Snowstorm Reminiscence Thread

Hoosier · January 19, 2021

This idea was mentioned in another thread. It can serve as a catch-all to look back on past storms, with old radar images, model runs, afds, obs, pics, etc. Doesn't always have to be a big storm. If there's a smaller storm that you remember fondly for some reason -- maybe it was on your birthday or it was a quick hitter with high rates or whatever -- post away.

beavis1729 · January 19, 2021

Thanks RC and Hoosier - I'll jump in.

I've always wondered why a January 1999 type storm isn't more common here or nearby. Seemed like nothing special from a meteorological standpoint. All you needed was a large dome of cold air...and then overrunning seemed to provide most of the widespread snowfall...not necessarily a deep low with a perfectly placed deformation band.

Also, we had some great radiational cooling set-ups after that storm. Congerville (near Joliet) hit -36, and many spots in NE IL hit the -20s despite not having a deeply cold airmass. At least that's what I recall.

Any other widespread share-the-wealth storms in the Midwest, similar to the set-up (if not the snowfall amounts) of Jan 1999?

madwx · January 19, 2021

Thought I could contribute some AFDs to reminisce upon. The first one is a heavy hitter, MKX was on the hype train for GHD1 early on. Also a fun fact, the day before GHD1 we got 4.4 inches from a mid level wave that moved through. So the 3 day total ended up being 18.7 here.

Hoosier · January 19, 2021

There may be a more spread the wealth storm in this sub than January 1999, but I haven't found it. The cold antecedent airmass was obviously very important but the other aspect was that it was starting to occlude when moved into the Lakes, so the warm sector got deflected/pinched off to some extent.

cyclone77 · January 19, 2021

GHDI was a very monumental event of course. The hype for that one was well founded, and lasted quite awhile before the storm hit. Models were pretty locked in on that one from the start it seemed.

Below are just a few images I saved from guidance shortly before the storm hit. One was from the RUC backup, and the other was from the RAP IIRC.

Also, here's a radar time lapse from LOT of the event. I wish I would have made it with the regular color palette instead of the winter themed one, but here it is. Love how you can see the LE snows kick in towards the end as the synoptic snows began to pull away.

Malacka11 · January 20, 2021

That storm was such a bullseye. Damn.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

A heartbreaker in LAF with the epic sleet storm. Not that far away from some pretty respectable snow totals but it just didn't happen. We were mixing in snow at times during the sleet but couldn't get it to turn to all snow until the very back end. Still a cool experience in its own way since I had never seen anything close to that amount of sleet. And temps were in the upper teens/low 20s during the bulk of the sleet iirc, so it built up efficiently.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

Re: GHD, anyone remember the wording out of IND about the ice potential? That office isn't really one to engage in hyperbole, but the statements were really strong. It ended up not being as bad as it could've been though because of sleet mixing in. I recall them live blogging during the storm... it was fun reading the frequent updates.

OrdIowPitMsp · January 20, 2021

Obviously the big ones that I’ve personally experienced and come to mind immediately for me are

January 1999: probably the event that first got me interested in weather and being a snow weenie. I was 9 and the snow seemed impossibly deep.

December 2000: Not sure which storm in an epic month for Chicagoland but I vividly remember struggling to walk down the block in the deep snow with my dad so we could borrow the neighbors snowblower. That was also the month that convinced my parents to put a heater in the garage. Not sure I’ll ever see a snowpack that deep outside a lake belt or mountain chain again.

December 2009: Iowa, legit blizzard. Was in Iowa City so didn’t get the worst of it further west, but still ended up with nearly a foot of snow.

GHD 1: again in Iowa City so didn’t get the worst impacts but still saw 12” totals and significant travel impacts.

Winter 13/14: Working on graduate thesis in Iowa City. Seemed like we had something to track or sometimes 2-3 things at all times. Just a fun winter as has been said here countless times.

GHD 2 (was living in PA at the time so missed out, but was partaking in a different Midwest weather forum at the time and felt like I lived it vicariously)

Early March 2015: SE OH: Was working in the oilfield outside Woodsfield OH in the extreme SE corner of the state. Got blasted with 12-14” in about 8 hours. My little Honda Civic stood no chance driving those back holler Appalachian roads for days.

