So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

#1 Postby **somethingfunny** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:11 am

Flagstaff, Arizona has 138" of snow and had 8" on the ground from Dec. 5 through at least today, including 40" on the ground at one point.

Washington DC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia all broke their single-season snowfall records.

Over a foot of snow fell in DFW! Biggest snowstorm in recorded history.

Houston got a dusting of snow back in December

Also in December, snow fell in downtown Sacramento, California (near sea level) while several inches accumulated only a few hundred feet up into the foothills - first time this has happened in 30 years.

Atlanta and much of the Deep South saw several inches fall - on several occasions.

It snowed in the Florida Panhandle (snow on the ground in all 50 states simultaneously about a month ago)

Europe has seen a winter for the ages - the Baltic Sea froze over, avalanches and record snowfalls in England, Germany, Poland...

It even snowed in Rome

So, were the Winter Olympics the only place in the Northern Hemisphere that did NOT get socked with an incredible winter?

If you know of any other historic events that occurred this winter, please share it so that we can all recognize how epic the season we now leave behind has been.

#2 Postby **Ntxw** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:33 am

I'm not sure about snow, but much of eastern Canada had quite an unusually warm winter due to blocking. Also with the storm tracks much further south, I'd figure they've had less snow this year. At one point in Feb, Dallas had as much snow as Toronto for the season.

A friend in Boise, Idaho also mentioned they've had little in the way of snow with several storms dumping a mere few inches for the season total. I guess you can include that into the Pacific Northwest (Olympic region).

#3 Postby **RL3AO** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 11:54 am

Northern Minnesota had a pretty quiet winter snow wise. I had an average one after having only 3 or 4 inches in the past 45 days.

#4 Postby **StormingB81** » Sun Mar 14, 2010 7:18 pm

No snow in Okinawa..LOL yet it is warmer then Florida so....sorry I had to. Trying to put a smile on faces!

SCMedic · #5 Postby **SCMedic** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 2:22 pm

Denver was snowy early in October and November, but mid-December to today has been dry. I'm guessing we're near average from the two early dumps, and a snowy fall, but pattern-wise, it's has been dry dry dry for a couple months.

jinftl · #6 Postby **jinftl** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:06 pm

Some locations with fairly "un"exceptionally snowfall totals this season are listed below....more areas had less snow than normal than I was aware of...it is almost as if this winter was characterized by a ton of snow in places that usually don't see such high amounts.....and some of the more typically snower areas...including northern new england, parts of the Hudson Valley and western MA & CT, even places like Buffalo, Minneapolis, Spokane, Nome, and Fairbanks are asking....what snow?

Caribou, ME
Season through today: 64.1"
Average season through today: 95.6"
Variance: 31.5" below normal

Potland, ME
Season through today: 37.0"
Average season through today: 57.0"
Variance: 20.0" below normal

Hartford, CT
Season through today: 30.6"
Average season through today: 41.0"
Variance: 9.4" below normal

Buffalo, NY
Season through today: 74.1"
Average season through today: 87.7"
Variance: 13.6" below normal

Albany, NY
Season through today: 45.2"
Average season through today: 54.8"
Variance: 9.6" below normal

Minneapolis, MN
Season through today: 40.7"
Average season through today: 47.7"
Variance: 7.0" below normal

International Falls, MN
Season through today: 46.2"
Average season through today: 56.1"
Variance: 9.9" below normal

Minneapolis, MN
Season through today: 40.7"
Average season through today: 47.7"
Variance: 7.0" below normal

St. Louis, MO
Season through today: 14.5"
Average season through today: 20.3"
Variance: 5.8" below normal

Wichita, KS
Season through today: 13.2"
Average season through today: 15.3"
Variance: 2.1" below normal

Spokane, WA
Season through today: 13.7"
Average season through today: 43.5"
Variance: 29.8" below normal

Nome, AK
Season through today: 43.4"
Average season through today: 56.0"
Variance: 12.6" below normal

Fairbanks, AK
Season through today: 24.8"
Average season through today: 63.1"
Variance: 38.3" below normal

#7 Postby **Ntxw** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:28 pm

That's very interesting. I guess it's more like hurricane season. Doesn't matter if there's a lot of hurricanes, it's a far bigger deal when it's hitting higher population centers. The same can be said of these winter storms. 20 inches in DC makes national news while the same in Caribou is a walk in the park lol.

