UPDATE: The map and data have been updated from NOHRS. We now have added to yesterday’s total with new overnight snows, bringing the CONUS coverage to 70.9%. KGMB-TV in Hawaii reports, that with snowfall on Mauna Kea, 49 out of 50 states have snow on the ground, with Florida the exception. -Anthony
Meanwhile, New York City declares a weather emergency due to snow.
Data from the National Weather Service National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center in Minnesota show that nearly 70 71% of the USA has snow cover.
January 12, 2011 Data:
| Area Covered By Snow: | 70.9% |
| Area Covered Last Month: | 35.1% |
| Snow Depth | |
|---|---|
| Average: | 6.9 in |
| Minimum: | 0.0 in |
| Maximum: | 895.5 in |
| Std. Dev.: | 11.3 in |
| Snow Water Equivalent | |
| Average: | 1.4 in |
| Minimum: | 0.0 in |
| Maximum: | 435.1 in |
| Std. Dev.: | 3.0 in |
January 11, 2011 data:
| Area Covered By Snow: | 69.4% |
| Area Covered Last Month: | 33.1% |
| Snow Depth | |
|---|---|
| Average: | 6.9 in |
| Minimum: | 0.0 in |
| Maximum: | 897.2 in |
| Std. Dev.: | 11.4 in |
The map above is done from snow reports from COOP stations and other observers. Here’s the map done by satellite:
The 70% value may be exceeded tomorrow as the area around Washington DC has picked up a couple of inches of snow, which is shown as no snow cover in Jan 11 maps above. See this from NWS Baltimore/Washington:
At the time of this post, the Northeastern USA was getting hammered with significant snowfall:
Earlier today, NYC mayor Bloomberg declared a snow emergency:
This from Notify NYC, a city email messaging service:
The Mayor has issued a Weather Emergency Declaration for NYC. The public is urged to avoid all unnecessary driving for the duration of the storm and use public transportation. For info on MTA service visit http://www.mta.info. Any vehicle found blocking roadways or impeding ability to plow streets will be towed at owner’s expense. Alternate Side Parking, payment at parking meters, and garbage collection are suspended citywide until further notice.
The NWS has issued this:
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 1054 PM EST TUE JAN 11 2011 ...WINTER STORM TO IMPACT THE AREA TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY... NJZ002-004-006-103>108-NYZ072>075-176-178-121200- /O.CON.KOKX.WS.W.0002.000000T0000Z-110112T2300Z/ WESTERN PASSAIC-EASTERN PASSAIC-HUDSON-WESTERN BERGEN- EASTERN BERGEN-WESTERN ESSEX-EASTERN ESSEX-WESTERN UNION- EASTERN UNION-NEW YORK (MANHATTAN)-BRONX-RICHMOND (STATEN ISLAND)- KINGS (BROOKLYN)-NORTHERN QUEENS-SOUTHERN QUEENS- 1054 PM EST TUE JAN 11 2011 ...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST WEDNESDAY... A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST WEDNESDAY. * LOCATIONS...NEW YORK CITY...AND NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY. * HAZARDS...SNOW...HEAVY AT TIMES. * ACCUMULATIONS...8 TO 12 INCHES...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. * WINDS...GUSTS 20 TO 25 MPH. * VISIBILITIES...LESS THAN 1/4 MILE AT TIMES. * TIMING...HEAVIEST SNOW OCCURS AFTER MIDNIGHT TONIGHT THROUGH DAYBREAK WEDNESDAY. * IMPACTS...HAZARDOUS TRAVEL TONIGHT AND THROUGH THE DAY WEDNESDAY. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR HEAVY SNOW MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE FORECAST THAT WILL MAKE TRAVEL DANGEROUS. ONLY TRAVEL IN AN EMERGENCY. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...KEEP AN EXTRA FLASHLIGHT...FOOD... AND WATER IN YOUR VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY.
Looks like a fun day tomorrow in NYC.
