Was the Christmas Blizzard of 2009 "Great"?

[Jim Saueressig]

Even though it was bad I dunno if I wanna go with "great". The Christmas Blizzard of 2009 kinda covers it for me. I think if you read historical writings it is similar to many past blizzards but even then not as strong as some.

 

[Chris Carter]

I dont really like the East Coast, as the central plains gets 12" of snow and 50mph and its a typical blizzard, put the same storm in the northeast and its called the Blizzard of the decade, just because it affected more people.

Seeing how this storm brought a foot of snow to such a wide area of places, and its still in IA. How often do we see such a storm, the pattern, the evolution of it come together on two of the busiest days on the year?

To me, this was a great blizzard that laid a foot of snow from Texas to North Dakota, significant icing from the plains to the northeast, and tornadoes over the southeast.

This is going down in my memory as "The Great Christmas Blizzard of 2009".

 

[John Farley]

Just a few examples of places that got more than a foot. The first 3 are mountain locations that often get a lot of snow, but this is still a very big storm for them:

Ski Apache Ski Area, NM - 18"
near Lead, SD - 37.5"
near Deadwood, SD - 30.8"

Other non-mountain locations with over a foot:

Duluth, MN - 24"
Sioux Falls, SD - 18.6"
Sioux City, IA - 19.2" (3rd greatest all-time snow and December record)
Oklahoma City, OK - 14.1" (record single-storm and daily snowfall)

These are just a sampling. There are many other locations in MN, IA, SD, NE, and possibly other states with over a foot. Could get to that point at a few locations in northern IL if current trends keep up, too. And the wind some places was pretty exceptional, too - widespread 60 mph gusts in OK and peak gust in Rapid City, SD was 76 mph. These are just a few things I have gleaned from looking at LSRs the past few days. There's no criterion for a "great" blizzard, but I'd say that this one's effects over a wide area, its timing at the peak Christmas travel period, and its long duration put it right up there.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Correction, John, the Sioux City official total stands at 20.7 inches officiall, updated since the 19.2.

 

[Dean Baron]

I dunno if it was a "great" storm here in Minneapolis since we picked up between 9-13 inches of snow when the NWS was calling for 16-22 inches. Picked up 10 here in New Brighton so definitely a good storm, but I've seen better (we got 17inches from a storm back in 2007, 29 inches from two seperate storm that came through in the same week in 2007). This was by far the heaviest, wettest, heart attack inducing snow I've ever had to shovel. Rain mixed with snow yesterday so that cut down totals but all that is now ice. It would've been great to be snowboarding up in Lutsen, MN during this storm.

 

[Chris Carter]

Norfolk, NE was sitting at 17.9 at 6am this morning with locally heavier amounts. Im sure with the light snow we saw throughout the day, they are over 18" now.

Here Bellevue, I measured 14.6" with drifts along the house up to 4 feet. Which is unusual for our house since NW winds blow most of our snow towards the neighbors house across the street.

I will have photos once i get back to my apartment in Lincoln, whenever the roads are open again.

 

[Jason Foster]

I dont really like the East Coast, as the central plains gets 12" of snow and 50mph and its a typical blizzard, put the same storm in the northeast and its called the Blizzard of the decade, just because it affected more people.

Actually we almost never call them 'blizzards' here, because they are not associated with wind events. We typically associate storm names with Nor'easter, or the name of a holiday, or simply the date affixed to the term "storm".

But yes, storms affect a serious about of people here, which does make it more significant in terms of human interaction. I mean we have to decide where to put the 20" of snow that fell and were plowed and block streets and driveways, and sidewalks. I mean...shipping out snow in dump trucks....by the hundreds.....now that's major. Also remember that the frequency of major storms is different. We just had a HISTORIC storm because it was the most snow that fell in the month of December EVER!!!! But I suspect the plains has seen 20" of snow or more before in the Month of December.

But the bottom line....regardless of the name, did you have fun!

 

[MatthewCarman]

If you think about it this storm was not all that great when you read the many other great blizzards of the past. The only thing that made this storm great to me was places of Texas and Oklahoma seeing alot more snow then usuall and breaking records.

