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First widespread winter weather event, outside of the mtns.?

mackerel_sky

By mackerel_sky,
in Southeastern States

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LithiaWx

LithiaWx

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+1. That would make up for last year. One of these days I will scan in my old photographs from that one. We had around 8" of tree bending snow with enough sleet for the metal tracked sled.

I was 6 when that storm hit. Easily my #2 all time favorite storm here in Marietta. I remember waking up early that morning having no idea what was about to hit. The first flakes started to fly and it just kept coming. I remember the snow was extremely fluffy and deep. I don't remember the sleet but I do remember it was pretty cold and the sledding was GOOD for a couple of days. When I wake up the morning a snowstorm is supposed to hit I think back to January 1988 and see those first flakes fly starting an epic event for mby. I only grasped that victory one other time. March 1993 my #1.

January 1988

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/gsp/localdat/TechAttachments/ta2001-02.pdf

I looked back and mby got 4" from it but it was a very memorable storm for me.

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GaWx

GaWx

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I was 6 when that storm hit. Easily my #2 all time favorite storm here in Marietta. I remember waking up early that morning having no idea what was about to hit. The first flakes started to fly and it just kept coming. I remember the snow was extremely fluffy and deep. I don't remember the sleet but I do remember it was pretty cold and the sledding was GOOD for a couple of days. When I wake up the morning a snowstorm is supposed to hit I think back to January 1988 and see those first flakes fly starting an epic event for mby. I only grasped that victory one other time. March 1993 my #1.

January 1988

http://www.erh.noaa....s/ta2001-02.pdf

I looked back and mby got 4" from it but it was a very memorable storm for me.

MariettaWx,

In my area at the time, north of Sandy Springs and south of Roswell, we got mainly IP. The first part (mostly light) was snow, but 850's soon afterward rose from near 0C to ~+3 C near the end. Once 850's rose above 0C, snow was no longer supported and it turned to IP for the bulk of the precip. Later, there was some very light ZR or ZL, which just made the top of the accumulation hard. This was caused by a weak Miller A low, which is pretty common for major ATL winter storms. The total accum. was 3-4" and it took most of the week to slowly melt. One of the main reasons for the much higher totals further north and NE was that it was almost all snow there. The 3-4" of IP is at least as impressive to me as it would have been had it been 8-10" of snow and was probably harder to melt. ATL heavy IP rocks!

I had thought Marietta, which is due west of me, also got mostly IP, which is supported by the 850's being mainly in the +1 to +3 C range once past the early part of the precip as the 0C 850 line moved well north of the north ATL metro. The 850 0C line was pretty close to being west to east. You said you don't remember the IP. That's surprising.

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LithiaWx

LithiaWx

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MariettaWx,

In my area at the time, north of Sandy Springs and south of Roswell, we got mainly IP. The first part (mostly light) was snow, but 850's soon afterward rose from near 0C to ~+3 C near the end. Once 850's rose above 0C, snow was no longer supported and it turned to IP for the bulk of the precip. Later, there was some very light ZR or ZL, which just made the top of the accumulation hard. This was caused by a weak Miller A low, which is pretty common for major ATL winter storms. The total accum. was 3-4" and it took most of the week to slowly melt. One of the main reasons for the much higher totals further north and NE was that it was almost all snow there. The 3-4" of IP is at least as impressive to me as it would have been had it been 8-10" of snow and was probably harder to melt. ATL heavy IP rocks!

I had thought Marietta, which is due west of me, also got mostly IP, which is supported by the 850's being mainly in the +1 to +3 C range once past the early part of the precip as the 0C 850 line moved well north of the north ATL metro. The 850 0C line was pretty close to being west to east. You said you don't remember the IP. That's surprising.

It's possible I'm remembering this one :

1987

I don't remember sleet at all, I think I have my storms mixed up.

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GaWx

GaWx

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It's possible I'm remembering this one :

1987

I don't remember sleet at all, I think I have my storms mixed up.

That must be the one. That was also a nice winter storm although not near the longterm impact on the roads, mainly because it was a good bit warmer than it was during the 1/1988 IP. For that one, I was in Doraville (NE of ATL in ATL metro for those who don't know). Here's what my diary says:

- IP began 7:30 PM on 1/21/1987 with it being 38 F.

- This changed to a mix with rain 8-10PM followed by a change back to IP at 10 PM, when it began to stick and the temp. had fallen to 35 F.

- It turned to mainly snow 10:45 PM until 12:30 of 1/22, at which time there was ~1" on the ground of S/IP. This changed to a mix of S/IP 12:30-3 AM. The temp. fell to 34 by 3 AM.

- This changed to pure snow 3-9:30 AM, some of which was heavy with beautiful large, wet flakes. The temp. fell only to 33 F, but was having no trouble sticking to everything due to the heaviness of the fall. The snow acumulated to 4.75" as of 9:30 AM on 1/22.

- That evening, from 8 PM til 8:15 PM, there was an additional quick 1/2" put down as a result of a very heavy snowsquall giving me a total of ~5.25" of S/IP (mainly S). Total KATL (~30 miles to the SW) S/IP was somewhat less at 3.6" from more than 1" liquid.

- There was widespread black ice the next morning as it fell to ~22 F and also some black ice the subsequent morning.

- On 1/25, rain washed away most of the remaining snow from the grassy surfaces.

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LithiaWx

LithiaWx

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That must be the one. That was also a nice winter storm although not near the longterm impact on the roads, mainly because it was a good bit warmer than it was during the 1/1988 IP. For that one, I was in Doraville (NE of ATL in ATL metro for those who don't know). Here's what my diary says:

- IP began 7:30 PM on 1/21/1987 with it being 38 F.

- This changed to a mix with rain 8-10PM followed by a change back to IP at 10 PM, when it began to stick and the temp. had fallen to 35 F.

- It turned to mainly snow 10:45 PM until 12:30 of 1/22, at which time there was ~1" on the ground of S/IP. This changed to a mix of S/IP 12:30-3 AM. The temp. fell to 34 by 3 AM.

- This changed to pure snow 3-9:30 AM, some of which was heavy with beautiful large, wet flakes. The temp. fell only to 33 F, but was having no trouble sticking to everything due to the heaviness of the fall. The snow acumulated to 4.75" as of 9:30 AM on 1/22.

- That evening, from 8 PM til 8:15 PM, there was an additional quick 1/2" put down as a result of a very heavy snowsquall giving me a total of ~5.25" of S/IP (mainly S). Total KATL (~30 miles to the SW) S/IP was somewhat less at 3.6" from more than 1" liquid.

- There was widespread black ice the next morning as it fell to ~22 F and also some black ice the subsequent morning.

- On 1/25, rain washed away most of the remaining snow from the grassy surfaces.

Very nice records! I think this one fits my memories much better.

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