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16 minutes ago, MillvilleWx said:

'83 was a very dynamic storm. Very heavy snow over MD, DC and NoVa during the height with thundersnow across the area. It was a moisture bomb, so the snow consistency was a bit on the wet side, but it was a higher ratio at its height when best lift was centered over the area. My Father told me he ended up with 23" at the end of the storm with over a foot in a 4 hour span. Thundersnow woke him up and visibility was below 100 yards at one point. Great storm. You should go read up on it. One of the best the area has had in last 50 years.  

Heard about it, and only read about it in a CWG article. Reminds me of what I saw while browsing through the Snowpocalypse 2009 thread where a poster from Long Island had gotten 21" in 7 hours. Insane.

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7 hours ago, MillvilleWx said:

'83 was a very dynamic storm. Very heavy snow over MD, DC and NoVa during the height with thundersnow across the area. It was a moisture bomb, so the snow consistency was a bit on the wet side, but it was a higher ratio at its height when best lift was centered over the area. My Father told me he ended up with 23" at the end of the storm with over a foot in a 4 hour span. Thundersnow woke him up and visibility was below 100 yards at one point. Great storm. You should go read up on it. One of the best the area has had in last 50 years.  

Temp was around 14F out here.  32" in 16 hours.  Thundersnow in the afternoon.  5"/hr rates for a time.  You could literally look outside and watch it pile up. It was truly an epic event here.  #2 all-time.

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1 minute ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

Temp was around 14F out here.  32" in 16 hours.  Thundersnow in the afternoon.  5"/hr rates for a time.  You could literally look outside and watch it pile up. It was truly an epic event here.  #2 all-time.

That's completely insane. Can't imagine 5" per hour. 

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1 hour ago, yoda said:

That includes the 2 events.  My total was under 1" for both.  Not exactly drought-busting rains.  It has been notably wetter this month, but when you've had 30% of normal precip since early fall, even 1" in a week is a drop-in-the-bucket.

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2 minutes ago, Cobalt said:

That's completely insane. Can't imagine 5" per hour. 

It's the only time in my life I've seen it.  1996 was a bigger storm, in the prime of low-sun season, and much colder afterwards, so I give it the edge, but for intensity nothing could match that 1983 storm.  I got 37" (1996) over almost 36 hours.  Imagine getting 32" in just 16 hours.  It averaged 2"/hr.  Incredible.

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3 minutes ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

It's the only time in my life I've seen it.  1996 was a bigger storm, in the prime of low-sun season, and much colder afterwards, so I give it the edge, but for intensity nothing could match that 1983 storm.  I got 37" (1996) over almost 36 hours.  Imagine getting 32" in just 16 hours.  It averaged 2"/hr.  Incredible.

That's absolutely insane. Didn't measure properly, but I'm guessing the Blizzard of 2016 hit about 28" here, and Feb 2010 was probably in the same ballpark, but I can't imagine getting more than 36". That's almost biblical levels of snowfall. Really makes me wanna move towards Western VA (out near Winchester) when I'm older. After all, big events like those are a once in a half decade thing, so it's almost like you can't miss them. 

Also, how much snow did you get on March 5th, 2013? Feb 5th 2010? Just curios. 

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2 minutes ago, Cobalt said:

That's absolutely insane. Didn't measure properly, but I'm guessing the Blizzard of 2016 hit about 28" here, and Feb 2010 was probably in the same ballpark, but I can't imagine getting more than 36". That's almost biblical levels of snowfall. Really makes me wanna move towards Western VA (out near Winchester) when I'm older. After all, big events like those are a once in a half decade thing, so it's almost like you can't miss them. 

Also, how much snow did you get on March 5th, 2013? Feb 5th 2010? Just curios. 

I got 9" in the March 2013 storm, and 27" from the Feb 2010 storm.  Be careful what you wish for in coming west; I got 3" from the Feb 9, 2010 storm.  (All these totals we're discussing were when I lived in Front Royal; moved to Stephens City in summer 2010).  You're best bet is to move north of Winchester, or the higher terrain of eastern and southern Warren Co.

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9 minutes ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

I got 9" in the March 2013 storm, and 27" from the Feb 2010 storm.  Be careful what you wish for in coming west; I got 3" from the Feb 9, 2010 storm.  (All these totals we're discussing were when I lived in Front Royal; moved to Stephens City in summer 2010).  You're best bet is to move north of Winchester, or the higher terrain of eastern and southern Warren Co.

Yeah, my idea was to move to Winchester, or at least somewhere close to there. 

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Quote

000
AXUS71 KLWX 151508
DGTLWX
DCC001-MDC003-005-025-027-031-033-510-VAC013-059-061-107-153-179-
510-600-610-683-685-222300-

Drought Information Statement
National Weather Service Baltimore MD/Washington DC
1000 AM EST Thu Feb 15 2018

...SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT IN DROUGHT CONDITIONS AFTER RECENT
RAINS...

