THE STORM IS OVER...BUT WINTER IS NOT
Happy Friday Everyone as we finally reach the end of a long and interesting week in the weather. The Big KaNOna for the I-95 corridor decided to become the first Big Kahuna of the season for the extreme Northeast and interior Northern New England. I will do a preliminiary storm grade wraup below, but I don't have all the numbers yet, so will revise this later tonight. I know it doesn't really matter all that much in the wide scheme of things, but a promise made is a debt unpaid.
Speaking of unpaid debts, I believe that powderhounds from NYC south to Richmond including Central PA, Western Maryland, Virginia, etc. are going to get their due in the next 10-15 days, or perhaps sooner. While it is unlikely we will see something on the order of the February 1983 Blizzard, K2 is lurking out there and the data is starting to grow for another winter storm to follow in our 7-10 day pattern of late.
STORM STORIES
The 1983 Blizzard was the grand finale of an otherwise uneventful winter. This storm was for me what child psychologists call a "significant emotional event" and I remember it like it was today. Oh wait it was today, 22 years ago today at this exact moment in time as I am writing this. The story is simple. I remember waking up that Friday morning at our home in suburban Philadelphia, a town called Paoli, and my Mom telling me that school was closed. I then looked out the kitchen window and noticed there was not a lick of snow on the ground, much like it had been all winter. I said to Mom, "How can school be closed, there's no snow!" Mom said, "Oh just wait, there will be." A few minutes later, around 7 AM, a saw flurries begin to fall illuminated by the outside lamp by our kitchen door. Thirty hours later, the snow had finally ended, we had at least 2 feet on the ground, and my fascination with the weather had begun.
So I'd like to kick off this final round of winter with some of YOUR favorite stories of big storms, preferably winter storms. If you don't want to wait, please consider writing your story now, and then email to me... I will publish them as a special feature along with the posts this week leading up to the next storm, whenever that is. My home email is rdfoot@comcast.net.
PRELIMINARY STORM GRADES
All Maryland, Virginia, SE, Southcentral PA Locations: Forecasted: 2-4" Actual: 0" Grade: E
West Virginia: Can't find any reports on accumulation in WV, although I know snow fell.
Boston Metro Area : Original forecast, 24-36" First revision: 12-20" Final forecast: 3"
Actual: 1.1" at Logan Airport. Storm Grade: 1.1/3.0 = E Mass. snowfall totals here
Woburn, MA: Final forecast: 7" Actual: 3" (Wakefield...closest location) 3/7= E
Portland, Maine: Forecast 14" Actual: 12" Maine snowfall totals here
Storm Grade: 12/14= 85% B View the overall map, quite a storm up there for them.
A BRIEF UPDATE LATER THIS EVENING.