March 1888

[Paragon]

Anyone got any images or snowfall maps of the March 1888 Blizzard?  There were some outlandish drifts and I just wanted to see pictures all in one thread to compare and contrast with our impending big storm!

March 1888-March 1993-March 2017......all almost on the same day!

 

[Paragon]

So far, I found this

http://wikivisually.com/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1888

weather preceding the blizzard was unseasonably mild with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly.^[3] The storm began in earnest shortly after midnight on March 12, and continued unabated for a full day and a half. TheNational Weather Service estimated this Nor'easterdumped as much as 50 inches (130 cm) of snow in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, while parts of New Jersey and New York had up to 40 inches (100 cm).^[2] Most of northern Vermont received from 20 inches (51 cm) to 30 inches (76 cm) in this storm.^[5]

Drifts were reported to average 30–40 feet (9.1–12.2 m), over the tops of houses from New York to New England, with reports of drifts covering three-story houses. The highest drift (52 feet or 16 metres) was recorded in Gravesend, New York. It was reported that 58 inches (150 cm) of snow fell inSaratoga Springs, New York; 48 inches (120 cm) inAlbany, New York; 45 inches (110 cm) of snow in New Haven, Connecticut; and 22 inches (56 cm) of snow inNew York City.^[6] The storm also produced severe winds; 80 miles per hour (129 km/h) wind gusts were reported, although the highest official report in New York City was 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), with a 54 miles per hour (87 km/h) gust reported at Block Island.^[6] New York's Central Park Observatory reported a minimum temperature of 6 °F (−14 °C), and a daytime average of 9 °F (−13 °C) on March 13, the coldest ever for March.^[6]

 

 

 

lots of images on that page too

 

[Paragon]

wunderground weighs in

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/the-great-blizzard-of-1888-americas-greatest-snow-disaster

New York City’s official accumulation was stated as 21” in Manhattan, but up to 36” fell in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. New Haven, Connecticut received 42” and Hartford at least 36” (this figure was estimated since the official weather site for the city was located on a hill where only 19” was recorded since high winds blew the most of the snow away).

State maximums were as follows:

New York: 58” at Saratoga Springs

Connecticut: 50” at Middleton

Vermont: 48” at Bennington

New Hampshire: 42” at Dublin

Massachusetts: 40” at North Adams

Pennsylvania: 31” at Blooming Grove

New Jersey: 25” at Rahway

Rhode Island: 20” at Kingston

Maine: 20” at Boothby
 

 

The Kocin Map and other dramatic images from the page

 

[Stormlover74]

And we lost at least 6-8" to rain

[JerseyWx]

52 ft. drift?  I can't imagine how crazy that looked.  Interesting storm.

58" total in Saratoga Springs, NY, incredible.

[Paragon]

1 hour ago, Stormlover74 said:

And we lost at least 6-8" to rain

Yeah, and the track looks sort of similar to what we have coming up, except that one looped a few times lol.  Did you see the LE for the snow portion of the storm was 1.5" and most of it fell in single digit temps- who knows what the ratios were.

I looked up storms that gave us 20" of snow but also had rain mixed in and the only two storms that came up were March 1888 and February 1961.  The latter gave heavy snow, which changed to sleet, then rain and then back to snow, JFK had 24.1" with something like 2.8" LE (almost as high as the 3.0" LE from the Jan 2016 31" blizzard!)  I think January 1996 also mixed over with sleet for a time during the late night hours before changing back to snow but did not change to rain and gave us around 22"  And then there was a four day storm in Feb 1923 I think that gave us something like 19" of sleet haha

[Paragon]

Unlike more recent storms, this storm delivered the goods to a large area.  It was by far Albany's largest snowstorm on record.

 

[JBG]

4 hours ago, Paragon said:

Anyone got any images or snowfall maps of the March 1888 Blizzard?  There were some outlandish drifts and I just wanted to see pictures all in one thread to compare and contrast with our impending big storm!

March 1888-March 1993-March 2017......all almost on the same day!

