MPM/Codfishsnowman Whoa is Me Thread

[moneypitmike]

The last month up here has been ok, Not great by any means like some in the SE areas of NE, But i as well, When it gets to this time of the season, I am ready to start thinking about turning the page, I am all for the early snows to set up winter for riding, Give me a couple more weeks and i will be in full spring mode

 

yup.

[Whineminster]

Yup, its bittersweet to get a late season storm because you know it'll be melted in a couple weeks or less usually

[Baroclinic Zone]

I checked out in disgust for a few days.  The closest I got to looking at the weather was opening my browser to my p/c homepage.  Very therapeutic in this B- winter.

 

In spite of missing all the big storms outside of Thanksgiving, I will have wound up with a much longer snow cover than the rest of SNE when all is said and done.  I'm also not ruling out another hit; perhaps the more typical rain from 84 area to the coast and a good amount here.  That said, I'm not a big one for late March/April snows.  GIve me the early ones to set the stage for the winter, not the encore when you're moving to wood cutting season.

What is this "wood cutting season" that you speak of?

[moneypitmike]

What is this "wood cutting season" that you speak of?

 

Firewood prep from the time the snow's gone until it starts up again. 

[HoarfrostHubb]

Firewood prep from the time the snow's gone until it starts up again.

They sell these things called pellets...and this stuff called oil...and something called solar...

I am quite happy with this winter as a whole. Wish a big storm dumped in our area (like a 20"+). Nothing wrong with several 12-14" events here though, but nothing individually very exciting

[HIPPYVALLEY]

They sell these things called pellets...and this stuff called oil...and something called solar...

I am quite happy with this winter as a whole. Wish a big storm dumped in our area (like a 20"+). Nothing wrong with several 12-14" events here though, but nothing individually very exciting

Nothing beats wood heat though, just something about it. I'll be the first to admit it can be pia due to constant maintenance.

Your area has had a great winter. You were kind of the NW cutoff zone for great winter vs good winter.

I have been quite impressed with the cold and staying power of the snow cover. This area had snow otg almost continuously since Thanksgiving when others were shedding tears on frozen dry soil.

[moneypitmike]

Nothing beats wood heat though, just something about it. I'll be the first to admit it can be pia due to constant maintenance.

Your area has had a great winter. You were kind of the NW cutoff zone for great winter vs good winter.

I have been quite impressed with the cold and staying power of the snow cover. This area had snow otg almost continuously since Thanksgiving when others were shedding tears on frozen dry soil.

 

That's been the only saving grace of the season--pending how next weekend plays out.

 

Surprisingly, I will make it through March without running out of wood.  That's largely due to keeping only one of the stoves lit for most of the season, so I guess technically, it was a supply failure.  I need to up my quantity by a couple cords for next season.

[Whineminster]

bump.  Let the whining begin.  Perhaps this should also become the obs thread for tomorrow's event, as most of the posts will be about how delusions of dendrites are the only thing falling from the sky. 

[#NoPoles]

just noticed...whoa is me...woe is me...

[mreaves]

Woe. That is all.

 

 

Ouch. My command of the English language FTL.

 

 

just noticed...whoa is me...woe is me...

I know.

[Whineminster]

can't you change the title? Not that it bothers me, I think its funnie. 

[mreaves]

can't you change the title? Not that it bothers me, I think its funnie.

No, the only Topic Moderation tool that you have as a topic starter is a delete topic option.

[eekuasepinniW]

No, the only Topic Moderation tool that you have as a topic starter is a delete topic option.

click edit, then "use full editor" and you can edit the title.

[mreaves]

click edit, then "use full editor" and you can edit the title.

Ah, thank you.

[acoolerclimate]

I can totally relate to this thread, particularly since I lived in the Springfield, MA area from 1986 until 2001. (Except for some notable exceptions). From 2001 to 2007 I lived in the Albany, NY area, from 2007 to 2011 I was outside of Worcester, MA and since Nov of 2011 I've been in Northern New Jersey. 

