02/18/14 Snow Event OBS, Countdown to further snowfall records.

[JetsPens87]

For sure. It like a spring day here birds are out low 40s and nice. All the snow from thisorning has already melted. Hard for the inland folks to understand the se wind snow eater. That's what crushed the immediate south shore of central Suffolk. It was not nearly as bad here

Exactly even with frigid sst temps. ... There is warm air sitting no more than 50 miles off shore. It doesn't take long at all for that transport to occur on a strong se wind.

[jm1220]

For sure. Its like a spring day here birds are out low 40s and nice. All the snow from this morning has already melted. Hard for the inland folks to understand the se wind snow eater. That's what crushed the immediate south shore of central Suffolk. It was not nearly as bad here

I know all too well how it works, unfortunately. It played out well in December, as we sat in the 20s all day with snow and NE wind, we immediately torched to 45 and heavy rain once the wind shifted. It's not as extreme now of course because the water is a lot colder, but it's still a definite effect. Now, let's just hope the waterlogged snow cover can put up a fight against the upcoming torch.

[donsutherland1]

Seasonal snowfall totals based on the latest PNS:

 

Bridgeport: 56.4" (7th highest)

Islip: 57.5" (3rd highest)

New York City: 57.1" (7th highest)

Newark: 60.2" (6th highest)

[nyblizz44]

Seasonal snowfall totals based on the latest PNS:

 

Bridgeport: 56.4" (7th highest)

Islip: 57.5" (3rd highest)

New York City: 57.1" (7th highest)

Newark: 60.2" (6th highest)

we are aprox 6 inches away from 2nd snowiest winter on record. If this occurs we will have locked up 3 of top 4 spots all times in lat 18 years ! Never complain again about lack of snow in our generation!

[donsutherland1]

A few other statistics:

 

January-February 2014 is the 2nd snowiest two-month period on record for NYC with 48.5" snow so far. The snowiest such period is December 2010-January 2011 when 56.1" snow fell.

 

February 2014 is also the 2nd snowiest February on record. The snowiest February is 2010 when 36.9" snow fell.

[bluewave]

No shortage of top 10 snowiest months at NYC since 1994. 

10 Top Snowiest Months                       36.9    Feb 201036.0    Jan 201130.5    Mar 189628.8....Feb 2014..so far29.6    Dec 194727.9    Feb 193427.4    Jan 192527.0    Dec 187226.9    Feb 200626.4    Feb 199426.3    Feb 192626.1    Feb 2003 & Jan 1996

[Absolute Humidity]

3.5" today bumps YTD totals to 66.3" Third highest total since the Younger Dryas. 

[Guest Pamela]

Looking at my snow stake...there appears to be 16 inches on the ground at present...which includes the 4 new inches that have fallen today...some rain has mixed with the snow in the last 5 minutes.

 

There must have been a little more than 16 inches on the ground back at 11 AM as I tried to see what it read from a  distance of about 25 feet...I went out to the actual stake with flashlight in hand 5 minutes ago and it read 16 inches...and there was some melting in the last 8 hours, I'm sure. 

[Guest Pamela]

Seasonal snowfall totals based on the latest PNS:

 

Bridgeport: 56.4" (7th highest)

Islip: 57.5" (3rd highest)

New York City: 57.1" (7th highest)

Newark: 60.2" (6th highest)

 

Although the Islip record dates back to the 1980's...for all practical purposes...the record really only goes back to 2008...record keeping was so bad and with so many gaps in the record for so long that most of the pre-2008 record borders on useless...perhaps the most notorious omission there was the Dec 5, 2003 event...recorded as "trace" at Islip...while it brought close to 20 inches a few blocks away.  Since 2008...the observers have been doing very well there. 

 

Much the same can be said of the Bridgeport record...around 2008...the numbers coming out of Sikorsky started to jive with reality...prior to that...just an abomination with underreporting.  Does anyone seriously believe that a very pedestrian 56.4" of snow is the 7th most to fall in one season in Fairfield County's principal city since the 1930's??

[Mitchel Volk]

No shortage of top 10 snowiest months at NYC since 1994. 

