Yikes! Snomageddon in Eastern U.S.!

[3113]

I guess the groundhog was right! No early spring this time around.

WASHINGTON – Mid-Atlantic residents were buried Saturday from a likely record-setting blizzard the president jokingly dubbed "Snowmageddon," and those brave enough tried to clear a path through the wet, heavy mounds of thigh-high snow. The snow was falling too quickly in the nation's capital for crews to keep up, and officials begged residents to stay home and out of the way so that roads might be cleared in time for everyone to return to work Monday. The usually traffic-snarled roads were mostly barren, and Washington's familiar sites and monuments were covered with nearly 2 feet of snow....The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

...Airlines canceled flights, churches called off weekend services, and Amtrak and commuter trains ground to a halt. Some people wondered if they would be stuck at home for several days. At Dulles International Airport, part of a hangar roof collapsed and damaged some of the private jets housed inside, though no one was hurt, said Courtney Mickalonis, spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Snow crews worked overnight, but "it's coming down faster than we can keep up with it," she said.

...The snow comes less than two months after a Dec. 19 storm dumped more than 16 inches on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude — let alone two in one season — are rare in the area. According to the National Weather Service, Washington has gotten more than a foot of snow only 13 times since 1870. The heaviest on record was 28 inches in January 1922. The biggest snowfall for the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept, when as much as 3 feet fell, which George Washington and Thomas Jefferson penned in their diaries. Despite the onslaught, some embraced the chance for a little peace and quiet. Carolyn Matuska was loving her morning run along Washington's National Mall.

"Oh, it's spectacular out," she said. "It's so beautiful. The temperature's perfect, it's quiet, there's nobody out, it's a beautiful day."

Full story here.

Everyone on that side of the U.S. Okay? Please check in!

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I was in a zone labeled "0 to 3" last night. We were on the zero end of things. Not a single flake hit my yard

 

[voluptuary_manque]

With snow like that even the humans should be giving hibernation some serious thought. I know I wouldn't come out until it melted if I lived back there. Two and a half feet?

 

[Belegon]

The backyard...

.... several hours (i.e. inches) ago.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e249/Belegon/Lit-Diva%20Posts/SnowFeb62010025.jpg

 

[rgraham666]

Eh. I've seen worse.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

But Rob, you're not a southerner, eh?

 

[JackLuis]

Sr71plt, Sr71plt, You still out of power?

 

[Tricialen]

Burrrrrrr! We have over 3 ft of the cold white stuff and it's freezing!

 

[TE999]

Burrrrrrr! We have over 3 ft of the cold white stuff and it's freezing!

It's no wonder dressed like that.

 

[Tricialen]

It's no wonder dressed like that.

Sooo warm me up!

 

[3113]

Burrrrrrr! We have over 3 ft of the cold white stuff and it's freezing!

It's no wonder dressed like that.

I was about to say! Put some clothes on...or at least get to another naked body and rub against them a lot.

 

[trysail]

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/snow_model/images/full/Eastern_Coastal/nsm_depth/201002/nsm_depth_2010020605_Eastern_Coastal.jpg

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Snow: n frozen water falling out of the sky. syn White and nasty!

 

[sr71plt]

Sr71plt, Sr71plt, You still out of power?

It came on a couple of hours ago. Out for five hours--hitting right after I'd finished shoveling some 9 inches off the drive (while it was still snowing). Got 3 inches shoveled already yesterday, so at least the TV claim is that we have gotten 12 inches so far. The whole area is closed down for the second weekend in a row. And more snow predicted for Tuesday.

This weekend's snow wasn't as much an accumulation as we got on 19-20 December. That was said to be 18 inches, and it was a lot harder to shovel.

 

[trysail]

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/events/20100206/snow_20100206.png

 

[trysail]

Egads. MORE! Tonight, we will eclipse the previous all-time local record of 62.5 inches for total snowfall in a single season.

I never thought I'd see this kind of snow around here.

Today: Snow likely, mainly after 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Tonight: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 26. East wind between 3 and 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 7 to 11 inches possible.

Wednesday: Snow. The snow could be heavy at times. High near 31. Blustery, with a north wind 10 to 13 mph increasing to between 21 and 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

The Area's Big Snowfalls
15-18 March, 1892..........16.0 inches (#10)
11-14 February, 1899......21.4" (#7)
16-18 February, 1900......12.0" (#17)
27-29 January, 1922.......26.5" (#3)
29-30 March, 1942..........22.0" (#6)
15-16 February, 1958......15.5" (#11)
11-12 December, 1960.....14.1" (#13)
5-7 March, 1962.............13.0" (#14)
29-31 January, 1966........12.1" (#16)
19 February, 1979...........20.0" (#9)
10-11 February, 1983......22.8" (#4)
22 January, 1987............12.3" (#15)
7-8 January, 1996...........22.5" (#5)
25 January, 2000............14.9" (#12)
15-18 February, 2003......28.2" (#2)
19 December, 2009.........20.5" (#8)
5-6 February, 2010.........29.2" ( #1— NWS is still double-checking its measurement to determine if a new record was established )

http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/snow_model/images/full/Eastern_Coastal/nsm_depth/201002/nsm_depth_2010020905_Eastern_Coastal.jpg

 

[voluptuary_manque]

One of the Climate Change models did predict a possible return to an Ice Age. Just sayin' . . .

 

[3113]

Egads. MORE! Tonight, we will eclipse the previous all-time local record of 62.5 inches for total snowfall in a single season.

