Heaviest December snow in NYC in 6 decades – 5th largest ever – hundreds of other snow records set around the nation

Surely we can appraciate histrionics from Joe Romm for warning us all.

We can only pray that the snow will never melt at:
3 United Nations Plaza, New York

We haven’t seen anything yet.
http://tinyurl.com/24ftj33

There is a timelapse video of the blizzard in here, I hope you like it. 😀

@Pamela, nothing much seen for a 10 day in Boston, but yes, the storms ride up the east coast on this sort of circulation pattern. People forget that the blizzard of ’78, although a certainly bad storm, was made ever so much worse by the fact that we had 2 significant snowfalls in the weeks previous that had not melted. It is still warm enough in the Boston area that a lot of this will melt before our next big one. We probably will not be so lucky after that.

Would someone be so kind to point myself to a good rebuttall of the AGW crowd meme that states the melting Artic ice caused it to snow EVERYWHERE. I want to reeducate a few people. Thanks

Looks like climate “disruptions” due to CO2 build up to me! What does the sun have to do with climate, anyway?

31 inches in 24 hrs in Elizabeth nj.
disgusting.

local forecasters say we may even have snow on the mountain peaks in and around phoenix tomorrow night. it usually snows here about once a decade. guess this is it.

Well, I’m glad somebody is getting snow. Here in Denver, CO we have yet to see any significant snowfall at all, and it’s already almost New Year. This is getting ridiculous.
It’s not only that, but the weather has just been downright unusual this year along the Front Range. It seems like we’ve been stuck in Groundhog Day ever since the middle of last July. We get the same stinking weather every day: no clouds, no wind, nothing but still air and sun, all day, every day. I hate days like that; I just hate ’em, I tell ya! The onset of winter has brought only a general decrease in temperatures, not a change in the overall pattern.
Can anybody explain this?
The only way I can figure it to myself is by saying that all the low pressure systems that have been affecting other parts of the northern hemisphere must be balanced out by some corresponding high pressure somewhere else; all the artic troughs bringing record cold temperatures to the southeast must be accompanied by tropical ridges in the west; and Denver just happened to be unlucky enough to reap the flipside of what was going on elsewhere.
But I’d really appreciate it if this would change. If I have to see any more sunshine, I’m afraid my retinas are going to melt. I’m a creature of the darkness; I like clouds and storms and rain and fog, not this blasted, unremitting sun! Can anybody offer some relief?

Nor’easters are ferocious storms but not uncommon. The trick in the headline is “December”. This could turn into a very interesting winter but its just weather.

I heard something about the next storm system out west possibly bringing snow to Northern Mexico. Should be interesting! For those in the south like me stock up on salt. Here’s a news story about local government here doing that http://tinyurl.com/2fkzbz3

Piers Corbyn issued this warning earlier in December:
“Very Major snow and blizzard events will strike NE & E USA in a double hit centered around 25-27th & 29-30th Dec.
“This is likely to be one of the most significant snowfall/blizzard periods in NE & East USA for decades”.
Piers was right yet again! A true champion – what a legend 🙂

Mr. Alex says:
December 28, 2010 at 10:39 am
… in a double hit centered around 25-27th & 29-30th Dec.
29-30th Dec…….yet to enjoy!

We may not have gotten any snow here in NW Florida, but we set a new record low and by a significiant amount: Old low was 24 F; new low was 16F.

Matt B says:
December 28, 2010 at 10:09 am
In reply, right now what is driving weather systems is a high pressure blocking located pretty much right smack dab over Colorado. This has effected every neighbor state. If you look at the current jet stream, it seems that the monstrosity that went through over Christmas weakened it slightly (it had to reform) and there now appears to be a stable jetstream to the south of the block.
As a note, this will extend westward out to California and all the way into the east as the strorms will still track mostly north or south of Colorado. As for Colorado, the last time this happened, you didn’t get winter weather so to speak until around Feb. Its happened before, it just changes the la nina conditions. Now we will see more southern storms then usual and I am willing to bet more northern storms too. However, for the central states, probably very little snowfall and precipitation until late winter.
With such a strong la nina, I wouldn’t put it past old man winter to give the south another dusting or two with the weather tracking like it is, and the NorthEast will definitly get hit again. Just the way it is with such a wet winter combined with cold conditions. Some areas are going to be dry simply because of the blocking high pressure zone. The rest of the US is going to have some fun digging out.

