Winter 2012-13: Grades and Rating

[WxUSAF]

I say D+/C-.  Probably would have been an F or D- if not for March 25th.  

[WxUSAF]

BTW...I encourage explanations for your grades to foster discussion.  

[North Balti Zen]

For my house in NE Balt City and downtown Balt, a solid D-. The only thing that saved it from being an F was the burst of snow on Dec. 26 which was fun to walk in for the hour it fell. Beyond that, only car toppers and missed car toppers. The end of March thing being a few inches was pleasant, but so anomolous and so late (and gone by the afternoon), it doesn't save the overall winter experience for me.

[MN Transplant]

I would say an F through Feb, and then March rescued the winter at my house.  However, still only about 60% of climo, and the snow that did fall vanished quickly and had almost no impact.  Very warm Dec/Jan followed by a chilly Feb/Mar.  Final grade: D.

[WxUSAF]

More C's than I thought, especially from DC folks.  I kind of expected a two-peaked distribution with most of us giving D's and the CHO area folks and higher terrain folks with B's.  

 

Personally, a C would be much closer to normal in my book.  Anyone who voted C care to comment?

[Bob Chill]

D+

Warm first 6 weeks and crappy storm track + no decent cold storms during the second half pretty much erases any chance at an A or B.

If march 6th produced then I would have gone C. Last year was an F or F- so I think giving this winter a regular D isn't fair.

Temps were a C+ and snow was a D- so D+ is the only logical grade I can give it.

[Ian]

F+. Too much wasted time and potential. March snow sucks.

[snowfan]

I went with a D for mby. The week of Christmas was decent in that we had a few mini events and last weeks 4 inches were nice. Other than that, it was pretty bad. Really didn't have any bitter cold.

[Ellinwood]

C from me. Snow was in the air a lot, which matters to me more than what's actually on the ground. Had really big (half-dollar sized or bigger) snow a couple of times. I enjoyed the prolonged fall temps into December, and though the winter temps held on longer in March it wasn't really that bad for a warminista. I'll take a -3 March over a -3 January for sure. Even with the cold March, the Dec-Mar period ended up around +1.6 for DCA, which I can't complain about.

I'm sorry you snow lovers didn't get as much as you hoped for, especially after the previous winter. At least it was in the air plenty despite the wasted opportunities for more solid accumulations.

[wxdude64]

I gave it  a C, but make it a C-. Lots of very small snow events, with 12/26 (3.0), 1/18 (3.0), 3/6 (5.1) and 3/25 (6.5) providing most of the 23.9 that has fallen which is 88% of normal. Chilly Feb and March offset the warm Dec and Jan to where I ended those 4 months at a +0.8.

[Avdave]

I gave it a C- for the Loundoun Co area. Only reason i gave it a C- was because we did finish fairly close to normal for season snowfall avg. If we didnt finish close to normal it would have been a D for sure. Plus we got no "big snows" this past season (at least 6" or more). It wasnt the best by any means but way better than last years 5.1" for the season.

[Eskimo Joe]

F+. Too much wasted time and potential. March snow sucks.

[TalcottWx]

F

[SLPressure]

D.

It would have gotten an F except there was a lot of fun in tracking, especially later in the season. It wasn't totally boring.

I wished we had more snow. Duh!

And I agree with Ian. March snow sucks.

[wxmeddler]

D+/C-. We had chances and we had the cold air, we never got the opportunity for them to mix together until late in the season. In fact the Mar 25 storm was the biggest storm of the season. It was just the sun angle that killed us in the end.

[FrederickWX]

D.  Were it not for the March 25 snow, I would have given it an F.  Snow is the only thing worthwhile about winter in this area, so the colder than average February and March, without any good snow, gets a low grade from me.

[mappy]

More C's than I thought, especially from DC folks.  I kind of expected a two-peaked distribution with most of us giving D's and the CHO area folks and higher terrain folks with B's.  

 

Personally, a C would be much closer to normal in my book.  Anyone who voted C care to comment?

 

I saw more snow in one week (christmas week) than all of last year combined, and I pulled out almost 5" on March 25th. Not the best winter, nor was it the worst. So solid C for me.

[aldie 22]

C+...we finished near 20" Christmas eve was a blast with the snow...white Christmas is never a negative. March snow is odd but it was a good month for that. Also as has been mentioned it was snowing a lot even though the totals were not high. Two big negatives for me...no big snowstorms and not much street stickage

 

mostly vanilla winter with a few days of french vanilla mixed in

[WinterWxLuvr]

2nd snowiest winter in the 5 years I've lived here. Speaks for itself.

