Huge Damaging Nor'easter Obs

[Ginx snewx]

3 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

A lot depends on the temp too...if you are getting a pure scalping at like 31-32F, the ratio will be lower, but if it's 25F, then it will probably accumulate much better. Though in my experience, it's somewhat rare to get 100% sleet once you get colder than mid 20s...there's usually some really fine dust in there that aids in the accumulation. (since mid 20s at sfc usually means that you're probably in the teens around 900-925 which is cold enough for ice crystal nucleation)

 

Last night here was def in the 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 range, but there was a lot of actual snow mixing in. There were periods where it went to just about all snow.

 

 

The one great thing though about some good sleet is that it makes the snow banks look a lot better...looks more like an 8 inch storm than a 4 inch storm:

 

 

 

Gorgeous, saw cars with snow/sleet on them on my way in on 395 with CT plates then found out Woodstock got a couple inches

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, Ginx snewx said:

Gorgeous, saw cars with snow/sleet on them on my way in on 395 with CT plates then found out Woodstock got a couple inches

Yeah looks like Pomfret reported 1.8" on the PNS too.

[tamarack]

14 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

A lot depends on the temp too...if you are getting a pure scalping at like 31-32F, the ratio will be lower, but if it's 25F, then it will probably accumulate much better. Though in my experience, it's somewhat rare to get 100% sleet once you get colder than mid 20s...there's usually some really fine dust in there that aids in the accumulation. (since mid 20s at sfc usually means that you're probably in the teens around 900-925 which is cold enough for ice crystal nucleation)

 

Last night here was def in the 4 to 1 or 5 to 1 range, but there was a lot of actual snow mixing in. There were periods where it went to just about all snow.

Most of my relatively pure (and ZR-free) sleetfests have come with temps in the mid-20s.  Most of those came when I lived in NNJ, including one ion Jan. 1965 that was a rain-sleet-ZR sequence over about 40 hours, with the temp plunging into the teens and nary a flake - I was on the local lake icefishing and would have noticed. When temps got into the low-mid 20s precip switched to ZR and put a 3/8" cap on the 3" sleet layer that enabled ice skating on lawns.  My NNJ records are lost, but NYC's are below:

1/23/1965....47....24....0.64"....1,0"
1/24/1965....32....24....0.51"....2.2"

The 47 came at 12:01 AM on the 23rd, the 32 at 11:59 on the 24th, with temps bottoming out late morning of the 23rd.

[Damage In Tolland]

How did CT stay all sleet?

[Sugarloaf1989]

9 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Most of my relatively pure (and ZR-free) sleetfests have come with temps in the mid-20s.  Most of those came when I lived in NNJ, including one ion Jan. 1965 that was a rain-sleet-ZR sequence over about 40 hours, with the temp plunging into the teens and nary a flake - I was on the local lake icefishing and would have noticed. When temps got into the low-mid 20s precip switched to ZR and put a 3/8" cap on the 3" sleet layer that enabled ice skating on lawns.  My NNJ records are lost, but NYC's are below:

1/23/1965....47....24....0.64"....1,0"
1/24/1965....32....24....0.51"....2.2"

The 47 came at 12:01 AM on the 23rd, the 32 at 11:59 on the 24th, with temps bottoming out late morning of the 23rd.

Sugarloaf was around 17F in 1998 when we had 8" of sleet intermixed with freezing rain. Windrow on West Mtn had nearly knee deep sleet skiing. Above Spillway XC it was straight rain.

[Baroclinic Zone]

45F.  

[tamarack]

2 minutes ago, Sugarloaf1989 said:

Sugar loaf was around 17F in 1998 when we had 8" of sleet intermixed with freezing rain. Windrow on West MTN had nearly knee deep sleet skiing. Above Spillway XC it was straight rain.

We were setting up a timber harvest at 2,000-2,900' on a public lot 6 miles SW of Sugarloaf's summit, and while the lot itself had moderate icing and mega sleet, the approach roads had so many trees on them that the contractor's fellerbuncher took 8 hours to cut his way in.  Sleet saved a lot of trees in the mountains while ice was obliterating them at lower elevations.  (Meanwhile, Aroostook had about 2 feet of 8:1 snow - probably snowed for at least 120 hours straight.)

