Winter Banter & General Discussion/Observations

[Hazey]

In my parts a storm in Jan 2000 dropped 16" in 4.5hours. Most intense snow I've witnessed. Atleast 2-3"per hour with a hour and a half of 5-6" an hour. Weird thing is is there wasn't a breath of wind. I mean as calm as can be with perfect snow growth. It just dumped. I've never forgotten it and probably never will. The other memorable thing was due to the super hvy snow and the stillness, I couldn't hear anything. Like my gf at the time was standing 20ft away and not only could I barely see here but I couldn't hear her talking. Very surreal experience.

[Ginx snewx]

2 minutes ago, Hazey said:

In my parts a storm in Jan 2000 dropped 16" in 4.5hours. Most intense snow I've witnessed. Atleast 2-3"per hour with a hour and a half of 5-6" an hour. Weird thing is is there wasn't a breath of wind. I mean as calm as can be with perfect snow growth. It just dumped. I've never forgotten it and probably never will. The other memorable thing was due to the super hvy snow and the stillness, I couldn't hear anything. Like my gf at the time was standing 20ft away and not only could I barely see here but I couldn't hear her talking. Very surreal experience.

In Jan 11 I got under a 58 dbz radar return had 7.75 in one hour. In 2013 had 5.8 in one hour and last Jan 27th banged a consecutive 3.5 per

[ORH_wxman]

4 minutes ago, Hazey said:

In my parts a storm in Jan 2000 dropped 16" in 4.5hours. Most intense snow I've witnessed. Atleast 2-3"per hour with a hour and a half of 5-6" an hour. Weird thing is is there wasn't a breath of wind. I mean as calm as can be with perfect snow growth. It just dumped. I've never forgotten it and probably never will. The other memorable thing was due to the super hvy snow and the stillness, I couldn't hear anything. Like my gf at the time was standing 20ft away and not only could I barely see here but I couldn't hear her talking. Very surreal experience.

It was like that in the 12/23/97 storm here...I had a total of 18" in about 7 hours. Most of it fell in 3-4 hours including that peak of 7" per hour....but I'd bet on each side of that 7" per hour period, we had 4" per hour.

 

But the stillness and "muted" sound you describe was very similar to my experience. It was so quiet. Snow falling almost straight down...maybe a very light northeast puff of wind every now and then. Monster flakes though...like these were easily silver dollars, probably hooked dendrites as it wasn't a wet snow. Visibility was maybe 100-200 feet at the peak.

[dmillz25]

Jan 27,2011 here in NYC I believe was 5"/hr rates at one point it was pouring snow to say the least

[Hazey]

Sorry the storm I referenced was actually Jan 21, 2001 not 2000. That was quite a season for us. Second heaviest seasonal snow total. 14-15 topped it with its epic Feb-Apr period. 2000-2001 was also St. John's biggest season if I recall. 570cms total or close to 300"

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, ORH_wxman said:

It was like that in the 12/23/97 storm here...I had a total of 18" in about 7 hours. Most of it fell in 3-4 hours including that peak of 7" per hour....but I'd bet on each side of that 7" per hour period, we had 4" per hour.

 

But the stillness and "muted" sound you describe was very similar to my experience. It was so quiet. Snow falling almost straight down...maybe a very light northeast puff of wind every now and then. Monster flakes though...like these were easily silver dollars, probably hooked dendrites as it wasn't a wet snow. Visibility was maybe 100-200 feet at the peak.

That certainly helps with ratios, and thus inches - lots of air spaces, like with a poor tetris player.

Heaviest snow I've encountered was LES on I-80 in western PA, early Jan 2012.  Visibility was under 50 yards - we could see the 4-way flashers on the car ahead of us, but sometimes not on the next one, and at 25 mph (in the "fast" lane - trucks to the right were at 10) we were not all that far apart.  Based on snow depth at the west edge of the east-moving bands, I'd guess 6"/hr.  Also, nice flakes (dime-size) and little-no wind.  Heaviest synoptic rate came in the 24.5" dump of 2/22-23/09, when I had 9" in 2:45 - might've been an hour with 4" in there somewhere.

