Monday Morning 2/22 Snow Event

[HighStakes]

17 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

@HighStakes my 5.5” was definitely low. Now that I’m out clearing and looking around the 5.5 area i typically measure in was a low spot. Wind was unusual with this one so snow drifted it weird ways compared to what I’m used to. The 5.5 areas are compacted down to 4.5 now but I found a general 6-8” of new depth on top of the ice on the other side of my property (downwind) of the ridge which was the opposite side of normal.  Even one foot drifts very common on the front side of my house. 

If I simply take an average of measurements around my property between the board on my driveway, the deck, and the front walk I get 6.5” and that’s without counting the 1 foot drifts. Plus it was likely more since there has been a lot of compaction since 2 hours ago!  

This season has been a little weird for measuring. Mixing, compaction, wind etc. We've had multiple events that compacted immediately. 

This year also has been the largest spread between our measurements due to the marginal events. I've also been a little lazy this year and missed an inch or so along the way. The first event of the year in December you got 3 and I only got 1-1.5. Then the Feb. 7th event I got 5.5 and you got 6.5 -7.0. That storm became very marginal the last 2 hours. 

We probably have a 5-6 inch spread between our houses.  

[Stormfly]

Ditto on the measurements!

I will say this though, this is the first time since 2010 that my deck has had over a foot of snow in the middle for the entire month (so far) of February.

It's been a weird winter but I'll take it!

If severe is weird and we catch a tornado on one of the security cameras I hope it's a tiny one like this!

 

[snowfan]

Storm tallies as of lunch time.

 

[IronTy]

Today goes down as one of the crappiest weather days of all time.  34F with moderate to heavy rain, low cloud cover and stiff wind on the bay.  About sums up the entire winter.  

[Ka60]

6 minutes ago, snowfan said:

Storm tallies as of lunch time.

 

This is absolutely incorrect for Clarksburg area.  We had over 3" of Snow + .5" of sleet. lol 

[snowfan]

5 minutes ago, Ka60 said:

This is absolutely incorrect for Clarksburg area.  We had over 3" of Snow + .5" of sleet. lol 

It’s reliant on people reporting totals. Is that what you reported to NWS?

[psuhoffman]

1 hour ago, HighStakes said:

This season has been a little weird for measuring. Mixing, compaction, wind etc. We've had multiple events that compacted immediately. 

This year also has been the largest spread between our measurements due to the marginal events. I've also been a little lazy this year and missed an inch or so along the way. The first event of the year in December you got 3 and I only got 1-1.5. Then the Feb. 7th event I got 5.5 and you got 6.5 -7.0. That storm became very marginal the last 2 hours. 

We probably have a 5-6 inch spread between our houses.  

That’s crazy but when the snow isn’t too deep we hike down the goat trail from my back yard to the neighborhood below us across from Ebb Valley and a few times there has been a very noticeable difference in snow depth between up here and down there.  That’s the first time since I’ve been up here that I’ve noticed it that extreme. I know you said over the years from time to time there is a difference but never several times in a single season and to this extreme. But it makes sense since we had several storms where a bulk of the snow fell right near 32 degrees. That 1-2 degree difference between up here and down there can make a difference when it’s that close I guess. That and upslope/downslope. Every little bit with rates matters when you’re trying to accumulate at 33-34 degrees 

[DDweatherman]

37 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

That’s crazy but when the snow isn’t too deep we hike down the goat trail from my back yard to the neighborhood below us across from Ebb Valley and a few times there has been a very noticeable difference in snow depth between up here and down there.  That’s the first time since I’ve been up here that I’ve noticed it that extreme. I know you said over the years from time to time there is a difference but never several times in a single season and to this extreme. But it makes sense since we had several storms where a bulk of the snow fell right near 32 degrees. That 1-2 degree difference between up here and down there can make a difference when it’s that close I guess. That and upslope/downslope. Every little bit with rates matters when you’re trying to accumulate at 33-34 degrees 

Where are you for the year? I'm right around 35" on the west side of town in Westminster. I suspect you're mid to upper 40's? 

