Favorite 3 snowstorms you've experienced in each half-month

[gymengineer]

I thought it would be interesting for people to rank the top 3 snow events they've experienced by basically 15-day intervals throughout the snow season. This is in contrast to just putting it all into one list like we've done before in various "rank" threads. The reason for the top 3 instead of top 1: I'm interested in people's second choice and third choices since the top choice is obvious for many of the segments.

 

So this is for November through March, since we have so few April and October events. 

 

If you don't have three in any time-frame, just leave the ones you can't fill in blank. Or just do December through March. Or any part you can remember. 

 

November 1-15:

November 16-30:

December 1-15:

December 16-31:

January 1-15:

January 16-31:

February 1-14:

February 15-28(29):

March 1-15:

March 16-31: 

 

Here are my choices:

November 1-15

1) 11/11/87- "only" 6" where I was, but still the best by far

2) 11/11/95- power out after severe thunderstorm squall line, precip transitioned rapidly to sleet then snow. 2" of wind-swept blizzard condition snows

3) none

 

November 16-30

1) 11/89- 3.5" Thanksgiving storm was cold with roads covered

2) 11/29/95- 2" overnight snow, didn't stick to roads near me

3) 11/23-24/05- 1.5" snow the night before Thanksgiving on grassy surfaces

 

December 1-15

1) 12/5-6/03- 7.5" total- first 4" was over-performer with models coming in colder right before and a WWA issued- that segment verified WS criteria from just NW of me through the rest of the county (including a ridiculous 10" in far NW part of the county. The second part under-performed as what was supposed to be the main event blew up just to the NE of us and was more a New England/NYC blizzard. Still, Saturday morning (12/6) was the wintriest scene I've seen in early December.

2) 12/5/02- 6" started one of the best winters ever and was the most high impact snow event since 2000. It was straight forward I-95 snowstorm.

3) 12/8/89: 4-5", stuck to streets easily as the storm swept in from the morning through the evening; temps fell during the day from the low 30's into the low-mid 20's. 

 

December 16-31

1) 12/09- no contest, 21"

2) 12/90- 5" snow to sleet to ZR/drizzle before ending. One of the best examples of a "bad pattern storm," like 2/21/15. 

3) 12/24-25/02- 3.5"-- 1.5" Christmas Eve and then it melts in the rain, then the 2" in an hour Christmas morning. The snow came down so furiously that it coated all roads right after the change from rain.

 

January 1-15 

1) 1/96- no contest, 25"

2) 1/12/96- the event that completed the DC meltdown week. 6.8"

3) 1/15- Yes clipper! 3.8" caused major road issues

 

January 16-31

1) 1/16- no contest, 29"

2) 1/22/87- 14" absolute overperformer. 

3) 1/00- 9", legend. One aspect of 1/25/00 that was spectacular aside from the positive bust was the consistent wind. 

 

February 1-14

1) 2/5-6/10- no contest, 26.5"

2) (I was too young to remember 2/83 though I lived through it as a toddler) So, 2/10-11/10: Blizzard. 13.5" of super-low visibility snow with high wind gusts completes the most amazing weather week .

3) 2/06- 14.5"- it all came in one continuous push, so this beats 2/14 for me. Both events were quick melters, but I really think people may sometimes exaggerate the melting rate in the immediate aftermath of 2/06. Sunday was very much a recovery day for the areas that got into the foot-plus amounts. There were rounds of light snow showers throughout the day, and digging out of parking spots in all the apartment/condo communities. 

 

February 15-28

1) 2/03- no contest, 22" for the entire 2/15-2/18 period.

2) 2/87- 13" of power-outage snow that caused the maximum disruption a "warm snow" could have.

3) 2/21/15- almost strange that this one would be third, but 7.3" is the highest total of the remaining storms. The biggest plus was that it coated all surfaces, including the beltway, during the day.

 

March 1-15

1) 3/93- no contest, 14" but with much higher drifts. This was the first HECS-type experience (since I left off 2/83) in my memories. 

(Number 2 would have been 3/9/99 easily, but I wasn't in town. 8.5"!)