In Bethel Maine in the March 2001 storm we measured 11 inches in roughly 70 minutes

Which March storm?  I'm guessing the early one, but the two late-month dumps were bigger in my neighborhood.  Had 55.5" that month (Farmington 58.3", most for any month not starting with "F"), and only 12/76 in Ft. Kent tops that in my experience, 61.5".

[Typhoon Tip]

1 hour ago, ORH_wxman said:

It was like that in the 12/23/97 storm here...I had a total of 18" in about 7 hours. Most of it fell in 3-4 hours including that peak of 7" per hour....but I'd bet on each side of that 7" per hour period, we had 4" per hour.

 

But the stillness and "muted" sound you describe was very similar to my experience. It was so quiet. Snow falling almost straight down...maybe a very light northeast puff of wind every now and then. Monster flakes though...like these were easily silver dollars, probably hooked dendrites as it wasn't a wet snow. Visibility was maybe 100-200 feet at the peak.

yup, '97 was one of the ones i had in mind... 

that one dropped just about 8 inches on the dot in one, 1 hour interval, then it was book ended by couple three hours on either side of 2-4" per hours.  but during that one hour, same sound 'muting' occurred.  

the other was dec 2005 and the trop fold bomb on the cape.  we had two concetric deform bands on the zygote CCB head up here in mid mass and mother-f did they snow! one had just shy of 8" and the other 4" with about an inch inbetween... end up with 15" if mem serves.  

in fact, both 97 and 2005 had 15" in Acton. 

the third was was March 93... got about 16" with 1/2 of sleet on top.  8" of which fell in an hour. 

[Typhoon Tip]

oh, crap - if we want to get into lake effect... i've seen 5" an hour on multiple occasions in Michigan

[Hoth]

4 hours ago, dmillz25 said:

Jan 27,2011 here in NYC I believe was 5"/hr rates at one point it was pouring snow to say the least

That was a great storm.

[Hoth]

Just been digging through the old Manitoba Mauler thread from '15. Man, it just gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. The overnight Euro suddenly picking up the blizzard while we were distracted by the 24th event, DT woofing, the NAM dropping 3 feet of fantasy snow, the RGEM looking ominous despite being out of range, and GFS suddenly following suit in lock step. What a special event that was, what a special few weeks to follow. Also, was laughing at a post Weatherfella put up on the 23rd to the effect of "Out walking and there's a snow sky. Haven't seen that this winter." If only he'd known that it wouldn't stop snowing for a month to come. 

[CoastalWx]

7 minutes ago, Hoth said:

Just been digging through the old Manitoba Mauler thread from '15. Man, it just gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling. The overnight Euro suddenly picking up the blizzard while we were distracted by the 24th event, DT woofing, the NAM dropping 3 feet of fantasy snow, the RGEM looking ominous despite being out of range, and GFS suddenly following suit in lock step. What a special event that was, what a special few weeks to follow. Also, was laughing at a post Weatherfella put up on the 23rd to the effect of "Out walking and there's a snow sky. Haven't seen that this winter." If only he'd known that it wouldn't stop snowing for a month to come. 

Ha. Yeah man...who would have known. I've probably never seen more than 4"/hr thanks to not always being in the right place at right time, but I saw depths I may not ever see again.  I still think the most insane sustained rates were in the 4/1/97 storm. 12+ hrs of pure insanity. 

[dmillz25]

30 minutes ago, Hoth said:

That was a great storm.

One of my favorite storms of all time. Went from heavy rain to heavy snow. Had multiple TSSN in it as well. I think we was expecting 4-8" and got 20"

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

Some crush job times I can recall: 

Jan 2000 in NJ - 5" of big wet mashers in 1hr middle of the night.

Box day 2010 in NJ - 14" under the main GSP band overnight from roughly 1-5am, yup I was up the whole time.

Jan 2011 in CT - 9" from 3-6am or so.

Feb 2006 in NJ - 10" in 3hr, rough guess it was overnight. Fell asleep at 2am with 10" woke up at 6am with 22".

theme seems to be best rates being overnight. even those who experienced feb 13 and jan 15, overnight mostly unless you are in eastern zones.