 

I've been chasing being in the bulls eye my entire life and I'm 50. For years I've wanted to see a 30 inch plus snowstorm, a 150 plus winter, or at least be the one to get the most snow. If the max in one storm was 20 inches, I wanted to be in the place that got that. Not down the road with 15 inches. The deepest snow I myself has measured is 23.5 inches. And even when the places I've lived did get a big one, it was when I was away somewhere else.

 

I finally had to make piece with all of that, realizing that no amount of wishing, praying, hoping, teeth gnashing,  was going to get this for me. I've learned to be happy with what happens, particularly since I now live in New Jersey and realize I'm not likely going to see any of those things. 

 

True, there are times that still try my soul. Such as the first snowstorm this year in January. I went to bed that night with a forecast of 24 to 36 inches. I thought maybe I finally got "lucky". But I awoke to 5 inches. That one did me in for awhile. I mean, really, 5 inches? We couldn't even muster a foot? Sigh. Then each succeeding storm in Feb was 4 to 6 inches, while Eastern MA was getting 12 to 24. Big giant Sigh. So I finally had to look at the positive. It was very cold. We had snow on the ground from late January till mid March. March itself has been pretty snowy for down here. So looking at things from the perspective of New Jersey, it was a pretty fine winter. 

 

Here are my biggest disappointments. 

 

1. April 1982. I was in High School living in Southern Ma. But from Feb to early April I was on an extended stay in Colorado. I was on the bus home and it was snowing. But I was in Rochester, NY for the storm. 10 inches. Not bad. But then my sister called me from Maine and they had 24 with a true Blizzard. 

2. Winter 1993-94. The first great winter for Springfield, MA after a lackluster 80's and early 90's. Of course that was the winter I spent in Phoenix, AZ. Of course the cold and snow finally came when I was out west. My best friend who lived in Westfield, MA kept sending me letters with the blow by blow and measurements all winter. 

3. Feb of 2001. I had just recently moved to Schenectady, NY. We had a nice 8 inch snowfall. But my parents in the Springfield, MA area had 27 inches at their house. I had moved just 2 weeks earlier. 

4. Dec of 2002. Big Christmas snow in Albany, NY. 21 inches. Of course I was visiting my parents in Springfield and I got 8 inches at their house.

 

The best times I can remember: 

1. Winter of 1995-96. I was living with my parents in Russell, MA just west of Springfield, MA. I measured 143 inches that winter, with the big storm in Jan of 96 giving me 23.5 inches, tied for my deepest. If it hadn't been for that horrific warm rainstorm in late January that pretty much melted all, it would have been the best winter ever. I did measure 40 inches on the ground before that rain hit. 

2. Winter of 2002 -2003 in Albany, NY, Although I missed the Christmas Storm, we did get another 20 incher in January, and that winter had 105 inches. 

3. Early Dec of 2003. I was in Cohoes, NY and we had a great storm all day on a Saturday. 23.5 inches. The timing was perfect. It was the best storm of my life. I got to enjoy it all day on a Saturday, and then clean it up on Sunday. 

 

So I've had good times and bad times. Par for the course. I think about all the successes, all the great times, and I feel good about my time on the planet. 

 

But if I could time travel I would love to see these:

The 1888 storm. I'd be in either Albany or New Haven.

The Feb 1899 storm in Houston or even New Orleans. That must have been wild for so far south.

Any time it snowed measurably in San Francisco in the late 1800's.

Jan 1950 in Seattle, WA area.

The great snow of 1717 in Boston. (Which this winter was probably a dup of).

[eduggs]

I was in downtown Albany today and most of the snow is gone.  Lots of brown dead grass. Mostly just snowbanks remaining with few patches in the shaded woods.  Hard to believe the reports from SEMA, CT, and even the NYC area.  Looks nothing like that here.  Even the hill towns that typically do well around here in the spring have a pretty sad snowpack.

[CoastalWx]

I was in downtown Albany today and most of the snow is gone. Lots of brown dead grass. Mostly just snowbanks remaining with few patches in the shaded woods. Hard to believe the reports from SEMA, CT, and even the NYC area. Looks nothing like that here. Even the hill towns that typically do well around here in the spring have a pretty sad snowpack.

