Top 5 2014 Weather Events

[metalicwx366]

I did this thread last year as well. Everyone post their exciting weather events that have occurred this year.

5. January 29th Sleet. Nothing more exciting than an all day 33 and rain/sleetfest. If that temperature was 2 degrees cooler we could have done really well with that storm. I was disappointed with the storm but it was the only wintry precipitation we got.

4. Summer Heatwave. It was extremely hot this summer. We hit the 100s 6 times this year where in the previous 2 years we didn't have a 100 degree temp. The hottest day was August 23 with 103. The previous 2 days were 101. Our highest low temperature was 80 on July 28 which had a high of 102.

3. January Cold Outbreak. The coldest temperature in my backyard was 18 here and the high was only 33 that day. They closed schools down for that lol.

2. April Rain event.

The event kicked off with a Severe thunderstorm warning that produced a 59mph wind gust. After that, the storms just trained for a while and we picked up 3.12 that afternoon which is more than we average for the month. It continued overnight and we ended at 4.52 for the event and over 8 inches for our driest month.

1. June 10 Storm. Clearly #1 event of the year goes to the June 10th. Greatest storm ever. First time I have seen actual damage in person. Trees were down every where around town. Power out to 4000+ people. Cable and internet didn't get cut back on till the next day. Visibility was zero and power flicked over 20 times in my house. Winds were gusting up to 75mph for quite a while. I was standing in the door the entire time, which was bad on my part lol! Best storm ever. It came on a day with only a 20% chance of rain!

[mackerel_sky]

1.2/11-2/12 epic fail

2. 2/11-2/12 epic fail

3. Spring quarter size hail(June)?

4. Summer quarter size hail

5. Fall 2014: 95% of all well known mets/forecasters /almanacs/ wooly worms/ persimmon seeds/analogs/ birds/skunks/ coffee beans in a jar/ August fogs, call for epic winter! On the way to being biggest bust in weatherboard history!!!!!

[wncsnow]

5. Strong summer storms- We had quite a few severe storms here in the foothills this summer, and it was a very wet summer again IMBY. One storm left quite a bit of tree damage and gusts to 60 mph

 

4. Freak early April hail storm- During the early morning hours of an early April morning(cant remember the date) a quick/freak hail storm moved through McDowell county with quarter size hail. I have never seen hail that size in the early morning hours of an April day.

 

3. January 28/29 event- This was one of the coldest/ finest snows I have ever witnessed with around 2 inches accumulating. It officially broke the almost 3 year snow drought for MBY. It was fun to argue with Jason Boyer over Facebook about this storm, he was sure the foothills would be lucky to see half an inch and some areas ended up with 3 to 4.

 

2. Early January cold snap- I was in Asheville the day the front moved through staying with my mom who was at St Josephs for cancer treatment, and it was one of the coldest days I have ever seen. Driving back home that night my car thermometer dropped to 6 on old fort mountain and later dropped to 1 as the low for the night IMBY. It was a cold day and night in so many ways.

 

1. February 12/13 snow- This snow was a nice gift to give me something happy about other than the from the worries of my moms cancer battle. We had between 8-9 inches of snow the most since the Christmas storm of 2010. My mom said it was the most beautiful snow.. she died 10 days later.

[Marion_NC_WX]

Hmmm...I've had to put some thought into this. So here we go...


1. January Attack of the Polar Vortex: I know the media today is bad to sensationalize everything but if there was anything close that deserved being named "polar vortex" it was the wicked cold event we had in early January...

I very well remember seeing that on the models on Days 7 and 8 and I laughed at it...but the closer we got, the stronger it became and by that weekend prior it was becoming obvious what was going to happen. I still remember on that Monday morning the arctic boundary came through and due to downslope the lee of the Apps stayed in the 36-40 range until about 4 pm that afternoon. Then once the sun started dropping and air quit mixing and compressing, my temp went from 38 to 15 in the snap of a finger.

 

Also what a lot of folks fail to remember was that second arctic blast that came a couple weeks later, which ultimately led to the nightmare in Atlanta...that blast in itself would have been impressive for most winters but it looked average in comparison to the first attack.

 

I had a total of 6 morning of single digit temps that month, one zero and a couple between 3-5 above...I would say we average a single digit low here in the foothills once every 2-3 winters...we essentially had a decade's worth that month!

 

Schools were closed/delayed because the buses couldn't run. Folks with heat pumps or any electrical heating in their homes were pretty much screwed for about a week...

 

 

2. Feb 12-13 snowstorm: 9 inches of snow and it came down in a hurry...

 

3. Numerous warm season wedge events: We had numerous wedge events that kept a lot of areas just east of the Apps overcast and wet at times. Just to prove how crazy it was, I went to Greenville NC in July to cover the Little League State Tournament and dp's were in the 50's and 60's...which for that area is unheard of in July.