I stand corrected. Make that 49 out of 50 states. Hawaii has snow.
http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=13826342
REPLY: Thanks, added – Anthony
David L says:
January 12, 2011 at 1:45 am
I like that. David Manne and his Ice Hockey Stick.
Here in NE Oregon we are expecting a Pineapple Clipper- or so they say-supposed to
warm up and rain. Good time for the January thaw and reboot-I knew it when I
bought that bag of De-icer… tired of using the old monster(and quite ancient)
snowblower.. Put my back out trying to dig out a neighbor…
North Alabama is still largely at a stand-still due to the ice and snow from Sunday. We’re moving around OK in central AL, but it’s cold as {insert appropriate metaphor}, and supposed to get colder tomorrow morning.
I wonder what the guys up at UA-Huntsville are thinking about their commute to work the last couple of days? 🙂
The CBC was trumpeting “Canada’s warmest year Evaar!” today. 2010 will be remembered out west as the year without a summer. I was snowed on in May, June, Aug, Sep, etc. Feb/March was very warm but “Least Cold Winter” isn’t as scary I guess.
If anyone has major metropolitan Canadian city average temps by month calculated I’d love to see it. (UHI notwithstanding)
January 11, 2011 at 11:01 pm
“Only 70%? Here in Canada it’s about 99.9% coverage….get used to it!
John :-#)#
REPLY: Bragging or complaining? 😉 Anthony”
…Anthony, we who live up north… I would seriously say it’s BOTH bragging and complaining…Love-hatred of the darn/beautiful thing… The snowmountains are NOW about
5 meters high, street snow down at Huvudsta field, snowcover not much more than 40 cm/16 inches now down to 33/13…or so. Härnösand, a coastal town of northern part of south
Norrland had 131 cm/52 inches some days ago, now down to 105/42…
I talked to my uncle the other day about GW, climate, cold… Among other things, he told me that since around 1996 (he said since the war ended – Bosnia) he had to use more and more wood for heating his house in winter and that winters are definitely getting colder and longer. I think many people are waking up – you can not ignore cold.
You know, Rod Serling couldn’t have written a better scenario where hot is really cold and cold is really hot. Oh, wait. I think he actually might have — “Twilight Zone” Season 3, Episode 10 starring Lois Nettleton entitled “The Midnight Sun.” Rod Serling, a man ahead of his times. We are truly now living in the twilight zone.
John Robertson says:
January 11, 2011 at 11:01 pm
So John, what .1% of Canada does not have snow?
About a foot, in southern New Hampshire, with a snowband still over us, though the storm is moving away.
The AO blocking pattern has put us at the southern edge of the kicked-back warmth, for the past two winters. At times it has been colder in Virginia, or even in Georgia, than up here. However five degrees above normal only puts us at a daily mean of 26 F in January, so we still can get plenty of snow. Some old-timers even go so far as to say a really cold winter has less snow.
I feel warmer is better. Snow and cold don’t get me any time off, and just make life more rugged.
Larry Geiger says: (January 12, 2011 at 6:46 am)
“There is a reason why we live in Florida.
Look at the maps above. That’s why we live in Florida.”
Plus there is no state income tax.
Boris said, Is there anywhere in the northern hemisphere at 45 degrees latitude or above that doesn’t have snow now?
Yes, Portland ,Oregon. We are just above the 45th and no snow. We like a bit of snow here, about a weeks worth then we get sick of it.
So is 71% unusual ? How unusual ?
Tom in Florida says:
January 12, 2011 at 11:50 am
Larry Geiger says: (January 12, 2011 at 6:46 am)
“There is a reason why we live in Florida.
Look at the maps above. That’s why we live in Florida.”
Plus there is no state income tax.
We will get snowfall and snow cover here in Florida before this winter is done.
Remember that last year when 49 out of the 50 states had snow cover it was Hawaii that was the lone exception, not Florida.
1.RR Kampen says @ur momisugly January 12, 2011 at 2:52 am “AGW -> more precipitation, in winter more snowcover . . .”