Albany was pretty sad even earlier in the month. All the way to Stockbridge really. Saratoga was much better.

[40/70 Benchmark]

I can totally relate to this thread, particularly since I lived in the Springfield, MA area from 1986 until 2001. (Except for some notable exceptions). From 2001 to 2007 I lived in the Albany, NY area, from 2007 to 2011 I was outside of Worcester, MA and since Nov of 2011 I've been in Northern New Jersey. 

 

I've been chasing being in the bulls eye my entire life and I'm 50. For years I've wanted to see a 30 inch plus snowstorm, a 150 plus winter, or at least be the one to get the most snow. If the max in one storm was 20 inches, I wanted to be in the place that got that. Not down the road with 15 inches. The deepest snow I myself has measured is 23.5 inches. And even when the places I've lived did get a big one, it was when I was away somewhere else.

 

I finally had to make piece with all of that, realizing that no amount of wishing, praying, hoping, teeth gnashing,  was going to get this for me. I've learned to be happy with what happens, particularly since I now live in New Jersey and realize I'm not likely going to see any of those things. 

 

True, there are times that still try my soul. Such as the first snowstorm this year in January. I went to bed that night with a forecast of 24 to 36 inches. I thought maybe I finally got "lucky". But I awoke to 5 inches. That one did me in for awhile. I mean, really, 5 inches? We couldn't even muster a foot? Sigh. Then each succeeding storm in Feb was 4 to 6 inches, while Eastern MA was getting 12 to 24. Big giant Sigh. So I finally had to look at the positive. It was very cold. We had snow on the ground from late January till mid March. March itself has been pretty snowy for down here. So looking at things from the perspective of New Jersey, it was a pretty fine winter. 

 

Here are my biggest disappointments. 

 

1. April 1982. I was in High School living in Southern Ma. But from Feb to early April I was on an extended stay in Colorado. I was on the bus home and it was snowing. But I was in Rochester, NY for the storm. 10 inches. Not bad. But then my sister called me from Maine and they had 24 with a true Blizzard. 

2. Winter 1993-94. The first great winter for Springfield, MA after a lackluster 80's and early 90's. Of course that was the winter I spent in Phoenix, AZ. Of course the cold and snow finally came when I was out west. My best friend who lived in Westfield, MA kept sending me letters with the blow by blow and measurements all winter. 

3. Feb of 2001. I had just recently moved to Schenectady, NY. We had a nice 8 inch snowfall. But my parents in the Springfield, MA area had 27 inches at their house. I had moved just 2 weeks earlier. 

4. Dec of 2002. Big Christmas snow in Albany, NY. 21 inches. Of course I was visiting my parents in Springfield and I got 8 inches at their house.

 

The best times I can remember: 

1. Winter of 1995-96. I was living with my parents in Russell, MA just west of Springfield, MA. I measured 143 inches that winter, with the big storm in Jan of 96 giving me 23.5 inches, tied for my deepest. If it hadn't been for that horrific warm rainstorm in late January that pretty much melted all, it would have been the best winter ever. I did measure 40 inches on the ground before that rain hit. 

2. Winter of 2002 -2003 in Albany, NY, Although I missed the Christmas Storm, we did get another 20 incher in January, and that winter had 105 inches. 

3. Early Dec of 2003. I was in Cohoes, NY and we had a great storm all day on a Saturday. 23.5 inches. The timing was perfect. It was the best storm of my life. I got to enjoy it all day on a Saturday, and then clean it up on Sunday. 

 

So I've had good times and bad times. Par for the course. I think about all the successes, all the great times, and I feel good about my time on the planet. 

 

But if I could time travel I would love to see these:

The 1888 storm. I'd be in either Albany or New Haven.

The Feb 1899 storm in Houston or even New Orleans. That must have been wild for so far south.

Any time it snowed measurably in San Francisco in the late 1800's.

Jan 1950 in Seattle, WA area.