 

Also, cannot forget the wedge event that occured August 10th that dropped from the NC foothills down into Greenville-Spartanburg...the wedge boundary served as a convergence for storms that dropped from the escarpment down to I-85...it stalled over Greenville (SC) resulting in some historic flooding downtown, anybody remember that crazy Saturday night?

 

4. Low Cape/High Shear event in Middle October that impacted the Mid-South more with organized severe weather but it still brought an EF-0 tornado to McDowell County (NC) and another tornado that went from near Chesnee SC just to the west of Sheby and across the South Mountain Chain into Caldwell/Catawba Counties...

 

60-70kt winds were hovering less than 2,000 ft from the surface that entire day in an southerly upslope fashion.

 

5. Hurricane Arthur: Not affecting my specific area but it turned out to be a pretty good Cat 2 for late June/early July standards!

[yotaman]

Can't remember much as far as dates but I will try.

 

5. Arctic outbreak mid January. We hit a record low of 12 one morning It was cold most of that week.

 

4. Sleet storm late January. 2 1/2" of sleet fell on a Tuesday and I got off work the rest of the week. The sun didn't come out until Friday and the roads stayed messed up until then.

 

3. Snowstorm early February. We had about 6" but nearby in Pamlico county got as much as a foot. Got 2 days of from work for that one.

 

2. Hurricane Arthur in June. It brushed us but only gave us a bit over 1 inch of rain and winds up to 45mph

 

1. Rain, rain, rain - June thru October was very soggy. We got over 5" each month with Aug at over 9". Luckily no Hurricanes hit after Arthur or the tree damage would have been significant.

[toxictwister00]

1. Early January Arctic Blast (The Monstrous Polar Vortex!  ) - The coldest temperature I have ever experienced happened during the peak of this blast. The airport dipped down to 6°F while near my house it was 4°F! The last time I saw temps this cold (and a Wind Chill Advisory) was back in January 2003 when it got down to 8°F. I was in the 4th grade and school was canceled back then just like it was for this event.

 

2. Late January Snow (a.k.a Snowjam 2014) - Looking back on this one, there was another winter storm that was almost as devastating as this one and it didn't happen that long ago (January 9-10, 2011). The only difference is the worst occurred on a Sunday night so there was less traffic, but both cases the city was shut down an entire week! Something I had never seen in my lifetime here prior to that. Seeing the massive gridlock unfolding hour by hour and the resulting fallout/controversy that followed in the aftermath was incredible. It seems like now all the officials at all levels won't be so quick to brush off any winter weather event regardless of impact, but we'll see whenever we get our first legit threat.

 

3. February 12-13, 2014 Sleetstorm (Some Snow & Ice)- This winter storm brought the most measurable sleet I can recall (2 inches. It did a great job of fooling me into believing it was snow at times. Also the ice amounts turned out to not be so bad where I was on the NW side of town so that was a saving grace from this storm, in addition we saw about an inch of snow on the tail end.

 

4. Hurricane Arthur - This was not only the first named storm, but also the first hurricane (Cat. 2) to affect the CONUS this hurricane season and it was very exciting to track and watch unfold once it reached the Outer Banks.

 

5.Some thunderstorm back in July. I don't remember the date, but it was pretty nasty from what I remember. Lots of heavy rain, strong winds (tropical storm force wind gusts), and vivid lightning/loud thunder that sounded like bombs going off on the front porch. What amazed me about it was these conditions lasted for at least a good hour, maybe a little longer than that.

[buckeyefan1]

#5.........The 2nd all time highest low temp of 80 set back in July 

 

#4..........Record daily rainfall set in August

 

#3...........Record setting heat during the summer/fall (I'm tired of these experiences    )

 

#2............January/Feb cold and snow to start the year off

 

#1.............Earliest official snowfall ever recorded in November 

[CherokeeGA]

Hmm.

 

5.  A thunderstorm sometime in July or August that sent straight line winds through our backyard and destroyed some patio furniture and other misc items.  And broke a storm window.  I love it when mother nature costs me money.

 

4.  Arthur just because hurricanes are interesting.  I grew up in hurricane country and while I don't live in it anymore (by the time it gets here, it's just tropical rain), it still is fascinating weather.

 

3.  February sleet storm.  Again for the most part missed this area, but was very interesting to follow.  There was a lot of fear and drama in the lead-up since it was not long after the January storm.  And also, photoshopping pictures of that road of abandoned cars (one of which was on fire) from, I think, Charlotte or Raleigh, was pretty good fun.

