What Was Forecasting and Data Collection Like Back Then?įorecasting was much different in the mid-1990s versus today. In today’s National Weather Service, issuing Blizzard Warnings based on the impact of the snow rather than the meteorology would be seen as an example of impact-based forecasting and warnings versus the old legacy strictly criteria based issuance as was often common in the 1990s. But, given the Blizzard Warnings issued for the event, the common usage of the name “Blizzard of ‘96” before, during, and after the event has stuck since, even in the meteorological community despite it not being technically correct in most locations. This event often failed to have the wind reach the criteria long enough in most areas. Officially, a blizzard means that the following conditions are expected to prevail for a period of 3 hours or longer - sustained wind or frequent gusts to 35 miles an hour or greater and considerable falling and/or blowing snow (i.e., reducing visibility frequently to less than ¼ mile). area tend to be lesser events in southern New England such as in February 2010 or in the case of February 2015, significant in southern New England but not in the Washington, D.C. Often, snowstorms that are significant events in the Washington, D.C. to Boston due the storm needing a favorable track. It is exceedingly tough to have a snowstorm produce over a foot of snow from Washington, D.C. However, the March 1993 was more of a significant snowstorm for the spine of the Appalachians with lesser amounts toward the more heavily populated urban corridor of the Northeast. NESIS ranks the second most severe Northeast snowstorm on record behind the March 1993 Superstorm or “Storm of the Century” as it was commonly called then. In 2004, the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) that ranks Northeast snowstorms was developed. corridor in addition to areas in southwest Virginia, eastern West Virginia, and the Ohio Valley. to southern New England urban corridor.Īt the time it occurred, the Blizzard of ‘96 was said to be the greatest snowstorm in terms of the amount of snow that fell seen by so many people largely because it produced heavy and in many cases record-breaking snowfall in the highly populated Boston to Washington, D.C. Significant and in many cases record breaking snow for either a 24 hour period or single snowstorm occurred with this event from the Ohio Valley to southwestern Virginia to the Washington, D.C. The heavy snowfall was largely due to a combination of sufficient moisture aided by cold air pushed south from an Arctic high pressure located north of the storm that generated highly effective liquid precipitation to snow ratios and a highly favorable storm track. It reached the Georgia Coast by the morning of the 7th then moved northeast toward Cape Hatteras, NC by the evening of the 7th before reaching the waters off of Southern New England the evening of the 8th. The storm formed in the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of January 6th. Storm Overview Infrared satellite image of the Blizzard of ‘96 as shown on January 7, 1996. It digs up memories akin to those from the Cleveland Superbomb in January 1978, the Blizzard of ‘78 in New England and metro New York City, the Megapolitan Storm of February 1983 and the Superstorm of March 1993 - storms that people still can recall decades later to extreme detail in some cases. Even though many areas have been impacted by it have seen bigger snowfalls in years since (February 2003 from the President’s Day II Storm, the Blizzards of February 2010, the Boxing Day Storm of December 2010, the snowstorms of February 2015 or more recently in January 2016), this storm is widely viewed as the Big One in the modern history of East Coast snowstorms of the last 25 years. And in some places, the storm laid the foundation for another significant weather event in the subsequent weeks. That it stranded you in place for a time. You might not remember just how much snow fell, but that there was a lot of it. It was the marquee meteorological event of one of the more epic winters ever - a storm that, if you experienced it, still stands out in your memory to this date.
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