10 Top Snowiest Months

                       

36.9    Feb 2010

36.0    Jan 2011

30.5    Mar 1896

28.8....Feb 2014..so far

29.6    Dec 1947

27.9    Feb 1934

27.4    Jan 1925

27.0    Dec 1872

26.9    Feb 2006

26.4    Feb 1994

26.3    Feb 1926

26.1    Feb 2003 & Jan 1996

It is interesting that 7 of them happen in the past 18 years out of 145 years you know that global warming has enhanced out snowfall, due to an increase of precipable water in the atmosphere. The increase of 1 degree C of the oceans have a huge effect on storm's precipatition.

[NorthShoreWx]

Although the Islip record dates back to the 1980's...for all practical purposes...the record really only goes back to 2008...record keeping was so bad and with so many gaps in the record for so long that most of the pre-2008 record borders on useless...perhaps the most notorious omission there was the Dec 5, 2003 event...recorded as "trace" at Islip...while it brought close to 20 inches a few blocks away.  Since 2008...the observers have been doing very well there. 

 

Much the same can be said of the Bridgeport record...around 2008...the numbers coming out of Sikorsky started to jive with reality...prior to that...just an abomination with underreporting.  Does anyone seriously believe that a very pedestrian 56.4" of snow is the 7th most to fall in one season in Fairfield County's principal city since the 1930's??

 

This!

 

ISP recorded 0" for December 2003.  Reality was about 25".  There are many other similar errors in the "official" record for ISP. 

 

The coop records are also mostly terrible.  One of my favorite's was from the Vanderbilt Planetarium in Centerport for the March 2001 storm.  Despite the hatred for that storm from most of this forum, it was a major snowstorm in Suffolk County.  The data sheets from the coop observer for the two days of that storm say "Closed due to weather".

[Sey-Mour Snow]

Although the Islip record dates back to the 1980's...for all practical purposes...the record really only goes back to 2008...record keeping was so bad and with so many gaps in the record for so long that most of the pre-2008 record borders on useless...perhaps the most notorious omission there was the Dec 5, 2003 event...recorded as "trace" at Islip...while it brought close to 20 inches a few blocks away. Since 2008...the observers have been doing very well there.

Much the same can be said of the Bridgeport record...around 2008...the numbers coming out of Sikorsky started to jive with reality...prior to that...just an abomination with underreporting. Does anyone seriously believe that a very pedestrian 56.4" of snow is the 7th most to fall in one season in Fairfield County's principal city since the 1930's??

Makes sense when 10 of the top 15 snowiest winters in BDR have been since 2000

[donsutherland1]

Although the Islip record dates back to the 1980's...for all practical purposes...the record really only goes back to 2008...record keeping was so bad and with so many gaps in the record for so long that most of the pre-2008 record borders on useless...perhaps the most notorious omission there was the Dec 5, 2003 event...recorded as "trace" at Islip...while it brought close to 20 inches a few blocks away.  Since 2008...the observers have been doing very well there. 

 

Much the same can be said of the Bridgeport record...around 2008...the numbers coming out of Sikorsky started to jive with reality...prior to that...just an abomination with underreporting.  Does anyone seriously believe that a very pedestrian 56.4" of snow is the 7th most to fall in one season in Fairfield County's principal city since the 1930's??

I'm aware that some of this data is flawed. I'm not sure why there isn't more rigorous quality control and, in cases such as the December 2003 snowstorm, adjustments to create a more reasonable data set.

[Guest Pamela]

Seasonal Snowfall
2013-14 Winter
As of 2/19/2014 / 4:30 AM
 
Worcester: 77.6"
Allentown: 66.7"
Newark Airport: 60.2"
Philadelphia Intl. Airport: 58.4"
Islip, NY: 57.5"
NYC Central Park: 57.1"
Bridgeport / Sikorsky: 56.2"
Boston: 56.0"
NWS Upton L.I.: 53.5"
NYC LaGuardia: 52.1"
Hartford: 49.6"
NYC JFK: 44.4"
Providence: 41.8"
Washington Dulles: 31.0"
Atlantic City: 27.5"
Baltimore (BWI): 25.7"
Washington National: 15.5"