 

2.  The Polar Vortex thing.  The media was foaming at the mouth frantically.

 

1.  The January snow storm.  The morning it started, I was out getting groceries and by the time the flakes barely started to fly, there were 3 accidents between me and the grocery store 5 miles away from my house.  People here just can't drive in it, even when it's still at the rubbernecking "omg was that a snowflake I saw in the air" stage.  One of the accidents was a guy in a pickup truck who literally ran it into a ditch rubbernecking at the flakes in the air - the road was still dry.  I stopped to check on him and he admitted he was not looking at the road, lol.  My spouse spent the night in his car because he had no choice but to go into work that day.  At one point during his "drive" he was next to a school bus full of kids being guarded by some police officers (this was at around 2am). 

 

So I stayed up all night talking to him on his cell every hour or so, watching the live coverage on the local news.  Fun times.  I think I would have enjoyed this storm a lot more if not so many people had been caught out in it.

 

However, the NWS has new (lower) warning thresholds for winter precip here, which should help school supers close when it's appropriate to do so.  And spouse and I have agreed that he will carry a duffel with a change of clothes and such to work should this kind of thing threaten during the day again, so he can just stay there for the night.

[superjames1992]

1. February 12-13 Winter Storm - 8.0" SN/IP, 0.10" ZR - It was the biggest snowstorm in over a decade for me.  It has to be #1.  It was a nice cold winter storm with temperatures in the low 20s for much of it, so that was pretty cool.  It was fun tracking it leading up to the storm.  I was kind of peeved that I missed out on the death band 50-100 miles west of here, where they got close to 20", but, hey, it is what it is!  It was also a boardwide storm, which I like.  It was also neat to see the effects up into the Mid-Atlantic.

 

2. March 6-7 Winter Storm - 3" IP, 0.25-0.5" ZR (estimate) - It was the biggest ice storm here since 2002.  It was quite an experience to behold overnight.  It knocked out power here for a week, which was unfortunate, but it was still worth it for me (I do have a generator, though).  I think close to 80% of the county had power knocked out from this one.  It was also one of those awesome weenie storms where I looked like an idiot for even following it until the final day or two since it looked like it was going to be a cold rain... and we don't get ice storms in March!  But apparently we do.  A negative would be that it was a pretty localized event as the Triad was one of the only places that got an appreciable storm with everywhere south and east being too warm and anywhere north and west generally not getting a ton of precipitation (once you got past Reidsville or so).  Boardwide storms are more fun.  It was also slightly frustrating that we missed out on a good 1-2 feet of snow by a degree or two Celsius in the mid-levels, but oh well!

 

3. January 28-29 Winter Storm - 1.5" SN - It wasn't an impressive event totals-wise, but the snow fell with temperatures in the upper teens, which was amazing.  I haven't seen snow fall with temperatures that cold in a decade.  The snow was generally pretty light, but it did snow for a good 6-8 hours.  It was also neat to see much of the board get hammered.

 

4. Mid-March Snow/Ice Storm - ~0.25" SN/IP, 0.1" ZR (guestimates) - I do not remember the dates, but this was a nice overperformer in mid-March this winter.  We had more freezing rain in March, which is typically fairly unusual.  Temperatures were also fairly chilly for the time of year, IIRC (mid-20s).

 

5. Hurricane Arthur - There was not a lot of effects here, but it was neat to follow from afar.

 

You'll notice I did not include the January cold outbreak because I was in Spain then and it wasn't exceptionally chilly there (though it wasn't warm by any means).

[NRVwxfan.]

5. Heavy Rains in August.

 

4. periods of hot weather with stifling humidity, Even a hot spell near the end of October. Several days were in the upper 90s with heat indexes well over 100F

 

3. Severe Thunderstorms. Was hit by 2 severe thunderstorms with severe hail just minutes apart. A few stones exceeded 3" in diameter. Also 60 mph winds and torrential rains. Had to replace the shingles, but somehow escaped with no window damage. This was during the Memorial Day weekend.

 

2.Record cold Got as cold as 4f after the previous day didn't get out of the 20s, despite bright sunshine with no clouds or a snowcover. Lake was partially ice covered. Another morning dropped below 10F, but windchills were well below 0F.

 

1. Snow/ice. Late Jan/Feb. The February storm gave us accumulating snow/ice on three consecutive days. Over 5 inches of sleet, and just over 3 inches of snow and 0.25 of Freezing Rain. Also the surprise snow on Nov 1. My area got about a half inch, just drove to Gilbert and measured close to 6" with significant tree damage, and closed a portion of I-20. This same area had temps in the upper 80s just a few days earlier, and dodging strong thunderstorms on Halloween night.   

 

Whew.

 

I also followed Hurricane Arthur compliments of a stormchasers live web feed.