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Past MW/GL/OV Snowstorms

Chicago WX

By Chicago WX,
in Central/Western States

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Chicago WX

Chicago WX

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Posted

Here's one that Hoosier will like...March 9, 1998.

This radar loop: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/current/mcview.phtml?prod=lotrad&java=script&mode=archive&frames=30&interval=5&year=1998&month=3&day=9&hour=3&minute=0

Produced this:

METAR KMDW 091053Z 01017G33KT 1/2SM TSSN FG OVC008 01/00 A2941 RMK AO2 PK WND 02036/1011 TSB48 SLP969 R04R/3500V5000FT OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD SNINCR 1/1 P0003 T00060000 $

SPECI KMDW 091125Z 36019G31KT 1/2SM TSSN FG BKN004 OVC008 01/00 A2942 RMK AO2 PK WND 01031/1102 TSE16B25 R04R/2200V3000FT OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD P0001 $

And this:

METAR KMDW 091353Z COR 01023G38KT M1/4SM +SN FZFG VV001 M01/M01 A2948 RMK AO2 PK WND 01038/1349 SLP992 SNINCR 2/4 R31C/1200FT P0001 T10061006 $

METAR KMDW 091753Z 35019G24KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG VV003 M03/M04 A2967 RMK AO2 PK WND 33030/1656 PRESRR SLP059 SNINCR 2/10 R31C/2600FT 4/010 P0000 60003 T10331039 10000 21033 51057 $

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KeenerWx

KeenerWx

Posted
Posted

Here's one that Hoosier will like...March 9, 1998.

This radar loop: http://mesonet.agron...hour=3&minute=0

Produced this:

METAR KMDW 091053Z 01017G33KT 1/2SM TSSN FG OVC008 01/00 A2941 RMK AO2 PK WND 02036/1011 TSB48 SLP969 R04R/3500V5000FT OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD SNINCR 1/1 P0003 T00060000 $

SPECI KMDW 091125Z 36019G31KT 1/2SM TSSN FG BKN004 OVC008 01/00 A2942 RMK AO2 PK WND 01031/1102 TSE16B25 R04R/2200V3000FT OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD P0001 $

And this:

METAR KMDW 091353Z COR 01023G38KT M1/4SM +SN FZFG VV001 M01/M01 A2948 RMK AO2 PK WND 01038/1349 SLP992 SNINCR 2/4 R31C/1200FT P0001 T10061006 $

METAR KMDW 091753Z 35019G24KT 1/4SM +SN FZFG VV003 M03/M04 A2967 RMK AO2 PK WND 33030/1656 PRESRR SLP059 SNINCR 2/10 R31C/2600FT 4/010 P0000 60003 T10331039 10000 21033 51057 $

That storm was a beauty.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hoosier

Hoosier

Posted
Posted

The 2/6/2007 storm was mentioned in the storm thread so I thought I'd post more here. That is one of my favorite moderate sized snow events mainly due to how cold it was. It was like 5 degrees here when the snow started and we had a few hour period of heavy snow with temps hovering either side of 10 degrees. Very few times I have seen it snow that hard at those temps. There was a very sharp thermal gradient with that event...IIRC St. Louis got into the 40's.

Surface plot from 17z that day:

post-14-0-19940500-1291181279.gif

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cyclone77

cyclone77

Posted
Posted

Feb 11 2003. A very impressive and fast moving band of heavy thundersnow along a cold front swept all across Iowa and slammed northern and central Illinois. This line almost resembled a line of severe thunderstorms along a cold front in the summer. I remember watching it roll in. There was even a gust front along the leading edge, with a thick bank of low clouds. The heavy snow rolled in like a wall of white. I remember the visibility dropped from a perfect 10 miles down to near zero in less than a minute. Northwest winds gusted close to 60mph as well. It was a truly amazing event, and I've never seen anything like it before or since.

The heaviest snow only lasted about 5 minutes, but it turned the ground white in that short amount of time. IIRC we picked up over a half inch in a little over 5 minutes. One can only imagine how much snow would have piled up if a snow rate like that were to continue for any length of time.

The NWS in Lincoln Illinois actually issued severe thunderstorm warnings for this snow squall.

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/current/mcview.phtml?prod=lotrad&java=script&mode=archive&frames=50&interval=5&year=2003&month=2&day=11&hour=15&minute=0

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Hoosier

Hoosier

Posted
Posted

Feb 11 2003. A very impressive and fast moving band of heavy thundersnow along a cold front swept all across Iowa and slammed northern and central Illinois. This line almost resembled a line of severe thunderstorms along a cold front in the summer. I remember watching it roll in. There was even a gust front along the leading edge, with a thick bank of low clouds. The heavy snow rolled in like a wall of white. I remember the visibility dropped from a perfect 10 miles down to near zero in less than a minute. Northwest winds gusted close to 60mph as well. It was a truly amazing event, and I've never seen anything like it before or since.

The heaviest snow only lasted about 5 minutes, but it turned the ground white in that short amount of time. IIRC we picked up over a half inch in a little over 5 minutes. One can only imagine how much snow would have piled up if a snow rate like that were to continue for any length of time.

The NWS in Lincoln Illinois actually issued severe thunderstorm warnings for this snow squall.

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/current/mcview.phtml?prod=lotrad&java=script&mode=archive&frames=50&interval=5&year=2003&month=2&day=11&hour=15&minute=0

I remember this very well. I used to have the text for those warnings but not sure I have it anymore.