[DavisStraight]

32 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Gorgeous, saw cars with snow/sleet on them on my way in on 395 with CT plates then found out Woodstock got a couple inches

I'm next door to Woodstock and that's what I got.

[Sugarloaf1989]

10 minutes ago, tamarack said:

We were setting up a timber harvest at 2,000-2,900' on a public lot 6 miles SW of Sugarloaf's summit, and while the lot itself had moderate icing and mega sleet, the approach roads had so many trees on them that the contractor's fellerbuncher took 8 hours to cut his way in.  Sleet saved a lot of trees in the mountains while ice was obliterating them at lower elevations.  (Meanwhile, Aroostook had about 2 feet of 8:1 snow - probably snowed for at least 120 hours straight.)

Sleet definitely saved Sugarloaf from tree destruction and power loss. We could not leave Sugarloaf as Maine was under a state of emergency. Going south through Farmington,  Jay etc was a war zone with utter tree destruction and power line damage.

[metagraphica]

27 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

How did northern CT stay all sleet?

Fixed that for ya. 

[40/70 Benchmark]

Just got back from Salem....much stormier there by the ocean; wind noticeably stronger and raining much harder, as the wind swept sheets of rain palpably thicker.

On the ride home, upon crossing over the town line from Wakefield into Reading, the first hints of the transition to winter that would ensue along the balance of the drive home began to appear. Very tiny, sparsely concentrated patches of sleet began to appear, then as I neared Reading common, I noted the collection of sleets in the eaves of some of the roofs.

But the first of two major stratifications of changes took place after passing northwest of the Reading town common, which was 100% grass. The sleet pockets on the lawns, while still sporadic, were becoming far more common. Then, once I hit the Wilmington line; Boom. Bankings began to line to streets; the last vestiges of the war that the public works had waged on the elements. More sleet coverage than not...the common exhibited about 95% coverage, and likewise with the vast majority of roofs.

Then upon making my final descent towards home, through the western reaches of Wilmington, the coverage began to assume a more durable character.

As a side note, a cursory glance at the Davis monitor revealed that the temp had dropped back to 35.9/35, after peaking at 38*.

CF may be sagging, before we all wash out in one fell swoop of homogeniety among the thermal fields, behind the encroaching front.

Interesting event-

[Damage In Tolland]

http://

[40/70 Benchmark]

2 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

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Looks like I should have gone 2-4", as opposed to 3-7" behind I 495....second guessed that as soon as a I hit the "publish" button on blogger.

Oh well.

Nailed the 1-3" zone, and the exorbitantly high ratio of sleet.

[40/70 Benchmark]

Looks to me like the JP was the lift along the nw end of the cf, which was augmented by the easterly fetch.

[eekuasepinniW]

LCI has been reporting snow for the last 12 hours which is impressive considering not a single flake has fallen.

[tamarack]

18 minutes ago, Sugarloaf1989 said:

Sleet definitely saved Sugarloaf from tree destruction and power loss. We could not leave Sugarloaf as Maine was under a state of emergency. Going south through Farmington,  Jay etc was a war zone with utter tree destruction and power line damage.

And Farmington dodged the worst, though Jay/Livermore got hammered.  My current - since May 1998 -  woodlot (62 acres of forest) in New Sharon, just east of Farmington, had less total tree damage than did our houselot (0.8 ac, only half forested) in Gardiner.  We lost power for 4 days and phone for 14, and were very fortunate not to have had power loss same as phone.  On the main drag (Route 201) just south of our place in Gardiner, was a stretch where 8-of-9 utility poles had been snapped off.

[Dan]

18 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

Looks like I should have gone 2-4", as opposed to 3-7" behind I 495....second guessed that as soon as a I hit the "publish" button on blogger.

Oh well.

Nailed the 1-3" zone, and the exorbitantly high ratio of sleet.

That map is a little old tho.  I had 3" here and it is not reflected on that map.

[ORH_wxman]

3 minutes ago, Dan said:

That map is a little old tho.  I had 3" here and it is not reflected on that map.