Recorded record. Apparently there is a suspicion that the all-time record was set in 1773 when there was something like 3 feet of snow during one such storm. Both Jefferson and Washington wrote about it in their diaries.

 

[trysail]

Recorded record. Apparently there is a suspicion that the all-time record was set in 1773 when there was something like 3 feet of snow during one such storm. Both Jefferson and Washington wrote about it in their diaries.

Jefferson was an amazing diarist. His dedication to recording daily events ( particularly weather ) was extraordinary and revealing.

The Jefferson and Washington diary entries to which you refer were for a single storm; the record of 62.5" that was eclipsed last night was for the winter's total snowfall. Formal snowfall record-keeping for the area extends to 1883: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/climate/bwi/bwisnow.txt

Large single day snowfalls can be ascertained here:
http://nowdata.rcc-acis.org/LWX/pubACIS_results

Both the locations and the environment of local weather observing stations have substantially changed over time requiring caution ( and a big grain of salt ) when examining the records in a search of trends or patterns.
http://www.weather.gov/climate/locations.php?wfo=lwx

As you may be aware, wags are referring to the current blizzard as SNOVERKILL.



Baltimore Area (ThreadEx Station)
Extremes
Highest Daily Snowfall (inches)
Days: 1/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1892-2010

Rank..Value..Ending Date
..1....23.3..1/28/1922
..2....22.8..2/11/1983
..3....21.9..3/29/1942
..4....21.8..2/16/2003
..5....20.5..12/19/2009
..6....20.0..1/28/1943
..7....17.0..2/6/2010
..8....16.4..2/19/1979
..9....15.8..1/7/1996
.10...15.5..2/13/1899


This station's record may include data from more than one, possibly incompatible,
locations. It reflects the longest available record for the Baltimore Area.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Both the locations and the environment of local weather observing stations have substantially changed over time requiring caution ( and a big grain of salt ) when examining the records in a search of trends or patterns.
.

That is definitely true. The only reason we still have a long-standing record for rainfall in L.A. is because they moved the weather station. Unofficial measurements would put three (four?) years ago seasonal rainfall at over 36" but at the new recording station, it was a hair less than the old record. Makes a big difference.

 

[lil_elvis]

Mother nature is serving slushies today...like shoveling concrete

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

We've missed 5 days of school in the last two weeks. Two snowstorms within two weeks of each other that dump more than 2 inches of snow (got 6-7 the first time and about 4 this time) is unheard of around here.

 

[xssve]

Mother nature is serving slushies today...like shoveling concrete

Yeah, you've got to shovel like mad while it's still soft - after it get's trampled down, partially melts and re-freezes, you need a pneumatic hammer to get rid of the stuff.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I shoveled 6" of snow off my driveway in 40 minutes. It's a new personal record!

 

[3113]

The Latest!

The latest from here:

WASHINGTON – Snow, wind and slush hounded eastern commuters Wednesday as blizzard warnings from Baltimore to New York City heralded the second major storm in a region already blanketed by historic weekend snowfalls
More than 10 inches of new snow fell before dawn in parts of Maryland that had received up to 30 inches just a few days earlier. Plows and salt spreaders fought heavy snow in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where the flakes briefly turned to rain to make a slushy mix.

...The wind started blowing in gusts from 25 to 45 mph in and around snowbound Washington, whipping fresh powder and making driving treacherous as visibility was only about a block in many places. Driving conditions got so bad that officials in Washington and some nearby suburbs pulled plows off the roads. Heavy snow collapsed part of the roof and a wall at a Smithsonian Institution storage building in Suitland, Md. Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said they don't believe there was any damage to artifacts from the National Air and Space Museum, but officials were unable to go inside because the building is unstable.

...Jeff Salgado, 24, a doorman at the Hampton Inn & Suites in downtown Baltimore, said guests there had resorted to walking. "All of them. I haven't seen a cab all day..." Plows have been rolling around the clock for days in the nation's capital, Philadelphia and Baltimore after nearly 3 feet of snow fell in some areas last weekend — and they won't be stopping anytime soon. Snow was falling from northern Virginia to Connecticut by early Wednesday after crawling out of the Midwest, where the storm canceled hundreds of flights and was blamed for three traffic deaths in Michigan.

The storm has buried Baltimore under record snow for the season and put Washington within inches of a high from 1898-99, according to the National Weather Service. More than 5 inches fell in both cities since Tuesday, making the total for Baltimore 65.6 inches since December, breaking the previous record of 62.5 inches from 1995-96. Washington is only about 4 inches away from its record of 54.4 inches from 1898-99. "It's hard to find anything in the history books of these types of storms back-to-back," said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Konarik. The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings Wednesday that extended into New York City, where 10 to 16 inches could fall. Airlines canceled hundreds of flights at airports on the Eastern seaboard and schools in New York City were closed, only the third snow day in six years for the district's 1.1 million students.

Thousands remained without power from the last storm in parts of western Pennsylvania, Maryland and other areas. Utilities said deep snow was hindering some crews trying to fix damaged power lines even before Tuesday's storm arrived.
Their task could grow even more difficult with new snowfall and winds gusting up to 50 mph that create blizzard conditions in the Mid-Atlantic.

Jeezus! Will all Litizens in those states please check in! We wanna make sure a roof hasn't collapsed on you. Or if it has, let us know. We'll, um, encourage you a lot to get out from under it.