#8 Postby **srainhoutx** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 9:35 pm

Amazing what a blocking regime as well as -AO, -NAO pattern with an active STJ can do. :cheesy:

#9 Postby **somethingfunny** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 1:32 am

Those are fantastic figures, jinftl....where did you get those? I'd be interested to look up a few other locations as well. Does it only list US cities?

Nicko999 · #10 Postby **Nicko999** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 10:24 pm

Our 14F yesterday morning was actually our coldest temperature since mid-February 8-)

We just had the warmest winter on record...and we're 2.16F above the yearly record level(and something like 10F above average).

I think I shoveled only once this winter :ggreen:

Scott Patterson · #11 Postby **Scott Patterson** » Sat Mar 27, 2010 11:29 pm

We are way below normal in the snowfall department this year (46.7 inches versus the normal 74.1 inches to date = 63% of normal or 27.4 inches below normal). In fact, I only have three snow piles left in my yard and it's still March.

The mountains fared much better than the valleys, but even in the mountains around here snowfall is 75%:

Southern Colorado got hit much harder with snow this winter and snowpack is above average down there.

Most of the Northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest are much below average in their snowpack. Some areas in those regions are less than 50% of average. In the Rocky Mountain region, the division seems to be approximately around I-70. South of I-70 snowfall has been normal to above normal; north of I-70 it has been below normal. It seems that all of the SW United States had a wet winter (much of Texas, New Mexico, Southern Utah, Arizona and Southern California).

PTPatrick · #12 Postby **PTPatrick** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:40 am

Interesting post Scott. Doesnt NW CO typically get jipped in El NIno. I know with the further south storm track it would make sense. The southern route seems to help us here in Denver as long as they arent TOO far south. The front range urban corridor by most accounts is pretty well above average for the season I think. But nothing "epic". We had a good storm in October, one in December, and 2 in March...so that helped, but most of Feb and January we didnt have much, if any snow on the ground. Regardless...areas in the Metro have gotten anywhere from around 60 (in the Northeast Metro) to 80+ (southern, western burbs). heck, I have gotten 20 inches in March alone though!.

#13 Postby **Stephanie** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 8:25 pm

All of those stats really do reflect the strong southern jet stream's pattern this winter. Winter this year was pretty much upside down.

#14 Postby **JonathanBelles** » Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:08 pm

I didnt have snow, but I had sleet! Sleet is exceptionally snowy for here! lol!!

Scott Patterson · #15 Postby **Scott Patterson** » Mon Mar 29, 2010 8:38 am

Doesnt NW CO typically get jipped in El NIno.

Looking at the records, it goes either way depending on where the jet stream is. Historically, some of the heaviest snow years and flood years happened during El Nino, such as 1982-1983, 1994-1995 and 1997-1998. 2006-2007 was a very light snow year for here, especailly in the mountains. The very last of the snow melted here on March 31 (before snowing again in April of course). It is the only time that we have lived here where the last of the winter snow melted before April. This winter they were predicting that we would have heavy snow early season and late season, but not so much in mid-winter. We did start out average and winter was dry, so we'll see how April and May go I guess. March was better than mid-winter, but still pretty dry.

Anyway, Utah has an even bigger contrast north to south this year than Colorado had. Check out the differences is percent moisture in Feb between southern Utah and northern Utah:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/getprod.php?wfo=slc&sid=SLC&pil=CLM

Compare Capitol Reef in the desert with nomrally much wetter Heber City at the base of the Wasatch Mountains.

ValdezAK · #16 Postby **ValdezAK** » Fri Apr 02, 2010 11:10 pm

Valdez, AK has only received 293.9 inches of snowfall for the season up to the end of March...
which is nothing compared to the 540 inches we received in the 1989/1990 season. If it weren't
for the 77" storm in December, which by the way was documented on the speed channel's Dangerous
Drives: Avalanche Road... www.speedtv.com/programs/dangerous-drives/ we would be in a decent deficit.