Sorry posted to quick, Matt, Seattle has what you seek but you will tire of it rather quickly too. Hope you do get something better soon.

“Ric Werme says:
December 28, 2010 at 11:09 am
One chicken, two eggs, and that second egg isn’t looking very healthy.”
Big deal, let me cut out that last bit from the quote *snips out “& 29-30th Dec.”*
Piers is correct so far… sheesh killjoys.
The point is that here we have a skeptic who is fighting a battle against the so-called “experts” (UK Met Office) and he is winning.

RobW says:
December 28, 2010 at 9:17 am
Would someone be so kind to point myself to a good rebuttall of the AGW crowd meme that states the melting Artic ice caused it to snow EVERYWHERE. I want to reeducate a few people. Thanks

Here is what Kevin Trenberth has to say:

“I am aware of some German work that suggests the cold outbreak pattern might somehow be stimulated by reduced Arctic Sea Ice. I have not seen the study but count me skeptical.
The cold and snow in Europe was “balanced” by very warm temperatures in Greenland: classical negative NAO [ North Atlantic Oscillation]: perhaps.
The was a large so-called blocking high in North Atlantic that led to the polar outbreaks into Europe and so that is where the cold air went, making it warmer in behind. Now that is more a weather or meteorological description, not a statement of cause.”
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/27/wintry-weather-and-global-warming/#more-28505

Global Cooling Consensus is Heating up cooling over the next three decades.
http://notrickszone.com/2010/12/28/global-cooling-consensus-is-heating-up-cooling-over-the-next-1-to-3-decades/

Baa Humbug says:
December 28, 2010 at 9:00 am
Between the snows of the NH and the rains here in Oz, the volumes involved are mind boggling. It takes huge amounts of energy to transport those volumes up to the atmosphere. Now that energy has been dumped…
______
First, you do realize of course that both of these events are entirely consistent with an acceleration of the hydrological cycle, which is exactly that way the earth has responded for million of years to increased amounts of CO2?
And to your second point…the energy that has been “dumped”. Tis true that the mass of water and snow represent energy by the E=mc2 equation, but I think more to your insinuation that somehow that energy that moved the moisture and snow has been “dumped”? It is of course still somewhere…(in the troposphere mainly) and with more CO2 in the same troposphere, more of that energy will be sure to remain around as opposed to being lost to space through the GH effect of CO2, with the net result that there is more net energy still around to do more dumping in the future, i.e., through the mechanism of the accelerated hydrological cycle as that energy must eventually go back into doing the work of evaporating water.

John McManus:
The hockey rink they are talking about is in Pittsburgh (where the NHL’s Winter Classic is being held at Heinz Field), not Philly. It’s expected to hit 50F that day. However, planners are more concerned with the prediction of rain than the temperature for the event.
Personally, I’ll be happy to see 50F, as I’ll be polar bear plunging that morning. However, we’ve had highs in the 20s and lows in the teens all month, which is more mid-January/February than December temps around these parts. Knew I should have gotten that extra cord of wood for the wood burner when I placed my order ….

Rgates “Tis true that the mass of water and snow represent energy by the E=mc2 equation, ”
Hogwash and stop trying to sound scientific. The e=mc2 equation relates to the amount of energy tied up in matter and has nothing to do with the energy content of clouds unless you intend to spli apart the atoms of water vapor. Also kindly reference where the ipcc predicted colder winters as part of their models? Because we can all supply you with references where they said there would be warmer winters.

