Colossal Nor’easter Dumps Record Snow from Maryland to New York

A ferocious, long-lasting winter storm took its parting swipes at the Eastern Seaboard on Saturday night, leaving in its wake a pile of snowbound cities and shattered records.  Millions of people in the nation’s most densely populated urban corridor saw snowfall amounts that matched or exceeded the largest amounts observed in more than a hundred years of recordkeeping.  It’s surprisingly difficult to measure snow in an accurate and consistent way, so you should keep a mental asterisk pinned to the statistics you’ll be seeing.  Nevertheless, there is no question that this nor’easter, dubbed Winter Storm Jonas by the Weather Channel, was one for the ages--among the most powerful and far-reaching in regional history.

A sheaf of 24-hour and storm-total records
Even as the last flakes were flying on Saturday night, a number of sites with century-plus weather histories had already notched the most snowfall ever recorded for a single storm, and/or the most ever measured in a 24-hour period.  Here’s a sample of preliminary data through Sunday morning. (Thanks to Alex Lamers, NWS/Tallahassee, for digging up some hard-to-find data on previous record storm totals in the NYC area).  Note that the readings below generally pertain to snowfall measurements taken during the storm and added together, with a snow measuring board (snowboard) cleared off between each reading.  The final snow depth, or the amount you’d measure by sticking a ruler (or yardstick) in the snow at the end of the storm, would normally be a bit less than the amounts shown below,because of the more recent snow on top compressing the lower, earlier layers.  Decades ago, snowboards were used less frequently or were cleared less often when used, which means that some past storms would yield higher snow totals if measured with today’s standard techniques.


New York, NY (Central Park) 
--Calendar-day total: 26.6” (old record 24.1” on Feb. 12, 2006)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 26.8” (record 26.9” on Feb. 11-12, 2006)

New York, NY (LaGuardia)
--Calendar-day total: 27.9” (old record 23.3” on Feb. 12, 2006)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 27.9” (old record 25.4” on Feb. 11-12, 2006)


New York, NY (Kennedy):
--Calendar-day total: 30.3” (old record 24.1” on Feb. 12, 2006)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 30.5” (old record 26.8” on Feb. 16-18 2003)


Newark, NJ:
--Calendar-day total: 27.5” (old record 25.9” on Dec. 26, 1947)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 27.9” (old record 27.8” on Jan. 7-8, 1996) 


Allentown, PA
--Calendar-day total: 30.2” (old record 24.0” on Feb. 11, 1983)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 31.9” (old record 25.6” on Jan. 7-8, 1996)


Harrisburg, PA
--Calendar-day total: 26.4” (old record 24.0” on Feb. 11, 1983)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 30.2” (old record 25.0” on Feb. 12-13, 1983)

Philadelphia, PA:
--Calendar-day total: 19.4” (record 27.6 on Jan. 7, 1996)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 22.4” (record 31.0” on Jan. 6-8, 1996)


Baltimore, MD (Baltimore-Washington Airport and earlier sites):
--Calendar-day total: 25.5” (old record 23.3” on Jan. 28, 1922)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 29.2” (old record 26.8” on Feb. 16-18, 2003)


Washington, DC (Dulles)
--Calendar-day total: 22.1” (record 22.5” on Feb. 11, 1983)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 29.3” (record 32.4” on Feb. 5-6, 2010)


Washington, DC (National Airport and earlier sites):
--Calendar-day total: 11.3” (record 21.0” on Jan. 28, 1922)
--Storm total thru Sun. AM: 17.8” (record 28.0” on Jan. 27-29, 1922)


How widespread was the snow?
--This was the first storm on record to dump at least 24” of snow in both Baltimore and New York City, according to weather.com.
--At least one location in all 21 New Jersey counties received at least 12” of snow.
--Snowflakes fell as far south as the Florida Panhandle on Friday night, and more than a foot of snow fell as far north as Massachusetts, giving this remarkable storm a north-to-south reach reminiscent of the even-more-sprawling Storm of the Century in March 1993.


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