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December 26-27 SNE Blizzard Observations

Baroclinic Zone

By Baroclinic Zone,
in New England

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HIPPYVALLEY

HIPPYVALLEY

Posted
Posted

Wet though? You can have a dry, dense snow too and it's not uncommon at all. I ended up around 10:1 with my 13". My backyard ranges 12-14" so I took a core from a 13" location...it came out to 1.36". There's a combination of compaction, fractured crystals from BLSN, some lousy snow growth, and snow pellets in there.

You are correct, I'll retract the wet statement. Dense snow. At no time did we ever go fully into the dry slot up here. Just poor snow growth I think.

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wxmanmitch

wxmanmitch

Posted
Posted

Looks like we're all done here. Hard to measure with the blowing and drifting. Depth ranges from 14 to 18 inches, so I'm going to clock it in as 16 inches. We were getting hit good with a wraparound/upslope band here for the past couple of hours with visibilities down to a 1/4 mile or less at times, but that has ended. All in all, a pretty good storm locally. Not epic or historic, but a decent hit that I will gladly take. Took some great weenie walks during the height of the meso band last night. We had about 10 inches between 8 PM and 12 AM with that band. At one point, it was probably close to 4 inches per hour. Unfortunately, the band pivoted a bit west of me and I got into the westernmost part of that dreaded dryslot that screwed parts of central CT and MA for a while after midnight. The heaviest totals appear to have been just to my west along the NY/MA border since they were in the meso band a while longer.

This was a strange storm that managed to be historic in NJ and NYC. Major league mid-level frontogenesis was the culprit behind that band that extended from NJ through eastern NY and extreme western New England. The added lift from the frontogenesis likely released some CSI (conditional symmetric instability), contributing to the thundersnow reports and epic snowfall rates observed there. There may have even been some conditional instability (CI) release down there as well given the snowfall rates. Mid-level drying led to the dryslot and lousy precip rates in the middle. The eastern band near Boston was likely a result of low-level convergence from the coastal front. A northeast or east flow will get forced up and over the northerly flow behind the coastal front resulting in added lift. The models handled this event pretty well with the two separate precip maxes and the shaft in the middle. They were likely picking up on the low-level coastal front feature in the east near BOS and the mid-level forcing further west and south.

The problem early on with the models was getting the synoptics resolved. The non-linear nature of the atmosphere resulted in vastly different solutions from run to run. They key was the strength of the northern stream feature and its interaction with the southern stream feature. The models were having a devil of a time with this (as they often do). Since the low went into the GOM it was able to deepen rapidly and move close to the coast instead of out to sea. Had the low stayed further north over land, it would've been much more progressive. Interesting storm with the typical scenario of the haves vs. the have-nots.

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HIPPYVALLEY

HIPPYVALLEY

Posted
Posted

Looks like we're all done here. Hard to measure with the blowing and drifting. Depth ranges from 14 to 18 inches, so I'm going to clock it in as 16 inches. We were getting hit good with a wraparound/upslope band here for the past couple of hours with visibilities down to a 1/4 mile or less at times, but that has ended. All in all, a pretty good storm locally. Not epic or historic, but a decent hit that I will gladly take. Took some great weenie walks during the height of the meso band last night. We had about 10 inches between 8 PM and 12 AM with that band. At one point, it was probably close to 4 inches per hour. Unfortunately, the band pivoted a bit west of me and I got into the westernmost part of that dreaded dryslot that screwed parts of central CT and MA for a while after midnight. The heaviest totals appear to have been just to my west along the NY/MA border since they were in the meso band a while longer.

This was a strange storm that managed to be historic in NJ and NYC. Major league mid-level frontogenesis was the culprit behind that band that extended from NJ through eastern NY and extreme western New England. The added lift from the frontogenesis likely released some CSI (conditional symmetric instability), contributing to the thundersnow reports and epic snowfall rates observed there. There may have even been some conditional instability (CI) release down there as well given the snowfall rates. Mid-level drying led to the dryslot and lousy precip rates in the middle. The eastern band near Boston was likely a result of low-level convergence from the coastal front. A northeast or east flow will get forced up and over the northerly flow behind the coastal front resulting in added lift. The models handled this event pretty well with the two separate precip maxes and the shaft in the middle. They were likely picking up on the low-level coastal front feature in the east near BOS and the mid-level forcing further west and south.

The problem early on with the models was getting the synoptics resolved. The non-linear nature of the atmosphere resulted in vastly different solutions from run to run. They key was the strength of the northern stream feature and its interaction with the southern stream feature. The models were having a devil of a time with this (as they often do). Since the low went into the GOM it was able to deepen rapidly and move close to the coast instead of out to sea. Had the low stayed further north over land, it would've been much more progressive. Interesting storm with the typical scenario of the haves vs. the have-nots.