Rather than mindlessly repeating talking points that essentially say that the CAGW theory can never be wrong regardless of developments, please investigate and analyze the real world.
For years, the CAGW cry was that we would have less precipitation and more droughts. Now in the middle of significant snowstorms, CAGW is saying more precipitation because of AGW. However lame that claim is, it does match reality. These storm systems over the last two years are getting laden with water vapor from ocean waters that have negative anomalies, not positive anomalies. We are getting these snowstorms because it is cold over land, not because the oceans are warm.
It did snow in Florida in the last Southern snowstorm, but it did not stick.
Florida not only no snow or income tax but 1/3 the property taxes as here in Stowe Vt, and 1/2 the electric bill, largely because in Vermont they like to get their electricity from “renewables”. In Florida most of our power comes from nuclear (although there are some idiots in Sarasota city who are trying to change that). Sure we pay a bit more to register our cars, but the first two items more than make up for it.
Martin Andersen says:
January 12, 2011 at 12:18 pm
So is 71% unusual ? How unusual ?
I feel pretty sure the same thing happenend last winter but it was in February.
Warm globally, cool locally.
Wow! 49 out of 50 states have snow! That hasn’t happened since…oh…last February. Ah, but the last time the U.S. was 70% covered with snow was…oh…wait…also last winter.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/02/13/49-states-covered-with-snow-1180-new-snowfall-records-set-in-the-usa-this-past-week-is-february-headed-for-record-snowfall/
http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/index.html?region=National&year=2010&month=1&day=31&units=e
“Alan the Brit says:
January 12, 2011 at 1:26 am”
Sadly, common sense departed the Australian shores many many years ago. Australia isn’t too far behind the UK, and literally just one step behind New Zealand, in its climate craziness are taxes to save the planet. Every single “extreme” weather event is, not always driectly but the underlying view is there, spun as proof we humans are destroying the planet with emissionsof C02. Yes, once, houses were built in Queensland to suit conditions there (House on stilts/posts). However, urban planning these days seems to not requite any sense at all, just greedy desires. I read recently that after the 1974 flood in Brisbane, plans were drawn up to “prevent” similar floods from happening again. Apparently, that plan was stuffed in a drawer somewhere and forgotten.
It’s like the bush fires in Victoria in 2009. There have been many bush fires before, and two previous Royal Commissions (RC). All the recommendations in the two previous were ignore. The last RC, after “Black Saturday” many of the recommenadtion are being adopted, like property owners being able to clear fuel sources from around and near property.
Both of the events I describe have been directly affected by policies imposed by The Greens.
DaveF – you suggest building dams and other facilities to store excess storm water for use during prolonged drought.
Queensland is covered with water at present, an extent greater than combined France and Germany, I am told.
Where would we store all that water?
Where could we build such a large dam?
The Ivanhoe dam which is now spilling over and adding to the floods in Brisbane, was designed after the last major flood in 1974, to protect Brisbane.
Actually, the experts say it is helping a little and without it, the flooding of homes would be even greater.
I’m sure when the floods are over and clean up completed, that governments will once again turn their attention to flood mitigation work.
But that costs money.
Now Australia is in a far better financial position than most western nations, but our economic resources are still finite.
To find extra money for flood mitigation, we would have to stop wasting it on fruitless efforts to stop CO2 rising and that would never do /sarc off (this sentance only).
Here in the greater seattle area, we had about an inch and a half of wet stuff last night with a temp of about 33F. Sometime during the night, it had turned to rain and warmed back up into the 40’s. it was pure wet slush this morning, with nothing left by the end of the day.
I like the quiet of the sound absorbant snow.
Martin Andersen says:
January 12, 2011 at 12:18 pm
So is 71% unusual ? How unusual ?
According to the Rutgers Snow Lab Dec 2010 ranked 7th
Meanwhile….from the “Is it Nome, Alaska….or North Carolina” department…I give you this webcam link:
http://www.highcountrywebcams.com/webcameras_Beech_Charlies.htm
Wow.
Chris
Norfolk, VA, USA