Surprise events

[Nic]

Like a storm tapping into gulf moisture unexpectadly, or a foot of snow when only 1 inch was forecast.

[Inudaw]

January 2000. It the most recent example the Mid-Atlantic region imo.

[Srain]

December 10, 2008 here in Houston. We had a high temp of 77F on that Tuesday as a potent small cold core U/L tracked E along I-10. No computer models even suggested snow, much less freezing temps for Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.

[superjames1992]

1/25/2000. The Carolina Crusher.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nwsfo/storage/cases/20000125/

I also had a couple good 6"+ snows via trailing snow showers when I lived in WV. Those were always fun (but frustrating when you missed out) because you went into it expecting a dusting or maybe an inch at best, but if the snow showers trained over your area (which rarely happened), you could get slammed while areas 20 miles north or south might get zilch!

[JoMo]

I've had numerous ones but the most recent I think was the Dec 10th 2003 snowstorm here. The system was expected to be moisture starved but it was a very strong system. It ended up producing thundersnow for hours over Joplin with up to 3" per hour snowfall rates. It happened at night but I remember looking outside and it was almost constant lightning. It was a very fast mover but we ended up with 7" of snow here I think it was. Some areas of the county got 6-8" while 4 counties away got nothing.