Mid April 2018: Nearly 16” of snow. Blizzard conditions and thundersnow! Biggest April storm in MSP history. Skied legit deep powder midwinter conditions the next day which was very strange for April 17 in Minnesota.

Note: I’ve been fortunate that in my short time in Minnesota I’ve experience the snowiest October (2020), February (2019) and April (2018) on Record.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

4 minutes ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Obviously the big ones that I’ve personally experienced and come to mind immediately for me are

January 1999: probably the event that first got me interested in weather and being a snow weenie. I was 9 and the snow seemed impossibly deep.

December 2000: Not sure which storm in an epic month for Chicagoland but I vividly remember struggling to walk down the block in the deep snow with my dad so we could borrow the neighbors snowblower. That was also the month that convinced my parents to put a heater in the garage. Not sure I’ll ever see a snowpack that deep outside a lake belt or mountain chain again.

December 2009: Iowa, legit blizzard. Was in Iowa City so didn’t get the worst of it further west, but still ended up with nearly a foot of snow.

GHD 1: again in Iowa City so didn’t get the worst impacts but still saw 12” totals and significant travel impacts.

Winter 13/14: Working on graduate thesis in Iowa City. Seemed like we had something to track or sometimes 2-3 things at all times. Just a fun winter as has been said here countless times.

GHD 2 (was living in PA at the time so missed out, but was partaking in a different Midwest weather forum at the time and felt like I lived it vicariously)

Early March 2015: SE OH: Was working in the oilfield outside Woodsfield OH in the extreme SE corner of the state. Got blasted with 12-14” in about 8 hours. My little Honda Civic stood no chance driving those back holler Appalachian roads for days.

Mid April 2018: Nearly 16” of snow. Blizzard conditions and thundersnow! Biggest April storm in MSP history. Skied legit deep powder midwinter conditions the next day which was very strange for April 17 in Minnesota.

Note: I’ve been fortunate that in my short time in Minnesota I’ve experience the snowiest October (2020), February (2019) and April (2018) on Record.

December 2000 was probably December 11. That was the standout storm that month.

beavis1729 · January 20, 2021

8 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

December 2000 was probably December 11. That was the standout storm that month.

Yep. I was teaching at NIU at the time...just a winter wonderland all month. Extremely cold too, with all of the snow cover.

DaveNay · January 20, 2021

1 hour ago, cyclone77 said:

GHDI was a very monumental event of course.

Chicago WX · January 20, 2021

2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Re: GHD, anyone remember the wording out of IND about the ice potential? That office isn't really one to engage in hyperbole, but the statements were really strong. It ended up not being as bad as it could've been though because of sleet mixing in. I recall them live blogging during the storm... it was fun reading the frequent updates.

Quote


URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE INDIANAPOLIS IN
138 PM EST MON JAN 31 2011

...POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC WINTER STORM TO IMPACT CENTRAL INDIANA...

.A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OVER THE WESTERN UNITED STATES WILL
PUSH ACROSS CENTRAL INDIANA STARTING TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY. A
VARIETY OF WINTER WEATHER IS EXPECTED WITH THIS SYSTEM.

AS THE SYSTEM APPROACHES...COLD AIR WILL BE IN PLACE AT THE
SURFACE...HOWEVER VERY WARM AND MOIST AIR WILL BE PULLED INTO THE
SYSTEM ON SOUTHERLY WINDS...RESULTING IN WARM AIR ALOFT. THIS WILL
RESULT IN FREEZING RAIN OR SLEET ACROSS MUCH OF CENTRAL INDIANA
THIS EVENING INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. AS THE LOW PASSES TO OUR EAST
EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...ALL OF THE PRECIPITATION WILL CHANGE
OVER TO SNOW.

AT THIS TIME...NORTH AND NORTHWEST CENTRAL INDIANA...INCLUDING
THE CITIES OF KOKOMO AND LAFAYETTE LOOK TO REMAIN COLD ENOUGH THAT
A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE PRECIPITATION MAY FALL IN THE FORM OF
SNOW. HOWEVER SNOWFALL MAY BE HEAVY AND SNOWFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS
OF 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BY WEDNESDAY EVENING.

