Greatest Snowstorms in History

[wxmanmitch]

For the Berkshires, I'd have to say December 1992 gets a very special honor for the shear volume of heavy, wet snow. Some communities on the east slope had 45-50" from that one. West Chesterfield probably had close to that from that event as it was 2 full days of heavy 1-2" per hour, easterly flow upslope. There wasn't as much here in the Berkshire Valley, but there was still over 18" even in Adams according to my family, which is shadowed badly in easterly flows. The Hudson Valley got screwed royally as it was an elevation event. Unfortunately, I didn't live in the area at the time.

October 1987 was our equivalent of what happened in CT and E MA on 10/29/11 as it was over a foot of heavy concrete with fully foliated trees. This past October's event was mostly a fluff bomb here once we got past the first 2 hours of the event, sparing us catastrophic tree damage.

1/12/11 deserves and honorable mention a great event as this area got meso banded big time.

Of course beyond that, we have 3/93, 4/1/97, and probably others. I think 2/2001 was a big one here. I have no idea what this area got in 1888, but I bet it was sweet.

[CoastalWx]

You mean the other way around for you. That radar loop from BOX for Jan 2005 gives you a you know

what, and you are always talking about "that radar"!

Still had more snow in 4/1/97 in Hyde Park than what you had in Woburn.

[vortex95]

Still had more snow in 4/1/97 in Hyde Park than what you had in Woburn.

I had 27" and your snow was wetter. Anyways you weren't officially living in Hyde Park.

Brockton and GHG are your claims to fame!

Do you have sat pix like these in your archives of the Bliz 97? I do.

[Typhoon Tip]

For Connecticut the obvious winner is 1888 just by shear volume of snow. 40-55" of snow in the valleys has such a huge return time it's gotta make the top of the list. I would argue as anomalous as the storm was... what made it truly incredible for the Hudson Valley around ALB and the CT River Valley was the very lucky placement of a mesoscale feature. Sort of a one in a million kind of shot to make would would have been a big snowstorm into a truly epic blizzard.

For #2 and #3 in Connecticut I'm torn between 1978 and October 2011. I'd give the edge to 1978 for CT because the impact was huge inland and at the shoreline - so statewide 1978 probably had a higher impact. October 2011 probably had a more lasting impact in terms of damage in many inland and populated areas. 2011 was more anomalous meteorologically than 1978.

Some notes... snow accumulation is not a huge part of the issue. Impact is more important. Feb 2006 was 20-30" in the Valley but it was fluff. A total non-impact storm. A wind whipped, heavy, 25035" in 1978 is clearly substantially more challenging. It's also important to look at the state as a whole and not just your backyard. A heavier weight should be placed on storms that hit populated/valley locations more than the hills. Who cares about 3 feet at 1,000 ft where no one lives.

Since 1850 in Connecticut... the greatest snowstorms are:

1: 1888

2: 1978

3: 2011

Thoughts?

I was thinking about this... it occurred to me how subjective the answers has to be... One town gets meso pummeled to some 40 histrionic, world ending inches... 3 towns over it's a pedestrian foot.

Lot's of storms in the annals that did that. Pervasiveness should thus be an important characteristic in qualifying these. That in greater part is the purpose and goal, behind the NESDIS scale, engineered by Kocin/Ucellini, to consider impact as a whole.

Relativity to era is a secondary factorization in my mind. In 1888, technologies et al were feeble by comparison to the conveniences of the current era. A foot of snow carries along a different definition of impact compared to today. Electricity and telegraph were almost entirely urban infrastructural achievements. Everything from heating a home, to communications et al, was much more heavily burdened by 12" of snow considering that there was a hugely more mechanical requirement to maintain. For example, wood and/or cool stacked outside; getting to the well to pump a couple of buckets of water. We have all these conveniences built more efficiently right into our homes, with running water, and comparatively robust delivery of electrical service. There's really no comparison when we open our eyes to these differences.

1888 was off-the charts when factoring in this secondary consideration. Where as, 2011, I do not even know what storm we are talking about, unless we want to just call the 40 days between about Dec 26th and Feb 7, a 40 day storm. Seemed almost as such.