SYNOPSIS...
As of February 13th 2018, the U.S. Drought Monitor indicates that
significant improvement has occurred in drought conditions, with
improvements in status of one to two categories in most areas.

There are no longer any D2 (Severe Drought) conditions denoted
across the mid-Atlantic region.

D1 (Moderate Drought) conditions are now designated only for a
small -- but significant -- portion of the area, including the
District of Columbia, Baltimore City, parts of Harford, Baltimore,
Howard, Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties in
Maryland, and parts of Fauquier, Stafford, Prince William,
Loudoun, and Fairfax Counties in Virginia, as well as all of
Arlington County and the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park, Falls
Church, Fairfax, and Alexandria. The D1 area covers 11 percent of
our service area, versus 55 percent last week.

Most of the rest of the area, east of the Blue Ridge and Catoctin
Mountains, is now designated as D0 (Abnormally Dry). This also
includes the cities of Harrisonsburg, Waynesboro, and Staunton
west of the Blue Ridge. 

SUMMARY OF IMPACTS...
State and Local Declarations:
A Drought Watch has been declared by the Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality (DEQ) for all of northern Virginia, except
for King George County, Highland County, and communities whose
water supplies come from the Potomac River or Occoquan Reservoir.
A Drought Watch has been recommended for Highland County but has
not yet been declared.

A Drought Watch has also been declared by the Maryland Department
of the Environment (MDE) for its Central and Southern regions, 
which include Frederick, Carroll, Harford, Charles, Calvert, and
Saint Mary's Counties, as well as portions of Montgomery, Howard,
Anne Arundel, Prince George's, and Baltimore Counties that are 
not serviced by WSSC or Baltimore City water systems.

Both of these declarations date back to before the recent
rainfall. No other state or local declarations are known as of 
the time of this statement.

Hydrologic Impacts:
Soil moisture remains below normal in portions of the area, but
with some improvement due to recent rains.

The rain has finally put a stop to the persistent downturn in
groundwater levels, and in fact, many have seen a multiple foot
water level rise since the beginning of February. This even
includes the groundwater monitoring well in Orange County, 
Virginia, which is now above the prior record lows, having risen a
few feet in the last week.

Some municipalities implement voluntary or mandatory water
restrictions when streamflow levels drop. Please check to see if
your community is included in these water restrictions.

CLIMATE SUMMARY...
For the first time in months, we can finally say that recent
conditions have been wet. For the first half of February, rain
(combined with melted snow, where appropriate) amounts have ranged
from around two inches in the Potomac Highlands to 3-4 inches in
most areas, with a swath of 4-6 inches extending either side of a
line from Charlottesville VA to Fredericksburg VA to Annapolis MD.
These amounts are above normal across the board, and more than
four times normal in the heaviest locations.

These rains have largely eliminated winter precipitation deficits,
and have started to eat away at rainfall deficits from the fall.

Generally speaking, we still need to make up 1-3 inches of 
steadier rain that can permeate into the subsurface, in order to
completely break out of the drought in the areas where drought
remains.

Some statistics for the major cities in the D1-designated area:
(Statistics are preliminary and subject to correction.)

WASHINGTON REAGAN NATIONAL (DCA)
Data ending 2/14/2018
--------------------------------
Timeframe          Total         Departure       % of Normal
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Month to Date      3.90 inches   +2.58 inches    295 percent
2018 to Date       4.84 inches   +0.71 inch      117 percent
Last  30 Days      4.20 inches   +1.42 inches    151 percent
Last  60 Days      5.05 inches   -0.45 inch       92 percent
Last  90 Days      5.43 inches   -3.25 inches     63 percent
Last 120 Days      8.53 inches   -3.35 inches     72 percent
Last 180 Days     11.84 inches   -6.79 inches     64 percent
Last 365 Days     37.54 inches   -2.20 inches     95 percent
1/2017 - Today    40.44 inches   -3.43 inches     92 percent
1/2016 - Today    72.14 inches  -11.47 inches     86 percent

BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL (BWI)
Data ending 2/14/2018
----------------------------------------
Timeframe          Total         Departure       % of Normal
---------------------------------------------------------------- 
Month to Date      3.82 inches   +2.39 inches    267 percent
2018 to Date       4.82 inches   +0.34 inch      108 percent
Last  30 Days      4.18 inches   +1.17 inches    139 percent
Last  60 Days      5.24 inches   -0.76 inch       87 percent
Last  90 Days      5.96 inches   -3.47 inches     63 percent
Last 120 Days      9.49 inches   -3.13 inches     75 percent
Last 180 Days     13.68 inches   -6.15 inches     69 percent
Last 365 Days     39.95 inches   -1.93 inches     95 percent
1/2017 - Today    43.10 inches   -3.26 inches     93 percent
1/2016 - Today    83.62 inches   -4.62 inches     95 percent

PRECIPITATION/TEMPERATURE OUTLOOK... 
The active weather pattern of the first half of February looks to
continue in the second half of the month. Rain is expected tonight
(February 15) and Friday (February 16), with another system
bringing rain -- and perhaps a period of ice or snow on Saturday
(February 17). After a break on Sunday (February 18), there is at
least a chance of rain every day in the following work week
(February 19 through 23). 