FARTHER SOUTH...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF TERRE HAUTE...
INDIANAPOLIS...BLOOMINGTON...NEW CASTLE AND MUNCIE...WARM AIR IS
EXPECTED TO BE PRESENT AND PRECIPITATION MAY FALL AS SLEET OR
FREEZING RAIN. SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE...WITH
ICE ACCUMULATION OF ONE INCH OR MORE. FURTHERMORE...STRONG WINDS
GUSTING UP TO 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED FROM LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON
THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THIS COMBINATION WILL RESULT IN
WIDESPREAD DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES.

A LARGE AREA OF CENTRAL INDIANA MAY RECEIVE LARGE ICE
ACCUMULATIONS AND STRONG WINDS BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL RESULT
IN WIDESPREAD TREES DOWN AND WIDESPREAD POWER OUTAGES. LONG DURATION
POWER OUTAGES WILL BE POSSIBLE FOR MANY PEOPLE IN CENTRAL INDIANA.

UNCERTAINTY STILL EXISTS WITH THE PRECISE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM.
ADJUSTMENTS IN THE TRACK IN LATER FORECASTS MAY HAVE SIGNIFICANT
IMPACTS ON AREAS THAT MAY RECEIVE FREEZING RAIN OR SNOW. STAY
ALERT TO THE LATEST FORECASTS FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS
POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC WINTER STORM

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

1 hour ago, beavis1729 said:

Yep. I was teaching at NIU at the time...just a winter wonderland all month. Extremely cold too, with all of the snow cover.

It seemed like there was shovelable snow every couple days starting with that storm.

I was still in high school at the time and for whatever reason, my school did not cancel the morning of the 11th. There wasn't a whole lot of snow on the ground yet when the school day began but the storm had been pretty well forecast. I was ticked about having to be in school so I had my mom call school and I left after 1st period lol. My school did end up dismissing early but it wasn't until like 11 AM.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

5 minutes ago, Chicago WX said:

We got shafted man.

Chicago WX · January 20, 2021

We got 9" from the Dec 11, 2000 storm here...was forecasted for lower amounts due to mixing that never materialized. And then 2 days later we got 6" with another storm. Thereafter, like Hoosier said, it seemed like it snowed every day that month. It was quite a wintry scene through the end of that month. And then winter ended. Didn't get warm, but we went bone dry.

Chicago WX · January 20, 2021

2 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

We got shafted man.

Yep

Quote


TIPPECANOE-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...LAFAYETTE
416 AM EST TUE FEB 1 2011

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST WEDNESDAY...

.TODAY...BREEZY. PERIODS OF LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE AND CHANCE OF
SNOW EARLY IN THE MORNING...THEN SNOW AND LIGHT SLEET LIKELY
MIDDAY. SNOW AND CHANCE OF SLEET IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW AND SLEET
ACCUMULATION AROUND 3 INCHES. ICE ACCUMULATION OF LESS THAN ONE
QUARTER OF AN INCH. NEAR STEADY TEMPERATURE AROUND 20. NORTHEAST
WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO
AROUND 40 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR
100 PERCENT. 
.TONIGHT...WINDY. SNOW AND CHANCE OF SLEET. AREAS OF BLOWING
SNOW. SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES. SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION OF
8 TO 9 INCHES. ICE ACCUMULATION OF LESS THAN ONE QUARTER OF AN
INCH. NEAR STEADY TEMPERATURE IN THE LOWER 20S. NORTHEAST WINDS
25 TO 30 MPH SHIFTING TO THE NORTH 15 TO 25 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT. 
.WEDNESDAY...CLOUDY WITH SNOW LIKELY. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW. SNOW
ACCUMULATION AROUND 1 INCH. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION 12 TO
15 INCHES. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 20S. NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 20 MPH
WITH GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH. CHANCE OF SNOW 60 PERCENT.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

5 minutes ago, Chicago WX said:

Yep

At least we had a few really nice storms in LAF, highlighted of course by 2/13/07.

Chicago WX · January 20, 2021

9 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

At least we had a few really nice storms in LAF, highlighted of course by 2/13/07.