[BlizzardNole]

47 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

That’s crazy but when the snow isn’t too deep we hike down the goat trail from my back yard to the neighborhood below us across from Ebb Valley and a few times there has been a very noticeable difference in snow depth between up here and down there.  That’s the first time since I’ve been up here that I’ve noticed it that extreme. I know you said over the years from time to time there is a difference but never several times in a single season and to this extreme. But it makes sense since we had several storms where a bulk of the snow fell right near 32 degrees. That 1-2 degree difference between up here and down there can make a difference when it’s that close I guess. That and upslope/downslope. Every little bit with rates matters when you’re trying to accumulate at 33-34 degrees 

Your micro-climate is really fascinating.  It makes you wonder what it would be like if you had elevations of say 2500 feet in that area.

[Fozz]

15 minutes ago, DDweatherman said:

Where are you for the year? I'm right around 35" on the west side of town in Westminster. I suspect you're mid to upper 40's? 

I think he recently reported 51” to date. More than my spot in SNE.

Seems like the gradient this winter is even more ridiculous than 2013-14. Of course it is normal for north and west to do better, but the differences seem abnormally steep this year. I feel for the I 95 crowd, especially near DCA.

[BlizzardNole]

Wait, I was poking around that area looking at elevations and found this -- so NY State has the Tug Hill and you guys have the Dug Hill!

 

[HighStakes]

32 minutes ago, DDweatherman said:

Where are you for the year? I'm right around 35" on the west side of town in Westminster. I suspect you're mid to upper 40's? 

I'm around 45. PSU is over 50.

[jayyy]

1 hour ago, DDweatherman said:

Where are you for the year? I'm right around 35" on the west side of town in Westminster. I suspect you're mid to upper 40's? 

35 for the year? Hm. You must be in a snow shadow next to the ridge for some of these storms. That’s a rather large difference between you, NE Westminster and Manchester. Especially since some places to your west are over 40-45” as well. 30” in February alone here. My totals typically line up pretty well with @losetoa6 since we’re not very far apart -however we both typically get less than PSU’ville. 46.75” total here for the season. I’ve got some elevation to help out, but am probably about 300 ft below PSU

[psuhoffman]

@HighStakes Nora demanded we take our normal walk, snow or not, so we made it down the goat trail and are walking in your hood now.   There is a definite MAJOR difference. 

Up top

at the bottom 

 

It’s not uniform and I’m just eyeballing it but it’s ~12-15” depth up top and 5-8” at the bottom. That’s CRAZY!!!!

[DDweatherman]

35 minutes ago, jayyy said:

35 for the year? Hm. You must be in a snow shadow next to the ridge for some of these storms. That’s a rather large difference between you, NE Westminster and Manchester. Especially since some places to your west are over 40-45” as well. 30” in February alone here. My totals typically line up pretty well with @losetoa6 since we’re not very far apart -however we both typically get less than PSU’ville. 46.75” total here for the season. I’ve got some elevation to help out, but am probably about 300 ft below PSU

I might have missed a storm, I was in Florida for quite a while and think I am closer to 40” after tallying. I actually have more elevation than you at 770 feet or so. Westminster is at a higher elevation than UB for the most part. You start to get towards the valley as you go west on Uniontown/Middleburg Rd. 

[vastateofmind]

Forgive the banter-ish post, but since this event has since wrapped up -- @psuhoffman, based on your posted pics, am I correct in assuming you have an exterior, standalone deck overlooking the valley below your ridge that you occasionally reference? If so...I'll bet that's an awesome outdoor entertainment space with a great view in the warmer months.

[jayyy]

22 minutes ago, DDweatherman said:

I might have missed a storm, I was in Florida for quite a while and think I am closer to 40” after tallying. I actually have more elevation than you at 770 feet or so. Westminster is at a higher elevation than UB for the most part. You start to get towards the valley as you go west on Uniontown/Middleburg Rd. 

That would definitely explain it. I guess it’s possible you got caught between banding during some of these storms, but that’s pretty unlikely to the tune of 10+ inches on the season. 35 def. seems a bit low compared to your surroundings when seasonal totals are 40”+ on both sides of ya.