 

That one was a runner-up to a Super Niño like April 7, 1982 and April Fools Day 1997. Is this what we're facing? I sure hope not. I've had enough of Niñs.

[Paragon]

6 minutes ago, JBG said:

That one was a runner-up to a Super Niño like April 7, 1982 and April Fools Day 1997. Is this what we're facing? I sure hope not. I've had enough of Niñs.

JBG did we have an el nino the next season, in 1888-89? That would explain the the late season snowstorm.  

[JBG]

4 hours ago, Paragon said:

Yeah, and the track looks sort of similar to what we have coming up, except that one looped a few times lol.  Did you see the LE for the snow portion of the storm was 1.5" and most of it fell in single digit temps- who knows what the ratios were.

I looked up storms that gave us 20" of snow but also had rain mixed in and the only two storms that came up were March 1888 and February 1961.  The latter gave heavy snow, which changed to sleet, then rain and then back to snow, JFK had 24.1" with something like 2.8" LE (almost as high as the 3.0" LE from the Jan 2016 31" blizzard!)  I think January 1996 also mixed over with sleet for a time during the late night hours before changing back to snow but did not change to rain and gave us around 22"  And then there was a four day storm in Feb 1923 I think that gave us something like 19" of sleet haha

What about the February 25-26, 2010 Snowicane? Wasn't that also 20+ with some rain admixture? And more to the point didn't it loop the same way 1888 did?

 

[Paragon]

45 minutes ago, JBG said:

What about the February 25-26, 2010 Snowicane? Wasn't that also 20+ with some rain admixture? And more to the point didn't it loop the same way 1888 did?

 

I don't think the places that got 20" mixed with rain.  Did Central Park report any rain with that?

 

Also what about the winter after the March 1941 18" storm, was that an el nino (1941-42)?

 

[JBG]

3 hours ago, Paragon said:

I don't think the places that got 20" mixed with rain.  Did Central Park report any rain with that?

 

Also what about the winter after the March 1941 18" storm, was that an el nino (1941-42)?

 

KNYC started as rain. In fact I live about 26 miles northeast of New York City. The changeover, atypically, movced from southwest to northeast and we changed to all snow about six to eight hours after KNYC did. The storm looped much the way 1888 did. I know almost nothing about March 1941 or its ENSO state. The Snowicane occurred during a dying El Niño that had almost record changeover time to La Niña, rivaling the death of the 1972-3 El Niño.

[uncle W]

1887-88 was one of the coldest on record...it had above average snowfall and one historic storm...it is known for the Blizzard of 88...but was it a great winter?...closer examination shows 9" of snow fell in December...11" in January...3" in February...22.3" in March...21.0" from the blizzard...without access to recorded snowfall measurements from that year I've pieced together this rundown on how that winter played out in NYC from some old newspaper articles......there were at least five major storms that tracked to our west bringing mostly rain with some ice or snow at the beginning...One storm in January had 4" washed away by heavy rain...there was no lack of arctic air that winter also...

Starting on December 1st 1887 it was 11 degrees min with a max of 22...it became mild after that and stayed mild until the 16th...

date......max min ...LE.....est snow...

12/17......34 28.....0.09".....1.0"

12/18......34 29.....0.71".....4.5".....could have ended as a mix?...4.5" was measured on this date in C.P.

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1887-12-19/ed-1/seq-1/

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1887-12-19/ed-1/seq-5/

12/19......37 28........0..........0.......

12/20......37 25.....0.11".......T.. sleet/rain

12/21......41 33.....0.13........0...

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1887-12-21/ed-1/seq-5/

 

12/25......31 22........0..........0...probably a little snow and ice on the ground Christmas morning...

12/26......30 22.....0.10".....1.0"

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1887-12-27/ed-1/seq-2/

 

12/28......50 20.....1.18".....1.5"...snow-ice-rain-snow?

12/29......22 13........0..........0

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1887-12-29/ed-1/seq-5/

http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50379800

12/31......31 12.....0.19".....1.0"...snow-ice-rain

01/01......54 31.....2.05".......T.....ice to heavy rain...