The great snow of 1717 in Boston. (Which this winter was probably a dup of).

Are we related?

[codfishsnowman]

I can totally relate to this thread, particularly since I lived in the Springfield, MA area from 1986 until 2001. (Except for some notable exceptions). From 2001 to 2007 I lived in the Albany, NY area, from 2007 to 2011 I was outside of Worcester, MA and since Nov of 2011 I've been in Northern New Jersey.

I've been chasing being in the bulls eye my entire life and I'm 50. For years I've wanted to see a 30 inch plus snowstorm, a 150 plus winter, or at least be the one to get the most snow. If the max in one storm was 20 inches, I wanted to be in the place that got that. Not down the road with 15 inches. The deepest snow I myself has measured is 23.5 inches. And even when the places I've lived did get a big one, it was when I was away somewhere else.

I finally had to make piece with all of that, realizing that no amount of wishing, praying, hoping, teeth gnashing, was going to get this for me. I've learned to be happy with what happens, particularly since I now live in New Jersey and realize I'm not likely going to see any of those things.

True, there are times that still try my soul. Such as the first snowstorm this year in January. I went to bed that night with a forecast of 24 to 36 inches. I thought maybe I finally got "lucky". But I awoke to 5 inches. That one did me in for awhile. I mean, really, 5 inches? We couldn't even muster a foot? Sigh. Then each succeeding storm in Feb was 4 to 6 inches, while Eastern MA was getting 12 to 24. Big giant Sigh. So I finally had to look at the positive. It was very cold. We had snow on the ground from late January till mid March. March itself has been pretty snowy for down here. So looking at things from the perspective of New Jersey, it was a pretty fine winter.

Here are my biggest disappointments.

1. April 1982. I was in High School living in Southern Ma. But from Feb to early April I was on an extended stay in Colorado. I was on the bus home and it was snowing. But I was in Rochester, NY for the storm. 10 inches. Not bad. But then my sister called me from Maine and they had 24 with a true Blizzard.

2. Winter 1993-94. The first great winter for Springfield, MA after a lackluster 80's and early 90's. Of course that was the winter I spent in Phoenix, AZ. Of course the cold and snow finally came when I was out west. My best friend who lived in Westfield, MA kept sending me letters with the blow by blow and measurements all winter.

3. Feb of 2001. I had just recently moved to Schenectady, NY. We had a nice 8 inch snowfall. But my parents in the Springfield, MA area had 27 inches at their house. I had moved just 2 weeks earlier.

4. Dec of 2002. Big Christmas snow in Albany, NY. 21 inches. Of course I was visiting my parents in Springfield and I got 8 inches at their house.

The best times I can remember:

1. Winter of 1995-96. I was living with my parents in Russell, MA just west of Springfield, MA. I measured 143 inches that winter, with the big storm in Jan of 96 giving me 23.5 inches, tied for my deepest. If it hadn't been for that horrific warm rainstorm in late January that pretty much melted all, it would have been the best winter ever. I did measure 40 inches on the ground before that rain hit.

2. Winter of 2002 -2003 in Albany, NY, Although I missed the Christmas Storm, we did get another 20 incher in January, and that winter had 105 inches.

3. Early Dec of 2003. I was in Cohoes, NY and we had a great storm all day on a Saturday. 23.5 inches. The timing was perfect. It was the best storm of my life. I got to enjoy it all day on a Saturday, and then clean it up on Sunday.

So I've had good times and bad times. Par for the course. I think about all the successes, all the great times, and I feel good about my time on the planet.

But if I could time travel I would love to see these:

The 1888 storm. I'd be in either Albany or New Haven.

The Feb 1899 storm in Houston or even New Orleans. That must have been wild for so far south.

Any time it snowed measurably in San Francisco in the late 1800's.

Jan 1950 in Seattle, WA area.

