It was lit. Wish I could relive it.
Light snow began around 2pm in association w/ WAA/isentropic upglide, gradually intensified to moderate snow by sundown as the first frontogenic bands rotated in. No wind yet at this point, just completely dead calm and silent.
Then at ~ 10pm, frontogenic forcing and moisture advection went nuclear all of a sudden. In the blink of an eye it started puking snow at ~ 2”+/hr, along with frequent thunder/lightning and the first gusts of wind from the E/NE. The entire character of the storm changed in an instant.
This went on until ~ 5AM, then we temporarily lulled back to light snow ahead of the ULL/deform pivot. Still a light NE wind at this point.
Then just after lunchtime, the deformation band pivoted overhead, and the true blizzard conditions began, with the highest rates and strongest winds of the storm. As winds quickly veered to the N/NW, the temperature dropped from 29°F to 21°F and snowfall rates increased to 3”+/hr. Lots of blowing/drifting snow. No thunder/lightning this time, but the conditions on the ground were more extreme than overnight.
Ripped like crazy until 6-7pm, until the deform band pivoted off to the E/NE, at which point we fell back to light snow for the next 3 hours. Finally stopped snowing ~ 10PM.
NWS employee that lived a few miles away reported 37” as the grand total. My measurements were all over the place because of drifting, but the average was a bit over 34”. Though this doesn’t account for compaction, so maybe it would’ve been a little higher if I’d followed official measurement procedures.
All in all, an amazing storm. My 3rd favorite storm of all time, in fact (behind the 2/10/10 mega-blizzard and 2/6/10 snowmageddon that had occurred just days prior).
Amazing. Couldn't imagine 34" of snow in a day. What a ride that would be. And I'm assuming the snowfall rates weren't a uniform 1.5"/hr or whatever... What did they peak at?
This climate isn’t good for preserving snow cover. The 2016 blizzard dumped 34” of snow in 24hrs, but it was all gone inside 10 days.
Imagine, all this snow vanishing in 8-9 days. So sad.
I’ve always thought that too. 3k is a tad low for this climate for consistent freezing temps. There’s places that are lower like whistler but that’s Canada
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