Brc says:
December 28, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Rgates “Tis true that the mass of water and snow represent energy by the E=mc2 equation, ”
Hogwash and stop trying to sound scientific. The e=mc2 equation relates to the amount of energy tied up in matter and has nothing to do with the energy content of clouds unless you intend to spli apart the atoms of water vapor. Also kindly reference where the ipcc predicted colder winters as part of their models? Because we can all supply you with references where they said there would be warmer winters.
_____
I’m fully aware of what e=mc2 stands for, thank you. You may want to go back and read my reply as I was replying with a bit of sarcasm about the “dumping” of energy. In terms of warmer or colder winters, you need to look at the global picture, not just Europe or the USA. 2010 will be one of the warmest years on instrument record. This is entirely consistent with AGW models. Arctic Sea ice today (12/28/10 ) is at its lowest point for this date in the satellite record, also, entirely consistent with AGW’s. I think AGW skeptics are making far too much of the cold weather in Europe, and in the long run, we could eventually learn that the lower sea ice levels are indeed affecting the outbreak of cold and snow for Europe.

John F. Hultquist:
That Puget Sound Convergence Zone has given me many a rough ride in my years in aviation. Not so fondly remember many nights flying through one of those
convergence fronts trying to make an approach at Sea Tac..

lots of good stuff in here:
28 Dec: Boston Herald: Michael Graham: ‘Warming’ up to junk science
According to members of the government/science funding axis pushing the theory of Anthropomorphic Global Warming – aka “Your Pick-Up Is Frying Our Planet” – the mountains of snowfall across North America actually prove the Earth is warming. Believe it or not, they say, warming actually makes the Earth colder…
That very day a Professor Stephan Rahmstorf released a report saying climate change means “we have to anticipate milder winters rather than cold ones,” and that even our “cold” winters have gotten “warmer.”
He says more warmth, not more cold, is proof of global warming. And who is this nut? He’s a scientist at the same Potsdam Institute.
Which is why “climate change” is the perfect mantra of the modern bureaucrat and big-government activist: The evidence always proves you right…
Meanwhile climatologist Piers Corbyn warned London of a white Christmas weeks ago. His models have been far more accurate than the UN-approved “science,” but he’s ignored.
Why? Because Corbyn’s research shows the sun has far more to do with climate patterns than your Prius does. Unfortunately, there’s no money to be made at places like the Potsdam Institute studying things like the sun. No legislature can regulate excessive solar output, and there are no jobs to hand out at the Department of Sunshine Control…
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1305752&srvc=home&position=emailed

Thank you Mayor Schmuckberg for your heartfelt request for the taxpayers of NYC to remain patient until their streets can be plowed, a testament to the inefficiency of your office and the DOS (bet they plowed your street within minutes). And a big F.U. to the MTA for total suspension of all transportation. Gee, sure wasn’t a problem several years ago when transit workers went on strike several days before Christmas severely inconveniencing millions of New Yorkers. All this because it snowed, something that NEVER, EVER happens in NYC, right? I’ve lived in the city all 59 years of my life and it’s tragically laughable that whenever it snows city management acts like it’s an 36″ snowfall in the Everglades. Wouldn’t you think the city would be able to deal with snow by now?

Cold and snow times come and go. In late December of 1947, New York City had 26 inches of snow. There was no place to push it, so it had to be gathered into trucks and dumped into the Hudson River. The “Mayor Lindsey” snowstorm in the 1970’s was no slouch either. Cars were stranded on the Thruway bridge over the Hudson for three days. In 1938 I skated on ice a foot thick on a cove in the Hudson River opposite West Point.

savethesharks says:
December 28, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Thanks Chris…It did look wrong when I typed it, but there is some discussion on the right spelling, both can be used perhaps?

Geoff Sharp says:
December 28, 2010 at 6:08 pm
R. Gates says:
December 28, 2010 at 4:11 pm
2010 will be one of the warmest years on instrument record. This is entirely consistent with AGW models. Arctic Sea ice today (12/28/10 ) is at its lowest point for this date in the satellite record, also, entirely consistent with AGW’s. I think AGW skeptics are making far too much of the cold weather in Europe, and in the long run, we could eventually learn that the lower sea ice levels are indeed affecting the outbreak of cold and snow for Europe.
You are cherry picking again Gates, even with a strong long lasting El nino the world temps will not rise, the current readings (CH04) are taking a severe nose dive. The current monthly low of ice extent in the north is a product of the extreme high pressure over Greenland, which is part of the global cooling process (weak polar vortex). Strange that you continue not to mention the record ice extent in the south?
___
We’ve not had a postive sea ice anomaly in the Arctic since 2004, yet we’ve had many negative and positive anomalies in the Antarctic Sea ice in that time. When, in the very unlikely event, that we get a 6 year (or even 2 or 3 year) period of a positive sea ice anomaly in Antarctica, I’d be glad to comment, but right now, not much of interest there, (except for what appears to be higher temps in deep ocean currents around the area) whereas the Arctic is changing fast…

Boo to my lame HTML skills! First paragraph should read:
I really dig those maps from HAMweather; thanks for showing us that site!

