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January 22-24th Blizzard Observation and Snow Reports

The Iceman

By The Iceman,
in Philadelphia Region

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Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes

Posted
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I love this post Agnes. Although I believe the NAM often does this on Miller A's. I remember one a few years back where it scored big.

 

I also remember the much-discussed GFS "cold bias".  Am guessing that after the upgrades over the past couple years, this was reduced a bit and I don't hear that mentioned anymore. So both the American models are slowly getting better.  And given the complexity of Miller Bs, I would think that Miller A's like this are easier to get modeled correctly, although the track setup always has that uncertainty and danger of warm air funneling in... even if a cold high is nearby to the north.

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Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes

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I saw a 36" storm in 1972 when I was 8.  It is the biggest snowfall I will probably ever see.  We weren't allowed outside without supervision because my mother thought we'd get lost.  Having said that, I still have fond personal memories of the Blizzard of 78, the Blizzard of 83, Superstorm of 93, January 1996, PDI and PDII and on and on.  All were over 20 inch storms and all had unique qualities that go beyond final totals.  5" of snow in an hour.  The high drifts.  The howling winds.  The low visibilities.  I guess that's a lot of words to say 'don't sweat it".  Your kids will be fine.

 

I was 10 in 1972 and wished there WAS some kind of snow that winter. :axe:   Had Radio Flyers all ready to go sledding but alas.... The early '70s in general sucked around the Philly area.  The 1978 blizzard and the 1979 PD storm, made up for it but by then, I was getting ready for college - the "peak" kiddy playing in snow times were gone. I even went on a senior class trip up to the Poconos in January of 1979 and it was 40s and drizzling, meaning the snowpack became a sheet of ice with water on top.  I do have some brief memories of me and a younger sister in snowsuits and Yogi Bear boots with little shovels after the 1966 snow.  :lmao:

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Fishmn

Fishmn

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Final totals and analysis.

12" 7pm through 7am

20" 7 am through 5 pm

4.5" 5pm to finish

Total 36.5"

Deepest measured deapth 29"

Best storm I'm my 46 years. Wish we saw more drifting but I will see some on my adventures this afternoon when I finally get out. This was better than 96 I only hope it doesn't torch in a week an see it all melt in 2 days.

Thanks to all for the fun this week.

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Sunny and Warm

Sunny and Warm

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I was 10 in 1972 and wished there WAS some kind of snow that winter. :axe:   Had Radio Flyers all ready to go sledding but alas.... The early '70s in general sucked around the Philly area.  The 1978 blizzard and the 1979 PD storm, made up for it but by then, I was getting ready for college - the "peak" kiddy playing in snow times were gone. I even went on a senior class trip up to the Poconos in January of 1979 and it was 40s and drizzling, meaning the snowpack became a sheet of ice with water on top.  I do have some brief memories of me and a younger sister in snowsuits and Yogi Bear boots with little shovels after the 1966 snow.  :lmao:

I lived in the north central mountains of PA in 1972.  One man's rain storm is another man's blizzard.  Yeah, if you lived in Philly back then, you got screwed.  A warm winter like this one with that one big haymaker.  Before 1976, all the winters in the early 70's were blah, even up north.

 

21Feb18-20-1972.jpg

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RevWarReenactor

RevWarReenactor

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This storm was a disappointment for me relative to the surrounding areas. We got maybe 13 inches and sat under a dry slot most of the day. I can walk in the snow and it comes up to the top of my boot. I've had the storms where it comes up to the waist. So for this area it was more of your run of the mill major storm. But I recognize that it was very historical in overall scope.

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Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes

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I lived in the north central mountains of PA in 1972.  One man's rain storm is another man's blizzard.  Yeah, if you lived in Philly back then, you got screwed.  A warm winter like this one with that one big haymaker.  Before 1976, all the winters in the early 70's were blah, even up north.

 

21Feb18-20-1972.jpg

 

Map clearly shows the screw zones! :lmao:    I remember when one of my younger nieces had finally started complaining about all the snow during the 2009-2010 winter. I told her she was lucky because she was living through unprecedented times and enjoy it now. 

