Winter Storm Jonas (E. USA)

power pants

will get dublin get any of this soon?

Wanderer78

power pants wrote: »

will get dublin get any of this soon?

in the form of rain, yes, on tuesday

nacho libre

http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/national-zoos-giant-panda-tian-tian-enjoying-snow/story?id=36470580

A panda, named Tian, is clearly loving the snow in Washington. I would be too if i was there, Tian.

Reckless Abandonment

RobertKK wrote: »

Thank God we are getting away with nothing very bad like that, so far 8 people have died from the blizzard.

Approx 86 people a day die on US roads. Not to sound disrespectful but I wonder could a storm like this actually reduce road deaths . As in less people on the roads. But the media make more of it

youreadthat

Reckless Abandonment wrote: »

Approx 86 people a day die on US roads. Not to sound disrespectful but I wonder could a storm like this actually reduce road deaths . As in less people on the roads. But the media make more of it

I doubt it helps much because NE America has the best public transport anyway and most of the population of the USA aren't being affected.

bnt

Back in 1999, I landed in Toronto the day after they got hit with about 16" of snow. The newspaper headlines were all about that, but most things seemed to be working: the highways were clear, the subway was running, but the snow had drifted a lot and the streets had to be plowed regularly. I loved it - it was literally the first time in my life i had seen more than a few snowflake, having spent most of it up to that point in either South Africa or London. The locals were not quite as appreciative.

RobertKK

Reckless Abandonment wrote: »

Approx 86 people a day die on US roads. Not to sound disrespectful but I wonder could a storm like this actually reduce road deaths . As in less people on the roads. But the media make more of it

Death toll now is at least 17 dead from the storm.

They still are weather related deaths, and it is why travel bans and people are being told to stay indoors, and in Washington DC, they have volunteers to help people unable to clear their driveways.
It is not uncommon for people to get heart related problems and to die while shoveling snow in very cold weather.

I would love to see a major snowstorm, but not in Ireland. After December 2010 I know the state becomes near non existent as you are left to defend for yourself, and the only bit of the state that will come to one's aid when snowed in is the army in an emergency.
Back in the 1980s when the country was poorer I remember the snow ploughs came out to rural roads.

New York is expected to get over 30 inches of snow.
Parts of West Virginia got 40 inches of snow.

Patty O Furniture

Mafra wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that much of the US had unseasonably warm winter temperatures until quite recently?

I remember watching CNN/NBC News on CNBC, that tourists were shocked to see no snow & walking around in t-shirts+shorts in 16c

Gandhi wrote: »

Christmas Eve was shorts and T-shirt weather here (just outside Philadelphia) but the last few weeks have been very cold. Struggling to get above freezing point during the day, and regularly getting down to -10C at night. With the ground so cold, the snow should stick.

Was watching CNN Fri nite & all day today, Baltimore was expected to get around about 30" of snow

Tactical wrote: »

That is something else.

One day I hope to be in the right place at the right time to experience something like that. It would be utterly amazing.

TV is on in the background & CNN happened to chat to a couple from Ireland who came over for a visit & was shocked to see the snow, but when asked if they have plans for the day, they remained aloof & said take a walk in the snow & go for dinner & a drink, I am Irish he said

bnt wrote: »

Some pictures from today are here, such as this from Washington DC:



There's a report of drivers stranded on I-75 in Kentucky overnight, due to ice.

I heard this fella on CNN Jim Ferry Basketball coach, talking bout being stranded for 13 hrs there & going over to other coaches with kids, keeping them calm & had also mentioned that the team had been away on longer trips including to Ireland last year, i was thinking as soon as i saw the name Ferry, Ireland may come into it?

up for anything

In the photo you're all quoting that shows the guy clearing snow off his car - why? Where does he think he's going to be driving in knee deep snow?

GSF

Reckless Abandonment wrote: »

Approx 86 people a day die on US roads. Not to sound disrespectful but I wonder could a storm like this actually reduce road deaths . As in less people on the roads. But the media make more of it

Less heatstroke too and no forest wildfires. Lol. Looks likes someone's trying to spin for snow to get better tv coverage.

WheatenBriar

Those are snow drifts mostly which in gale force winds will obviously bury cars
Washingtons three airports only measured at most 30 inches which is a lot alright,two and a half feet,biggest amount ever at Baltimore, 2nd and third biggest at Dulles and Reagan
But the drifts in photos are not indicative of the amount that fell

In the January 1982 Blizzard here in Ireland by the way,drifts in the wicklow mountains buried trees, yes trees in the wicklow mountains and at modest altitude where people lived
Those drifts reached 30 to 40 feet high and that was here in little old Ireland

bnt

I saw on CNN that the unofficial snowfall figure for New York's Central Park is 26.8", which (if confirmed) will break the previous record from 1869. The Mayor of Washington DC has called out the National Guard to help with the clearup, including helping people who may be stranded.

I agree that that picture includes the effects of drifting, but drifting always happens and is part of the impact that the snow has. It means that snowfall figures like the one from Dulles Airport are inevitably an indirect proxy measure of the impact of the storm, but you know we'll also hear about the cost in $ Billions ...

HighLine

up for anything wrote: »

In the photo you're all quoting that shows the guy clearing snow off his car - why? Where does he think he's going to be driving in knee deep snow?

Did you ever try clear nice fresh, dry and fluffy snow? Nice and easy right. Wait a few days when it becomes compacted and the bottom layer turns to ice... not so easy.

