(Near) Blizzard of 2010

Here's a great satellite image of the storm as it wound up this afternoon off the east coast. Note the classic comma-shape structure to the clouds, and as my colleague SW pointed out, the cirrus clouds over South Carolina are indicative of a very fast 300 hPa jet streat - sampled by the 00Z MHX and CHS soundings at over 180 kts!



Also, I've been amused this past week by the antics of the couple who live across the street. The husband, like me, has been out shoveling his parking area and his "backyard" (the area enclosed inside his privacy fence) multiple times, even while the snow is ongoing. I think he's suffering from the same maladies that are getting to me: cabin fever and curiosity. When it's snowing like mad, windy and cold, you pretty much have to stay home, but who wants to spend all those hours indoors? Not me! Plus how often do we get all these blizzards and heavy snow events? Probably not very often! So the combination beckons -- I've shoveled my driveway/parking area, and the sidewalks leading from my front door all the way to the side street, at least 10 times in the past week. Why? Well, for one I'm trying to "stay ahead" of the snow, but really that's flawed logic because drifting sees to it that the pile of snow is the same size, or even larger, the next time around... so that leaves the two above-mentioned reasons: desire to get out of the house, and curiosity. It's much warmer to look at the snow while moving around than it would be just standing there. Anyway, back to the couple across the street: his wife is a nag! She's constantly yelling at him, "come back inside!", "why are you shoveling the snow?" "aren't you cold?" "it's no good to shovel it now; it'll all blow back in later!" etc etc. He just takes it like a champ, saying "I'll be in soon, honey". They are amusing... but all that nagging must get old after a while.

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Two casualties so far:

1- My snow shovel! After dutifully performing, even above expectations, for the past two snow events (the 21.5" event over the weekend, and the 8" event 2 weeks ago), I finally managed to crack the plastic end of the shovel. I really should chalk it up to "user error" because I had angled the shovel and was using it to beat against a solid hunk of ice blocking the sidewalk, and the shovel gave way. It's actually still usable, but I think its end is near...

2- My snow board! The "ideal location" that served me well the past three events has surrendered to the severe drifting that surrounds it -- it's basically caged in now by large snow mounds on nearly all quadrants. At 12 noon, I measured 5.4"; at 3 p.m., I measured 5.2", 0.2" less than 3 hours earlier despite nearly continuous snowfall. So I've punted and written in to NWS advising them that I will no longer be sending observations from Annapolis for this event. I actually got a response back from BS, thanking me for my reports up to that point.

Here are a few recent photos:



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This afternoon the snow looks to be beginning to end. I measured 5.4" of snow as of 12:00 noon, which doesn't match much with the other totals on the NWS report for Anne Arundel County. It's even curious that my two recent reports aren't even making it on the list, maybe because I include the uncertainty in my measurement. We changed over to sleet around 9:00 p.m. last night, and then to freezing rain by 10:00. We changed back over to snow early this morning and have had winds over 30 mph since about 9 a.m. this morning. The temperature has been significantly lower with this storm, ranging from 25F to 19F in Annapolis (depending on the instrument sensor... the KNAK ASOS or the ANNPS AWS via WeatherBug). The western edge of the heavy snow is moving eastward towards us in Annapolis, but the northern part of the heavy snow axis has basically stalled over and north of Baltimore (and has been there for several hours). The most recent NWS blizzard warning has significantly increased the total storm snowfall, now predicting 20-30". The relevant text is copied below. The local office specifically highlighted Anne Arundel county (along with Baltimore and points between) for dangerous blizzard conditions.

Here are some photos of the storm:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
219 PM EST WED FEB 10 2010

MDZ003>007-009>011-013-014-110000-/O.CON.KLWX.BZ.W.0002.000000T0000Z-100211T0000Z/
WASHINGTON-FREDERICK MD-CARROLL-NORTHERN BALTIMORE-HARFORD-MONTGOMERY-HOWARD-SOUTHERN BALTIMORE-PRINCE GEORGES-ANNE ARUNDEL-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...HAGERSTOWN...FREDERICK...WESTMINSTER... GAITHERSBURG...COLUMBIA...BALTIMORE...ANNAPOLIS
219 PM EST WED FEB 10 2010

...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING...

A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EST THIS EVENING.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL OF 20 TO 30 INCHES...WITH HIGHEST TOTALS NORTH AND EAST OF BALTIMORE. DRIFTS 3 TO 6 FT.

* TIMING...HEAVY SNOW AND GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING.

* TEMPERATURES...LOWER 20S.

* WINDS...25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS AROUND 55 MPH. BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO A QUARTER MILE OR LESS AT TIMES... PRODUCING BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A BLIZZARD WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE OCCURRING. DO NOT VENTURE OUTSIDE. THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION FOR ANYONE WHO BECOMES STRANDED.

FALLING AND BLOWING SNOW WITH STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE WHITEOUT CONDITIONS...MAKING TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE.

&&

$$