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Which was your favorite 4-8" snowstorm during one of the three epic seasons and why?

gymengineer

By gymengineer,
in Mid Atlantic

4-8" in epic season  

27 members have voted

  1. 1. Which is your favorite 4-8" snowstorm within one of the three epic seasons (95/96, 02/03, 09/10)?

    • 1/12/96
      4
    • 2/2-3/96
      2
    • 2/16/96
      1
    • 3/8/96
      0
    • 12/05/02
      4
    • 2/6-7/03
      0
    • 2/27-28/03
      0
    • 1/30/10
      16

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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Mine is 1/11-12/96. It was basically a lesser version of 2/9-10/10, serving to complete the week-long shut-down of the region. The federal government closed again after opening on Thursday, and the storm completed the whole-week closure of area schools. After the clipper on the 9th complicated snow removal, this storm and its anticipation caused the collapse of restoring normal routines in much of the area. It wasn't until after MLK Day that schools were able to reopen.

Remember the crazy ETA run from Wednesday that showed 12"+ snow and sleet for this storm? There was pretty much panic from that forecast until more sane numbers came in by Thursday afternoon.

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HighStakes

HighStakes

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Mine is 1/11-12/96. It was basically a lesser version of 2/9-10/10, serving to complete the week-long shut-down of the region. The federal government closed again after opening on Thursday, and the storm completed the whole-week closure of area schools. After the clipper on the 9th complicated snow removal, this storm and its anticipation completed the collapse of restoring normal routines in much of the area. It wasn't until after MLK Day that schools were able to reopen.

Remember the crazy ETA run from Wednesday that showed 12"+ snow and sleet for this storm? There was pretty much panic from that forecast until more sane numbers came in by Thursday afternoon.

This storm is often overlooked and forgotten. I thought it was a great storm and would be thought of differently if we didn't get 20-30 inhes in the previous 5 days. I got 10 plus. Not sure yet but I may have to vote for it.

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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I really think an argument could be made for each of these storms.

Aside from 1/12/96 and 1/30/10 which have already been vouched for:

2/2-3/96 was heaven if you like frigid snowstorms with moderate to heavy snow in the upper-teens.

2/16/96 was a positive bust almost to the same magnitude as 1/25/00- little or no accumulating snow predicted until the 10 and 11 pm newscasts right before the onset.

3/8/96 was another positive bust that wasn't predicted until right before onset- leftover energy behind a rainstorm for us dropped the 4-6" that capped off DCA's highest seasonal total ever up to that season.

12/05/02 was the storm everyone had been waiting for coming off of two well below average seasons, including the 01/02 skunk.

2/6-7/03 was one of those "easy" storms that came in during the night and dropped uniform snow amounts across the entire metro regions (6-8").

2/27-28/03 was the end burst of a 48-hour complex event that started to rapidly accumulate once the sun went down, and continued the amazing February run spread out through the entire month.

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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Good thread by the way. Since we are having so much trouble getting any good new snow, the next best thing is to remember the old good ones

These epic seasons all spanned across at least Dec-Feb and featured numerous good snowstorms. The only reason 09/10 didn't have more representation on this list is that aside from 2/5-6, two other storms made it into KU territory.

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Ian

Ian

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I suppose it is possible. It wasn't snowing when we got let out early though. Lets just go with my memory failing me.

It didn't start till like 24 hours later. So you got the not snowin part right.

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Sparky

Sparky

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Even though I got more snow on  12/5/02 8", I would say that the 12/24-25/02 is more favored for being a Christmas eve/day storm, somewhat unexpected, and totalling 6.5 inches.  1.5 inches fell on the eve, then the rest fell in a few hours Christmas morning with some really nice snow rates for those hours.

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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regarding 2/2/96...I got 9"-10" in Silver Spring I believe and I think a fair number of people got more than 8?..so maybe more like a 6-10" storm

That two-parter yielded a gigantic range across our subforum. The Friday morning narrow strip of snow did catch DC and south, but was a dusting by the time you got up to Germantown. That was the band that dropped 12-18" over southern MD and parts of the Delmarva. The general area-wide 5-8" came starting like ten hours later for Friday evening into late night. I think Salisbury went over 20" total from the two pulses. The total for the NW suburbs fell into the 5-8" range.

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Deck Pic

Deck Pic

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That two-parter yielded a gigantic range across our subforum. The Friday morning narrow strip of snow did catch DC and south, but was a dusting by the time you got up to Germantown. That was the band that dropped 12-18" over southern MD and parts of the Delmarva. The general area-wide 5-8" came starting like ten hours later for Friday evening into late night. I think Salisbury went over 20" total from the two pulses. The total for the NW suburbs fell into the 5-8" range.

 

hmmm...maybe it was less....I remember measuring close to 10"...but i wasn't super precise like i am now...it was on the roof of my building...i'm pretty sure beltsville measured 10" too

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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hmmm...maybe it was less....I remember measuring close to 10"...but i wasn't super precise like i am now...it was on the roof of my building...i'm pretty sure beltsville measured 10" too

You definitely could have been around 9". Long-time Glenmont spotter reported 7.2". Spotters from South Bowie and Potomac reported 8.0" and 7.3". Then with St. Mary's County, the 12"+ totals started showing up.

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HighStakes

HighStakes

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That two-parter yielded a gigantic range across our subforum. The Friday morning narrow strip of snow did catch DC and south, but was a dusting by the time you got up to Germantown. That was the band that dropped 12-18" over southern MD and parts of the Delmarva. The general area-wide 5-8" came starting like ten hours later for Friday evening into late night. I think Salisbury went over 20" total from the two pulses. The total for the NW suburbs fell into the 5-8" range.

That was a rather frustrating storm north of BWI. Forecast called for 12+ and ended up with 5-6. I can even remember a few loal forecasters putting out 18 inch amounts. Not only did they bust on amounts they busted on timing. After an initial burst that dusted the ground on Thurs eve. the snow didn't start again until late Friday night and was finished by early Sat. DEfinitely a south and east storm.

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You definitely could have been around 9". Long-time Glenmont spotter reported 7.2". Spotters from South Bowie and Potomac reported 8.0" and 7.3". Then with St. Mary's County, the 12"+ totals started showing up.

 

that Glenmont guy's measurements are kind of low (which probably means he is right ;)....I'm pretty sure He got more than 21" in 1/6-8

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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That was a rather frustrating storm north of BWI. Forecast called for 12+ and ended up with 5-6. I can even remember a few loal forecasters putting out 18 inch amounts. Not only did they bust on amounts they busted on timing. After an initial burst that dusted the ground on Thurs eve. the snow didn't start again until late Friday night and was finished by early Sat. DEfinitely a south and east storm.

The two pulses were definitely kind of fuzzy in the forecasts, giving the impression of one event instead of the two that we got. The DC area news broadcasts during the day on Friday highlighted the complaints (especially from the northwest suburbs) about closing schools for minimal snows.

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gymengineer

gymengineer

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that Glenmont guy's measurements are kind of low (which probably means he is right ;)....I'm pretty sure He got more than 21" in 1/6-8

LOL. Forget Glenmont (PDII and 2/5-6/10 got those high reports out of him)....who was the poor soul who was taking Olney observations and then dropped out until the new guy took over? It was night and day-- switch from lowest in the immediate metro to by-far the highest in the immediate metro on every major event.

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