Feels like you’re missing about 6” from your total - perhaps a missed storm when you were away. I’m at roughly 600, so you’ve definitely got a little elevation on me, hence the confusion! I will say though… We have gotten really lucky here near the Frederick / Carroll county border with solid banding nearly every storm. I don’t have Thurmont type lift, but we’ve been lucky with QPF all season long not too Far East of there. Emmitsburg has been in the jack area all season - this season we have gotten lucky to be on the eastern flank of that jackpot, when in years past we normally get caught between areas of lift to our east and west. Going to enjoy it while I can! The 95 crew is due for a big season with East tracking coastals soon enough. 

[Chris78]

24 minutes ago, jayyy said:

That would definitely explain it. I guess it’s possible you got caught between banding during some of these storms, but that’s pretty unlikely to the tune of 10+ inches on the season. 35 def. seems a bit low compared to your surroundings when seasonal totals are 40”+ on both sides of ya.

Feels like you’re missing about 6” from your total - perhaps a missed storm when you were away. I’m at roughly 600, so you’ve definitely got a little elevation on me, hence the confusion! I will say though… We have gotten really lucky here near the Frederick / Carroll county border with solid banding nearly every storm. I don’t have Thurmont type lift, but we’ve been lucky with QPF all season long not too Far East of there. Emmitsburg has been in the jack area all season - this season we have gotten lucky to be on the eastern flank of that jackpot, when in years past we normally get caught between areas of lift to our east and west. Going to enjoy it while I can! The 95 crew is due for a big season with East tracking coastals soon enough. 

Been lucky this year in the Emmitsburg, Thurmont,Smithsburg, Catoctins area. 

In years past we have been too west and missed out on the better QPF to the east. 

Almost to 40" here ( not PSU territory) lol but darn good.  Wasn't expecting anything good this winter but when the blocking showed up I thought maybe just maybe we could pull something off.

Wish there wasn't this much disparity between the i95 crew and Northern crew. PSU land is always going to do better than the beltway but this year has just been ridiculous. 

I travel over the catoctins to work each day Smithsburg to Thurmont and the snow pack the catoctins have is just insane. There was probably 20" + of snow pack up there today.

Last year my total was 5.5". What a difference a year makes.

[psuhoffman]

2 hours ago, BlizzardNole said:

Wait, I was poking around that area looking at elevations and found this -- so NY State has the Tug Hill and you guys have the Dug Hill!

 

That’s the ridge I live on....on the highest point of Dug Hill Ridge just west of 30. 

[psuhoffman]

3 hours ago, DDweatherman said:

Where are you for the year? I'm right around 35" on the west side of town in Westminster. I suspect you're mid to upper 40's? 

51.5”

[HighStakes]

1 hour ago, psuhoffman said:

@HighStakes Nora demanded we take our normal walk, snow or not, so we made it down the goat trail and are walking in your hood now.   There is a definite MAJOR difference. 

Up top

at the bottom 

 

It’s not uniform and I’m just eyeballing it but it’s ~12-15” depth up top and 5-8” at the bottom. That’s CRAZY!!!!

That's amazing. My parents live on the top of Westminster St. at 1050ft. but I haven't been there because of Covid. I'm curious to see how their coverage is. I've got about 7-8 on my south facing front yard and 10 in the backyard. My deck which gets no sun has 12 now but was 14 this morning during the snow. 

This has been an impressive stretch of snow cover. My front yard usually takes a beating on sunny days but I've had full coverage since Jan 31st. The freezing rain and sleet was no doubt partially responsible for the staying power but its also been quite chilly.

[psuhoffman]

1 minute ago, HighStakes said:

That's amazing. My parents live on the top of Westminster St. at 1050ft. but I haven't been there because of Covid. I'm curious to see how their coverage is. I've got about 7-8 on my south facing front yard and 10 in the backyard. My deck which gets no sun has 12 now but was 14 this morning during the snow. 

This has been an impressive stretch of snow cover. My front yard usually takes a beating on sunny days but I've had full coverage since Jan 31st. The freezing rain and sleet was no doubt partially responsible for the staying power but its also been quite chilly.

I know the area around Princess Court on the south side of town has a ton. They are about 1050 feet plus in a bowl on the northeast side of the ridge there. They get dumped on, maybe slightly more then me even. 

[psuhoffman]

1 hour ago, vastateofmind said:

Forgive the banter-ish post, but since this event has since wrapped up -- @psuhoffman, based on your posted pics, am I correct in assuming you have an exterior, standalone deck overlooking the valley below your ridge that you occasionally reference? If so...I'll bet that's an awesome outdoor entertainment space with a great view in the warmer months.

