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March 6-8 2013 Significant Coastal Storm Observations


earthlight

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It's more than 8.3", I measured 9" around 10:30 or so, that was as high as we got on the ground. I did get around an inch accumulation between 9 and 1, not sure if the compaction is accurate, but I would go with 9" at the minimum. We got atleast 1/2  since the 8.3 mesurement, my footprints were covered in white again, melted now. Take it as you like, but I'm confident that we got more than 8.3" It was really great, totally a positive bust, and a great way to end winter(Although according to 12z EURO and 12z GGEM, we might not be done.)

-skisheep

 

 

I'll go with your max snow depth..but other than that you cant sell me by assuming this + this - compaction. Some people measure at the end and send in the total, and in a storm like this that will likely undersell versus the official method, which is clear a snowboard every 6 hrs and tally up measurements...The only time I've ever assumed compaction and slightly inflated my total was when i came home from work on a sunny aftn after the snow had stopped several hours earlier that morning..even that made me cringe a bit..so if you say the max depth you measured this morning was 9" on the grass, then I'll take that.

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wow, I must be in the Morris County screwzone.  Here in Whippany, barely got above 2 inches if even that.   Just snizzling now.  What is on the ground is melting pretty quickly, lots of ground showing through.

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A storm like this is why you really should be doing the snow board method. Measure after 6 hours, clear the board, measure after the next 6 hours, etc. 

 

I would add that clearing the board every 6 hours is not a requirement. In my mind, I feel like that's sorta cheating, though I know that's the NWS accepted board-clearing interval. I generally only clear at my 8:00 AM ob time. Interestingly after I cleared this morning, my cleared board didn't accumulate much despite decent snowfall. I suppose that's because it's less than pure white and with the just above freezing temperatures, much of the snow was melting as it fell. Fortunately, I also left half of the board uncleared, so I will have that option when trying to tally up a storm total (despite compaction and melting occurring there). Btw, I measured 3.1" on the board and 3.4" on the black grill cover this morning. 

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Most places in my area have no snow on sidewalks.  At most, there is a slushy inch left in untreated places.  How long does it take to melt 2 inches on grass with the temps projected for tonight and tomorrow?

A few days after the 2/8 storm, we had a raw, foggy day with a high around 40. More than half the snow melted in just that one day. So the answer is, pretty darned fast. I hope the snow we had this morning in Long Beach isn't mostly gone by the time I commute home.

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I'll go with your max snow depth..but other than that you cant sell me by assuming this + this - compaction. Some people measure at the end and send in the total, and in a storm like this that will likely undersell versus the official method, which is clear a snowboard every 6 hrs and tally up measurements...The only time I've ever assumed compaction and slightly inflated my total was when i came home from work on a sunny aftn after the snow had stopped several hours earlier that morning..even that made me cringe a bit..so if you say the max depth you measured this morning was 9" on the grass, then I'll take that.

OK, fair enough. I sent both to NWS, put the 9" as the official total and wrote a disclaimer that I thought it was closer to 10", they can choose what they want to use.

 

-skisheep

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9/10"(depending on how you measure and tally), has melted/compacted down to 6", my guess is by .NJwinter23, normally I wouldn't adjust for compaction, but the marginal temps combined with heavy, wet snow make me think it did compact some. Your choice for what you want to use as the storm total(assuming you are going with the 9", probably the right call and what I think NWS will use as well), and your opinion is much more important than mine, since you actually know what you're doing, instead of being a snow loving hopeless optimist like me :)

 

My friend in north stamford just texted me that she has over a foot.

-skisheep

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A few days after the 2/8 storm, we had a raw, foggy day with a high around 40. More than half the snow melted in just that one day. So the answer is, pretty darned fast. I hope the snow we had this morning in Long Beach isn't mostly gone by the time I commute home.

Usually, I hope for snow to stay but this is the one time I'm making an exception lol.  My friends are coming to NYC for spring break and I want to go to the park to play some cricket.  Judging by the rate at which everything is melting, it wouldn't be surprising if everything melts by tomorrow.  And tomorrow might hit the 50s so it will be nice to feel some real March temps lol.  

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its amazing how well the NAM from performed with this. Granted it initially had as much as 1.5-1.75 from this part of the storm, it was the first to sniff out the potential of a significant snowfall. The euro suggested the possibility but the precip was only modeled to be around 0.25-0.5.

