ok folks..where do we rate this blizzard all time?

[Ray8002]

#1 31.5" of snow combined with 50-60 mph gusts. Speechless.

[jwilson]

These types of snowstorms seem rare but they are probably common in this type of Greenland Blocking configuration that has been so prevalent since 2009. We don't have much data to work with and I don't think think these types of storms are as rare as many people think. This historical period of southern snowstorms probably isn't over yet.

I agree. The small historical data sample to go on doesn't necessarily indicate the true frequency of these storms. Perhaps 200 or more years ago these systems were fairly commonplace. Perhaps at one time in history it never snowed, or they got two feet of snow every other week? Is there really any way to know?

[KEITH L.I]

my top 10 on Long Island and in my lifetime

feb 78

PD 2

Jan 96

Lindsay(I was in Brooklyn)

Feb 83

Dec 09

Dec 2000

Dec 2010

Jan 78

Jan 05

[RutgersWx92]

Crazy the huge disparities in Precip with this storm..I live in Somerset County Smack in the middle of NJ..I was on the western Fringe of the Heavy Precip by probably 10-15 miles..We had 12 inches or so while the Eastern Edge of Somerset County had 20 inches..A few Miles past that is where those 24-30 bands were..

We had a 12" storm last winter so to me it was just another run of the mill snowstorm..The potential was there and between 8 to 10 oclock it looked like it was going to be special(Heavy snow was falling)l but than the precip turned into light snow and flurries the rest of the way until I went to bed around 3"oclock. In this area I wouldn't be shocked if we get another another storm to rival or beat it this season..so for me it was far from Epic and I guess what made it worse knowing some of my friends who were in the next county were getting buried.

Agree 100%. For me this was nothing but another run-of-the-mill snowstorm. Blizzard of 1996 (ignoring the fact that I barely remember it), PDII, December 30, 2000, Feb. 2006, Jan. 2005, and Feb. 10 2010 were all soooo much better. Got only 9 inches here in the western part of Somerset County, and what made it so frustrating was seeing people just to the east of me get 2 feet plus. What made it even worse is that Rutgers (where I usually am) probably got 20+ as well. It was even worse in Hunterdon County where they only got 4-5 inches, and out in the Allentown area they only got an inch or two. Just a crazy gradient with this storm, and the very high totals weren't anywhere near as widespread as they were for a lot of the other greats.

[yhbrooklyn]

#2

'96 is still king for me.

'03 was a much colder storm which made it more impressive, but the drifts from this storm were insane.

[Quakertown needs snow]

7-8" so top 50.

congrats to the others!

[jasonli18t]

my top 10 on Long Island and in my lifetime

feb 78

PD 2

Jan 96

Lindsay(I was in Brooklyn)

Feb 83

Dec 09

Dec 2000

Jan 78

Jan 05

Dec 03

you don't put this one in the top 10? 18 inches with 50+ mph wind gusts? cmon.

[KEITH L.I]

you don't put this one in the top 10? 18 inches with 50+ mph wind gusts? cmon.

your right..I guess with the winds..I only recieved 14.4..ok..time to edit..lol..thanks it's #8 of alltime

[jasonli18t]

your right..I guess with the winds..I only recieved 14.4..ok..time to edit..lol..thanks

North babylon reported like 18 so that's what I was basing it on. I put this as 3rd behind 03 and 96...but I'm also only 24 years old. We definitely lacked epic accumulations for this one but the winds made it memorable for me. I also think we tend to romanticize weather events the further in the past they become. 5 Years from now i believe this will seem even more epic because of the truly rare winds.

[dbc]

#2

'96 is still king for me.

'03 was a much colder storm which made it more impressive, but the drifts from this storm were insane.

I would say this is about right. 1996 was so unique just due to the widespread nature of it (2 feet+ for so many more areas than this one) and the incredible duration which has yet to be repeated. I was in Howell, NJ for that (SE Monmouth) and still have never seen the amount of snow I saw then since. It is so hard to tell if I got to the level LocoAcko did in Jersey City (26 inches) just 7 miles due south of me as the winds here on the cliffs are so wild that it is impossible to measure. Anyone have the offical Fort Lee totals as that is a town away from me?

[pazzo83]

96 was just a beast. I can't wait to get back up to NYC tomorrow to see how much snow we got, but back in 96 we got nearly 40 inches with 8-10ft drifts in the Shenandoah Valley of VA. The closest I've ever seen to that is during Snowmageddon in Philly after the second Feb blizzard, when we had probably between 30 and 40 inches on the ground.