[Hoth]

20 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Ha. Yeah man...who would have known. I've probably never seen more than 4"/hr thanks to not always being in the right place at right time, but I saw depths I may not ever see again.  I still think the most insane sustained rates were in the 4/1/97 storm. 12+ hrs of pure insanity. 

Whiff to HECS in 90 hours. So much fun. And '97 was awesome, too. Crazy QPF in that, but I would give anything to have been at my 'rents house in Hamden CT when the '13 megaband came through. Mom reported straight up hail amid 5-6" per hour madness.

[CapturedNature]

5 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

In Bethel Maine in the March 2001 storm we measured 11 inches in roughly 70 minutes

We had a memorable Norlun that dumped a narrow band of 12-18" in an hour to hour and half.  I think it was March 1993 but I could be wrong.  It just dumped but 5-10 miles away they only had a few inches.  I had never seen anything like that nor snowfall rates.

That stillness someone mentioned is one of my favorite things about about snowstorms.  Rain brings noise, snow brings silence.

[Hoth]

2 minutes ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Some crush job times I can recall: 

Jan 2000 in NJ - 5" of big wet mashers in 1hr middle of the night.

Box day 2010 in NJ - 14" under the main GSP band overnight from roughly 1-5am, yup I was up the whole time.

Jan 2011 in CT - 9" from 3-6am or so.

Feb 2006 in NJ - 10" in 3hr, rough guess it was overnight. Fell asleep at 2am with 10" woke up at 6am with 22".

theme seems to be best rates being overnight. even those who experienced feb 13 and jan 15, overnight mostly unless you are in eastern zones.

Which Jan '11? I prefer the first on the 11th/12th, especially coming hard on the heels of that Norlun, but for snow rates the second one rocked.

[Hoth]

1 minute ago, MetHerb said:

We had a memorable Norlun that dumped a narrow band of 12-18" in an hour to hour and half.  I think it was March 1993 but I could be wrong.  It just dumped but 5-10 miles away they only had a few inches.  I had never seen anything like that nor snowfall rates.

That stillness someone mentioned is one of my favorite things about about snowstorms.  Rain brings noise, snow brings silence.

Sweet Jesus...

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

9 minutes ago, Hoth said:

Which Jan '11? I prefer the first on the 11th/12th, especially coming hard on the heels of that Norlun, but for snow rates the second one rocked.

first one for here, nice pivot band setup shop. 

[Hoth]

God, I just hope the last ten or twenty years really are a "new regime", so to speak. I don't I could handle a period like the Eighties after what we've seen. Never seem to have to go more than two or three years without a major.

[OSUmetstud]

6 hours ago, Hazey said:

Sorry the storm I referenced was actually Jan 21, 2001 not 2000. That was quite a season for us. Second heaviest seasonal snow total. 14-15 topped it with its epic Feb-Apr period. 2000-2001 was also St. John's biggest season if I recall. 570cms total or close to 300"

648 cm/255".

Funny enough, BUF's second snowiest winter at 159".  

[Hazey]

648 cm/255".

Funny enough, BUF's second snowiest winter at 159".  

Prolific season for the Avalon. Was off a bit on the numbers. I had like 267 cms and that was a big season here. Not even half of St. John's total.

[OSUmetstud]

4 minutes ago, Hazey said:

Prolific season for the Avalon. Was off a bit on the numbers. I had like 267 cms and that was a big season here. Not even half of St. John's total.

 

I can't imagine that would be your snowiest season then?  

[Hazey]

 

I can't imagine that would be your snowiest season then?  

It wasn't. 343 cms in 2014-15 was tops for here. Almost all fell between Jan 28 and end of Apr. Had we had a good start, might've been much more.

[moneypitmike]

I'm experiencing the relative warmth of being on the water at the Pit East.  A relatively balmy 23* here at much higher latitude compared and 10' from the water versus 20* at the original Pit.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

That stretch in 15 is something I fully expect to never see or experience again. The combination of cold and 40"+ of snow on the ground     Made it other worldly.

 

One of the most underrated aspects, at least in this area, was despite the big storms, there were plenty of smaller refreshers.

