocking we had in the previous two years, and we couldn't quite get a "perfect storm" so to speak

for the ultimate dumping of snow!

My biggest interest now for such a storm is the coastal flooding. Storm surges, tides, water where it isn't supposed

to be, etc always has fascinated me, and seeing it in places I am very familiar with, like Hampton Beach or

Gloucester, it is even more fascinating. The alkaline foam build up and how it takes over ahead of the storm tide is

a sight to behold! I saw a great example of this at Hampton Beach for the Patriots Day Storm in Apr 07.

Nothing like seeing ripples in the marsh.

You love snow events even if you poo-poo the 3-6" deals. Patriots Day storm was great.

The GFS did have a run that buried us..probably about 3 of them. That was the winter where mother nature found a convenient way to give us multiple screw jobs.

[Ginx snewx]

It also goes to show how mad Coastal Wx is b/c he was not yet around to experience it! He needs something like this

to *completely* satisfy his weenie-ism! Hey, I'd welcome a storm like that again. I recall there was one

run of the GFS back for the Feb 25-26, 2010 event. It stalled the low in a similar position of the Bliz of 78, and

the QPF was through the roof for SNE. That taken literally would have been the snow to end all snows for us.

All the blocking we had in the previous two years, and we couldn't quite get a "perfect storm" so to speak

for the ultimate dumping of snow!

My biggest interest now for such a storm is the coastal flooding. Storm surges, tides, water where it isn't supposed

to be, etc always has fascinated me, and seeing it in places I am very familiar with, like Hampton Beach or

Gloucester, it is even more fascinating. The alkaline foam build up and how it takes over ahead of the storm tide is

a sight to behold! I saw a great example of this at Hampton Beach for the Patriots Day Storm in Apr 07.

I get the feeling we would get along just fine.