Comments on: Wedge of cooler air keeps 60s/70s away for a couple of days

By: NEWxSFC

NEWxSFC — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 18:02:50 +0000

@Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev) — January 11, 2013 @ 4:42 pm #76
Feb. 5-7th “Blizzard of ’78″

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Interesting to note the NAO in the run-up to Blizzard ’78 was positive and b/coming more so.

D-3: 0.184
D-2: 0.276
D-1: 0.538
D+0: 0.424
Trend: 0.601

AO was < 0 and decreasging.
PNA was positive and increasing.

I/ve long argued a -AO and +PNA are more important feartures for EC snows than a -NAO.

By: Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev)

Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 23:04:44 +0000

Speaking of “sneak,” do any of you remember back about 4 or 5 years ago here on Roanoke TV? One of the TV meteorologists was saying that either light rain, or fog, or some clouds, or a wedge of cold air, or light sleet or light snow, or even in rare occasions some sun, was often “sneaking” in to the Roanoke valley and/or the NRV. It was WSLS’ Jeff Haniewich, I am pretty sure. It was getting so often (so “bad” from my point of view) that it was happening three or four times per week. Sometimes that word is very appropriate, like today with the fog (at least up here and at KM’s house and other higher elevations, like the homes of the snuck man and Carol of Floyd). Or when a stray shower “sneaks” into a locality.
Anyway, for whatever reason, he doesn’t say that nearly as much now.

By: wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827'

wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827' — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:33:28 +0000

Mr. Griggs, it was tooken dat way.

By: wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827'

wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827' — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:15:49 +0000

I’d say. 39.7* here.

By: Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev)

Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:14:46 +0000

Good comment, wd. You made me chuckle. My whole long comment last night was intended as a joke. Although what I said about my teachers was abso true. And the fog snucked in here this afternoon.

By: Kevin Myatt

Kevin Myatt — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:11:06 +0000

Your fog and chill is down in the Roanoke Valley now.

I’m going to be posting new soon for the evening.

By: Doppler Carol (Floyd County Doppler 2546 ft)

Doppler Carol (Floyd County Doppler 2546 ft) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:07:48 +0000

Five o’clock Friday evening and it is 51. Fog has gone but still cloudy and no more rain this afternoon. Everyone get out and enjoy the weekend!

By: wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827'

wdbrand-SW Rke. Co.-1827' — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:48:36 +0000

Mr. Griggs, considering your sensitive outlook on how the English language should be used, I have decided to not use the “word” you found offensive. In the future, it will be proper all the way. Like in “snucked”.

By: Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev)

Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:42:08 +0000

I just looked briefly at the list of big snowstorms affecting the NE corridor, and I can see that what has a major impact on their rankings is how many people were affected. I lived through the Feb. 5-7th “Blizzard of ’78″ in Greater Boston, and was living in Laurel, MD when the FEB 10-12, 1983 big snowstorm hit. We got about 15-17 inches as I remember it in Laurel, and I had to park my car a mile from my apartment and hoof it the rest of the way coming home from work.
But the impact was nothing like the Blizzard of 1978. Most Boston suburbs got about 25-28 inches, with howling winds, and coastal areas got some horrific flooding, too (it was the highest high tide of the year, and with a NE strong gale blowing the water in ….). Areas to the SW of Boston and near Providence, RI got 4+ feet, with amazing drifting. The storm hit on a Monday evening, and snowed all day Tuesday, and Boston and most of the Greater Boston area was SHUT DOWN for the entire remainder of the week, including Saturday. That’s right, only emergency workers were allowed to come into the city.
Yet on that NESIS scale, the FEB ’83 storm got a 6.25 score and was considered “crippling.” And the Blizzard of ’78 was only a 5.78 and ranked “significant.” Maybe the impact of the 1983 storm was more crippling in some other areas than where I was. But at least for a snowstorm and the impact on a major New England city (“cities,” because Providence was also shut down I think), the ’78 storm may have been the biggest of the 20th century.

By: Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev)

Doug G, SW Roanoke County (1420 elev) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:21:43 +0000

Snow Lover Bburg, thanks for your 9:24 comment. Are you sure that storm that dumped all the wet snow in Beckley was in the early months of 1998, and not December 1997? Reason I ask is that I had just moved here in Oct. ’97, and we got two small storms here, one near the beginning of Dec. and another on the Sunday right after Christmas (Dec. 27?) as I remember it. There was another snowstorm in late January 1998 that deluged Blacksburg and dumped about 5 inches on 220 south of Roanoke at the Parkway (higher elevation and a lot more snow than downtown or where I was living at the time, near Virginia Western). But for Roanoke city that was about all that I remember.
Anyway, that April I met a salesman from the hills outside Beckley and played golf with him 2 or 3 times. Once he commented that was he ever glad that the previous winter was over. I agreed, because Roanoke got absolutely deluged with 8 inches of rain in both JAN and FEB, alltime records (at least at that time) for those months. He exclaimed “WHAT?!?! You mean you didn’t get piles of snow over here? We had about 5 or 6 feet where I live in just December alone!” Of course the big wet snow in Beckley that you are remembering could have been that late January storm, too.