Taken from the Farmers Almanac: http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/a/historic-blizzards

By definition, a blizzard is a violent [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]winter [COLOR=#660000 !important]storm[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
with winds about 32 mph (51 kph) and visibility less than 500 feet (150 meters) due to falling and blowing snow. Sometimes the term "ground blizzard" is used to describe a storm in which wind causes fallen snow to be blown back into the air.
With the winter season almost here, we thought it might be interesting to look back on some historic blizzards:

1888 March Blizzard of '88
The “Blizzard of '88” produced temperatures plummeting well below zero degrees Fahrenheit, ravaging gusts of wind and deep snowdrifts that stranded several cities, leaving them without transportation or [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]communication[/COLOR][/COLOR]. New York City suffered the most damage, particularly to its harbor areas.

1914 March 1 Heavy Wet Snow/High Winds
“The worst since '88,” crippled New York and New Jersey; Asbury Park, NJ, received 24" of snow; New York’s barometer dipped to a record 28.38"; downed wires and poles disrupted communications and power in New Jersey.

1940 November 11 Armistice Day Storm
Over the Upper Midwest and the Great Lakes; blizzard conditions in Manitoba, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and western Ontario; 49 dead in Minnesota alone; gales on Lake Michigan caused wrecks and the loss of 59 sailors; 17" snowfall in Iowa; [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]barometer[/COLOR][/COLOR] at 28.66" in Duluth, MN.

1941 March 15 Severest Blizzard of Modern Era
Struck on a Saturday night; 39 lives lost in North Dakota; 32 died in Minnesota; also buffeted parts of Saskatchewan and Manitoba; 85 mph winds at Grand Forks, ND; 75 mph. winds at Duluth, MN. In Minnesota, 27" fell at Collegeville, and the Twin Cities recorded 16".

1960 December 12 Pre-Winter Blizzard in Northeast
20.4" of snow at [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]Newark[/COLOR][/COLOR], NJ; 17" at New York City, NY; 13" at Boston, MA: Nantucket, MA, had 15.7" with wind averaging 36 to 51 mph.

1961 January 19-20 The Kennedy Inaugural Snowstorm
Occurred on the eve of John F. Kennedy's Presidential inauguration in Washington, DC; second of three huge snows to hit the Northeast during the winter of 1960-61; Washington and Baltimore saw 8" of snow; New York City got 10"; 25" in Connecticut and New Hampshire; 24" in Massachusetts; [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]barometer[/COLOR][/COLOR] fell to 28.59" off Nantucket, MA.

February 3–4 Third Big Snow of the Winter of '60-'61
Produced near-record snow cover in the major metropolitan areas since snow fell on unmelted accumulations from the previous storms; also produced paralyzing gale-to-hurricane-force winds along coastal areas; Washington, DC, and Baltimore, MD, saw 8 to 11"; New York City, NY, received 19 to 24"; Boston, MA, got 14.4"; highest amount fell at Cortland, NY, with 40".

March 4 Severe Northern Plains Blizzard
Raged in North Dakota and Minnesota for over 100 hours; wind gusts to 100 mph; snowfall up to 35"; traffic paralyzed for three days; also affected parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and western Ontario.

1976 February 2 The Groundhog Day Storm
Storm system rapidly intensified off Delmarva Coast (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) and raced northeastward; briefly brought blizzard conditions and, in just a few hours, a 20 to 40 degree drop in temperature to the Northeast; brought wind gusts of 100 mph. to Nova Scotia; barometric pressure fell to 28.30", much lower than many summertime hurricanes.

1977 January 30 The Buffalo (NY) Blizzard
Worst blizzard on record to hit east side of [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]Lakes [COLOR=#660000 !important]Erie[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] and Ontario; wind gusts to 69 mph.; zero-visibility whiteouts; wind chill factor of -50°F.

1978 February 6-7 Blizzard of '78
Hurricane-force winds and record-breaking snowfall made this storm one of the more intense ones to occur this century across parts of the Northeast; small area with 50 or more inches of snowfall was reported in northern [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]Rhode [COLOR=#660000 !important]Island[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]; Washington, DC, received 2.2"; Baltimore, MD, 9.1"; Philadelphia, PA, 14.1"; New York City, NY, 17.7"; Boston, MA, received 27.1" and was subsequently completely shut down for a week.