Now Looking at the January to March snowfall in Fairbanks (105 years of records)...
The lowest ever was 1.8" in 1918, which was arguably the strongest El Nino of the century...link...
then it was this year at 5.2" (2nd lowest snowfall)...(mod. strong El Nino)
3rd lowest was 1998 at 5.4" strong warm enso...link)
4th lowest was 1941 at 7.4" strong warm enso...link)
5th lowest was 1986 at 8.6" (neutral enso)
6th lowest was 1953 at 9.2" (neutral enso)
7th lowest was 1978 at 9.5" (coming out of a weak El Nino)
8th lowest was 1926 at 10.1" (strong warm enso...link)
9th lowest was 1999 at 10.4" (La Nina)
10th lowest was 1983 at 10.5" (strong warm enso...link)
11th lowest was 1988 at 11.3" (coming out of a weak El Nino)
12th lowest was 1958 at 11.8" (mod. strong El Nino with ONI #'s comparable to 2010...link)

Enso Years in terms of ONI...Link
Extreme La Nina and El Nino years ranked in terms of SOI...link

I wonder if there is any effect on record negative AO with Alaska or a warm enso/cold AO connection?
___Dec____________Jan____________Feb____
2009 -3.41_____ 1977 -3.77 _____ 2010 -4.27
2000 -2.35_____ 1963 -3.31 _____ 1969 -3.11
1995 -2.13_____ 1966 -3.23 _____ 1978 -3.01
2005 -2.10_____ 1969 -2.97 _____ 1986 -2.90
1976 -2.07_____ 1985 -2.81 _____ 1958 -2.23
1985 -1.95_____ 2010 -2.59 _____ 1960 -2.21
1950 -1.93_____ 1960 -2.48 _____ 1968 -2.15
1969 -1.86_____ 1970 -2.41 _____ 1965 -2.08
1952 -1.83_____ 1979 -2.23 _____ 1956 -2.03
1996 -1.72_____ 1998 -2.08 _____ 1977 -2.01
1958 -1.69_____ 1980 -2.07 _____ 1983 -1.81
1961 -1.67_____ 1959 -2.01 _____ 1952 -1.75
2002 -1.59_____ 2004 -1.69 _____ 1963 -1.72
1966 -1.40 _____ 1961 -1.51 _____ 1955 -1.54
2001 -1.32_____ 1958 -1.44_____ 2004 -1.53

Tampa Bay Hurricane · #17 Postby **Tampa Bay Hurricane** » Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:15 pm

No snow this winter in Tampa Bay...but a little sleet :eek:

ValdezAK · #18 Postby **ValdezAK** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:09 pm

Tampa Bay Hurricane wrote:No snow this winter in Tampa Bay...but a little sleet

Maybe if the arctic oscillation had flipped and January 2010 had the strongest AO numbers like 1977...
Photo memories of the Tampa Bay Snowfall in 1977 Link
Video of Tampa Bay residents remembering 1977 snow

Tampa Bay Snowfall Records

Tampa Bay Sleet and Snow in 2010
This mentions snow in Dec 1989 (St. Petersburg officially recorded sleet), North and east of Tampa in 1996...
Great Blizzard of 1899
Gulf effect snow showers???

bob rulz · #19 Postby **bob rulz** » Thu May 20, 2010 8:24 pm

Haha, it looks like I'm a little late here, but Salt Lake City was very dry this winter. Our average is 62.7" but we only got 36.0", almost half of which occurred in December alone (16.9" - average: 12.2"). We had twice as much snow in March and April combined (11.2" - average: 15.9") as we did in January and February combined (6.6" - average: 24.7"). In fact, our January total of 2.3" was the third lowest on record for the month (and the driest since a record low "T" in 2003). However, our April total (5.5") was the highest since 2001. I felt like everybody was getting snow this winter except for us! I suppose the Intermountain West and Pacific Northwest regions were the driest (in the U.S. at least), but a very wet April and May has returned the snowpack for the mountains of northern Utah to relatively respectable levels.

bob rulz · #20 Postby **bob rulz** » Tue May 25, 2010 1:26 am

Statement as of 7:55 PM MDT on May 24, 2010

... Latest Spring date of measurable snowfall at slc Airport...

Snowfall today at Salt Lake City International Airport was 0.2 inches
... Making this the latest so late in the season that measurable snowfall
has been observed. The previous record was may 18th when 0.5 inches of
snow fell in 1977... and 1.0 inch fell in 1960.

So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

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Re: So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

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Re: So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

Re: So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

Re: So, who has NOT had an exceptionally snowy winter?

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