The great snow of 1717 in Boston. (Which this winter was probably a dup of).

well you answered some good questions which i have had for a long time, i suspected 93-94 was great here and likely 92-93 as lattitude helped in events both those years....i knew 95-96 produced incredible depths before the melt but i am wondering just how much of a difference there is between Russel and where I live i south fpk spfd....there can be big differences between parts of suffield and agawam as oppossed to where i live

[codfishsnowman]

Russel is far from spfd 22 miles....wnw...can def see how they could do a lot better in some set ups

[Collinsville]

well you answered some good questions which i have had for a long time, i suspected 93-94 was great here and likely 92-93 as lattitude helped in events both those years....i knew 95-96 produced incredible depths before the melt but i am wondering just how much of a difference there is between Russel and where I live i south fpk spfd....there can be big differences between parts of suffield and agawam as oppossed to where i live

 

92-93 was good thanks to March but I don't think I'd call it great for Springfield. The City got punked big time in the Dec 1992 storm.

[codfishsnowman]

yeah i forgot about that, i had ten inches of paste in the Bristol Ct lowlands, i do know there were several storms in 95-96 that were better closer to the ct/ma border...even the jan blizzard...bristol kind of got boned in that one

[acoolerclimate]

well you answered some good questions which i have had for a long time, i suspected 93-94 was great here and likely 92-93 as lattitude helped in events both those years....i knew 95-96 produced incredible depths before the melt but i am wondering just how much of a difference there is between Russel and where I live i south fpk spfd....there can be big differences between parts of suffield and agawam as oppossed to where i live

 

I've been a big snow watcher since I was 15 years old and discovered the "Local Climatological Data" report. I was a kid in a candy store with those. I started getting them in 1981 and I never looked back.

 

My parents had a house near the top of a hill in Russell, MA. It was 800 to 850 in elevation. They bought the house in Feb of 1986 and sold it in Oct of 1998. I lived there full time from 86 to 92, and then off and on the rest of the time. I missed the 93-94 winter completely, but was there for the whole 95-96 season. That winter I worked in downtown Northampton. For most of that time I took daily weather data. Not very detailed, but max/min, snowfall, and precip when I got a rain gauge. The Dec of 92 storm was a giant mess. In Russell, I had 17 inches, but it then turned to sleet/freezing rain/rain and it completely wrecked it. The snow was packed down to half that amount, and it was pockmarked and wet. But just a few towns to the west and higher in elevation, such as Otis, had 28 or more inches of snow. I drove up to Otis and took photos. At the time I was working in Holyoke, and they had 2 or 3 I think. Big bust in the valley. 

 

I often had snow in Russell when there was rain or much less snow in the valley. Once I had 4 inches of Lake Effect snow. It actually made it that far east. But there wasn't a flake in the valley that time. I'll have to look up my old records to see the date. 

 

During 95-96 I would say Springfield got over 30 inches on the ground, maybe more, before that awful rainstorm wrecked it. It was the most snow I ever saw in Springfield on the ground. 

[acoolerclimate]

Are we related?

 

 

Ha ha, maybe!!! I so rarely meet people who are nuts about snow and weather like I am. I've only met 3 people my whole life in person, outside of a Met dept that knew what I was talking about. 

[acoolerclimate]

Russel is far from spfd 22 miles....wnw...can def see how they could do a lot better in some set ups

 

 

I noticed the biggest differences in Spring and Fall, and during right on the edge of 32 degree events. And very rarely some lake effect snow would filter to Russell that never made the valley. We also held on to snow much longer than the Valley. 

 

But one thing worse in Russell was thunderstorms. We missed a lot. They tended to develop over the valley and head east, and the ones that formed in far western MA dissipated by the time they got to Russell. Not that we didn't get a few bad ones while I was there, but when my parents lived in Palmer from 1998 to 2006 the storms were more frequent and often worse over there. 

[Sugarloaf1989]

Boy what a snow hole Albany, NY is. Driving through there on the way to Whiteface I was amazed at the total lack of snow cover.

[backedgeapproaching]

Boy what a snow hole Albany, NY is. Driving through there on the way to Whiteface I was amazed at the total lack of snow cover.

I think they actually have around 75" on the season too. Not too bad really.

But yea, pretty much bare ground now.