Seems like we had bands of snow pop up over us numerous times that month dropping a surprise 2,3,4 inches of snow.

it was snowing at every turn 

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

That stretch in 15 is something I fully expect to never see or experience again. The combination of cold and 40"+ of snow on the ground     Made it other worldly.

 

One of the most underrated aspects, at least in this area, was despite the big storms, there were plenty of smaller refreshers.

Seems like we had bands of snow pop up over us numerous times that month dropping a surprise 2,3,4 inches of snow.

it was snowing at every turn 

I remember going into work one day in Boston and arrived there with fat cotton ball dendrites falling after leaving home with mostly full sun. There was an OES band right over the city that stayed there for several hours. They "only " picked up about 2 inches of absolute pure fluff , but it was symbolic of that stretch. 100 inches in 3 weeks and nearly constant flakes in the air when there wasn't a huge storm. 

Boston harbor by the end of that stretch looked like the surface of the moon. It was frozen as far as the eye could see and it was covered in all uneven drifts and mounds of snow from the constant exposure to wind out there. It was a surreal scene. I've actually seen more snow pack in ORH before, but never seen a scene like Boston was with the huge downtown and harbor completely transformed. It was like a scene out "Day after tomorrow". The March 2001 snowpack in ORH didn't have the cataclysmic overtone to it that 2015 did in Boston. 

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

2 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

I remember going into work one day in Boston and arrived there with fat cotton ball dendrites falling after leaving home with mostly full sun. There was an OES band right over the city that stayed there for several hours. They "only " picked up about 2 inches of absolute pure fluff , but it was symbolic of that stretch. 100 inches in 3 weeks and nearly constant flakes in the air when there wasn't a huge storm. 

Boston harbor by the end of that stretch looked like the surface of the moon. It was frozen as far as the eye could see and it was covered in all uneven drifts and mounds of snow from the constant exposure to wind out there. It was a surreal scene. I've actually seen more snow pack in ORH before, but never seen a scene like Boston was with the huge downtown and harbor completely transformed. It was like a scene out "Day after tomorrow". The March 2001 snowpack in ORH didn't have the cataclysmic overtone to it that 2015 did in Boston. 

Day after tomorrow is a great way to describe it, especially in Boston.

Something I'll add is every single big ticket storm in that stretch seemed to break for the better regardless of the circumstances. Each event produced exactly right to maximize snowfall

[Ginx snewx]

Remembering storms of yore gets me wanting a fix. The  Red Bull jolt of 16 to get me out of my 15 hangover  is gone. Time to get my  buzz on. Shot hour!

[40/70 Benchmark]

12 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

I remember going into work one day in Boston and arrived there with fat cotton ball dendrites falling after leaving home with mostly full sun. There was an OES band right over the city that stayed there for several hours. They "only " picked up about 2 inches of absolute pure fluff , but it was symbolic of that stretch. 100 inches in 3 weeks and nearly constant flakes in the air when there wasn't a huge storm. 

Boston harbor by the end of that stretch looked like the surface of the moon. It was frozen as far as the eye could see and it was covered in all uneven drifts and mounds of snow from the constant exposure to wind out there. It was a surreal scene. I've actually seen more snow pack in ORH before, but never seen a scene like Boston was with the huge downtown and harbor completely transformed. It was like a scene out "Day after tomorrow". The March 2001 snowpack in ORH didn't have the cataclysmic overtone to it that 2015 did in Boston. 

Great post.

[Hazey]

That stretch in 15 is something I fully expect to never see or experience again. The combination of cold and 40"+ of snow on the ground     Made it other worldly.

 

One of the most underrated aspects, at least in this area, was despite the big storms, there were plenty of smaller refreshers.

Seems like we had bands of snow pop up over us numerous times that month dropping a surprise 2,3,4 inches of snow.

it was snowing at every turn 

We got it here a few weeks later. I'll always remember it not only for how much fell but just as much for how quickly a season can turn. We only had 3" prior to the end of January. If anyone had of told me at that point that I would finished the season with 135" I would have laughed in their face. Here it was end of march 18th and I was staring at 40" of snow with banks 12ft high and the same time 3yrs earlier in 2012, almost to the day, it was mid 80's and I was BBQ'ng on the back deck. Seasons in seasons.