Round 3: heavy snow in Annapolis

3:15 p.m. radar image shows the event looks to *finally* be winding down. After 21.5", it should be!!



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As of 3:00 p.m.
1.7" New snow since 12 noon
19.8" Old snow 12:00 noon Friday - 9:00 a.m. Saturday
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21.5" Total storm accumulation at 3:00 p.m.

Averted a near-disaster: the first person I've seen out in my development was a 20-something girl headed toward the stadium / downtown Annapolis (on foot). She was making her way gingerly toward the side street, but happened to be making a direct bee-line for my snow measuring location (yardstick still sticking unceremoniously out of the ground, along with a convenient 2-foot tall twig I snagged yesterday to help mark the location). I was heading out to take the 3 p.m. measurement and called out to her, no doubt startling her ... and confusing her: "why would anyone not want me to walk over there?" ... "I haven't talked to this guy in several months of him living here; now he's yelling at me to not walk somewhere?" Anyway, near-disaster averted as she changed course and didn't disturb my snow measuring spot. Why is the spot so critical? Well, for continuity's sake, one, but also I have two snow boards laid out, one at the bottom of the pile and one I cleared last night around 11 p.m. and put down on top of what was then the snow depth... now it's buried again somewhere in the middle of the snow (specifically, it has 13" on it, the old one has 19", and compaction allows me to say that 21.5" actually fell). We'll see if the NWS includes my snowfall total - the two recent PNS lists haven't included my latest measurement. I'm sure it's because they're getting a tremendous number of reports.

Here are some recent photos:

*The sidewalk shortly before 1 p.m.:
The sidewalk shortly before 3 p.m. (notice the snow has filled back in!):








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As of 12:00 noon
2.2" New snow since 9:00 a.m.
17.6" Old snow 12:00 noon Friday - 9:00 a.m. Saturday
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19.8" Total storm accumulation at 12:00 noon

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**Baltimore all-time seasonal snowfall record appears ready to fall**

As of 10:27 a.m., BWI Airport measured 23.9", which brings the unofficial seasonal snowfall total for 2009-2010 winter is 59.5". This is the 2nd largest seasonal total ever since 1883 (records for the early part were taken in Baltimore proper). The all-time record set in 1995-96 is 62.5" for the season. This record appears in jeopardy today, depending on how fast the current bands move eastward. Stay tuned.

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As of 9:00 a.m.:
1.1" New snow since 6:00 a.m.
16.5" Old snow 12:00 noon Friday - 6:00 a.m. Saturday
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17.6" Total storm accumulation at 9:00 a.m.

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8:00 a.m. update:

I took a quick walk around the neighborhood this morning at first light, and again what an amazing sight it was! Everything covered in snow; the "snow emergency" streets with at least 4" of snow on them, and that's packed down after multiple plowings. The only armada of backhoes and snow plows that I saw hard at work were clearing a *parking lot* (for the Maryland state government offices... gotta get the bureaucrats back to work a.s.a.p. ... seriously, what does the Department of Natural Resources actually do besides create regulatory headaches?? They have a huge office complex, 5 stories tall and about a city block long... not to mention a caravan of over 30 state vehicles and 10 state boats! Said boats can be found attached to said vehicles parked in said parking lot, doing lots of regulating. But I digress....) I also came across a road-closed barricade placed in the middle of Cedar Park Rd; it had blown over but the mound of ice plowed up in front of it was a reasonable signal: road closed. Considering that Cedar Park is a snow emergency route (that should be plowed and open), I walked farther along to investigate. Sure enough, about 100 meters down the road, I came upon a "nearly" downed power line - it was sagging across the road at about my head level, making it hazardous to oncoming traffic. It was actually attached to the Iglesia Emanuel (where I attend), but their power looked to still be on.

After exploring around for a while, I made my way back home to start digging out my car. I managed to dig a footpath around the vehicle, but I have no idea how I might actually get out of the parking lot, considering there's a "wall" (maybe "sea" of snow 12" deep would be a better description... it only looks like a wall when you see it next to the part I shoveled clear) of snow at least 12" high just behind my Civic that covers the entire parking lot and extends well into the street.

