WinterWxLuvr Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Some of my earliest memories are of sledding through some wicked wooded trails behind our house and ice-skating on frozen ponds during the mid to late '70s. Can remember a family friend who had a big pond on thier farm and hosted ice-hockey games. In-between games people would congregate (and drink) by the barrell-drum fires. It seems almost surreal now given the new reality of our climate. i doubt there's been a cold-enough period since 1996 when one could safely skate on a pond in these parts (if even then). Winter of 2008-2009, there's a small lake on the way to Whitetail Ski slopes that had several people ice fishing on it. I have pictures standing in the middle of it. Ice was thick. This is right on the Md/Pa border. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 People were skating on the canal in 09-10. Even the big wide part was open for skating. I think the time before that was 04-05. No doubt that it's nothing like it was in the 60's-80's. We need a "special" winter to freeze thick as opposed to normal one a couple decades ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 In terms of snow/cold combo, I don't think we are going to see anything like 02-03 again any time soon or even in our lifetimes.. The only thing that gives me any hope is the extreme cold that russia has had the last couple. Even china and europe for that matter (just not as extreme from what I've seen). NH longwave circ has had them in the crosshairs for extended cold. If the other side had been warm like our side the last 5-10 years I would be pretty concerned. Northern Alaska was brutally cold this winter too. I suppose the unknown part is the delivery of the cold. Has the over NH pattern shifted in such a way that won't get cold down to our latitude anymore? Time will tell. It is a bit ironic that we basically got skunked in the cities and we've had an aob normal pattern for the last 8 weeks. heh. good times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 In terms of snow/cold combo, I don't think we are going to see anything like 02-03 again any time soon or even in our lifetimes.. Bastardi is trying to claim this winter is like 02-03 and 09-10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usedtobe Posted March 14, 2013 Share Posted March 14, 2013 Bastardi is trying to claim this winter is like 02-03 and 09-10. Truly? That is lol. Personally, I think we'll have a colder than normal snowy winter again before I die. I sure don't think we see cold like we did in the 70 or even 1993-1994. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gymengineer Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 My sledding years were great years...often the less snowy winters were colder winters, so I we had more snowcover,....which is obviously a very important factor with sledding and playing in the snow....I was very fortunate to have awesome winters...only 1 winter sucked (80-81) and it was a prime sledding winter, but we did get 1 big enough snowfall that we went sledding and made a gigantic fort and another big enough to have a snowball fight....it wasnt 2001-02 bad, but wasnt good either....I remember 77-78 and PD2...and 81-82 was sick...pond frozen over Bucks County PA 76-77 - 21" 77-78 - 57"78-79 - 31" 79-80 - 16" Annandale, VA (Off Wakefield Chapel) 80-81 - 4" 81-82 - 30" 82-83 - 35" 83-84 - 15" 84-85 - 10" 85-86 - 17" 86-87 - 35" 87-88 - 20" 88-89 - 10" 89-90 - 25" As you've noted, '81-'82 is an under-rated winter...... one of our top recent winters for snow-cover days, at least in the suburbs, with numerous accumulating snows throughout the season. IAD had more 1" snow-cover days that winter than 78/79. January had half a month of snow cover. Though February wasn't a great month snow-wise, there were still multiple accumulating events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H2O Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 In terms of snow/cold combo, I don't think we are going to see anything like 02-03 again any time soon or even in our lifetimes.. I walked out onto the Potomac that winter. Ice was easily 6" thick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Huffwx Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 Awesome read, Wes.. enjoyed it greatly. Agree 81-82 was good winter. Over 30 down here in LYH-- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usedtobe Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 It was good for all of I-95 nonstop sledding...everything frozen over...82-83 was special because of the KU, but 81-82 was probably a better sledding winter..I was out there everyday after school 1982-1983would have been a bad year except for the big storm. 1981-1982 was a better overall year. Plus I missed our week or so of winter in 1983. I'd like a year with lots of 4-8 inch events like we got in the 60s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 In terms of snow/cold combo, I don't think we are going to see anything like 02-03 again any time soon or even in our lifetimes.. Alot of people forget how cold '02-'03 was. It was actually colder than '93-'94 in BOS...also colder than '76-'77. You have to go back to 1970-1971 to get a colder winter at BOS. It really wasn't that cold nationally though...just brutally cold in the northeast. For the state of Maryland, you have to go back to 1978-1979 to get a winter colder than '02-'03....so it was pretty special for the northeast despite it not being cold elsewhere. We'll get another winter at least similar to that I'm sure. '09-'10 was almost there, but it was a bit too Atlantic-dominant for better cold in the northeast...it was more based in the central/southern US. It was a far colder winter overall in the US vs '02-'03. They just are tougher to come by these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 The 70s ended on a high note with 3 great winters in a row but the rest of it was mediocre in the snow and cold departments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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