BucksCO_PA Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 In season which at this point is only average from temp standpoint & had a hostile Atlantic Philadelphia has still managed to post some impressive snowfall totals. Official Philadelphia snowfall records go back 130 yrs. Already this season is tied for the 21st snowiest season on record: The 22.5" this month make it the 5th snowiest JAN on record: Yesterday's 13.5" is now the 26th 12"(+) snowstorm, 8th in the past 12 seasons, just a note Philadelphia has gone 16 seasons without recording a 12"(+) storm so these are certainly good times for large storms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbs Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Let the good times roll. Sure beats the late 60s - mid 70s. Almost 10 years without a 10" storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jims Videos Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I would like to see the regional snowfall totals for those big storms in Philly since 2009 to see just how bad places north and west got shafted, or if it's just my imagination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSky Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I would like to see the regional snowfall totals for those big storms in Philly since 2009 to see just how bad places north and west got shafted, or if it's just my imagination. Not your imagination. Semi shaft line is 20 miles northwest of center city. 50% shaft line is 40 miles northwest. Now a draw a line ese to an area north of trenton then northeast from there running north of monmouth into a portion of southeast new york state. That is the royal screwzone for most big snowstorms except the last two in 2010 since maybe 2004? (big exception is 2007 for the far northwest zones like poconos) It's a ten year futility streak that to me is reminiscent of the big storm drought for portions of the midatlantic post 83 blizzard through the early 90's. It's like one of those 100 year anomalies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gakmsg Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Not your imagination. Semi shaft line is 20 miles northwest of center city. 50% shaft line is 40 miles northwest. Now a draw a line ese to an area north of trenton then northeast from there running north of monmouth into a portion of southeast new york state. That is the royal screwzone for most big snowstorms except the last two in 2010 since maybe 2004? (big exception is 2007 for the far northwest zones like poconos) It's a ten year futility streak that to me is reminiscent of the big storm drought for portions of the midatlantic post 83 blizzard through the early 90's. It's like one of those 100 year anomalies Pretty Much.... grew up in Delaware county 40 years ago and always envied the "Northern and Western" suburbs...moved out here five years ago only to see Delco become ground zero. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BucksCO_PA Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Not your imagination. Semi shaft line is 20 miles northwest of center city. 50% shaft line is 40 miles northwest. Now a draw a line ese to an area north of trenton then northeast from there running north of monmouth into a portion of southeast new york state. That is the royal screwzone for most big snowstorms except the last two in 2010 since maybe 2004? (big exception is 2007 for the far northwest zones like poconos) It's a ten year futility streak that to me is reminiscent of the big storm drought for portions of the midatlantic post 83 blizzard through the early 90's. It's like one of those 100 year anomalies FEB 2006 was better than PHL up your way: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/phi/storms/02122006.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSky Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 FEB 2006 was better than PHL up your way: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/phi/storms/02122006.html feb11_122006.jpg Like i said most heavier was 20 miles nw for that one but the big amounts still did diminish rapidly nw of bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSky Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Pretty Much.... grew up in Delaware county 40 years ago and always envied the "Northern and Western" suburbs...moved out here five years ago only to see Delco become ground zero. Go figure. Six years ago for me were in the same boat. The sea is rough lots of death bands just to our southeast....we do nickel and dimes and flurries better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwilson Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I would like to see the regional snowfall totals for those big storms in Philly since 2009 to see just how bad places north and west got shafted, or if it's just my imagination. PHL appears to be the hot zone nowadays. I live(d) only 17 miles due north from the airport (where my parents still reside) and we picked up ~12" on the first two storms during the big '09-'10 season. That compares to the official measurements of 23" and 29". Earlier this month we got 6-7" while PHL measured 9". I wasn't there yesterday but based on nearby totals of about 8", PHL did much better once again. I imagine the comparison only gets worse even farther from the city. It seems the best bands keep setting up over an area from Chadds Ford -> Philly -> Freehold -> Monmouth pretty consistently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ_Ken Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Interestingly, fully 2/3 of those seasons that are currently ahead of 2013-14 on the hit parade had a February with at least 10" of snow. (Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, I should also point out that 2 of the 4 four seasons ahead of January 2014 for the highest January snowfall had less than 10" in February... and those same two seasons also had 0.0" in March). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ_Ken Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 PHL appears to be the hot zone nowadays. I live(d) only 17 miles due north from the airport (where my parents still reside) and we picked up ~12" on the first two storms during the big '09-'10 season. That compares to the official measurements of 23" and 29". Earlier this month we got 6-7" while PHL measured 9". I wasn't there yesterday but based on nearby totals of about 8", PHL did much better once again. I imagine the comparison only gets worse even farther from the city. It seems the best bands keep setting up over an area from Chadds Ford -> Philly -> Freehold -> Monmouth pretty consistently. My whole life the official measurement at PHL has, with only very rare exceptions, always mirrored what I was getting in Cherry Hill (and, for obvious reasons, since Cherry Hill is probably only 10 miles or so as the crow flies northeast of PHL). This year has been no different. Even for the storms with narrow bands of heavy snow (yesterday and December 8 in particular), my mother measured almost exactly what PHL did in her own backyard in Cherry Hill (12" yesterday and 8" on December 8). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDoppler Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Six years ago for me were in the same boat. The sea is rough lots of death bands just to our southeast....we do nickel and dimes and flurries better I've lived over here in the Hereford and Longswamp areas of Berks co. since I was 6 years old in 1978. I've had the privilege of a little elevation of 800' until 1997, then 900' up to present though. (which helps with the wet snow storms mostly, although some longer duration events show a little orographic enhancement) 1994 was KILLER in our area(76+"), and I had 89" in 1996......35 of which fell on Jan.7-8... Anyway we had many snow storms growing up that outdid Philly, and they only had a couple that outdid us. (until the last 8 or so years) Back then it seemed that the mountains got crushed, our area (upper montco,bucks, lehigh valley) got a fair amount, and Philly got shafted. It'll change to yet another pattern someday.......when and what is the big question though. (perhaps we all get shafted lol) Those nickel and dimes (plus colder temps) can keep a snow cover alive vs. further south so don't dismiss them either! (1" of snow is better than .1" of rain!) P.S. in all my years at this location, the most painful storm was the millennium storm, I had 4" and Quakertown had what, 10"? That's the only time I've seen a gradient that bad, although one storm in 2010 was close. (18" in Pottstown, I had 11".....but that's a bit further distance) I can't complain though the hilltop sometimes gives me an 8" advantage in 2 miles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJ_Ken Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I've lived over here in the Hereford and Longswamp areas of Berks co. since I was 6 years old in 1978. I've had the privilege of a little elevation of 800' until 1997, then 900' up to present though. (which helps with the wet snow storms mostly, although some longer duration events show a little orographic enhancement) 1994 was KILLER in our area(76+"), and I had 89" in 1996......35 of which fell on Jan.7-8... Anyway we had many snow storms growing up that outdid Philly, and they only had a couple that outdid us. (until the last 8 or so years) Back then it seemed that the mountains got crushed, our area (upper montco,bucks, lehigh valley) got a fair amount, and Philly got shafted. It'll change to yet another pattern someday.......when and what is the big question though. (perhaps we all get shafted lol) Those nickel and dimes (plus colder temps) can keep a snow cover alive vs. further south so don't dismiss them either! (1" of snow is better than .1" of rain!) P.S. in all my years at this location, the most painful storm was the millennium storm, I had 4" and Quakertown had what, 10"? That's the only time I've seen a gradient that bad, although one storm in 2010 was close. (18" in Pottstown, I had 11".....but that's a bit further distance) I can't complain though the hilltop sometimes gives me an 8" advantage in 2 miles. I am sure we all have our own personal gradient nightmare. Mine was February 24, 1989. After a nearly snowless winter, we were finally forecast to get nailed with a solid 6" to 10" storm. I woke up that day to the kind of heavy overcast that just looked like snow was going to start falling out of it any second. I was working in Bellmawr, NJ at the time (in western Camden County and not to be confused with Belmar on the Jersey Shore), and first thing in the morning, one of my co-workers who was in Atlantic County called the office to say the snow was already getting heavy down there. I spent the rest of the morning looking out the window waiting for that first flake. Mid-morning, I snuck out to my car to listen to KYW (this was long before the internet and cell phones and other new-fangled gadgets the kids use today so the only way to get a weather update in those dark ages was a radio or TV). At that point, the forecast was allegedly still on track with the snow still likely to start any second so I rushed back inside to continue my regimen of regular, extended stares out the window interspersed with short bursts of trying to look busy even though I was totally distracted by the pending snow. Early in the afternoon, my secretary (who lived in Jackson, NJ which is well north of where I was) got a call from her husband telling her that the snow was getting bad at their house and that she should leave work immediately before the roads got impassable. That was when I started to get the sinking feeling that things were not going as planned... [cue the famous recording of the Hindenberg announcer, "...this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world!!! ...oh, the humanity!!!!"]