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March 2-3 Obs Thread


Herb@MAWS

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It's a letdown if you expected the high end of the projected totals. Putting it in perspective it was a serious storm with temps in the teens, 4-8 inch general swath, rush hour impacts followed by brutally cold. Pretty extreme for a Middle Atlantic March day.

Agreed, now please start working on getting us a WSW for the Thursday night storm :).

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It was pretty hard to get an accurate measurement with a lot of blowing around.. I measured a couple of 4.5"s above Rock Creek in Gtown and close to a 5er near Dupont.. 

 

I measured some 6" and 7" too...lots of blowing and drifting like you said...like 1/21 this took quite a bit of effort to get a good measurement in the city...I took 20 minutes and like 100 measurements to get a measurement I was confident in...I think any measurement from 3.5 to 5.5 is probably decent for DC....maybe there are some outliers, but 4-5" seems like the range almost everyone fell into...I feel like this storm was measured better across the board than 1/21 which has some preposterous overmeasurements....I think folks did a good job with this one...there are always going to be slant-stickers....and the city is always challenging......

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<rant>

I really hate the snow totals from public sometimes. I live in the middle of Bel Air, and someone reported 5 inches??

I watched the entire storm, from changeover to early morning fizzle. I shoveled the driveway, back porch and even grass out back for dog to pee. I never bothered to get out a ruler but it was 2" max but that's rounding up! How someone in the immediate zip code measured 5" is cray. I know there were dramatic cutoffs but if anything, I live on the southern side of town.

</rant>

I was thinking 5" was a little high. I got just under 4" near Aberdeen.

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So, seems busty. Guess I didn't miss much. Wish u guys got clocked better.

 

I was strongly expecting 12 inches of snow, but I ended up with about half of that.

 

Surprisingly, however, I feel very happy and extremely satisfied with the storm - and I think this is mostly due to the last 2 hours of absolutely gorgeous, fluffy snow puffs that were completely filling the air, and gently falling to the ground. Plus, it happened in the daytime. I have discovered that daylight makes a huge difference in my snow enjoyment. Also, I think this phenomena is what Bob Chill was trying to tell us last night - that a short period of really great daytime snow rates can have a much bigger impact on one's snow enjoyment than even a whole day of pixie dust can provide. He was saying that storms can be great even if it's only a few inches total.

 

The last two hours of this storm was so beautiful that I couldn't resist pulling a chair up into a corner of my second floor sunroom, opening the windows, and just letting the snow flutter around me. Most of the time, the snow was slowly floating straight down, so I could really get a good look at the clumps as they passed by. Sometimes I caught them in my hand for even closer inspection... Part of the time a breeze blew the snow in one window and then right out the adjacent window of the corner, and this was wondrous as the snow puffs fluttered in front of and above me as they passed in and out of the sunroom. I was experiencing the snow up close, while also sheltered in my comfy house. It was magical.

 

I really love snow...

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I was strongly expecting 12 inches of snow, but I ended up with about half of that.

 

Surprisingly, however, I feel very happy and extremely satisfied with the storm - and I think this is mostly due to the last 2 hours of absolutely gorgeous, fluffy snow puffs that were completely filling the air, and gently falling to the ground. Plus, it happened in the daytime. I have discovered that daylight makes a huge difference in my snow enjoyment. Also, I think this phenomena is what Bob Chill was trying to tell us last night - that a short period of really great daytime snow rates can have a much bigger impact on one's snow enjoyment than even a whole day of pixie dust can provide. He was saying that storms can be great even if it's only a few inches total.

 

The last two hours of this storm was so beautiful that I couldn't resist pulling a chair up into a corner of my second floor sunroom, opening the windows, and just letting the snow flutter around me. Most of the time, the snow was slowly floating straight down, so I could really get a good look at the clumps as they passed by. Sometimes I caught them in my hand for even closer inspection... Part of the time a breeze blew the snow in one window and then right out the adjacent window of the corner, and this was wondrous as the snow puffs fluttered in front of and above me as they passed in and out of the sunroom. I was experiencing the snow up close, while also sheltered in my comfy house. It was magical.

 

I really love snow...

Sounds wonderful.

Something to talk about for years to come.

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Sharpsburg Southern Washington County Md final obs 

Wonderful storm but whoa is it bitter cold out now!!! It stopped snowing at about 10:00am with the temp at 21 degrees

I took multiple hard surface measurements and it averaged 4.4 inches of fine pixie dust snow. There is a thin layer of ice underneath.. The NWS trained spotter several miles north of me nearer Hagerstown measured 3.5 inches. Friends in Hagerstown proper measured a bit less than 3 inches. 

 

The main state road in front of my house is a sheet of ice after being plowed. I shudder to think what side and back roads are like.

All in all a great storm and now onto the one later this week!  :snowman:

.

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I measured some 6" and 7" too...lots of blowing and drifting like you said...like 1/21 this took quite a bit of effort to get a good measurement in the city...I took 20 minutes and like 100 measurements to get a measurement I was confident in...I think any measurement from 3.5 to 5.5 is probably decent for DC....maybe there are some outliers, but 4-5" seems like the range almost everyone fell into...I feel like this storm was measured better across the board than 1/21 which has some preposterous overmeasurements....I think folks did a good job with this one...there are always going to be slant-stickers....and the city is always challenging......

I had 4.5" in PG county, right behind National Harbor.

 

After looking at the NWS page of reported snow amounts, it struck me as to how many jurisdictions had "public" as the one with the highest reported amount. Out of 47 jurisdictions, 15 had "public" as the highest reported amount. That's approximately 1 out of 3. But when you take away the jurisdictions that had no "public" reports, the numbers are even more astounding. 15 of 22. Almost 70% had "public" as the highest reported total.

Not saying they are not correct, just something to look at and go "hmmm...".

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Just called out CWG on facebook

 

I am going to quickly call out the awesome folks at Capital Weather Gang. I think their general take that this was a 4-8" event is erroneous and misleading, though not at all saying it is purposeful. For DC metro - - DC/Arlington/Alexandria/Loudoun/Fairfax/Montgomery/PG/Prince William, this is by far best described as a 4-6" event, so a slight bust for CWG. Amounts in the 7-8" range were generally relegated to far northern Moco, far western Loudoun, and a small "lollipop" near Mannassas/Centreville, while there were amounts below 4" in PG. Overwhelmingly this was a 4-6" event for DC metro. Almost all of FFX/Moco/DC/Arl/Alex/Eastern Loudoun got 4-6", with PG more in the 3-4" range.

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I'm happy with the 5 inches I got. I shoveled my walk and two others. That damn plow pushed a 4 foot berm right on the sidewalk. I had to chip my way thru that. These plow drivers need to learn how to plow.

 

I'm not so sure I want another snowstorm lol.

 

Wow, 36 inches on the season. Man I am so far above climo now its ridiculous

 

The plows did a wonderful job of clearing the streets. Now, the slush is a sheet of ice as temps plummet thru the teens and single numbers. You need to strap on a pair of ice skates to walk on the road

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<rant>

I really hate the snow totals from public sometimes. I live in the middle of Bel Air, and someone reported 5 inches??

I watched the entire storm, from changeover to early morning fizzle. I shoveled the driveway, back porch and even grass out back for dog to pee. I never bothered to get out a ruler but it was 2" max but that's rounding up! How someone in the immediate zip code measured 5" is cray. I know there were dramatic cutoffs but if anything, I live on the southern side of town.

</rant>

I really don't know who these public reporters are supposed to be.  Are they weather enthusiasts like us, or just a state/county/city employee sticking a ruler, or judging by eye whatever.

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