1979 February 19 The Presidents' Day Storm
Chiefly affected the Middle Atlantic States, with record snowfall in many areas; Washington, DC, 18.7" in 18.5 hours at the airport with a total depth of 23"; Baltimore, MD, airport had 20".

1993 March 13-14 The Blizzard of '93
Described by the [COLOR=#660000 !important][COLOR=#660000 !important]National [COLOR=#660000 !important]Weather [/COLOR][COLOR=#660000 !important]Service[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] as “one of the worst storms of the century"; the onslaught left 13" of snow in Birmingham, AL, and 36" in Syracuse, NY; dozens of tornadoes were reported in the South; more than 200 lives lost.

1996 January 7-8 The Blizzard of '96
An immense blizzard paralyzed much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast States, with snow accumulations of 1 to 2 feet common in many areas; 100 dead; major airports in the Northeast Corridor were shut down for at least two days.

2003 The Blizzard of 2003, also known as the Presidents' Day Storm of 2003, or Presidents’ Day Storm II
This historical and record-breaking East Coast snowstorm lasted from February 14-19, 2003; it started on the East Coast of the US and spread into Canada; all cities from Washington DC to Boston were covered in 15 to 30" of snow, and those cities were brought to a standstill due to problems caused by temperatures and the snow; in Baltimore and Boston, this was the biggest snowstorm on record, with 28.2" and 27.5" of snow respectively.

2006 February 11 Blizzard of 2006
A nor'easter that began on the evening of February 11, 2006, this storm dumped heavy snow across the Northeast United States from Virginia to Maine through the early evening of February 12 and ended in Atlantic Canada on February 13; major northeast cities from Baltimore to Boston received at least a foot of snow, with an all-time record amount of 26.9" in New York City, the most since at least 1869, the start of record keeping.

 

[Jay McCoy]

Obviously it depends on where you live as to whether you consider this a "great" blizzard. In the overall scheme it was a large and significant snow event but in the south (texas/oklahoma) it was a 100 year event. Oklahoma City saw its biggest 24hr snowfall total ever and Dallas had its 1st true white christmas in 80 years. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded along hwy287 between Childress and Dallas all night as were hundreds more along I-40 between Groom, Tx to Oklahoma City. Even the plows couldnt get through to rescue them until the next day. Both roads were closed for more than 24 hrs and a large area of the southern plains was paralized. Also Nebraska and Kansas were very hard hit but it wasnt one of their biggest like it was further south.

It is still affecting large areas of the US 3 days later and caused thousands of flights to be cancelled and millions of people to not be able to get to their holiday destinations.

If that doesnt qualify as a "great" blizzard at least in the south then nothing will.

 

[Jason Foster]

It probably like trying to compare Hurricanes from decades past. Sure the last few years have had the most destructive storms, but there are tons more people affected. Yes, it certainly is regionally dependent, time dependent, etc.

 

[John Farley]

There are many other locations in MN, IA, SD, NE, and possibly other states with over a foot. Could get to that point at a few locations in northern IL if current trends keep up, too.

Bingo on northern IL:

[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0730 PM SNOW CARPENTERSVILLE 42.12N 88.27W
12/26/2009 E14.0 INCH KANE IL PUBLIC

[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0824 PM SNOW 1 NNW CAROL STREAM 41.92N 88.13W
12/26/2009 E12.0 INCH DUPAGE IL TRAINED SPOTTER

[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0834 PM SNOW ST. CHARLES 41.92N 88.30W
12/26/2009 M12.1 INCH KANE IL NWS EMPLOYEE

And I didn't mean to snub ND:

[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0900 AM HEAVY SNOW HEBRON 46.90N 102.04W
12/26/2009 M25.0 INCH MORTON ND CO-OP OBSERVER

Or KS:

[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0531 PM HEAVY SNOW 2 W CORNING 39.66N 96.06W
12/25/2009 M14.0 INCH NEMAHA KS TRAINED SPOTTER

Or WI:

[/FONT][FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]0710 AM SNOW ASHLAND 46.58N 90.87W
12/26/2009 M14.5 INCH ASHLAND WI TRAINED SPOTTER[/FONT]

So, that makes at least ten states over a pretty wide area where at least one location has gotten over a foot of snow from this storm:

MN, IA, SD, NE, NM, OK, ND, IL, KS, WI


[FONT=lucida sans typewriter, lucida console, courier]
[/FONT]