[SnoSki14]

It just about ties for #2 for me in terms of snowfall amounts. #1 without a doubt remains 96 with over 30" of snow, frigid temperatures, and longevity. I had exactly 2 feet for president's day and this one is nearly the same except the winds were stronger although the temperatures were much colder for PD II.

[ParanormalWx]

Surprised no one uses Superstorm '93. I guess since most changed over for a time?

For me:

#1 1996

#2 1993

#3 PD II

[LocoAko]

I would say this is about right. 1996 was so unique just due to the widespread nature of it (2 feet+ for so many more areas than this one) and the incredible duration which has yet to be repeated. I was in Howell, NJ for that (SE Monmouth) and still have never seen the amount of snow I saw then since. It is so hard to tell if I got to the level LocoAcko did in Jersey City (26 inches) just 7 miles due south of me as the winds here on the cliffs are so wild that it is impossible to measure. Anyone have the offical Fort Lee totals as that is a town away from me?

I may have been an inch high (nearly impossible to measure) but KEWR reported 24.2" and Harrison 25" so I'm in the ballpark at least.

[dbc]

I may have been an inch high (nearly impossible to measure) but KEWR reported 24.2" and Harrison 25" so I'm in the ballpark at least.

I got to imagine I'm in the 20-24 inch range as well but like you said it is impossible to measure and it is even worse here on the Cliffs and same goes for folks in JC who live on cliffs as well.

Has Upton released the snowfall totals by county yet?

[Neblizzard]

We got 30.2 inches here in Kenilworth NJ over an 18 hour period. For my area this is the best storm of all-time because the Blizzard of 96 gave us 32 inches over a 34 hour period. When this storm started at 11pm yesterday morning, it was a snowblitz from beginning to end, along with the strongest winds i've ever seen in a Nor'easter. Of course the 96 storm is king in terms of areal coverage, but this blizzard is number 1. Strong La Nina winter, who would of thought? The blocking pattern in the atlantic completely offset the Nina and with the models showing a -NAO returning, I have a feeling we aren't done yet...

[LocoAko]

I got to imagine I'm in the 20-24 inch range as well but like you said it is impossible to measure and it is even worse here on the Cliffs and same goes for folks in JC who live on cliffs as well.

Has Upton released the snowfall totals by county yet?

Here's the latest... the "final" one should be up some time today I imagine.

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=OKX&product=PNS

[dbc]

We got 30.2 inches here in Kenilworth NJ over an 18 hour period. For my area this is the best storm of all-time because the Blizzard of 96 gave us 32 inches over a 34 hour period. When this storm started at 11pm yesterday morning, it was a snowblitz from beginning to end, along with the strongest winds i've ever seen in a Nor'easter. Of course the 96 storm is king in terms of areal coverage, but this blizzard is number 1. Strong La Nina winter, who would of thought? The blocking pattern in the atlantic completely offset the Nina and with the models showing a -NAO returning, I have a feeling we aren't done yet...

2006 was similar to this just in a more localized area. An all out blitz in a short period of time. 1996 still wins in my book for similar reasons already stated, duration, coverage etc. Duration impresses me with these storms. Yes it takes longer to dump all that snow but to me I'd rather have the duration as it's impact is far greater when the snow just continues without relent. The first flakes/flurries I saw in the 1996 storm started falling late Saturday afternoon January 6th and it didn't stop falling until late afternoon Monday. 1996 wins everytime:

http://www.njfreeway.../07-Jan-96.html

[dbc]

Here's the latest... the "final" one should be up some time today I imagine.

http://forecast.weat...OKX&product=PNS

Hoboken 19.9 inches at 8am is probably the best representation for me. NBC just showed a picture from Cliffside Park, NJ. Snow is halfway up the door the person uses to exit their apartment and they cannot open the door, lol!

[ChescoWx]

Down in the Philly area we had 4 storms (15" to 30") like this in just the past 13 months so not anywhere near the top. However, the winds have been very impressive.

Hoboken 19.9 inches at 8am is probably the best representation for me.

[Vandy]

Probably in my top 10 or 15. 10" of snow in Philly is nothing to sneeze at.

That said, I think it may be my #1 storm to track. Never a dull moment and many highs and lows.

[dbc]

Down in the Philly area we had 4 storms (15" to 30") like this in just the past 13 months so not anywhere near the top. However, the winds have been very impressive.

I put this at #2 behind 1996 for this area. The winds and frequent lightning was the most impressive and so was the sheer blitz of the snow and how quickly it piled up to these levels. If this thing hung around longer like 1996, we would have surpassed 30 inches easily.