 

01/06......32 17.....0.26".....1.5"...snow-ice-rain...

01/07......42 29.....0.02".......0......lt rain/fog

01/08......41 26.....0.02".......0......lt rain

 

01/10......37 27.....0.14".....1.5"...snow-ice-rain?

 

01/13......45 22.....1.11".....4.0"...snow to rain...

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1888-01-14/ed-1/seq-3/ 

01/17......34 13.....0.37".....1.0"...snow-ice-rain...

01/18......30 16........0..........0

 

01/22......14 00........0..........0

 

01/25......35 03.....0.85".....2.0"...snow-ice-rain...

01/26......34 14.....0.05"......T...maybe snow flurries at the end...

 

01/28......10 03........0.........0

 

01/31......33 24.....0.09".....1.0"...light snow

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1888-02-01/ed-1/seq-7/

 

02/04......45 24.....0.25"......T.....ice-rain...

02/05......45 36.....0.01"

 

02/07......36 24.....0.21"......T.....ice-rain?

02/08......36 21.....0.06"......T

 

02/10......17 05.....0.13".....1.5"...snow?

02/11......30 17.....0.58".....1.0"...snow-ice

02/12......29 20.....0.06".....0.5"...ice-snow?

http://chroniclingam...12/ed-1/seq-16/

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1888-02-12/ed-1/seq-16/

02/16......18 01........0.........0

http://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/50437685

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1888-02-17/ed-1/seq-5/

02/20......52 36.....0.53"......0..rain

 

02/25......42 36.....1.56"......0...heavy rain...

http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83030193/1888-02-25/ed-1/seq-1/

02/26......42 31.....0.09"......0

 

02/28......20 08........0.........0

 

03/03......37 15.....0.05".....0.9"...light snow?

 

03/05......22 12.....0.01".....0.2"...light snow

 

03/11......42 33.....0.65"......T....rain-snow

03/12......33 08.....1.45"...21.0"...blizzard...

http://bklyn.newspap.../image/50437841

http://chroniclingam...-13/ed-1/seq-1/

http://fultonhistory...cale - 0455.pdf

03/13......12 06........0.........0

03/14......37 12.....0.02".....0.2"...light snow

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1888-03-15/ed-1/seq-1/

 

03/23......20 14........0.........0

03/24......26 12........0.........0

 

03/26......36 29.....1.10"......T...rain starts as snow or ice?

03/27......42 34.....0.24"......0

[billgwx]

11 hours ago, JBG said:

What about the February 25-26, 2010 Snowicane? Wasn't that also 20+ with some rain admixture? And more to the point didn't it loop the same way 1888 did?

 

Bingo. Very similar setup to 1888 with a N-S oriented warm front and intense thermal gradient, just a little farther west. Out here on the Island we had heavy rain that changed to heavy snow. That storm produced up to 30" in Orange County as I recall. (First time I ever updated the forecast for that much! Little did I know what awaited in winter 2015-16.)

[Paragon]

1 hour ago, billgwx said:

Bingo. Very similar setup to 1888 with a N-S oriented warm front and intense thermal gradient, just a little farther west. Out here on the Island we had heavy rain that changed to heavy snow. That storm produced up to 30" in Orange County as I recall. (First time I ever updated the forecast for that much! Little did I know what awaited in winter 2015-16.)

Yes, Bill did you ever imagine that something like January 2016 could happen here? And now we perhaps have another el nino coming up next year.  The best snowstorms in this area are during el ninos (February 1983, PD2, January 2016) or weak la ninas (January 1996, Boxing Day).

On the Island we did not get 20" of snow in February 2010 III, it was more like an inch of snow followed by a foot of snow (the first time that's ever happened here.)

[JBG]

1 hour ago, Paragon said:

Yes, Bill did you ever imagine that something like January 2016 could happen here? And now we perhaps have another el nino coming up next year.  The best snowstorms in this area are during el ninos (February 1983, PD2, January 2016) or weak la ninas (January 1996, Boxing Day).

