The Blizzard of 2005

[HURAKAN]

Accuweather continues to call the powerful low pressure affecting New England "The Blizzard of 2005." We all know how mighty this storm is and the power it has to dump lots of snow and create with its winds blizzard conditions. Also, unfortunately there are reports of at least 5 deaths. But does this storm deserves to be nominated as "The Blizzard of 2005" or do you think it's to early for a year so young to hold such a high-ranking title?

[Tri-State_1925]

There is no problem with this being called the Blizzard of 05 IMO. The odds are that certain parts of MA and CT won't be getting a bigger storm this year. Plus I look at past history -- the 93 Superstorm was frequently referred to as the "Storm of the Century" at that time. Then in 96, the January storm was not only called "Blizzard of 96" but also the "Storm of the Century" in Connecticut. CT was hit much harder snowfall-wise by the 96 storm than the 93 storm. So I think a lot of this depends on where you are coming from.

[ohiostorm]

I think its mainly based on how widespread the storm is. The 93 storm impacted about 95% of the eastern US with some type of severe weather. We in East Central Ohio got more snow with the 96 storm I believe. Definately more with the Presidents Day Storm of 2003. Just depends on whos calling it whatever.

[SnowGod]

LOL Accuweather called it a "raging" blizzard. What a joke. Raging Blizzards have Hurricane force gusts(75 or more).

I always thought the "blizzard" stuff is local and determined by the area it got hit and the size. The 93 storm was to easy. The Cleveland Superbomb and New England 78 blizzard were also easy. How about the Midwestern Blizzards of 75 and 87? Again, Hurricane Force gusts came with those storms.

I think when you lack the Hurricane force gust, it depends on snowfall size and area. The 96 storm is called a "severe" blizzard though it lacked Hurricane force winds because it dropped 1-4 feet over a huge distance.

[weathermom]

Where I am eyewitness news is calling it "winter storm Charles". As it is possible to have more than one blizzard in a year, it almost makes more sense than to just call it by the year. Otherwise I suppose they would have to call a subsequent storm "the second blizzard of 2005". I am in central Connecticut at the moment and there is plenty of snow, and 20-30MPH winds. Gusts over 40.

[Persepone]

We've had gusts 78 mph here (not my report--off media) and NOAA is warning this is just getting going now.

So, yeah, we've got the winds. And the snow. (23 inches locally according to TV at 6:30 a.m. Power bouncing, so haven't been watching continuously.

[al79philly]

28-38 inches of snow in Mass with the Hurricane Warning Flags up. 4 inches of snow in 25 minutes in MA. Blizzard warnings from New England all the way down to South Jersey (Ocean County) last night. Yeah - I think it's fair to call it the blizzard of '05 even if it wasn't as big as expected from Philly down to DC. I'm just north of Philly and we got 15 inches with drifts of 3 feet plus.

At the Philly airport (which is in South philly), we got about 11", which makes it a top 25 storm of the last 100 years. So you figure we get a storm like this on average once every four years, which makes it a pretty impressive storm even in Philly (nothing compared to the blizzard of 96 though.)

[Guest]

Wait and see. My guess is it will go down as such.

I say that because this storm did in fact effect alot of people spread out over a great distance from Min, ST.Paul, MN To Chicago, Detroit, Philly, NYC and ofcourse Boston. Most of these locations and others in between recieved around a foot or more which doesnt happen to often much less twice in one winter season.

BTW i ended up with 12.5 inches from it.

[Stephanie]

I think so. The MidAtlantic and Northeast usually don't get many blizzards.

[southerngale]

We've had gusts 78 mph here (not my report--off media) and NOAA is warning this is just getting going now.

So, yeah, we've got the winds. And the snow. (23 inches locally according to TV at 6:30 a.m. Power bouncing, so haven't been watching continuously.

Where do you live, Persepone?

[Lindaloo]

Massachussetts

[SnowGod]

78mph gust? LOL. Don't lie for the sake of hyping this storm. It is just more plain than many people want to admit.