I would like to experience (who would not, as either an enthusiast or scientist in the field) a "Millenial Storm", which is just what the title suggest: a storm that happens once every 1,000 years. I believe it gets difficult to have a storm that would be beyond such an ordeal, because once you get outside of a thousand years, you start crossing over into differentiated climate eras. So it would not really be fair to compare an Unger/Dryaz storm with one of those of the middle part of last century; and even now, it is difficult to do so when you consider the last 30 years of GW (which is real, whether folks want to "buy" it or not - there's nothing to buy! Look at the numbers). So perhaps this is the 3rd characterization, and that is relativity with respect to the current era's climate mode.

Perhaps too mirky and illdefined, discipline wise. Probably just the former 2 would do it. Stack the list accordingly.

[tamarack]

I think doing the rankings state by state is interesting. Cool stuff.

Maine is such a diverse state climatologically that it's just about impossible to choose statewide "greatests". 1888 had only minor impact on Maine, with modest amounts of wet snow. Here are four regional #1s, IMO:

Northern: April, 1982. CAR had 26" (then their largest ever, still #3) with winds gusting 50+, and a tall snowpack even before the event. Probably disrupted traffic more, and for longer, than any other event, though I've no real proof of that.

Central: Dec. 30-31, 1962. BGR and lower/middle Penobscot Valley had 30-45" with temps bouncing from subzero to near freezing and back again, winds to 60 and drifts to 20'. Only time in 180+ yr that the BGR Daily failed to publish.

Western: Feb. 23-28, 1969. 3 to 4.5 feet atop 3-4' snowpack led to unprecedented snow depth, some places 6-7 feet deep. Every road a tunnel.

Southern: Feb. 1953. Two feet of snow with very strong winds. For most folks from that area born before 1945, this is "the storm".

Although this thread specifies "snowstorms", the most disruptive event for Maine, short and long term, was the 1998 ice storm.

[ORH_wxman]

I went back and tried to find some stuff out with that storm...don't really know it too well other than the heavy snow amounts. It was quite the storm.

Its hard to find stuff on March 1960 because its so far back and the blizzard of 78 overshadows it. Its not like its a 1987 storm where more stuff on the web will be available just by people uploading articles.

But from what I have read (in the Cornell library archives) it was a really high impact storm and really caused problems for days into the next week even though it was a Friday storm (think it started really late Thu night).

I'm sure if we dig enough we can find some stuff on google from it...they have a great newspaper archive. But I think it was def near the top before Feb 1978.

[Chrisrotary12]

This is a hard topic to talk about because there are some storms that were devastating that none of us experienced. So this almost becomes a "top 3 in your lifetime". Which for me and my personal experience would go as follows:

1) Jan '05

2) 4/1/1997

3) 12/9/'05 -all in all the coolest weather event I have ever experienced. But it sits at 3 because only those in the eastern half of the state got to experience it.

[OKpowdah]

March 2001

[CoastalWx]

March 2001

For SNH.

[N. OF PIKE]

blizz 78

storm of century

april fools day or 92'noreaster (tie)

[wxsniss]

I have to go with 4/1/97 for its absolute ridiculousness. Jan 2005 is close second for me.

Also in Boston metro, I second this and feel lucky to have experienced both:

April 1997 for its absolute off-the-charts shock value

Jan 2005 for its amazing blizzard obs / thundersnow / single digit temps / near hurricane-force winds in boston and 8"/hr bands near boston

no snowstorm in the past 20 years has come close to these for boston imho

[CoastalWx]

Also in Boston metro, I second this and feel lucky to have experienced both:

April 1997 for its absolute off-the-charts shock value

Jan 2005 for its amazing blizzard obs / thundersnow / single digit temps / near hurricane-force winds in boston and 8"/hr bands near boston

no snowstorm in the past 20 years has come close to these for boston imho

I'm not sure about that TSSN for BOS during Jan 2005. I haven't heard any reports of it specifically, but I suppose it could have happened.

[Hambone]

March 1960 I was in first grade, so my memories are a bit foggy. I just remember my father shoveling the driveway for what seemed like days on end and building us a giant igloo in the front yard.

February 1969 was insane. We had a series of storms that month and school was cancelled for a huge % of the month. I was 16 and along with a couple of other guys from the football team, got hired by the highway dept to shovel out fire hydrants for a week or so.

Blizzard of 78. Nothing else in the last 60 years comes close.

April Fools day storm. I was working in Worcester..commuting from Chelmsford. What a mess.