20th Anniversary-3/13/1993 Superstorm

[jm1220]

Tomorrow's the 20th anniversary of one of the most impressive storms to affect this region in early spring/late winter-965mb pressure at White Plains, crippling snow for interior regions and heavy snow/slop/rain for coastal regions with 70 mph localized wind gusts. One of the blizzards I always heard plenty about during my time at PSU. Also the last triple-phasing storm we had with an arctic airmass slamming headfirst into the Gulf-truly an incredible event. I remember it very vaguely as I was only 8 years old at the time, but there was also a good amount of coastal flooding and I remember some of it in Long Beach.

[bluewave]

My main memories of that day were helping my friend down in  the West End keep the pumps running

in his basement after he got flooded out by the December storm. Luckily the water only came up around his house

but didn't flood the basement again. Right around midnight the surge came in and the Bay sent several feet of water

onto West Park street. I will never forget how the snow pack was floating on top of the surge like icebergs. The next

day whatever t snow wasn't washed away or melted by the surge refroze in erratic patches around the parts

of the West End that were flooded.

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

My main memories of that day were helping my friend down in  the West End keep the pumps running

in his basement after he got flooded out by the December storm. Luckily the water only came up around his house

but didn't flood the basement again. Right around midnight the surge came in and the Bay sent several feet of water

onto West Park street. I will never forget how the snow pack was floating on top of the surge like icebergs. The next

day whatever t snow wasn't washed away or melted by the surge refroze in erratic patches around the parts

of the West End that were flooded.

 

I always talk about the flood and resulting iceburgs!! I put that in my top 5 formative events in regards to my love of meteo. (with Gloria, Bob, 1991 Halloween and 1992 December) I was in 5th grade at the time and we didn't have school because the "icebergs" refroze and the districts plows snapped trying to clear blocks of ice. They had to wait for a bulldozer to come to get the school open! 

[KEITH L.I]

first winter storm with blizzard warnings since 1978..Started at 2am..snowed heavy till about 1pm on Long Island,then changed to sleet and then rain..By 6pm portions of Long Island were in the low 40's..winds were howling frequent gusts over 50 mph.Then changed back to snow around 8pm with a deep freeze that froze all the slush and snow into ice mounds..quite impressive storm..not in my top 10 because of the change to rain for 7 hours,but inland and for parts of PA could be the #! storm

[goombatommy]

I remember being sick as a dog with the stomach bug. I was never really able to get out and enjoy that storm (I was only 11 years old) . But boy do I remember it good.

[bluewave]

I always talk about the flood and resulting iceburgs!! I put that in my top 5 formative events in regards to my love of meteo. (with Gloria, Bob, 1991 Halloween and 1992 December) I was in 5th grade at the time and we didn't have school because the "icebergs" refroze and the districts plows snapped trying to clear blocks of ice. They had to wait for a bulldozer to come to get the school open! 

 

That was also one of the hardest coatings of ice on a snowpack that I remember. My place down in the East End had

a snowpack that absorbed all the heavy rain before refreezing the next morning. The next day the only way to clear the 

walk was with heavy duty steel shovels as the regular snow shovels were of no use.

[jm1220]

first winter storm with blizzard warnings since 1978..Started at 2am..snowed heavy till about 1pm on Long Island,then changed to sleet and then rain..By 6pm portions of Long Island were in the low 40's..winds were howling frequent gusts over 50 mph.Then changed back to snow around 8pm with a deep freeze that froze all the slush and snow into ice mounds..quite impressive storm..not in my top 10 because of the change to rain for 7 hours,but inland and for parts of PA could be the #! storm

What I keep hearing about it here is that what fell turned into cement due to the sleet/rain and then re-freeze. That's always one of the most annoying things due to the inability to clear any of it away but it tends to last longer. I was also reading that it wasn't always expected to change over in the big cities. In much of PA though it's regarded as one of the huge ones. State College had 28" I think.

[Stormlover74]

That was also one of the hardest coatings of ice on a snowpack that I remember. My place down in the East End had

a snowpack that absorbed all the heavy rain before refreezing the next morning. The next day the only way to clear the 

walk was with heavy duty steel shovels as the regular snow shovels were of no use.