Anonymous Howard says:
December 29, 2010 at 11:18 am
At least we got a post about all the snow in the UK. I guess Anthony follows the news wherever the cold weather takes him.
============================
Anonymous Howard,
So….what’s your point?
And document, please the 24:1 ratio you are talking about.
Also note, the warm bubble due to the ridge in the west (and all of those record high temps) is crashing right now and, like usual, in contrast, the eastern US will warm up (for a time).
Note the severe winter weather alerts…quite a few in the SAME place where the high records were before….quite a big reversal to the” OMG the sky is falling the world is warming” frantic antics of your posts.
http://www.wunderground.com/severe.asp
And not remotely gentlemanly and honorable of you to attack a man (Anthony) while he is gone on vacation.
If you don’t like his blog, then you can go somewhere else.
But don’t be dishonorable and just sit there and make potshots.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA

actually, in between all the bickering here and the science, there are a few good pieces of good fundamental meteorological science that have been spilled. overall, this blog has both good contributors and some very bad ones, but in general (average) this stuff is at least indicative of much more debate and thought provoking discourse than, say, the hockey schtick as I call it, presented by Al Bore, in; “A Profit Making BULLSHIT STORY” of his.
it’s one thing for us to quibble and hem and haw, but there are processes happening far off beyond this solar system that are contributing more to these climate changes, perhaps far more, than any planetary changes we think we all have good handles on here. those are fundamentally the blockages of solar energy well before that energy can be absorbed here on earth, either by the atmosphere, or any land or ocean masses below. what is the major cause of this ‘change’ has far more to do with a significantly smaller amount of direct solar radiation making it to earth, mostly due to blocking that occurs naturally between the earth’s orbit and the position of the sun, at distances that make any human intervention or possible intervention, laughable.
but I digress. the blog is a good gang here. a few drive by shooters, but overall, good discussion.
Hint: look further out than our own atmosphere, for the real causes. that’s where they are.

Snow Job, NYC Sanitation Department’s slow snow clean-up was a budget protest
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/sanit_filthy_snow_slow_mo_qH57MZwC53QKOJlekSSDJK#ixzz19bWuL5ox

savethesharks says: (December 29, 2010 at 8:55 pm)

So….what’s your point?
And document, please the 24:1 ratio you are talking about.

I linked to the HAMweather site where I got the data. Unfortunately, that site doesn’t allow you to link to a week’s worth of data (except the most recent week), so I only linked to one day. But all you have to do is change the date in the little dropdown box to see any other day.
Here are the total Continental US records for the week ending December 24, 2010:

High Temperatures        : 271
Low Temperatures         :   7
Lowest Max Temperatures  :  17
Highest Min Temperatures : 618

High to low records = 889 to 24 = 37 to 1 (I had a math error in my earlier calculation.)
A couple weeks ago, Anthony crowed about a week with hundreds of new cold and snow records, and just this morning there is a new post trumpeting that record lows outpace record highs 21 to 1 this week.
In between those two weeks was a week when record highs outpaced record lows 39 to 1 (271/7). And during that week, your attention on this site was diverted to Western Europe where the snow, like confirmation bias, lay heavy on the ground.
What is my point? The answer is: What was Anthony’s point?

And not remotely gentlemanly and honorable of you to attack a man (Anthony) while he is gone on vacation.

Seriously? I wrote my comment one day after he wrote his post (while on vacation apparently) along with 80 or so other people on a public blog on the Internet with an open comment form that is gated by moderators… and I’m a bad guy because I didn’t check his schedule first? Did you notice that Anthony Watts posted something every day this week?