I considered a C because of how warm Dec and early January were, the heart of winter IMO.

[snownut]

voted strong B earlier, almost an A-

 

like winterwxluvr the warmer snow free time in the "heart of winter" were the only let down.

 

I would have traded all the March snow for January snow and then the milder time in March.

 

Could never vote C for an above average snowfall winter.

 

Had first 1" back in October and still couple piles around here on April 1st... 

[isohume]

A-. Good entertainment value. Lots of laughs (out loud) were had. 

[WEATHER53]

C-/D+ Too mild too long and too cold too late.

[nflwxman]

C+. We ended up about climo here in CHO, but both march snowstorms had wet short lived snow.

[Wonderdog]

I give it a C in my area. Up to March, it was of course, crappy but March showed what can happen when the blocking and other indices are in our favor. Ended up with about 12-13 inches, thanks to March. Maybe it's a portent of things to come next winter. Even with the two good snows I got (7 inches and 4 inches), temps were marginal and to me, a colder storm is more wintry in my eyes than the ones I got.

[Amped]

I say D. Just enough snow so we couldn't b**ch about it.

 

Pretty much a big waste of cold.

[EastCoast NPZ]

I gave it a C, but would make it a C+. 

 

Positives:  29.5 inches of snow IMBY.  A White Christmas - New Years.  And the best March I can remember.  Of course, like others have said, I'd loved to have had that March snow in Jan instead.

 

Negatives:  Too many minor events.  Too many marginal temp events.  Too many wasted opportunities.  Too little time with snow cover.  TOOOOO MUCH WIND.

[snownut]

I gave it a C, but would make it a C+. 

 

Positives:  29.5 inches of snow IMBY.  A White Christmas - New Years.  And the best March I can remember.  Of course, like others have said, I'd loved to have had that March snow in Jan instead.

 

Negatives:  Too many minor events.  Too many marginal temp events.  Too many wasted opportunities.  Too little time with snow cover.  TOOOOO MUCH WIND.

Bit of Banter:

 

I agree with the too much wind. I was always told eastern Clarke County was a windy area and now after having a home here just over 2 years I can confirm the wind IMBY is relentless during the winter months, then seems to disappear everytime is gets hot and humid. The check list for my next home is going to be very picky.

[PrinceFrederickWx]

Voted "D"

 

The Good:

-Three mini events Christmas week (T on 12/24, 1" on 12/26, 0.4" 12/29)

-The two back-to-back mini clippers (2" on 1/24, 0.9" on 1/25). 1/22-1/26 was the coldest airmass I've seen in two years, what little snow we had lasted a few days at least.

-The 3/25 snowfall (3.2") which was impressive from a climo standpoint (as well as a daily snowfall record)

-February and March had below average temperatures overall.

 

The Bad:

-December was +6 and the 11th hottest ever.

-The 1" event on 12/26 got washed away the same day after we turned over to rain and warmed up to almost 50 degrees.

-January was +4

-Too many foggy days in Dec. and Jan.

-All the "T" events and wasted cold in February

-March 6 bust

-3 year BDB nightmare pattern continues; areas south and north cash in while BWI gets snowdomed

-No WSW criteria snow

-Only 40% of climo snow for the season (8")

 

I'm probably being slightly harsh, if this had happened last year I'd probably give it a "C", but coming after one of the worst winters ever (11/12), this was just terrible.

 

[EastCoast NPZ]

Bit of Banter:

 

I agree with the too much wind. I was always told eastern Clarke County was a windy area and now after having a home here just over 2 years I can confirm the wind IMBY is relentless during the winter months, then seems to disappear everytime is gets hot and humid. The check list for my next home is going to be very picky.

 

It's like someone turns off the wind switch in June.

 

I moved to Stephens City almost 3 years ago now, and I swear to God it seems like I moved to Mt. Washington (minus the snow).  I guess It's probably due to the flat, open terrain, but the wind is just ridiculous here.

[mattie g]

D.

 

Extended cool weather into March is pointless, and our "potential" didn't really deliver anything areawide.  I suppose I can't complain about getting into double digits in snowfall, even if it's slightly over 50% of normal for the season, given that plenty of other locales did far worse, but the events were so miniscule as to make them completely unnoteworthy.