Yeah it's from 7am...there will be more 4" amounts along the east slope of ORH hills too. They reinstated the 4.5" from Sterling and also added 4"+ reports from Fitchburg, ORH, and Lunenburg (who else, right?)....along with Pepperell and Groton in NW Middlesex county for 4"+ amounts.

[40/70 Benchmark]

2 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yeah it's from 7am...there will be more 4" amounts along the east slope of ORH hills too. They reinstated the 4.5" from Sterling and also added 4"+ reports from Fitchburg, ORH, and Lunenburg (who else, right?).

Dumb move.....idk why I stuck with 3-7".

Thought about 2-5", but i figured some clan sticker in like Lunenburg would pull 7"

[Sugarloaf1989]

13 minutes ago, tamarack said:

And Farmington dodged the worst, though Jay/Livermore got hammered.  My current - since May 1998 -  woodlot (62 acres of forest) in New Sharon, just east of Farmington, had less total tree damage than did our houselot (0.8 ac, only half forested) in Gardiner.  We lost power for 4 days and phone for 14, and were very fortunate not to have had power loss same as phone.  On the main drag (Route 201) just south of our place in Gardiner, was a stretch where 8-of-9 utility poles had been snapped off.

We lost cable but the power never went out. Sugarloaf was closed for most of the storm so I went snowmobiling to Bigelow Lodge. The rental lady gave me a GSM phone in case I got stranded by falling trees. What was interesting was the warm and gusty southerly wind when I hiked to the summit of Sugarloaf with the summit temp at 43F.

[40/70 Benchmark]

Back 33.4/32....winds veered N from NE at about 1130, after a high of 38 from 10-11am.

CF on the move-...solid coverage here....nothing next town se...same as last event.

[ORH_wxman]

5 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

Dumb move.....idk why I stuck with 3-7".

Thought about 2-5", but i figured some clan sticker in like Lunenburg would pull 7"

Hey, WaWa reported 6"....lol. They were actually hammering last night for a long while, so I might actually believe that report...at least I'll bet they scored over 5".

 

I was in the 1-3/2-4" camp for ORH hills...I figured there might be some 3"+ amounts but didn't think we'd get a stripe of 4"+ amounts as abundant as they were. The persistence of the snow mixing in surprised me last night. No doubt that getting into a pocket of good synoptic lift and the easterly flow upslope helped out a lot...that robust easterly flow is usually chalked full of salt nuclei too so a marginal layer around -5 or -6C at 900-925 could have been producing snow. It's one reason those easterly flow events are so fun for the east slope.

 

But yeah, a 2-5" forecast would have been just about perfect for the area.

[ajisai]

This rain is the worst. It's just little misty droplets flying in every direction annoying the heck out of you everywhere you walk. 

[H2Otown_WX]

1 hour ago, Damage In Tolland said:

How did CT stay all sleet?

I'm guessing it was a result of the models underdoing the ageostrophic component of the wind. If you look at the obs. at BDL and HFD, the wind was northerly almost the entire time.

[CoastalWx]

Over 2" and pouring.

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, CoastalWx said:

Over 2" and pouring.

Absolutely wind-whipped rain in Quincy right now...it was sad driving from winter wonderland and watching the white disappear as I headed east this morning....but I'll say that if it's gonna rain, at least it's a good ole fashioned nor' easter. This is pretty impressive wind pulses coming with the rain. I can see the rain falling outside and it looks like pulses of spray moving sideways.

[mahk_webstah]

Looks like no lift inland though...the echoes disappear pretty fast as they push back into the coast.

[CoastalWx]

2 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Absolutely wind-whipped rain in Quincy right now...it was sad driving from winter wonderland and watching the white disappear as I headed east this morning....but I'll say that if it's gonna rain, at least it's a good ole fashioned nor' easter. This is pretty impressive wind pulses coming with the rain. I can see the rain falling outside and it looks like pulses of spray moving sideways.

Yeah still windy. Definitely lightened up from prior to dawn, but nasty regardless. Hopefully we can make the drive more white for you after next week.

[Sugarloaf1989]

NWS has sleet and freezing rain in the forecast here for tonight.

[dendrite]

What a PITA trying to clean up 1" of sleet. 10x the effort and no enjoyment from the storm.