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May Snowstorm Was 35 Years Ago Today!


Quincy

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Well, they did build the late Yankees and Red Sox teams, but injuries happen too. Nobody builds teams anymore just because they are good kids, stats are extremely vital.

I was joking. Boy did Ryan get us OT and he complains that threads are unreadable?
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Well good to know he is ok, it might have been the winter, maybe he just wanted a break. Or maybe the whip has spoke, Darth is most certainly missed by everyone and trail mix is running rampant in the sports threads.

I'm sure it's just a mini break and he's fine. He's been posting on SOSH from time to time. It's the most boring wx time of the year anyways.
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I was in 5th grade in Brooklyn (CT). We got a couple inches or so as best I can remember. It melted by the next day, I think, and there was no damage near me. Looking at the now unseen snowfall map, that snowfall bears a striking resemblance to this past October in terms of where the heavy snow and damage was.

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I was at college at Cornell. I went into a Grateful Dead concert that night at Barton Hall. It was, if I remember, warm, and threatening thunder. Came out and I think it was snowing.

Widely regarded as the best show the Dead ever did.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Feb10/GDConcertAlumni.html

I'd just turned seven, alas. Didn't see them till the 80s.

GDposter.jpg

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Interesting to compare/debate which storm was more anomalous/rare, May 9th, 1977 or October 29th, 2011??

Factors to consider:

Both are likely at least 200 year events, and unprecedented as far as our records go

Average Hi/Lo/Mean (1981-2010)

Worcester - May 9th: 64/45/54....October 29th: 54/38/46

Boston - May 9th: 64/48/56....October 29th: 57/43//50

October 29th:

-Much larger area of heavy snows over a foot. Totals exceeding 24-30" in numerous spots

-Preceded start of Met winter by 32 days

-Preceded winter solstice by 53 days

-Removed from lowest sun angle by 53 days

May 9th:

-Incredible snows in southern New England, to Boston Harbor, 20+ on mountain peaks, Trace of snow in Atlantic City

-Succeeded the end of Met Winter by 70 days

-Succeeded the end of astronomical winter/spring equinox by 48 days

-Removed from lowest sun angle by 138 days

Giving a lot of weight to the bolded, italicized points above, I give the edge to May 1977. But, I think Oct 2011 has to be considered merely for the extent of KU-like totals over such a large area.

snowtober-snow-totals-noaa-110111.jpg

And Will's 1977 map...

may1977snowgi7.png

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Yeah I agree that the May snowstorm was the more outrageous of the 2. It typically snows in most inland areas in SNE in many Octobers..at least as far as first flakes go...May is very ,very rare to see any type of snow anywhere in SNE. What I will always cherish is seeing the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes(had to take them to my mom's town to trick or treat) with still 8 inches of snow OTG, no power, and huge snowbanks, amongst fallen trees and debris everywhere. The pictures of that are priceless..And even though they couldn't trick or treat due to the downed wires, it was all worthwhile..even for them.

Those of us that are lucky enugh to have been alive for these 2 storms should consider oursleves very lucky.

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Interesting to compare/debate which storm was more anomalous/rare, May 9th, 1977 or October 29th, 2011??

Factors to consider:

Both are likely at least 200 year events, and unprecedented as far as our records go

Average Hi/Lo/Mean (1981-2010)

Worcester - May 9th: 64/45/54....October 29th: 54/38/46

Boston - May 9th: 64/48/56....October 29th: 57/43//50

October 29th:

-Much larger area of heavy snows over a foot. Totals exceeding 24-30" in numerous spots

-Preceded start of Met winter by 32 days

-Preceded winter solstice by 53 days

-Removed from lowest sun angle by 53 days

May 9th:

-Incredible snows in southern New England, to Boston Harbor, 20+ on mountain peaks, Trace of snow in Atlantic City

-Succeeded the end of Met Winter by 70 days

-Succeeded the end of astronomical winter/spring equinox by 48 days

-Removed from lowest sun angle by 138 days

Giving a lot of weight to the bolded, italicized points above, I give the edge to May 1977. But, I think Oct 2011 has to be considered merely for the extent of KU-like totals over such a large area.