. Sure enough, points right on the coast got 12+" of snow. I believe the boardwalk in Atlantic City reported 18" and Margate or Ocean City reported 20+". Even places up to 20 or 30 miles inland still got a nice little dump in the 4"-6". Philadelphia and Cherry Hill (where I lived), which are only 50 or so miles inland and, thus, only 20 miles or so from places that got 4" to 6" of snow, got 0.0". I literally didn't see a flake. PHL reported a trace so apparently a stray flake DID fall there that day, but again nothing measureable was reported. The snow... and some of it was literally feet deep... was so close I could almost see it, and yet I got nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDoppler Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I am sure we all have our own personal gradient nightmare. Mine was February 24, 1989. After a nearly snowless winter, we were finally forecast to get nailed with a solid 6" to 10" storm. I woke up that day to the kind of heavy overcast that just looked like snow was going to start falling out of it any second. I was working in Bellmawr, NJ at the time (in western Camden County and not to be confused with Belmar on the Jersey Shore), and first thing in the morning, one of my co-workers who was in Atlantic County called the office to say the snow was already getting heavy down there. I spent the rest of the morning looking out the window waiting for that first flake. Mid-morning, I snuck out to my car to listen to KYW (this was long before the internet and cell phones and other new-fangled gadgets the kids use today so the only way to get a weather update in those dark ages was a radio or TV). At that point, the forecast was allegedly still on track with the snow still likely to start any second so I rushed back inside to continue my regimen of regular, extended stares out the window interspersed with short bursts of trying to look busy even though I was totally distracted by the pending snow. Early in the afternoon, my secretary (who lived in Jackson, NJ which is well north of where I was) got a call from her husband telling her that the snow was getting bad at their house and that she should leave work immediately before the roads got impassable. That was when I started to get the sinking feeling that things were not going as planned... [cue the famous recording of the Hindenberg announcer, "...this is one of the worst catastrophes in the world!!! ...oh, the humanity!!!!"]. Sure enough, points right on the coast got 12+" of snow. I believe the boardwalk in Atlantic City reported 18" and Margate or Ocean City reported 20+". Even places up to 20 or 30 miles inland still got a nice little dump in the 4"-6". Philadelphia and Cherry Hill (where I lived), which are only 50 or so miles inland and, thus, only 20 miles or so from places that got 4" to 6" of snow, got 0.0". I literally didn't see a flake. PHL reported a trace so apparently a stray flake DID fall there that day, but again nothing measureable was reported. The snow... and some of it was literally feet deep... was so close I could almost see it, and yet I got nothing. I do remember that storm, but I didn't realize (or remember) that Philly and places near there got shafted to. I do remember going to school looking at those clouds longingly knowing it wasn't to be for us lol. There was a storm in 1987 I think, just a few days after a storm that dumped about 12-14" up this way and was still pretty good at Philly. (sleeted there a little I think, but they still had like 8-10") That second storm of 87' only gave us about 2", down your way got a pretty good dumping. (10ish or more) Up until the 2000's those are the only two I remember where "north and west" didn't get the most, or at least reasonably close. (like 8" vs 12", that's not that big of a deal) In 1988 my hill got one of the better storms it's had, Red Hill where I went to school had just started accumulating snow while it had rained all day, when the bus got home we already had 8", we ended up with 16", Red Hill up to lower Hereford had 8". Sometimes the bus driver wouldn't have chains on because they didn't know we had snow or it had stuck better, those were fun days getting stuck lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 You guys should review this. http://www.americanwx.com/bb/index.php/topic/42420-some-more-big-storm-stats-phlabeacy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chubbs Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 You guys should review this. http://www.americanwx.com/bb/index.php/topic/42420-some-more-big-storm-stats-phlabeacy/ Ray - using your data and adding 1/22/14. PHL has really kicked butt since 08/09. ABE can't even keep up with ACY. 08/09 – 13/14 6 years ABE: #Storms >6: 8; #Storms >12: 2; #Storms >20: 0; Average 15 storms: 6.1 PHL: #Storms >6: 11; #Storms >12: 6; #Storms >20: 2; Average 15 storms: 10.1 ACY: #Storms >6: 9; #Storms >12: 3; #Storms >20: 1; Average 15 storms: 7.