Saturday, February 6, 2010

New All-Time Snowfall Records at Washington Dulles, Baltimore, Wilmington

For related posts, including the latest all-time seasonal record, see:
Midnight Update: This is also the 4th highest 2-day storm total in Washington history and the 2nd highest at Washington National:
THE 17.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORDED TODAY AT RONALD 
REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT IS THE SECOND HIGHEST TWO-DAY
STORM TOTAL RECORD...SECOND ONLY TO THE 18.7 INCHES FOR NATIONAL
AIRPORT FROM 18-19 FEBRUARY 1979. THIS WOULD ALSO BE THE 4TH
HIGHEST TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL ALL-TIME SNOWFALL FOR WASHINGTON RECORDS
WHICH DATE BACK TO 1871...BEHIND ONLY THE 27-28 JANUARY 1922
KNICKERBOCKER STORM WITH 26.0 INCHES...THE 12-13 FEBRUARY 1899 STORM
WHICH PRODUCED 19.0 INCHES...AND THE 18.7 INCHES WHICH FELL 18-19
FEBRUARY 1979.
The storm total snowfall at Wilmington, Delaware was the largest in history, and the seasonal total snowfall is now the 2nd highest on record:
THE 25.8 INCHES OF SNOW THAT FELL IN WILMINGTON LATE YESTERDAY AND 
TODAY WAS THE GREATEST SNOWFALL IN RECORDED HISTORY.

THE FIVE GREATEST SNOWFALLS AT WILMINGTON:

RANK SNOWFALL DATE
(INCHES)

1 25.8 FEBRUARY 5/6 2010
2 22.2 JANUARY 8/9 1996
3 22.0 FEBRUARY 16/17/18 2003
4 21.7 MARCH 6/7 1912
5 20.0 JANUARY 16/17/18 1907

...SECOND SNOWIEST YEAR (JULY THROUGH JUNE) THUS FAR IN
WILMINGTON...

WITH THE 25.8 INCHES OF NEW SNOW IN WILMINGTON, THE SEASON TOTAL
JUMPED TO 53.9 INCHES. THIS TOTAL NOW RANKS SECOND AND IS ONLY
BEHIND THE 55.9 INCHES THAT FELL IN 1995-1996.

THE TEN SNOWIEST YEARS (JULY THROUGH JUNE) AT WILMINGTON:

RANK SNOWFALL YEARS
(INCHES)

1 55.9 1995-1996
2 53.9 2009-2010
3 49.5 1957-1958
4 46.0 2002-2003
5 45.6 1977-1978
6 44.7 1933-1934
7 44.7 1906-1907
8 44.2 1978-1979
9 44.1 1960-1961
10 43.5 1966-1967
This was the 2nd highest storm total in Philadelphia history, and the season's total at Philadelphia is now the 2nd highest in history:
THE 28.5 INCHES WHICH FELL AT PHILADELPHIA LATE YESTERDAY AND TODAY 
WAS THE SECOND GREATEST SNOWFALL IN RECORDED HISTORY.

THE FIVE GREATEST SNOWFALLS AT PHILADELPHIA:

RANK SNOWFALL DATE
(INCHES)

1 30.7 JANUARY 7/8 1996
2 28.5 FEBRUARY 5/6 2010
3 23.2 DECEMBER 19/20 2009
4 21.3 FEBRUARY 11/12 1983
5 21.0 DECEMBER 25/26 1909

THIS IS ALSO THE FIRST TIME IN RECORDED HISTORY THAT PHILADELPHIA
HAS EXPERIENCED TWO SNOWFALLS IN EXCESS OF 20 INCHES IN THE SAME
WINTER SEASON.

...SECOND SNOWIEST YEAR (JULY THROUGH JUNE) THUS FAR IN
PHILADELPHIA...

WITH THE 28.5 INCHES OF NEW SNOW IN PHILADELPHIA, THE SEASON TOTAL
JUMPED TO 56.3 INCHES. THIS TOTAL NOW RANKS SECOND AND IS ONLY
BEHIND THE 65.5 INCHES THAT FELL IN 1995-1996.

THE TEN SNOWIEST YEARS (JULY THROUGH JUNE) AT PHILADELPHIA:

RANK SNOWFALL YEARS
(INCHES)

1 65.5 1995-1996
2 56.3 2009-2010
3 55.4 1898-1899
4 54.9 1977-1978
5 49.1 1960-1961
6 46.3 2002-2003
7 44.3 1966-1967
8 43.9 1917-1918
9 43.8 1904-1905
10 41.8 1957-1958
Original post: The National Weather Service announced this evening that new all-time snowstorm records have been set at Washington Dulles and Baltimore BWI:
AT 5:10 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON...32.4 INCHES OF TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL   
SNOWFALL WAS RECORDED AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WEATHER
FORECAST OFFICE IN STERLING VA. THIS OBSERVATION RECORDED AT THE
STERLING WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE IS DEEMED CLIMATOLOGICALLY
REPRESENTATIVE OF DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT DUE TO ITS PROXIMITY
TO THE AIRPORT.

PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS 32.4 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL
SNOWFALL BREAKS THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM RECORD OF 23.2" ON 7-8
JANUARY 1996...AND THE PREVIOUS THREE-DAY STORM RECORD OF 24.6" ON
6-8 JANUARY 1996.

AT 4:54 PM EST THIS AFTERNOON...A 24.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL
SNOWFALL WAS ESTIMATED AT BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL
THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT.

PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS 24.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL
SNOWFALL EXCEEDS THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORD OF
24.4 INCHES FROM 16-17 FEBRUARY 2003.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a weather observer at Dulles International Airport. I worked the storm last week from 3 pm Friday to about 9:30 am Saturday. I measured snowfall every hour, and kept a running total of hourly snow fall, snowfall from that event and total snow on the ground (from previous snowfalls). We received nowhere near 32.4 inches. Indeed, when I left Sat morning, we had (as I best recall, worked a lot of hours this weekend) about 19 inches total, and roughly 17 of that was new snowfall. When I returned to work at 2130 Sat night, we had 22-23 total, and the snow had stopped falling around 5 pm.

Office scuttlebutt has it that NWS at Sterling only actually measure 24-26. Management there decided to invent about 8 inches of snow out of wholecloth, apparently.

I only mention this because they are now in CYA mode and trying to blame the observers at Dulles and Baltimore (and maybe Reagan, not sure) for not knowing how to measure snow. The simple fact is that the 32.4 that they sent to the news is an anomaly when compared to surrounding areas. If one was doing a statistical analysis, they would throw out that 32.4 immediately for being ridiculous.

I fully admit I'm not a genius, but I am capable of sticking a ruler in the snow and seeing how far the snow comes said ruler.

Anonymous said...

my home is near Rt 7 and Reston Road. I measured 33 inches of snow in 3 different locations in my yard on Sunday morning. All three measurements were in areas protected from the wind.

I don't think this is so far fetched.

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