FWIW, In the Midwest Blizzard of December 87, gusts of 75-80mph were COMMON, with substained gusts of 50-55. That my friends is a blizzard.

[Terry]

SnowGod wrote:

78mph gust? LOL. Don't lie for the sake of hyping this storm. It is just more plain than many people want to admit.

Umm. That was kind of rude. I read a Skywarn report out of Barnstable from 3:30 am that said there were a gust of 72 mph. Persepone is also out on the Cape. Updated Skywarn reports may show stronger gusts.

Over 2 feet of snow in Boston area.

Just because it wasn't your blizzard doesn't make it a whimpy blizzard! lol

[jeff]

SnowGod wrote:

78mph gust? LOL. Don't lie for the sake of hyping this storm. It is just more plain than many people want to admit.

Umm. That was kind of rude. I read a Skywarn report out of Barnstable from 3:30 am that said there were a gust of 72 mph. Persepone is also out on the Cape. Updated Skywarn reports may show stronger gusts.

Over 2 feet of snow in Boston area.

Just because it wasn't your blizzard doesn't make it a whimpy blizzard! lol

84mph gust at Nantucket and the Cape was sustained more than once above 50 at obs sites

[krysof]

Wow 84mph1 I'm suprised this storm got so strong. I'm definetelly calling it a blizzard. Even though it didn't dump a foot or more in DC, baltimore and so. It still was an impressive storm especially NYC to Boston and the Cape. They only said 6 inches would accumulate here on Thursday, but everything changed on Friday and the totals kept rising. We have almost 3 times as much as they predicted.

[southerngale]

SnowGod wrote:

78mph gust? LOL. Don't lie for the sake of hyping this storm. It is just more plain than many people want to admit.

Umm. That was kind of rude. I read a Skywarn report out of Barnstable from 3:30 am that said there were a gust of 72 mph. Persepone is also out on the Cape. Updated Skywarn reports may show stronger gusts.

Over 2 feet of snow in Boston area.

Just because it wasn't your blizzard doesn't make it a whimpy blizzard! lol

Yes, that was a lot rude SnowGod. I also heard reports of hurricane force gusts. Don't accuse others of lying simply because you want to downplay the storm. It wasn't "plain" for everyone.

[New Englander]

Trying coming up here to SE mass and calling the storm "plain" 3 feet with 6 foot drifts. Winds gusting to 60.. doesnt sound to plain to me

[chadtm80]

78mph gust? LOL. Don't lie for the sake of hyping this storm. It is just more plain than many people want to admit.

FWIW, In the Midwest Blizzard of December 87, gusts of 75-80mph were COMMON, with substained gusts of 50-55. That my friends is a blizzard.

Ive seen it a few places as well.. If your going to be rude to fellow posters then dont bother posting here at all.

[jimvb]

This may have been a great snowstorm, but I felt that the media hypered it. They said it was the worst in 100 years. I get the feeling that **ALL** snowstorms are the worst in a hundred years. In any case, I feel that they are wrong. There was a bigger snowstorm, one that seem to be like, and even looked like, a hurricane. This was the Great Blizzard of 1993 (March 12-13). In Richmond we had 3 inches of snow and an inch of rain. But Lynchburg had 20 inches, DC had 20+, and Albany had 43 inches of snow! Further, the storm had an eye as it left the New England coast, caused damage in Cuba, and had a central pressure comparable to Category 4 hurricanes. It was 28.47 inches at my house, the lowest pressure I have ever seen. A web site that has info on this storm is:

http://www.weathermatrix.net/education/blizzard93/

The 1993 storm definitely exceeded this one. Maybe it's the Blizzard of 2005, but the season is not over. It is definitely not the Blizzard of the Century, if one means by century the past 100 years.

[HURAKAN]

Well, the vote is tied and seems that everyone in TV loves to call this mighty storm "The Blizzard of 2005." Here in Miami, it's 9 PM EDT and temperatures are in the lower 50s, looks like it will be a chilly ride to school tomorrow!