Yes its attached to the pool.  And it is nice in the summer and typically catches a nice breeze.  I also have a covered back porch that stays pretty cool in summer and is good for entertaining and BBQ's.  Years ago I had a get together BBQ up here and I would love to host another event when all this covid stuff is over with.  

[psuhoffman]

5 hours ago, uncletim said:

We need to buy up some property on "Psuhoff Ridge" and start an AmWx snow colony. That Is the Place!

A couple years ago the property next door was in foreclosure and vacant for a while.  The woman who owned it passed away and the daughter was a bit of a deadbeat and lost the property.  I actually thought it would be cool to buy it and start a B&B.  It has a lodge type layout and an amazing view with 5 acres of property and would have been amazing to host events...but it was a pipe dream.   Thought it would have been cool though.  If I ever finish the basement I would have plenty of space for "crashers" though and definitely want to host event again if anyone is interested.  

[mattie g]

3 hours ago, Fozz said:

I think he recently reported 51” to date. More than my spot in SNE.

Seems like the gradient this winter is even more ridiculous than 2013-14. Of course it is normal for north and west to do better, but the differences seem abnormally steep this year. I feel for the I 95 crowd, especially near DCA.

Not even double digits.

[poolz1]

.30 snow and sleet melted down

2.4" New snow today

31.2" for the season and day 22 with snow cover...current snowpack is about 6".  Nothing crazy but a respectable wintry period....

[Baltimorewx]

1 hour ago, DDweatherman said:

I might have missed a storm, I was in Florida for quite a while and think I am closer to 40” after tallying. I actually have more elevation than you at 770 feet or so. Westminster is at a higher elevation than UB for the most part. You start to get towards the valley as you go west on Uniontown/Middleburg Rd. 

The luxury of “missing” a storm lol...you still at least triple my snowfall even with a missed one. Quadruple if it’s 40. Congrats lol

[jayyy]

55 minutes ago, Chris78 said:

Been lucky this year in the Emmitsburg, Thurmont,Smithsburg, Catoctins area. 

In years past we have been too west and missed out on the better QPF to the east. 

Almost to 40" here ( not PSU territory) lol but darn good.  Wasn't expecting anything good this winter but when the blocking showed up I thought maybe just maybe we could pull something off.

Wish there wasn't this much disparity between the i95 crew and Northern crew. PSU land is always going to do better than the beltway but this year has just been ridiculous. 

I travel over the catoctins to work each day Smithsburg to Thurmont and the snow pack the catoctins have is just insane. There was probably 20" + of snow pack up there today.

Last year my total was 5.5". What a difference a year makes.

Fully agree. It’s a shame too, because the potential was there for a decent number of good area wide snowfalls if just a few really small things went differently. A degree here, a slight shift in the track of the 850 low there. Believe they had 4 warnings issued along 95 that didn’t verify by about 15-20 miles. My brother has around 22” on the season just west of the turf valley area in ellicott city, but they could easily have 30-35 with a few small tweaks in each system.

 Considering this winter was supposed to be god awful, I’d say it’s been pretty darn good. Yes, more so for our areas than 95, but there’s been a good number of days with winter weather this year; something we didn’t think would happen a few months ago. Hope next year is a monster for the 95 crew. They deserve it after the past 5 years. 

[Baltimorewx]

39 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

51.5”

So that’s 5x my recorded snowfall lol

[jayyy]

6 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

So that’s 5x my recorded snowfall lol

Next year is your guys year! I’m feeling it. The year of off-shore/East tracking coastal that hits 95 on east and fringes NW areas. 
 

Can’t remember which years that happened in the early 2000s (I was living in NY), but I recall a few years in a row where NYC LI and coastal NJ got hit and my area and places NW kept seeing advisory level snowfall. 3-6” at my house in stony point and 12+ On the island with 18+ in Boston was very common. It’s been a while since we’ve seen a winter like that. It may be coming sooner than later. I don’t think what we’re seeing this year is the new normal. I think it was just a crap ton of bad luck for the 95 area. Perfect track after perfect track with one or two ingredients missing. I know my brother feels it was a literal battle to get to 20”. You guys are due!