We had a really good run from Feb 2007 thru March 2015...save a few winters. Might be the best run LAF has ever seen. Good times. When I get time, I may have to rank my favorites in this here thread.

Hoosier · January 20, 2021

Just now, Chicago WX said:

We had a really good run from Feb 2007 thru March 2015. Might be the best run LAF has ever seen. Good times...

Yep. And it started with that storm on 2/6/07. What a nightmare that thing was on the roads because of how cold it was. The hilly roads were really challenging.

Jim Martin · January 20, 2021

For me, the first week of January 2014 was quite a winter storm/wind chill setup. After the nighttime brought six inches of snow on average, the following day featured wind chills -50 to -60 here in #NWOhioWx.

RCNYILWX · January 20, 2021

Thanks for creating the thread@Hoosier. A good way to let out some of the pent up frustration with these past couple winters haha. Usually every winter at some point I'll go back and read the AFDs leading up to GHD I. I know the storm threads for that were actually on Central/Western since GLOV sub didn't exist yet. Some of my favorite threads in this sub are for Jan 4-5, 2014 and GHD II, two of the best events for favorable trends in the short range for much of the Chicago metro. We really need an event like that, hopefully somehow it happens this winter.

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SchaumburgStormer · January 20, 2021

1 hour ago, RCNYILWX said:

Thanks for creating the thread@Hoosier. A good way to let out some of the pent up frustration with these past couple winters haha. Usually every winter at some point I'll go back and read the AFDs leading up to GHD I. I know the storm threads for that were actually on Central/Western since GLOV sub didn't exist yet. Some of my favorite threads in this sub are for Jan 4-5, 2014 and GHD II, two of the best events for favorable trends in the short range for much of the Chicago metro. We really need an event like that, hopefully somehow it happens this winter.

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GHD 2 was top notch. Every run leading into start time kept ticking the dial a bit higher, and it performed. Was real fun to track.

Would love simply to have something to track without being worried about suppression or mixing.

cyclone77 · January 20, 2021

One thing I remember about GHD2 is that we were sort of caught in a thermal ridge much of that first evening. Had rain mixing in with the snow deep into the evening which kept much from accumulating. Models were consistent with a lot of snow to come after the full changeover but it was a bit frustrating hanging onto the mix so long. It ended up working out for the best though as the extremely wet snow and rain mix was slowly caking trees, and once it fully transitioned to all snow the trees REALLY got caked. Woke up the following morning to significant tree damage to one of the trees in the backyard as very heavy snow continued to fall. Ended up with around 15".

nokywx · January 20, 2021

A personal favorite for me was a Feb. '95 lake effect event in South Bend. This was probably the most hyped lake effect storm I can remember, as I recall local stations putting out maps with 1-3' expected.

We ended up with about 21 in. over 5 days, but the highlight was a Tuesday afternoon snow band that came through and dropped 5 inches in an hour. The darkest, heaviest snow clouds I've ever seen.

Chicago WX · January 20, 2021

10 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Yep. And it started with that storm on 2/6/07. What a nightmare that thing was on the roads because of how cold it was. The hilly roads were really challenging.

Yeah, super cold event. It was ripping +SN here in the single digits/low teens...all the while it was spring in Missouri.

hawkeye_wx · January 20, 2021

It was not a big storm, but it was one of my faves. It occurred on the same morning as the record -30º low temp on Jan 31, 2015. Here is what I posted then.

Quote

This was my favorite storm of the season. Cedar Rapids went from an all-time record -30F to moderate to heavy snow in less than three hours, which is pretty nuts. The entire event occurred when the temp was -10F to -5F. I experienced a couple bands of moderate to heavy snow with large dendrites pouring down. My storm total was 3.1". The core sample melted down to 0.14", which makes the ratio 22 to 1. As is often the case with weaker/sneakier clippers, the wind was light throughout. It was just a beautiful several-hour snowfall during daylight. I even got to experience an hour of moderate to heavy snow while outside shoveling late afternoon.

RCNYILWX · January 20, 2021

If anyone has links to some of the threads for the past greats (GHD I & II, etc) in the Great Lakes Ohio Valley area since the inception of American Weather forums, would be appreciated to post them here.

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