Yeah that sleet on top as well as rain which then froze and had another layer of snow on top. And this was all on top of 11-12" of snow much of it wet with temps above freezing at the start. Clearing the snow was horrendous. That was the first and only time during my school tenure that we got 2 days off as we didn't go back until Wednesday. We also had very cold temps Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before any moderation, then had another shot the week after.

[KEITH L.I]

What I keep hearing about it here is that what fell turned into cement due to the sleet/rain and then re-freeze. That's always one of the most annoying things due to the inability to clear any of it away but it tends to last longer. I was also reading that it wasn't always expected to change over in the big cities. In much of PA though it's regarded as one of the huge ones. State College had 28" I think.

Accweather had a change over in the afternoon..NWS had a mix..however they did not have the Island torching in Suffolk County.The Hamptons had a high in the upper 40's late in the day

[Stormlover74]

What I keep hearing about it here is that what fell turned into cement due to the sleet/rain and then re-freeze. That's always one of the most annoying things due to the inability to clear any of it away but it tends to last longer. I was also reading that it wasn't always expected to change over in the big cities. In much of PA though it's regarded as one of the huge ones. State College had 28" I think.

Yeah that was the golden era for them. Between the Dec 92 storm, March 93, March 94, Nov 95 and Jan 96 they had 5 18" storms in 4 winters. I think they only had 5 in the previous 80 years or something like that. I missed 92-93 but was there for the next 4 winters. 2 sucked and 2 were epic

[Stormlover74]

Accweather had a change over in the afternoon..NWS had a mix..however they did not have the Island torching in Suffolk County.The Hamptons had a high in the upper 40's late in the day

The center of low pressure passed directly over EWR as I recall. I remember hoping it would stay east so we'd stay all snow but was still a good storm. Back then 12" snowstorms were hard to come by. This was only the 3rd I had seen in my lifetime and I was 18

[Chris L]

This is definitely #1 for inland sections. The big cities is obviously January 1996.

[Guest Pamela]

first winter storm with blizzard warnings since 1978..Started at 2am..snowed heavy till about 1pm on Long Island,then changed to sleet and then rain..By 6pm portions of Long Island were in the low 40's..winds were howling frequent gusts over 50 mph.Then changed back to snow around 8pm with a deep freeze that froze all the slush and snow into ice mounds..quite impressive storm..not in my top 10 because of the change to rain for 7 hours,but inland and for parts of PA could be the #! storm

Blizzard warnings were issued for the 4/6/82 storm and the 2/11/83 storm also.

[uncle W]

my video of the storm...

[L.I.Pete]

I was living in downtown Albany, it was incredible. Blizzard conditions, 27", and crazy wind. 20-foot snow piles everywhere for days and days, they finally had to truck the snow down and dump it in the river to get rid of it. Went skiing at Okemo a week or so later and it was nearly 70 degrees but there was PLENTY of snow. That said, I have never seen snowfall rates like we did in this February's blizzard.

[doncat]

Snow began here at 4am on the 13th and accumulated 7.5 in. by 2pm then changed to sleet with an additional 2.5 in. for a 10 in. total. Temp here reached 38 at midnight on the 14th falling to 23 at 2am freezing everything solid. Temps stayed in the mid 20's during the day and fell to a record low of 14 on the 15th.

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

best sleet/zr storm ever...amazing how it zr in the mid 20's during the late afternoon hours.

 

looking back at maps, i absolutely love the way the northern stream dove straight into the gulf and blew up...not sure we will ever see something like that again. there isnt an analog for it on record at h5, i dont think.

[SnowGoose69]

What I keep hearing about it here is that what fell turned into cement due to the sleet/rain and then re-freeze. That's always one of the most annoying things due to the inability to clear any of it away but it tends to last longer. I was also reading that it wasn't always expected to change over in the big cities. In much of PA though it's regarded as one of the huge ones. State College had 28" I think.

 

Had the storm tracked even 75 miles more east I think NYC and most of NJ would have been mostly snow over to some sleet because parts of NJ just inland never went completely over to rain and only to sleet.  The forecasts from 48 hours out were relatively good, I recall most of the TV stations in NYC going 8-12 or 8-14 inches before changing over in and around the city which worked out closely.  I know Joe Cioffi on News 12 had one of the better forecasts for the Twin Forks only going 2-4 inches or so and I think they did get heavily shafted out that way.

[pazzo83]

20-24" in the Shenandoah Valley of VA, my first blizzard!  Was a wild day, we had about 5 min of sleet but the rest was just heavy snow with white-out conditions most of the day.

