Grading Winter 2024-25

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, CoastalWx said:

I've always gone by tenths. Trust me, I was trying to break the 6" mark, but couldn't do it. 

Same here.  In 2005-06 our biggest snowfall was the same 5.9" in late January.  Then we had only 7.8" the rest of the way.  That season is the only one that failed to have a 6"+ event since we moved to Maine in January 1973.  (Probably did not have a winter w/o a 6+ in NNJ after 1964-65, so once in the most recent 60 winters.)

[CoastalWx]

43 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Same here.  In 2005-06 our biggest snowfall was the same 5.9" in late January.  Then we had only 7.8" the rest of the way.  That season is the only one that failed to have a 6"+ event since we moved to Maine in January 1973.  (Probably did not have a winter w/o a 6+ in NNJ after 1964-65, so once in the most recent 60 winters.)

Wow incredible, but sad stat. Always appreciate your insights at all your locations. I think the Jersey stats impress me more because of how snowy it was. I know that area can be a good snow spot in some years, but they had it good back then.

[40/70 Benchmark]

16 hours ago, weatherwiz said:

But I also think this goes to show how important the Fall can be, particularly late Fall in "setting the stage". Obviously things can drastically change mid-season (winter) but that is usually the product of something of high magnitude (major SSW, PV split, constant Rossby wave breaking, etc.). This winter should be a great case study. I mean we already have a general idea of why it didn't produce but after the fact...the signs were most likely there all along that these "good looks" weren't going to produce. But this is how we better ourselves and increase forecasting capabilities...look at what went wrong, identifying those flags and then comparing to the data set and differentiating between good years versus no good years. 

If I'm being honest, I would have expected a bit more snowfall had I known it would be that cold...that being said, I knew by mid January it wasn't going to come together this season.

[MJO812]

On 3/9/2025 at 8:17 AM, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

F

next

D

A few little events but still way below normal down here. Got 13 inches. 

[tamarack]

16 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Wow incredible, but sad stat. Always appreciate your insights at all your locations. I think the Jersey stats impress me more because of how snowy it was. I know that area can be a good snow spot in some years, but they had it good back then.

The good and the bad.  The local reservoir averaged only 27.1" for our first 6 winters (49-50 thru 54-55) in the Jersey Highlands.  Then the next 6 winters it was 61.6", with 93" in 57-58 and 100" in 60-61.  The "six-year famine" had no storms of double digits; the "years of plenty" had 7 events of 18-24".

[codfishsnowman]

B-....seasonably chilly and the snow and ice we did get stuck around for awhile. Logged 31 days snow cover here in death valley for only 22 inches. A handful of very cold mornings. 

Once again way below normal in snowfall with no storm exceeding 4 inches.

[dryslot]

C-, Good on cold, Good on retention, But look to fall well short of seasonal avg.

[tamarack]

March was on an 'F' track, with temp 4-5 AN (but BN for available sunshine) and no snows bigger than 0.9".  Maybe this event and attendant cold can pull the month into D-land.

[bristolri_wx]

I would give this winter a C-.  At least it felt cold and wintry even though we didn't get much snow.  Definitely better than last year.  Room for improvement for Winter 25-26.

[Cold Miser]

As always, I like to wait until after April 1st to wrap things up with the hopes that March would have brought one last hit.  Like the last few seasons before, that last hit never came...except to those who managed to hit the 3' bong.

...and, like last year winter was done in mid February,   

The good news is that I ended up with 4" more than 23/24...The bad news is that it was still a sh.it total.  At 19" for the season, this makes 3 winter's in a row @ under 20".

The grades (all items are equally weighted)

Overall Seasonal Snowfall: F 

Snow vs. Rain: D 
Rain was abundant again.

Staying power/ (number of days) of pack: C+ 
How can something so little last so long...No, this isn't something @Damage In Tolland hears from his wife at night, this is me making a statement about the "pack". There was snow on the ground in December, including a pathetic white Christmas, snow on the ground in January, and snow on the ground in February.  With the exception of a few brown yard days, there was something frozen on the ground from December into February.  Oddly, that depth was never more than 4-5", and mostly a meager 2 or so.

Temperature: B
Cold saved the day for the most part, but was not there when needed sometimes.  Lake Lava mostly froze up at the end of December, thawed briefly around New Years, but then the entire volcano quickly froze up again, and stayed frozen until early March. 

Local winter enjoyment: C-
The snow was never deep enough to snow shoe, but Ice fishing, and enjoyment on the frozen lake helped keep that frown from always being upside down. 

Snowstorms/ events (quality/ quantity): C- 
Numerous events, but again, no big dog storm.  

Overall Grade: D- 

The only thing that kept this from being a complete failure of a season was the cold, meager pack and a bit of being able to have fun. This is now 3 seasons of snow not even totaling what would be a seasonal average.  On the positive side, the 11" total from 22/23 rose 4" to 15" in 23/24, and that total rose another 4" to 19" in 24/25, so maybe, just maybe I can get close to 24" in 25/26.