TWC Today Forums
Weather Discussion => General Weather Chat => Topic started by: Zach on March 19, 2010, 03:45:56 PM
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Since Spring starts tomorrow, I though it'd be nice to summarize this past winter. B)
We all knew this was an El Niño season, which means that a La Niña summer is likely.
In the east, temps were almost always below normal. Major cities such as DC/Baltimore, Philly, Richmond/Norfolk, Atlanta, etc. picked up more than the average snowfall. Here in Florida, on 1/9/10, almost all of Florida got wintry precip.
Not sure about other parts of the country, so please fill me in on info. Thanks. :bleh:
So overall, since I like cold air, I give this past winter a 9/10. :thumbsup:
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2/10. Too much rain for this Cali girl. :wacko:
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9/10 for me, I enjoyed all the snowstorms we saw this winter including the one we saw at the beginning of this month. :D Although I have to agree with you Ana about the rainfall. We saw over 9 inches in December. :wacko:
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8/10 for me. Good winter :yes:
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9/10 for the frigid january
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lol, I'm probably the only one on here who would poorly rate this winter. El Nino winters are never fun for anyone in Michigan... whether you like snow or not. This winter was much warmer than it should have been, and we never made it below 0. Usually, we see below zero temps at least once a winter. Snow was horrible this season. HiRAD didn't guess snow until December 3rd (Lansing's airport had reported it a couple times before). We got almost nothing in November, but we somehow made it within a couple inches of average when December closed. January was okay, but not too great of a month either.
February was when we finally got winter. We had two significant (pathetic to others, significant by our standards) snowfalls. While neither had been that double digit snow I have been waiting for for 5 years, they were something. We also got 4 inches of Lake Effect on 2/24... an incredible rarity here. Let's not forget the "snoicane" on 2/26, which was the most impressive looking low pressure I have ever seen outside of the hurricane season. I got about 3 inches out of that. Then, just as we had finally been seeing winter, it left us.
It was amazing how quickly the temperature of 40 went from "quite mild" to "cold" inside a couple weeks. Highs above freezing began appearing in the week ahead, and inside a week really, temps were already consistently around and above freezing. Then 60's come by. Now that 8.5" Lansing is supposed to see in the month of March once again does not appear to be likely. I don't recall seeing that much in the month since 2002. Ah well, hoping for a more active year ahead.
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4/10. While I enjoyed the cold, we had WAY more than enough snow this winter. We had like more than three times the yearly average, IIRC.
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definitely a 10/10 in my book...i saw snow for the first time, got to play in it for a while, then it had the nerves to come back, surprisingly, and played in it longer than the first time.
i also love the cold weather, so a good season for me :)
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definitely a 10/10 in my book...i saw snow for the first time, got to play in it for a while, then it had the nerves to come back, surprisingly, and played in it longer than the first time.
i also love the cold weather, so a good season for me :)
Same here Al. This past winter was my first ever experience with wintry precip. :yes: :happy:
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I give this winter a 8/10 pretty good snow for Central Ohio Avg 27.4 in, we got close to 40 inches of snow overall. The NWS had below normal precip slated for February in Central Ohio
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Review from NOAA:
U.S. Temperature Highlights
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
For the winter season, 63 percent of the country experienced below normal temperatures. In contrast to this national trend, Maine experienced the third warmest winter.
February’s average temperature was 32.4 degrees F, which is 2.2 degrees below the long-term average.
Cold air in the wake of several reinforcing Arctic air masses dominated much of the United States during February, creating temperatures that were much-below average in the Deep South and below average in the Plains and mid-Atlantic states. Both the South and Southeast climate regions experienced their seventh coldest February on record. Meanwhile, warmer-than-average temperatures dominated the Northwest and Northeast climate regions.
Florida had its fourth coldest February, Louisiana its fifth coldest, and Alabama, Georgia and Texas each had their sixth coldest. It was the seventh coldest February in Arkansas, while both Mississippi and South Carolina experienced their eighth coldest.
U.S. Precipitation Highlights
High resolution (Credit: NOAA)
Precipitation for the winter season was above average while it averaged slightly below the long term mean for the month of February.
The season-long wet spell was notable for the Southeast, as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina each had their eighth wettest winter. Precipitation was also much above normal for South Dakota, Virginia, New Jersey and Maryland. Wyoming and Idaho experienced their eighth and ninth driest winters, respectively.
Regionally, the active weather pattern in the South, Southwest, and Northeast created above normal precipitation for the month. The Northwest, West North Central, East North Central, and Central climate regions each had below-normal February precipitation. On the state level, New Mexico experienced its seventh wettest February on record. Conversely, Idaho had its seventh driest, and Wyoming its eighth driest.
Other Highlights
Major snowstorms on Feb. 4-7 and Feb. 9-11 plagued the Atlantic states. These storms ranked as Category Three (major) and Two (significant) storms respectively on the Northeast Snow Impacts Scale (NESIS). Combined and treated as one storm, they would become only the third Category Five (extreme) storm (the most extreme category) of the NESIS record.
A third storm, also ranking as a Category Three on the NESIS scale, occurred across southern New England on Feb. 23-28. February 2010 is the first month during the NESIS period of record, since 1956, to place three storms of Category Two or greater.
Several seasonal snowfall records were set: (previous record)
Baltimore: 79.9 inches (62.5 inches, 1995-96)
Washington (Dulles): 72.8 inches (61.9 inches, 1995-96)
Washington (National): 55.9 inches (54.4 inches, 1898-1899)
Wilmington, Del.: 66.7 inches (55.9 inches, 1995-96)
Philadelphia: 71.6 inches (65.5 inches, 1995-96)
Atlantic City, N.J.: 49.9 inches (46.9 inches, 1966-67)
In several eastern cities, February was the snowiest month on record: (previous record)
Washington (Dulles): 46.1 inches (34.9 inches, February 2003)
Central Park, N.Y.: 36.9 inches (30.5 inches, March 1896)
Pittsburgh: 48.7 inches (40.2 inches, January 1978)
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Where do I even start? :thinking: :P
First of all, I would probably rate this winter 8/10, with the rating based more on excitement and a lot happening rather than enjoyment.
Now let me reminisce on the winter of 2009-2010 for Dallas, TX:
1) Record snowfall on Christmas Eve, leaving Dallas with its VERY first white Christmas the next day.
2) Other miscellaneous small amounts of snowfall that broke old records of trace amounts of snowfall on December 29 and 30.
3) The ARCTIC BLAST in early January, bringing temperatures as low as 13 degrees (No record lows were set, but it was still very cold. :brr:)
4) A RECORD SNOWSTORM in February, breaking records for most snow in a day, most snow in a 24-hour period, etc... (So many records were set that day.)
5) Although this was technically in spring, more snowfall in late march, with totals ranging anywhere from 1 to 8 inches. (A record snowfall total was set on March 21.)
Yes, this winter has definetely been an exciting one for Dallas and certainly one for the record books. :D
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This winter sure was wacky at times, but what else is new when El Niño is in control of the global weather? :P I had over five feet of snow in total, and my guess on getting into a pattern of pretty cold temperatures with a bunch of Nor'easter storms dumping some decent snow here came true.
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6.5/10
Our winter was divided up pretty nicely.
January was just brutally cold....
During February, the temps were at normal the entire month (high 30s in beginning of month, low 40s by end).....didn't complain, it was a pretty nice month for February standards...it just stopped snowing too once February kicked in....
During March, temps continued to be at or above normal...pretty good month