I do think it is much easier to get snow much later after met winter than before met winter. But the May 77 storm was ridiculous. What made Oct 11 special is the amount of 10"+ totals in low elevations... not just hill tops.

Good question though.

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I do think it is much easier to get snow much later after met winter than before met winter. But the May 77 storm was ridiculous. What made Oct 11 special is the amount of 10"+ totals in low elevations... not just hill tops.

Good question though.

Yeah that is a great point that makes this a worthwhile debate. It wasn't just in "the band" when it came to the october storm. Hell we had 1-3" in central/southern Monmouth County NJ a few miles from the coast.

As for your first point, what particular reason makes you feel that way? Is it because of a lack of cold air/snow cover being generated yet early in the season? I would argue the higher sun angle would make much later spring time events more difficult to come by.

I think the recent run of wintry early Decembers paired with very mild snowless March conditions also plays a part in this debate.

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Yeah that is a great point that makes this a worthwhile debate. It wasn't just in "the band" when it came to the october storm. Hell we had 1-3" in central/southern Monmouth County NJ a few miles from the coast.

As for your first point, what particular reason makes you feel that way? Is it because of a lack of cold air/snow cover being generated yet early in the season? I would argue the higher sun angle would make much later spring time events more difficult to come by.

I think the recent run of wintry early Decembers paired with very mild snowless March conditions also plays a part in this debate.

30 days prior to the winter solstice is a whole lot milder than 30 days after the winter solstice. So you have more cold air readily available 2 or 3 months after the solstice than you even do 1 month prior. I think that's a factor.

You also have SSTs this time of your in the low-mid 50s up here in New England. The water temperature the morning of the October snowstorm in Long Island Sound was in the low/mid 60s!

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Anyone know how widespread the May 10, 1945 storm was? That's Albany's biggest May snowfall, 5.4 inches. Only other total I can find is Portland, ME with 7".

Farmington, Maine had 9.0" for their largest May snowfall, most (8.4") falling on 5/11. Ironically, their #2 May snow was 7" in 1963, on 5/11.

Because of areal coverage by heavy snow, I'd pick 10/11, especially as some low-elev spots in the MA also got plastered. Another small bit of support is the sizable snow April 28-29, 1987, only 10-11 days earlier in the season. I think ORH got 15" or some such, and 6"+ totals were common in CNE and parts of NNE. The closest-to-10/11 early season widespread major snow event that comes to mind was 11/12/1968.

Northern Maine got nada from 5/77; our most memorable event that month came on the 22nd, when CAR hit 96, tying their hottest ever and topping Phoenix by 1F to be the hottest reporting station in the US that day. (My favorite wx-related "man bites dog" story)

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I do think it is much easier to get snow much later after met winter than before met winter. But the May 77 storm was ridiculous. What made Oct 11 special is the amount of 10"+ totals in low elevations... not just hill tops.

Good question though.

I give the edge to October 29, 2011 since it affected lower elevation areas as well as higher ones. I will concede that normal temperatures are higher in May than October but the ocean is much warmer in October.

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30 days prior to the winter solstice is a whole lot milder than 30 days after the winter solstice. So you have more cold air readily available 2 or 3 months after the solstice than you even do 1 month prior. I think that's a factor.

You also have SSTs this time of your in the low-mid 50s up here in New England. The water temperature the morning of the October snowstorm in Long Island Sound was in the low/mid 60s!

I agree with you...the mid levels can still get chilly into the middle of spring and the increased sun angle over October is what skews those daily means so much higher. There's been a few decent snow events that affected lower elevations well into May before. Someone already mentioned 1945 and then there was the late May event in 2002. It's difficult for me to give either one an edge.
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