[Dsnowx53]

in woodmere over the past 6 years #1...nothing even close.

over the past 35 years, taking snow, wind, overall conditions...this probably ranks 3rd behind 1978 and 1996.

The Euro was the champ here. It deviated for 2 or 3 runs but it had it lock,stock, barrel for like 8 runs in a row....GFS took over inside 72 hours.

but this might go down as my fav...as I found my Blackberry, in working condition, after being at the bottom of 22" of snow ALL NIGHT

I had a similar story! My phone fell out of my pocket in a HUGE snow pile, and my friend found it after 15 minutes of searching.

And yes, this storm is definitely my favorite of all-time. 19" here, with incredible, incredible winds. There were times where I was actually scared.

[ace0927]

well right away this crushes pdII...so its top 2 :-)

you don't put this one in the top 10? 18 inches with 50+ mph wind gusts? cmon.

[NorthNJwx]

Here's the latest... the "final" one should be up some time today I imagine.

http://forecast.weat...OKX&product=PNS

My wind gust report finally made the statement along with my total snowfall. Been trying for that for a while!

In terms of snow events, this storm is probably my favorite to date. Like several others in this thread, I was too young in '96 to appreciate it. Likewise, same for '93, which might have shared the top spot with this one had I been old enough to remember it. December 2000 was awesome for me (18"), but relatively windless. February 2003 (24"), awesome as well but same story - not much wind. Even February 2006 (16") was lacking in the wind department by me. I was not in the area for last February's storms.

This storm gave me 22" of snow and a peak wind gust of 40 mph. I've matched both of those before, but certainly not in the same storm! The miracle-like nature of the model evolution during last week added to its mystique, and I'm usually not one to even follow models and forecasts all that closely.

In terms of all weather events I've experienced, I'd say it's tough to compare this storm to other types of storms - they're all good. But in terms of snowstorms, it's at the top. From an overall NJ climatology standpoint, I think this settles into a spot with the oft-mentioned historic storms. I don't think '96 has been dethroned since it was so much more widespread, but in some aspects this storm outdid it.

[simpsonsbuff]

I was only 8 for Jan 96, so I didn't (and probably couldn't) understand it for it was. That said, I don't only measure snowstorms for the amount of snow they deliver. I loved Christmas 02 because we ended up with 10 instead of the 3-5 forecasted. The 12/26-27/10 storm is up there because of everything that led up to it. The Euro staying solid (then dying). The GFS and its "initialization errors" (forever infamous). Some of the forecasts about "dodging a bullet". I mean Upton (and I mean no disrespect, merely how the storm was unpredictable) had only light snow in the forecast as late as Friday Night. The fact that the NAM actually boosted totals in its 12z run Sunday instead of its normal slicing down.

Put another way, this storm is going to join 1/25/00 in the weenie lingo. For that alone, it will have a special place.

As it is, I'll take my 20+ inches and go back up to school a pretty happy dude.

[earthlight]

Finished with 30.5 here. 1.5 inches short of the 1996 blizzard. But as far as impact in this specific area, this storm wins. So it's definitely #1 in my lifetime. There are cars stranded everywhere...everything is closed..it's a disaster. I'm still digging my car out and have been doing so since 8am.

[dbc]

NBC was just in North Bergen which is a block away from me, based on that there is no doubt we were at 20 inches or more.

[Dsnowx53]

Earthlight had 30"!

I would rank this right up there in the top 5-- though Jan 96 is still number one.

20 inches of snow with 5 foot drifts and 60 mph winds for 24 hours isnt too shabby!

Wow, you officially made the 20" mark!? Nice! I was up all night and actually crashed in bed at 7:40am while it was still snowing. I'm honestly not sure if we made it to 20--I didn't wake up until 1:15pm

I'm still going with 19" here, though. What an incredible, incredible storm.

[dbc]

Finished with 30.5 here. 1.5 inches short of the 1996 blizzard. But as far as impact in this specific area, this storm wins. So it's definitely #1 in my lifetime. There are cars stranded everywhere...everything is closed..it's a disaster. I'm still digging my car out and have been doing so since 8am.

That is how I felt about 1996. The impact to Howell, NJ of 30+ inches of snow was so dramatic.

Schools were closed for three consecutive days! Cars were buried so badly on driveways from drifts you could physically walk under the snow next to the car as if you were in a small igloo, lol. This storm in this area dosn't resemble that. Incredibly impressive though #2 in my books for this particular area.