It'll be interesting to see how the city responds. Good thing for all of us, this storm hit Fri night and will be over by early Sat afternoon, giving 36 hrs to plow and clear the roads & parking lots for Monday's commute.

Here are some pics:























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As of 6:00 a.m.:
8.0" New snow since 11:00 p.m.
8.5" Old snow 12:00 noon - 11:00 p.m.
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16.5" Total storm accumulation at 6:00 a.m.





The southern edge of the heaviest snow is sitting right at Annapolis, although recent radar trends have indicated some building of the snowband to our north. To get to 20" for this event, will need 3.5" more, something I'm pretty doubtful can happen looking at current radar trends. Models were consistent, however, in predicting 0.25-0.35 QPF after 12Z today, so again it remains to be seen. The 06Z IAD sounding shows very strong warm air advection and a saturated column up to 600 mb. Note all the little inversions; I'm not an expert enough to explain their causes. Finally our winds are starting to back around to more northerly, indicating the surface low (which is just east of the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, east of ORF) is moving NE.





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As of 11:00 p.m.:
3.0" New snow since 9:00 p.m. (3" in 2 hrs)
5.5" Old snow 12:00 noon - 6:00 p.m.
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8.5" Total storm accumulation at 11:00 p.m.

I'm off to bed but will try to wake at 3 a.m. to take another observation. At this rate, to get to 20"+, we'll need another 11.5", which is only possible if we avg 1.5"/hr for the next 8 hrs. I'm discounting whatever falls after 12Z as negligble, although a few more inches could fall during the day tomorrow. We'll see.

One final note: the winds really have picked up, gusting to 25KT in a recent ASOS report. The visibility part of a NWS-defined blizzard has been met for many hours now; just need the winds to pick up a little more to meet the criteria.

KNAK 060340Z AUTO 06013G25KT 1/4SM +SN FG FEW002 OVC010 00/M02 A2979 RMK AO2 PRESFR P0010 TSNO

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Here comes the RA/SN line: down at the mouth of the Potomac River, at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, moderate snow ended 25 mins ago (at 9:50 p.m.) and moderate rain began. This heavy band will move northward toward us in the next hour, and we'll see if we change over to anything besides snow. If we do changeover, the snow totals will dramatically decrease.

KNHK 060252Z 05020G28KT 4SM RA BR BKN003 OVC008 01/M01 A2976 RMK AO2 PK WND 05028/0248 RAB50SNE50 PRESFR SLP077 P0008 60019 T00061011 58068 $

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Just watched streaming video on Fox5 from Washington when the "film crew" - live, on the air - pulled up beside Senator Daschle, D-SD, who had spun out on Wisconsin Ave. in DC. They jumped out and gave him a push, and off he was. Hehe. What a snowstorm!

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As of 9:00 p.m.:
2.8" New snow since 6:00 p.m.
2.7" Old snow 12:00 noon - 6:00 p.m.
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5.5" Total storm accumulation

The local Fox channel is trying to figure out if the "blue flashes" they're seeing in Arlington, VA and College Park, MD are due to power flashes (transformers) or thunder snow. The heavy band has really hit Dulles Int'l hard; last hour, they had a total of 9", and the heavy snow band still is sitting overhead. I've included the current radar image below.

Also, NWS has upgraded Anne Arundel County to a Blizzard Warning for 35+ mph winds and < 1/4 nm visibliity for 3+ hours. We'll see if we verify; the latest ob from the weather station out on Hospital Point (inside the campus of USNA) was:

KNAK 060154Z AUTO 07010KT 1/2SM SN FG OVC010 00/M02 A2990 RMK AO2 SLP128 P0009 T00001017 TSNO











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I'll try to live-blog this event like the 19 December 2009 event (where I measured 22" in my yard).

As of 6:00 p.m.:
2.7" New snow
2.7" Total storm accumulation

Here are a few photos I snapped around 5:15 p.m.