2) 3/15- 7" of easy-daytime-sticking snow makes this my favorite moderate event ever

3) 3/09- 6.8" Yes! Super-band starting around dawn. 

 

March 16-31

1) 3/16-17/14: no contest- 9"

2) 3/25/13: 4" that stuck on the roads. Reporters talking about slush on roads during the morning hours as snow continued to fall. 

3) 3/25/14: 2.8", stuck everywhere except for roads, branch covering snow. 

[Fozz]

November 16-30:

Nov 2014 event... only about 2"... nice to have a white Thanksgiving but not a big storm by any means

 

December 1-15:

1) 12/5/2002: 8" IMBY, very nice storm, beginning of a great winter

2) 12/8/2013: nearly 6" in the span of a few hours from the deathband, setting the stage for winter 2013-14

3) 12/5/2003: 12"+ IMBY, came in two parts

 

December 16-31:

12/19/2009: 19" from the big storm, snowed nearly 24 hours

 

January 1-15:
1) 1/3/2014: 5-7" from a nice overperforming Miller B

2) 1/5/2003: 4-5" here from overperforming clipper
Honorable mention: Jan 1996... I was only 5 and my memory of that storm isn't that clear, but I recall seeing massive drifts and it was the first experience of a blizzard that I remember... it left me a big impression of blizzards and that was the one storm that came to mind whenever anyone talked about blizzards

 

January 16-31:
1) Blizzard of 2016: 27" IMBY.... enough said

2) 1/30/2010: 6" at UMD, nice cold storm

3) 1/26/2004: I'm going to guess 8"... didn't measure but it was a very nice storm

 

February 1-14:

1) 2/10/10: 20" of cold powder, incredible blizzard, especially coming a few days after a HECS

2) PDII: ~28"... my first HECS since I became interested in weather and was old enough to understand how amazing it was

3) 2/6/10: 25" from Snowmageddon

4) 2/13/2014: 17" at MU... thundersnow from the ULL was a nice highlight

5) Feb 2006: 15" IMBY... saved the winter

6) 2/14/2007: 5" of sleet/snow packed very tightly

 

February 15-28(29):

1) 2/22/2015: 8.5"... nice cold daytime snowstorm from an inland runner, very fun storm

2) 2/25/2005: 4" thump in a nice overperformer

3) 2/28/2004: 6" here, took a while to get going but ended up alright

 

March 1-15:

1) 3/5/2015: 6.7" here... another nice storm

2) 3/2/2009: ~5" at UMD

3) 3/3/2014: 3.5" here, followed by impressive cold

 

March 16-31: 

1) 3/17/2014: 5" here

2) 3/25/2013: 4.8" here.... actually the biggest snowstorm of the season...nice considering how late in the season it was

3) 3/16/2007: heavy rain to sleet to a nice backlash in the end... 2"

 

I somehow forgot that it was only top 3 so I made some long lists, but then I trimmed it down to 3.... except for the first half of Feb, because there's something to that time period so I left it as it is.

[PrinceFrederickWx]

Don't remember anything of significance in November.

December 1-15:

1) 12/5/02

2) 12/5/07

3) 12/5/09

December 16-31:

1) 12/18-19/09

2) 12/24-25/02

3) 12/31/09

January 1-15:

1) 1/7-9/96

2) 1/13/96

3) 1/2/14

January 16-31:

1) 1/22-23/16

2) 1/25/00

3) 1/30/10

(Very hard to narrow down to 3 here)

February 1-14:

1) 2/5-6/10

2) 2/9-10/10

3) 2/2-3/10

(Hard to narrow down to 3 here too)

February 15-28:

1) 2/15-17/03

2) 2/16-17/15

March 1-15:

1) 3/5/15

2) 3/3/14

3) 3/1-2/09

March 16-31:

1) 3/16-17/14

2) 3/25/13

3) 3/25/14

This exercise really showed me where peak climo is lol

[gymengineer]

This exercise really showed me where peak climo is lol

I didn't even think about it until completing this exercise:

I've experienced a 20"+ snowstorm in every single half-month window from second half of December through the end of February! None of the windows had more than one 20"+ storm either (unless I count 2/83 when I was 3 years old). So while early February does have more MECS than the other windows, the HECS have been spread out.