 

That being said, the NAM performed so poorly for the first part of the storm. Basically as bad as a model could be so close to an event.

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Todays outcome reminded me of the march 2001 snow...sun angle kept streets clear and compaction made it difficult to get more that 4 to 5 in measurements.

and the final total in the park will likely be within an inch of that event. It was impressive that from 6-11am snow was really piling up, and even in manhattan the streets became snow-covered during the highest intensity.

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Todays outcome reminded me of the march 2001 snow...sun angle kept streets clear and compaction made it difficult to get more that 4 to 5 in measurements.

I think it was more the temperatures than the sun angle. A heavy snow at 29-30 degrees instead of a more moderate snow at 32-33 degrees is a big difference.

Even if all of this had fallen at night, the roads would've still been ok.

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Usually, I hope for snow to stay but this is the one time I'm making an exception lol.  My friends are coming to NYC for spring break and I want to go to the park to play some cricket.  Judging by the rate at which everything is melting, it wouldn't be surprising if everything melts by tomorrow.  And tomorrow might hit the 50s so it will be nice to feel some real March temps lol.  

I would imagine most of it would be gone by mid-morning since it's supposed to be sunny with upper 40s for highs. And I'm pumped for spring also, however in the longer range we look to go back to a cold/blocky pattern with more storm chances.

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its amazing how well the NAM from performed with this. Granted it initially had as much as 1.5-1.75 from this part of the storm, it was the first to sniff out the potential of a significant snowfall. The euro suggested the possibility but the precip was only modeled to be around 0.25-0.5.

That being said, the NAM performed so poorly for the first part of the storm. Basically as bad as a model could be so close to an event.

The Nam struggled with coastal storms, it likely does much better with these types of setups regarding the Norlun.

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Todays outcome reminded me of the march 2001 snow...sun angle kept streets clear and compaction made it difficult to get more that 4 to 5 in measurements.

In a way its very similar. That was supposed to be a 3 day event and this kind of was too. The first part fizzled, then we got a break and the last part overperformed. If we had that last batch at night in March 2001 we probably would have done a lot better. Also the heaviest was supposed to be Sunday into Monday, a break and then the storm was going to do a loop de loop back into the area. And again it basically did that but was too late to really add much to the totals. Obviously this storm never had the model consensus for 20 to 30" like that one did with all the cancellations and hype that came along with it.

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I think it was more the temperatures than the sun angle. A heavy snow at 29-30 degrees instead of a more moderate snow at 32-33 degrees is a big difference.

Even if all of this had fallen at night, the roads would've still been ok.

 

I haven't seen any accumulations on pavement since 9:00 this morning even with temps around freezing and snow falling heavily at times. Overnight temps were basically the same, snowfall was not as heavy but accumulated on the streets pretty easily.

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I haven't seen any accumulations on pavement since 9:00 this morning even with temps around freezing and snow falling heavily at times. Overnight temps were basically the same, snowfall was not as heavy but accumulated on the streets pretty easily.

Exactly it was around freezing, the reason higher elevations get more snow is not bc of a lower sun angle, it's bc their temperatures are colder than those near sea level, if our temps were colder, then we would've seen more snow on roadways.

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I think it was more the temperatures than the sun angle. A heavy snow at 29-30 degrees instead of a more moderate snow at 32-33 degrees is a big difference.

Even if all of this had fallen at night, the roads would've still been ok.

 

So then as long at the NAM now-and-then outperforms the Euro, in this case for the second part of the storm, then it can't be ignored.

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9/10"(depending on how you measure and tally), has melted/compacted down to 6", my guess is by .NJwinter23, normally I wouldn't adjust for compaction, but the marginal temps combined with heavy, wet snow make me think it did compact some. Your choice for what you want to use as the storm total(assuming you are going with the 9", probably the right call and what I think NWS will use as well), and your opinion is much more important than mine, since you actually know what you're doing, instead of being a snow loving hopeless optimist like me :)

 

My friend in north stamford just texted me that she has over a foot.

-skisheep

 

 

Sounds good, and again thank you for the measurements! I have no time/means from an office high rise down town. About to take a drive towards the merritt to see the differance in snow depth when i get out of here. Also, threats are not over for the winter..We need to run through another -nao block late next week into early the following week.

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