On the Island we did not get 20" of snow in February 2010 III, it was more like an inch of snow followed by a foot of snow (the first time that's ever happened here.)

I thought Boxing Day was a borderline strong La Niña, no? January 1996 was weak. But what about March 1956, another strong Niña?

[Paragon]

3 hours ago, JBG said:

I thought Boxing Day was a borderline strong La Niña, no? January 1996 was weak. But what about March 1956, another strong Niña?

2010-11 was moderate I think, 1955-56 was definitely strong. It's being used as an analog for this year although this year's is nowhere near as strong as 1955-56 was.

[JBG]

8 hours ago, Paragon said:

2010-11 was moderate I think, 1955-56 was definitely strong. It's being used as an analog for this year although this year's is nowhere near as strong as 1955-56 was.

The main use of the Boxing Day and March 1956 storms as analogs is to show that La Niñas don't totally snuff out major storms. As fir strong El Niños January 2016 was the only one with a mega-storm with the aid of a major volcano's cooling impact, as in 1983.

[Paragon]

January 2016 also came with the aid of a major volcano? I wasn't aware there was a major volcanic eruption in 2015 JBG- where?

 

[JBG]

4 hours ago, Paragon said:

January 2016 also came with the aid of a major volcano? I wasn't aware there was a major volcanic eruption in 2015 JBG- where?

 

Typo. I meant "without." 1983 was helped from changeover by a volcano. 2016 remained all snow by it's lonesome.

[Paragon]

7 hours ago, JBG said:

Typo. I meant "without." 1983 was helped from changeover by a volcano. 2016 remained all snow by it's lonesome.

Yes- El Chichon- I remember it effected the December 1982 lunar eclipse also, which made the moon look as dark as a black hole (it was literally darker than the background sky- in sharp contrast to the lunar eclipse that had happened in 1981 which was one of our brightest, with the moon glowing a bright orange-red color. )  I remember we had a volcanic eruption in the early 90s also- Pinatubo and I wondered why that didn't lead to a colder winter, although it might have been delayed somewhat, as we ended up with a cool 1992 summer and the cold winter ended up being 1993-94 instead of 1992-93

 

[JBG]

30 minutes ago, Paragon said:

Yes- El Chichon- I remember it effected the December 1982 lunar eclipse also, which made the moon look as dark as a black hole (it was literally darker than the background sky- in sharp contrast to the lunar eclipse that had happened in 1981 which was one of our brightest, with the moon glowing a bright orange-red color. )  I remember we had a volcanic eruption in the early 90s also- Pinatubo and I wondered why that didn't lead to a colder winter, although it might have been delayed somewhat, as we ended up with a cool 1992 summer and the cold winter ended up being 1993-94 instead of 1992-93

 

1981 was actually affected by Mt. St. Helens. 1981 was materially cooler than 1980. Also 1992-3 had the Storm of the Century. 1992-3 was much colder overall than 1991-2, which itself flipped to cold at the very end.

[Paragon]

1 minute ago, JBG said:

1981 was actually affected by Mt. St. Helens. 1981 was materially cooler than 1980. Also 1992-3 had the Storm of the Century. 1992-3 was much colder overall than 1991-2, which itself flipped to cold at the very end.

Those were the years of the big coastals- with the Halloween storm in 1991 and then Dec 1992 and then March 1993.  All that came after the historically hot summer of 1991 and then we had another historically hot summer in 1993.  Extremes happened then too!

 

[JBG]

5 minutes ago, Paragon said:

Those were the years of the big coastals- with the Halloween storm in 1991 and then Dec 1992 and then March 1993.  All that came after the historically hot summer of 1991 and then we had another historically hot summer in 1993.  Extremes happened then too!

 

They always do which is why I'm not an AGW believer.

[Paragon]

7 minutes ago, JBG said:

They always do which is why I'm not an AGW believer.

There's always the Arctic though

[JBG]

40 minutes ago, Paragon said:

There's always the Arctic though

I would expect the Arctic to melt out with the end of an Ice Age.