[IsentropicLift]

I'm sorry to say I have no memory of this event. I was 7 years old. The earliest blizzard I remember was 96. It was the first time ever we had two consecutive snow days off from school.

[IsentropicLift]

 

[KingofQueens]

I was one month from being born lol.  I dont remember the 96 storm either.  Kind of sucks to miss out on those two. My earliest memory of a blizzard is from 2003 and I certainly can't complain growing up during the prolific 2000s.

[Austinwx]

What a storm! This was the first weather event I remember getting excited about growing up in Birmingham, AL. It still is, far and away, THE winter storm for that area as well. 13 inches officially at B'ham airport, though living on a ridge my father measured 16" at our house.

 

Also, the cold air it brought down was unprecedented. The low the next morning was 2 degrees in Birmingham, which shattered the daily, monthly, and seasonal low temp records. I remember sledding for days, and with it being the South, this storm shut down the area for a solid week. 13 inches of snow, high winds, and single digit temperatures, in Alabama, in the middle of March. Incredible.

 

I wasn't sure if I'd see another storm like that, but since moving here I've been fortunate enough to see a few storms that have topped it

[Stormlover74]

What a storm! This was the first weather event I remember getting excited about growing up in Birmingham, AL. It still is, far and away, THE winter storm for that area as well. 13 inches officially at B'ham airport, though living on a ridge my father measured 16" at our house.

 

Also, the cold air it brought down was unprecedented. The low the next morning was 2 degrees in Birmingham, which shattered the daily, monthly, and seasonal low temp records. I remember sledding for days, and with it being the South, this storm shut down the area for a solid week. 13 inches of snow, high winds, and single digit temperatures, in Alabama, in the middle of March. Incredible.

 

I wasn't sure if I'd see another storm like that, but since moving here I've been fortunate enough to see a few storms that have topped it

 

Yeah the scope of the storm and percentage of the population affected was unprecedented. It's also notable for its relatively high death total >300. Something one would normally see from a strong hurricane

[Guest Pamela]

Measured about 10 inches in Plainview, Long Island.  Snowed from dawn to about 2PM when it went to sleet and later rain.  Considering how bad the winters from 1987-88 through 1991-92 had been, it was a welcome change.  February 1993 was also a good winter month with two moderate snowstorms.  Very close to being a snowy winter on Long Island & New York City but a near miss with just 25 - 30 inches locally.  But just to the north, at Westchester County Airport, 50 inches of snow was measured during 1992-93. 

[Absolute Humidity]

I remember expecting 1 to 3" per early forecasts then it was bumped up to 3 - 6" but I still wasn't expecting much due to forecast change to rain. I got home late that night, about 2am when the first flakes began flying, temp was 37. I woke at 7am and 3 - 4" had fallen over night and were sticking everywhere as the temp dropped to 28. Then at 9am it happened. I saw the most epic heavy snowfall rates of my life up until that time. I was driving to my sisters and could't see ten feet in front me then a huge flash came, blinding me with an instant roaring crack of thunder. The snow was falling so heavy I could literally hear it accumulate. That bolt of thunder is, to this day, the most spectacular instance of thunder snow I've experienced. The heavy snow continued till about 1 or 2 pm in the afternoon then changed over to a raging sleet, but not before 15" had fallen. By this time I expected a rapid transition to rain and to my surprise, that did not occur until hours later, after several inches of sleet fallen. The accumulation never exceeded 16" as the sleet rapidly compacted the fresh snow. It wasn't until 5 pm when the sleet changed over to rain, but again, the accumulations were saved as the dry slot repidly moved in and shut down all precipitation. This was followed by what seemed like 70mph winds that took one of our big pine trees out, and we lost power. By 7 or 8pm a light rain started up with temps hovering around 40. By 9 or 10pm the NW winds whipped in and instantly changed the light rain over to a brief but driving snow. This tapered off around midnight with an inch or two of additional snow, then the whole entire mass of beaten down to 14" of sleet and snow froze into a solid block of ice. The snow plows had difficulty plowing as the dense pack proved to mightily for the smaller plows. This was an awesome storm hands down. I believe being 15 miles inland saved us from the worst of the change over. We, in fact saw little rain.

It was the mother of all KU's and tops the KU list.