East Coast Blizzard Category 4 (NESIS):

[Earth_First]

The blizzard of 2006 has dropped the most snow ever on New York City, a record 26.9 inches as of 4:10 pm at Central Park. The previous biggest snowstorm of all time was 26.4", set Dec 26-27 1947. What appeared to be a rather ordinary Nor'easter on the computer model forecasts yesterday--one that I thought would turn out to be a Category 2 snowstorm on the newly-launched NESIS storm scale for Northeast U.S. snowstorms--has intensified dramatically this morning, and will probably end up ranked as a Category 4 storm on the NESIS scale. As of 7am, Central Park recorded 12 inches of new snow--before an intense mesoscale band of snow with snowfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour swept through the city, bringing visibility to zero at LaGuardia Airport. Eleven inches of snow fell in three hours at Central Park between 7am and 10am. This intense band of snow, called a "snowburst", is a result of very unstable air that has organized into thunderstorms. Reports of lightning and thunder have been common today all across the Northeast in association with these snowbursts. Check out this 3-hour radar animation from the New York City radar this morning. You can see a narrow band of extremely heavy snow that stretches from northern New Jersey through New York City and northeastward to Hartford Connecticut. This band has echo intensities of 40 dBZ, which are commmon in warm-season thunderstorms, but seldom observed in winter storms. This narrow band of snow is gradually progressing eastward, and will bring exceptionally heavy snows to Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts today. Snow amounts of 16-24 inches will be common across New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Eastern Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island today.

Over in Massachusetts, the Blizzard of 2006 is expected to cause moderate flooding problems, but nowhere near the scale of the famous Blizzard of 1978. While the blizzard of 2006 is a prodigious snow-producer, its central pressure is not as low as the Blizzard of 1978, and thus its winds are much weaker. The Blizzard of 1978 had sustained winds of 65 mph, while the Blizzard of 2006 can only boast sustained 45 mph winds. The combination of storm tides of 12 feet at Boston Harbor combined with seas between 16 and 22 feet at the time of high tide may produce some structural damage to roads, sea walls, and vulnerable coastal structures around the time of high tide late this morning and early afternoon along the Massachusetts coast.

Down in Florida, the Arctic air mass associated with the Blizzard of 2006 has pushed a strong cold front through the state, bringing the threat of a hard freeze to Florida's citrus groves tonight. Snow flurries are not out of the question in northern Florida tonight and early Monday morning as a weak upper-level disturbance moves through the area. After a long holiday in January, winter has stormed back with a vengance across the eastern half of the U.S.!

-Dr. Jeff Masters Ph.d. Director of Meteorology

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=301&tstamp=200602

[phusion]

1. 11 inches in three hours!!

:wow:

[4dsc]

2. We could use the snow in the midwest

Boy what I wouldn't give for a snowstorm like this one to hit the midwest!! 30 inches of snow would be great!!

[madrchsod]

4. snow? what`s that?

it`s going to be dry again this year..

[HereSince1628]

3. SEE! FEMA has been redeemed it saved the east cost from Cat 4

storm. I can't wait for the mixed comparisons.

[woodsprite]

5. I understand that us mid-atlantic and northeasterners are in for

a much colder blast beginning this Friday for the next 10 days and the possibility of another 2 or so storms before Winter officially ends. They're calling for 25 below normal for Washington (state) to Nebraska. So says the head weather guru at Accuweather. I'm in Delaware and I think we got our whole alotment of yearly snowfall in one fell swoop this past weekend. When we measured, it was 12". Guru says our next concern on for mid-atlantic is coming from Texas this coming weekend. Hmmmm. He called for 150% of our average snowfall in this area, so we'll see.

More threats from Texas - Sheesh! If it's snow though, I'll take it!

[Atman]

6. Oh, the irony!

We've spent all winter chasing snow, of which there has been precious little this year in New England. In CT, which really only has small ski areas, not any real mountains, at least one has alreayd been forced to shut down. Although I heard on the news this morning that the owners were bouyed by the 17" the received, and the cold snow-making temperatures forecast, and called back their employees.

Anyway, we had tickets to Okemo for Sunday. Not wanting to get snowed in here near Hartford, we drove up Saturday night. We watched the storm reports on all the news and weather stations, expecting a dumping on Sunday. Brought lots of extra gear to protect against the forecast winds and gusts.

It was beautiful at Okemo Sunday! 2-4" of steady, fluffy snow, very little wind, excellent skiing and riding conditions. It got heavier throughout the day, but the outline of the sun was faintly visible behind the clouds much of time. It wasn't sunny at all, mind you, it was just not a blizzard, or even much of a snow storm. Just nice fresh snow, run after run. We left the mountain at 3:00, just as the snow was letting up. We had been making plans to get "snowed in" and possibly call back home that we were stuck (aww!) and staying another day. No such luck. The drive home was easy, relatively clear roads, no delays, until we hit the CT state line. It was like they hadn't plowed the interstate. You had to drive in the one lane of tire tracks. By Hartford, it was just full-on snow on the hiways still. We had nearly two feet at home when we pulled in. We basically missed the entire blizzard because we drove to the ski slope!

[CrazyOrangeCat]

7. Wow!!!

My friends and I were talking recently about learning to drive in '76, '77, and '78. It was damned exciting!

In a perverse way I kind of miss those bad winters . . . easy enough to say while in a snug house!

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. I've heard that extreme weather

is a hallmark of global warming. Of course Bushco would deny this, but anyone out there who really knows what is going on who can confirm this?

[phusion]

10. Yes

that's true...

One potential cause:
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/Climate_Change/Science/Conveyor.asp

Note also the recent the cold snap in Europe.

[KurtNYC]

9. Somehow it wasn't even close to 27 inches on my street

I'm 2 blocks from the park (where they measured) and there was less than 12 inches on top of cars on my street. I would believe 16 but 27? Seems like more media hyperbole.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. Well, please stay warm

and be careful! :)

[KurtNYC]

14. Turns out the snowfall number is generated by security guards at the zoo

Other parts of the city recorded significantly less than the Central Park number. The NY Times subtly questions the number and methodolgy. They also point out that this was NOT a blizzard:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/nyregion/14record.html?pagewanted=print

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I wish we'd get some of that snow...

We really need it. It's been in the 40s here.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

13. I've got to be honest......

....this blizzard was overrated. It was nothing compared to the one in January of '05. Also, being a powdery, sugary snow, it was fairly easy to shovel.