Thanks! Great write up!

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

Not even going to try with an exact measurement... but will call it 11" as there's an average of 10-12" out there on the lawn just south of ALB.

That would jive with other reports from Albany County:

...ALBANY COUNTY...
  GREEN ISLAND          15.8  1205 PM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  COHOES                14.3  1100 AM 12/27
  LATHAM                11.0   750 AM 12/27
  ALBANY                10.5   830 AM 12/27  WTEN STUDIO
  VOORHEESVILLE 		10.0   936 AM 12/27  NWS EMPLOYEE
  COLONIE       		10.0  1028 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  ALCOVE DAM            10.0   730 AM 12/27  CO-OP OBSERVER
  ALTAMONT       		9.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  KNOX           		7.0  1039 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6

Needless to say, the black lab loves romping in the powder:

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powderfreak

powderfreak

Posted
Posted

Here's where a pretty widespread jackpot area was.... the three NY counties in ALB's warning area that border SNE:

Some big totals in this area...

...COLUMBIA COUNTY...
  NORTH HILLSDALE   	24.0  1145 AM 12/27
  GHENT             	22.0  1206 PM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  KINDERHOOK            21.0   834 AM 12/27  2 TO 3 FOOT DRIFTS
  NORTH CHATHAM     	20.3   802 AM 12/27  DRIFTS TO 4 FEET
  CLAVERACK         	20.0  1129 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  HILLSDALE         	20.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  TAGHKANIC         	19.0   800 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  LEBANON SPRINGS   	18.0   830 AM 12/27
  ANCRAMDALE            17.5  1125 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  LIVINGSTON            17.0  1149 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6

...DUTCHESS COUNTY...
  PINE PLAINS       	25.0   758 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  RHINEBECK         	17.0   938 AM 12/27
  WINGDALE              15.0   714 AM 12/27  1 TREE DOWN
  RED HOOK              15.0   734 AM 12/27
  DOVER PLAINS          15.0   809 AM 12/27
  POUGHKEEPSIE          10.0   700 AM 12/27  CO-OP OBSERVER
  SALT POINT         	9.0  1155 AM 12/27  2 FOOT SNOW DRIFTS

...RENSSELAER COUNTY...
  EAST POESTENKILL      24.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  STEPHENTOWN       	24.0  1202 PM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  GRAFTON           	24.0  1128 AM 12/27
  POESTENKILL       	20.5  1149 AM 12/27
  AVERILL PARK          20.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  SCHODACK CENTER   	19.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  HOOSICK FALLS     	19.0  1208 PM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  BRUNSWICK         	15.5  1023 AM 12/27  2-3 FOOT DRIFTS.
  EAST GREENBUSH        14.0  1119 AM 12/27  SKYWARN SPOTTER
  SCHAGHTICOKE          10.0  1152 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6

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shadow

shadow

Posted
Posted

Not even going to try with an exact measurement... but will call it 11" as there's an average of 10-12" out there on the lawn just south of ALB.

That would jive with other reports from Albany County:

...ALBANY COUNTY...
  GREEN ISLAND          15.8  1205 PM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  COHOES                14.3  1100 AM 12/27
  LATHAM                11.0   750 AM 12/27
  ALBANY                10.5   830 AM 12/27  WTEN STUDIO
  VOORHEESVILLE 		10.0   936 AM 12/27  NWS EMPLOYEE
  COLONIE   			10.0  1028 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6
  ALCOVE DAM            10.0   730 AM 12/27  CO-OP OBSERVER
  ALTAMONT   			9.0   830 AM 12/27  WTEN
  KNOX       			7.0  1039 AM 12/27  WEATHERNET6

Needless to say, the black lab loves romping in the powder:

hahaha mine does too she wants to stay out side and follow me around snow blowing

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cpickett79

cpickett79

Posted
Posted

money pit mike is hanging from the rafters......inscribed in the wood was ...."pattern looks great for you two weeks from now"

pete put his totals in a thread earlier was like 12.5 inches. (no more than that)

why is the wind so damn bad now? it's howling as i'm on the top of a hill and there is nothing for at least a mile or so at this elevation (300') to my NW or N or E.

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larvay

larvay

Posted
Posted

5.25" average in Chicopee, MA ... a.k.a. "The Snowhole of New England"...

5.25 seems a bit generous to me.

I still have my yardstick at the ready, but attempting to measure just seems an exercise in subjectivity to me. I mean, at least half the open ground around where I am is bare, with what snow there is piled in drifts here and there.

Except for the wind, a forgettable event, even for here.

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