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDoppler Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Ray, thank you very much for putting those comparisons up. I had already looked at them all, but for those who haven't check them out! Chubbs, yes I think many of us (in the ABE area anyway) are aware of how well Philly has been doing lately. We all know the only constant is change though....perhaps we get 10 years of apps runners and coastal huggers in a decade or two from now We've had quite a high number of "cold" storms this last decade, but we all know climo says we are usually on the rain/ice/snow line. That is why the LONG term average has ABE doing better. Case in point, that one storm we had in December that changed to sleet even in the ABE area......we still got 6"+, south didn't really cash in. The other thing is we have to remember winter isn't all about big snowstorms. ABE (north and west too) outdoes Philly on south with more frequent lighter snows, more ice and snow vs. plain rain, and colder temps. (the snow they do get holds on a bit better do to the last two factors) There are many mornings we are driving to work on snowy/icy roads that south and east doesn't have to deal with, and for those of us without garages several more frosty mornings each year to deal with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolute Humidity Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Philly 2013 2014 snow totals to date: SNOWFALL (IN) TODAY ..... 1.0 .......... Record 5.0 1904 MONTH TO DATE ..... 25.9 SINCE DEC 1 ..... 37.1 SINCE JUL 1 ..... 37.1 SNOW DEPTH ..... 3 Sure is looking like Monmouth County with these numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KamuSnow Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 There's been a lot to talk about the last couple of weeks, so I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned. Looking at Ray's 6" and greater snowfall list for PHL, this month is only the 2nd January (since 1884-1885) with 2 snowfalls 6" or greater, the last being in 1917-18! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Absolute Humidity Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 There's been a lot to talk about the last couple of weeks, so I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned. Looking at Ray's 6" and greater snowfall list for PHL, this month is only the 2nd January (since 1884-1885) with 2 snowfalls 6" or greater, the last being in 1917-18! Pretty amazing stat when 1917-18 is thrown in. I think Philly sees at least 50" this season, maybe even 60". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KamuSnow Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 Pretty amazing stat when 1917-18 is thrown in. I think Philly sees at least 50" this season, maybe even 60". If February has decent snow this winter will be one to be remembered. It already is impressive. OT, but looks like you got your 10 days of snow cover! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BucksCO_PA Posted February 13, 2014 Author Share Posted February 13, 2014 If February has decent snow this winter will be one to be remembered. It already is impressive. OT, but looks like you got your 10 days of snow cover! Well FEB has checked in big time: With 9.8" total PHL is now 53.1" for the season, 5th snowiest on record Per Ray's great post this was the fourth 6" storm this season, most on record I believe this is only the 2nd time, along with 1960-61, that Philadelphia has recoded double digit snowfall totals each month during climo winter (DEC, JAN, FEB) PHL now has recorded 16" for FEB, only need to receive an addtn'l 1.8" to record a top 10 snowiest FEB, DEC & JAN already in the books as top 10 so that would be another sweep for climo winter simply an amazing winter & some LR signals now indicating a +PNA regime popping after the pattern relaxation so........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 any update on the Philly total YTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famartin Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 any update on the Philly total YTD. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/data/PHI/CLIPHL 321 CDUS41 KPHI 222139CLIPHLCLIMATE REPORTNATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOUNT HOLLY NJ 438 PM EST SAT FEB 22 2014................................... ...THE PHILADELPHIA PA CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 22 2014...VALID TODAY AS OF 0400 PM LOCAL TIME.CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1872 TO 2014WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR NORMAL ..................................................................TEMPERATURE (F) TODAY MAXIMUM 59 218 PM 68 1997 46 13 39 1974 MINIMUM 31 629 AM 7 1963 29 2 25 AVERAGE 45 37 8 32 PRECIPITATION (IN) TODAY 0.00 1.88 2003 0.10 -0.10 T MONTH TO DATE 5.03 2.07 2.96 1.48 SINCE DEC 1 13.78 8.66 5.12 9.24 SINCE JAN 1 8.58 5.10 3.48 4.82 SNOWFALL (IN) TODAY 0.0 7.0 2001 0.3 -0.3 T MONTH TO DATE 21.3 7.4 13.9 2.7 SINCE DEC 1 58.4 17.3 41.1 7.0 SINCE JUL 1 58.4 17.6 40.8 7.0 SNOW DEPTH 0 DEGREE DAYS HEATING TODAY 20 28 -8 33 MONTH TO DATE 708 657 51 691 SINCE DEC 1 2646 2504 142 2242 SINCE JUL 1 3452 3320 132 3068 COOLING TODAY 0 0 0 0 MONTH TO DATE 0 0 0 0 SINCE DEC 1 0 0 0 0 SINCE JAN 1 0 0 0 0 ..................................................................WIND (MPH) HIGHEST WIND SPEED 25 HIGHEST WIND DIRECTION SW (220) HIGHEST GUST SPEED 29 HIGHEST GUST DIRECTION SW (230) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 10.4 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE MM AVERAGE SKY COVER 0.4 WEATHER CONDITIONS THE FOLLOWING WEATHER WAS RECORDED TODAY. FOG RELATIVE HUMIDITY (PERCENT) HIGHEST 92 200 AM LOWEST 24 300 PM AVERAGE 58 .......................................................... THE PHILADELPHIA PA CLIMATE NORMALS FOR TOMORROW NORMAL RECORD YEAR MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE (F) 46 75 1874 MINIMUM TEMPERATURE (F) 29 6 1963 SUNRISE AND SUNSET FEBRUARY 22 2014......SUNRISE 644 AM EST SUNSET 545 PM EST FEBRUARY 23 2014......SUNRISE 643 AM EST SUNSET 546 PM EST - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. $$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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