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Hoosier

Hoosier

Posted
Posted

Found this in a search...regarding that 2003 event that cyclone77 posted. Enjoy.

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL

602 PM CST TUE FEB 11 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LINCOLN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

MARSHALL COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 645 PM CST

* AT 602 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...WITH HEAVY SNOW... OVER SPARLAND...OR

ABOUT 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF LACON...MOVING EAST AT 65 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...

HENRY

LACON

VARNA

TOLUCA

WENONA

DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH WILL ACCOMPANY THIS DANGEROUS

STORM. GO TO A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A

STURDY BUILDING. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES IF YOU ARE IN THE

WARNED AREA.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER OR ANY STORM DAMAGE TO YOUR LOCAL ESDA...OR THE

NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY...FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER

SERVICE. STAY TUNED FOR LATER STATEMENTS.

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Hoosier

Hoosier

Posted
Posted

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LINCOLN IL

717 PM CST TUE FEB 11 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LINCOLN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...

EASTERN MCLEAN COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

PIATT COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

DE WITT COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

MACON COUNTY IN CENTRAL ILLINOIS

* UNTIL 745 PM CST

* AT 717 PM CST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A

LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM 7 MILES NORTHEAST OF SAYBROOK

TO 19 MILES WEST OF KENNEY...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 50 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...

LEROY

FARMER CITY

WELDON

MAROA

MANSFIELD

WARRENSBURG

FORSYTH

DE LAND

ARGENTA

DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 75 MPH WILL ACCOMPANY THIS DANGEROUS

STORM. GO TO A BASEMENT OR AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A

STURDY BUILDING. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES IF YOU ARE IN THE

WARNED AREA.

ALSO...EXPECT VERY HEAVY SNOWFALL REDUCING VISIBILITIES TO LESS THAN

A MILE IN SOME LOCATIONS.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER OR ANY STORM DAMAGE TO YOUR LOCAL ESDA...OR THE

NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY...FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER

SERVICE. STAY TUNED FOR LATER STATEMENTS.

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beavis1729

beavis1729

Posted
Posted

That is some serious snow bands. Some sort of convection played a role there; 3-4" per hour would seem to justify that. It would be interesting to see what the forecast in 1982 was like.

January 1982 was a brutally cold month in the Midwest; I imagine there was a serious baroclinic zone with this storm.

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csnavywx

csnavywx

Posted
Posted

That is some serious snow bands. Some sort of convection played a role there; 3-4" per hour would seem to justify that. It would be interesting to see what the forecast in 1982 was like.

The forecast for that storm was 3-5" or around there. As it turned out, there was around a 5 hour period of thundersnow at Lambert. My father, who had happened to be out in that storm, said there was plenty of thunder and lightning with the storm, somewhat akin to what you would expect with a springtime thunderstorm, as well as ridiculous snowfall rates.

Here's a link to a paper by the late Dr. Moore on the storm:

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/1520-0493%281988%29116%3C2155:TROFFA%3E2.0.CO;2

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brettman320

brettman320

Posted
Posted

Dec. 2000.....:wub: Only one of two times that I remember being under a blizzard warning the other of course being Jan 99. I'm pretty sure I got around 15 inches in that event.

Does anyone know the details regarding this storm? It's one of my fondest childhood winter memories however I really have no idea what the setup was like or anything except that it was pretty amazing imby.

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Stebo

Stebo

Posted
Posted

Dec. 2000.....:wub: Only one of two times that I remember being under a blizzard warning the other of course being Jan 99. I'm pretty sure I got around 15 inches in that event.

Does anyone know the details regarding this storm? It's one of my fondest childhood winter memories however I really have no idea what the setup was like or anything except that it was pretty amazing imby.

I loved that storm 15 inches down where I was at in Roseville.

Btw I love how we all of a sudden have a bunch of SEMI posters :)

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baroclinic_instability

baroclinic_instability

Posted
Posted

The forecast for that storm was 3-5" or around there. As it turned out, there was around a 5 hour period of thundersnow at Lambert. My father, who had happened to be out in that storm, said there was plenty of thunder and lightning with the storm, somewhat akin to what you would expect with a springtime thunderstorm, as well as ridiculous snowfall rates.

Here's a link to a paper by the late Dr. Moore on the storm:

http://journals.amet...OFFA%3E2.0.CO;2

Thanks, I will give that a look. I love Dr. Moore, he was a great meteorologist. Sad he passed away too early.

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Ajdos

Ajdos

Posted
Posted

the only thing that kept this one from being my all time favorite and knocking off Jan'78, was that it happened in March.

UGh, that storm I remember so well LOL.. S/E Michigan was supposed to be hit, but then it shifted east and we got like a couple inches GRR..

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Hoosier

Hoosier

Posted
Posted

Yeah I remember looking at Bufkit soundings a couple days beforehand and it showing like 20" or something crazy.

There was a 6z run of the GFS about 3 days out that dropped about a foot here. Of course I stupidly started to get a little excited against my better judgement. Ended up with nothing.

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Ajdos

Ajdos

Posted
Posted

Yeah I remember looking at Bufkit soundings a couple days beforehand and it showing like 20" or something crazy.

We were under a watch 2, and plus had like a foot of snow on the ground already. I was so excited, thought we would have 2 feet of snow, yeah right.. .. BUT hey, snow does not like to fall on top of snow for some reason, at least around S/E Mi. LOL.. Unlike the Mid Atlantic last year. GEE.

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