Rainfall totals during the first week of the outlook period, 
through February 21, look most likely to be between 1 and 2 
inches, but with some potential for significantly higher amounts, 
especially in the Potomac Highlands. Temperatures for the first
week of the outlook period look to be generally above to much
above normal, with highs today (February 15) and Tuesday/Wednesday
(February 20-21) expected to be near or above 70 degrees.
Temperatures that warm this time of year often promote heavy
rainfall.

The 8-to-14 day outlook for week two from the Climate Prediction 
Center favors continued above normal precipitation, and strongly
favors continued above normal temperatures. Brief colder snaps can
be expected during the two week period, but are not expected to be
the prevailing weather condition.

HYDROLOGIC SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK...
Streamflows are near normal to above normal. Given the expected
continued rainfall, these conditions are likely to continue.

Recent rains have also improved reservoir levels in the Upper
Potomac. Bloomington Lake remains about three feet higher than 
the early January lows; Savage River Reservoir is up around ten 
feet since early January.

Streamflow, groundwater, and soil moisture should all continue to
improve over the next week, given the forecast for rain.

NEXT ISSUANCE DATE... 
The next scheduled issuance of the Drought Statement will be 
Thursday, February 22nd, 2018.

&&

RELATED WEB SITES...
Additional information on current drought conditions may be found
at the following web addresses...

US Drought Monitor...http://www.droughtmonitor.unl.edu
NWS Drought Page...http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/drought
Climate Prediction Center (CPC)...http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov

ADDITIONAL RIVER INFORMATION...
National Weather Service...http://water.weather.gov
US Geological Survey...http://water.usgs.gov

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...
The drought monitor is a multi-agency effort involving NOAA's
National Weather Service and National Climatic Data Center, the
USDA, state and regional center climatologists, and the National
Drought Mitigation Center. Information for this statement has
been gathered from NWS and FAA observation sites, State
Cooperative Extension Services, the USDA, USACE, and USGS.

QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS...
If you have questions or comments about this Drought Information
Statement...please contact...

National Weather Service
43858 Weather Service Road
Sterling, VA 20166
Phone: 703-996-2200
[email protected]

 

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2 minutes ago, Vice-Regent said:

Droughts tend to dissipate in winter so this comes as no surprise. It remains that we are ill-prepared for the warm season. Maybe some beefy heat domes over the Midwest or even more east than that. Something we haven't seen really since maybe 2010.

Is this a cow manure joke?

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  • 1 month later...

Noticeably dry here in the past week. Soil getting a bit dusty for the first time in months. I think the last big event was a couple weeks ago with the 2 part deal in late March- mostly rain/sleet here for part one and the heavy wet snow for part 2. Been really nothing significant since then. 0.11" for April.

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Nina is typically dry here. We've had a two year Nina. It's ending now. We probably transition to a wetter long term pattern soon. It is typical cyclical variation. If this were to continue dry another 6-12 months then things would get serious and it would be a historically significant drought. I doubt that. 

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3 hours ago, mattie g said:

Doesn’t matter. Just normal variation.

We’ve had so many really light events that it didn’t dawn on me that we were headed back under climo.  Mowed the lawn, mostly to pick up the late winter leaves, and there was much more dust than I expected.  Soil a few inches down seems fine, though.

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11 hours ago, MN Transplant said:

We’ve had so many really light events that it didn’t dawn on me that we were headed back under climo.  Mowed the lawn, mostly to pick up the late winter leaves, and there was much more dust than I expected.  Soil a few inches down seems fine, though.

It's a little surprising that it's been that dry in the last month, but in no way do I think we should be thinking too hard about any long-term effects. If we're still parched come July or so, then I think we can start talking about issues.

I need to get the dethatching rake out to pick up the holly leaves that came down this winter. The dryness and cold did a number on the holly in my front yard - it lost at least 1/3 of the leaves by the time the windstorm finished. Those leaves choke the life out of a lawn since they don't break down easily. Once I get those up, I'll probably get to mowing for the first time this year.

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20 minutes ago, EastCoast NPZ said:

Here, it's pretty typical of every winter. 

I think my point was more how local the dryness has been.  Most of the region has received significantly more, especially in Feb and Mar.

 

On 2/20/2018 at 8:12 AM, AfewUniversesBelowNormal said:

 

The snow events in the desert are a special kind of thing

 

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