 

Of course that summer of 1972, we were treated to what became my forum name - a memorable storm for me mainly because the year before I had been at Camp Laughing Waters (overnight Girl Scout camp in Gilbertsville) for the first time and when I returned the summer of '72, the place was torn up due to all the flooding from Hurricane Agnes (as we were told - the Swamp creek runs through the acreage there).  The "Do-dad Bridge" (wooden suspension bridge) over the creek at one spot on the camp grounds, had been completely upended and was laying in the water, and a number of trees had washed away.  My next trip there for camp was 4 years later as a Senior Girl Scout, and the bridge had been repaired (with a huge cement base as a replacement to support the bridge platforms versus the original wood pilings, platforms, and ladder).

 

I know a bunch of folks believe this stuff is going to disappear quickly although I expect that due to the sun angle still being relatively low, even with warmer temps and rain, it'll take longer (particularly compared to the 2 March surprise storms last year that did erode away pretty quickly).

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Plokoon111

Plokoon111

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Trying to find spots to measure, and it goes from 15", to 19", 25". The most level snow I could find measures to 21". And boy did I feel sore this morning from all that shoveling. But a very decent storm, now if it were predicted 18-24" for the most I would be happy. But sometimes you win some storms, and lose in others. But no doubt its great to see the upper counties getting that 30"+ snow. But I have a hunch that winter isn't quite over yet. But man those drifts are crazy. I have a 35" drift on my hill almost against my house, looks like a mini version of a mountain range in the Poconos. Neat stuff!

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The Iceman

The Iceman

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Anyone video record the storm, and then go back and replay segments during peak snow and winds and it appear not as bad on video? Really odd, I recorded some epic moments only to see it wasn't as bad as being there. Very interesting...

It's resolution issues. Unless you have a hd camera it isn't going to look as epic as being in it live.
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backedgeapproaching

backedgeapproaching

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Anyone video record the storm, and then go back and replay segments during peak snow and winds and it appear not as bad on video? Really odd, I recorded some epic moments only to see it wasn't as bad as being there. Very interesting...

Every time a take a pic when it's really heavy snow it's never looks that in the pic, so yea I know what you mean.

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Spagolli94

Spagolli94

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It was the #4 storm at PHL? It was a strange storm for me because all of the heavy bands came though at night, so I feel like I never actually saw it snow much. I've seen some pictures of the burbs that are truly epic!!! It was an amazing storm for sure - we just needed it to move about 20 miles to the east during the day to get rid of that dreaded dry slot.

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Ralph Wiggum

Ralph Wiggum

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Holy Moly, what an awesome storm!!!

 

Under the light of the moon poking through the breaks in the clouds, I ventured out into the field to the snowboard for the final tally on this storm after the final flurries had fallen last night. Again, should be fairly accurate....white snowboard, center of 2-3 acre open field, 4 measurements, average of all 4 = final snowfall measurement.

 

Warminster, Bucks County, PA - 31.4"

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Spagolli94

Spagolli94

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I just saw some snow Facebook images from Croydon, and compared to up here you got jip'd my friend.

 

Basically, the 95/295 corridor from Wilmington through PHL up to TTN was the screw zone. It feels odd to call 20" a screw zone, but relatively speaking... For many, this was truly a historic event. For PHL, it was certainly a significant storm, but far from my all time favorite. For me, the back-to-back blizzards of 2010 are still king as I wasn't in the area in 96.

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Hurricane Agnes

Hurricane Agnes

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Wow.  Compared to just NW of me with folks getting 20+ inches, that dryslot screw zone hole over this part of the city made a difference.  It was tough to find a spot that was relatively level given some areas were literally bare to the ground with grass showing and other areas had 3 ft drifts but I averaged about 18.5".  Climbing in and through it was a nuisance though.

 

The good thing was that during most of the duration, the snow here remained pretty powdery (like 1996) so the trees have little or nothing on them (which pretty much helped to eliminate power outages) and many of the car roofs and hoods were bare.  I expected it to feel much colder out but I guess the temp being ~28F with little wind helped.  I wouldn't be surprised if some good sublimation will be happening today given the fineness of the snow.

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