12/18-20/2009 REPORTS: Eastern US snowstorm/blizzard

[Dan Robinson]

Measured 12.5" in my front yard - the most I've ever had living here (since 1997). Charleston's biggest snow event since 1996. I finished compiling a few photos from this event here:

http://stormhighway.com/blog/dec1809a.shtml

 

[rdale]

Did anyone find blizzard conditions? I tried tracking down some obs that would verify (such a large area warned so it should be easy) but came up empty so far.

 

[Jason Foster]

DC/Baltimore NWS (LWX) reports map: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/events/?event=20091219 (hover over the numbers for readable information).

Wow...what a storm. I measured 20" here at the house (Gaithersburg, MD). I spent much of the day in DC streaming live video, where it was difficult as hell to drive, even with AWD. I got stuck a few times, but a quick dig out was all I needed.

I started at around 7am getting my car loaded and already having to dig out about 6 inches that had already fallen. I ventured first through Germantown, then took the interstate south to Bethesda, MD. From there I continued south into DC to an area called Georgetown (the oldest section of the city). While there my car died. Apparently I was running too much power and the car couldn't keep up and the battery died while I was parked (but car running). Luckily I was able to just unplug everything, let the car sit for about thirty minutes and then restarted the car and it was fine, I just ran less stuff. Continuing from Georgetown I went through Midtown and by the White House real quick then south toward Haines Point to attempt a view of Reagan-National Airport (DCA). Crossed the Potomac next and drove by the airport. With the skies starting to darken from the setting sun I headed back into the city and to Capital Hill.

When I was looking for a good shot of the Capital Building I was stopped by Capital Police. This wasn't a surprise and not the first time. It is the weather station on the roof that always seems to get the attention of the various agencies around here. All was on the stream too...it was great. They were cool as was I and in fact they said they could put my tag and DL info into the system (yeah, big brother...I know), but I wouldn't be stopped again the rest of the day, and even in the future possibly. I thought that was cool. I got my shot of the Capital Building, headed back to the White House, and had a failed attempt at streaming from right next to the gates (which isn't accessible by vehicle). However the snow was still falling (around 6pm now) and the laptop was getting too wet.

Time to head north and toward the higher snow fall amounts. After a quick stop in Kensington, MD I arrived back into Gaithersburg simply amazed at the amount of snow (20 inches).

DCA received 16 inches officially making it the record breaker for most snow in the month of December ever (previous record was 11.5"). This storm will likely make the top 10 list for snow storms in DC, but does quite make the top 5.

 

[Andrew Ryan]

Did anyone find blizzard conditions? I tried tracking down some obs that would verify (such a large area warned so it should be easy) but came up empty so far.

1205 AM BLIZZARD ISLIP 40.73N 73.22W
12/20/2009 SUFFOLK NY ASOS

VISIBILITY DOWN TO 1/16TH OF A MILE IN HEAVY SNOW AND
BLOWING SNOW. PEAK WIND GUST 39 MPH. BLIZZARD CONDITIONS
HAVE BEEN ONGOING FOR 3 HOURS.

I didn't witness any blizzard conditions. But while the deformation band was over me, it did get pretty bad. It was a quick storm, (the heavy snows were over us for <6 hours) and dumped about a foot. I know easter LI (suffolk county) is averaging 2 feet. The OKX office broke a 30 year old record for most snowfall in one storm, recording 24.9 inches.

 

[MatthewCarman]

This was a record breaking snow storm with at least 6 people confirmed dead. Hundreds of people had to evacuate vehicles as the roads became impossible to travel on in some areas. Even Long Island was hit hard from this storm.

 

[Dave Kaplow]

A very strong storm for this time of year, I don't think I can remember a storm quite like this hitting before Christmas here in Southern New England, although there must have been a few. As Andrew noted, the storm was relatively fast, dumping a lot of snow in a relatively short time. The heaviest band was oriented SW-NE and set up just to my east. As a consequence, here in New Haven we got about a foot, but go 15 miles up I-95 and the numbers are closer to 2 feet, for instance Clinton CT got 20 inches. On the other hand, northern parts of CT got almost nothing, this was very much a coastal event. I noticed some strong winds at the height of the storm but they didn't last that long, and I would hesitate to call this a blizzard, although I'm sure the reports of blizzard conditions out on Long Island are accurate. Let's call this one a "technical blizzard" for parts of L.I. and Massachusetts. For CT it was mostly just a damn strong snowstorm for so early in the year.