It's like when it does actually snow over here (like 2010)... roads were left unploughed, it then becomes compacted and melts a bit forming an ice layer, then it snows more and then finally the councils send the ploughs out a few days later who can do nothing about the ice layer.

HighLine

Here is another timelapse. Wow! Just wow! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrZFiZcIgs

RobertKK

https://twitter.com/weeddude/status/691029959385677824

I shiver at the thought of doing that.

RobertKK

HighLine wrote: »

Here is another timelapse. Wow! Just wow! :eek::eek::eek::eek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJrZFiZcIgs

You can see in that video where the wind picked up and drifting started.

JCX BXC

HighLine wrote: »

Did you ever try clear nice fresh, dry and fluffy snow? Nice and easy right. Wait a few days when it becomes compacted and the bottom layer turns to ice... not so easy.

It's like when it does actually snow over here (like 2010)... roads were left unploughed, it then becomes compacted and melts a bit forming an ice layer, then it snows more and then finally the councils send the ploughs out a few days later who can do nothing about the ice layer.

Temps are to pick up alot over the next few days though.

WheatenBriar

Carnacalla wrote: »

Temps are to pick up alot over the next few days though.

Aye,but I remember being in Washington a few years ago and it was raining torrentially on top of a foot and a half of frozen snow and it was not moving, the rain was pooling on top of it
A continental climate can freeze snow at night very hard like cement

WheatenBriar

Jfk :eek:

https://twitter.com/tristateweather/status/690972859754246144

Lirange

Those are snow drifts mostly which in gale force winds will obviously bury cars
Washingtons three airports only measured at most 30 inches which is a lot alright,two and a half feet,biggest amount ever at Baltimore, 2nd and third biggest at Dulles and Reagan. But the drifts in photos are not indicative of the amount that fell. In the January 1982 Blizzard here in Ireland by the way,drifts in the wicklow mountains buried trees, yes trees in the wicklow mountains and at modest altitude where people lived.Those drifts reached 30 to 40 feet high and that was here in little old Ireland

That was up in the Wicklow Mts. Over 30 yrs ago. This happened in middle of Manhattan and other major cities. You can try and downplay this and big up past events "in little old Ireland" all you like. But it's a bit silly to minimise the scale of this event.

And you just had the temerity to type only and 30 inches in the same sentence without framing the only in quotes. But yeah those softies across the pond making a fuss. Nothing like the salt of the earth weather steeled Irish who just get on with it so.

bnt

Well, I can't say I'm surprised at these guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRv7G7WpOoU

HighLine

Another crazy timelapse

https://www.facebook.com/chad.balentine/videos/10206708761092445/

bnt

You want drifting? This is drifting:



:eek:

Patty O Furniture

bnt wrote: »

Back in 1999, I landed in Toronto the day after they got hit with about 16" of snow. The newspaper headlines were all about that, but most things seemed to be working: the highways were clear, the subway was running, but the snow had drifted a lot and the streets had to be plowed regularly. I loved it - it was literally the first time in my life i had seen more than a few snowflake, having spent most of it up to that point in either South Africa or London. The locals were not quite as appreciative.

Same here, was in Toronto in Oct/Nov 2000, it snowed on 1st Nov, like clockwork & like you said it was normal to them & they all got on their way & the only thing that bothered my lift, making sure their TimHortons coffee didn't spill off the dashboard

But to someone who got more rain than snow, it was a lasting memory to have to see so much snow & done a lot of walking thru it & happen to see a sign for Lansdowne Rd, in which i normally wouldn't see in a car:P
Bizarrely enough, a week after i came back, it snowed around end of Nov :eek:

bnt wrote: »

I saw on CNN that the unofficial snowfall figure for New York's Central Park is 26.8", which (if confirmed) will break the previous record from 1869. The Mayor of Washington DC has called out the National Guard to help with the clearup, including helping people who may be stranded.

I agree that that picture includes the effects of drifting, but drifting always happens and is part of the impact that the snow has. It means that snowfall figures like the one from Dulles Airport are inevitably an indirect proxy measure of the impact of the storm, but you know we'll also hear about the cost in $ Billions ...

I briefly saw that this morn, it was mentioned to be 2nd highest 26.9" of what it was in NY Jan 2006, can't believe it's been 10yrs since that thunderstorm of snow :eek:

wil

Lirange wrote: »

That was up in the Wicklow Mts. Over 30 yrs ago. This happened in middle of Manhattan and other major cities. You can try and downplay this and big up past events "in little old Ireland" all you like. But it's a bit silly to minimise the scale of this event.

And you just had the temerity to type only and 30 inches in the same sentence without framing the only in quotes. But yeah those softies across the pond making a fuss. Nothing like the salt of the earth weather steeled Irish who just get on with it so.

Not to downplay either event but as I recall it, the 82 event probably was more severe. It is the only time I recall all traffic stopped, certainly in the midlands as 20 foot drifts (at low altitude) were common and widespread. I also recall at least one death, person died in a snowdrift. It also lasted quite a while with tractors being the only traffic for many days and schools closed for at least 2 weeks. 2010/2011 may have been as cold but didn't feature wind and drifts so roads were cleared and driveable most days.
What I've noticed more of recent - the degree of fluctuation in temperature, today being a balmy 12 degrees, so regardless of forecast, heavy rain and wind seem likely to follow.

wil

bnt wrote: »

I've been seeing reports of models predicting a storm for several days now, and the models are firming up. Weather Underground has coverage here, while the Washington Post is predicting two feet of snow coverage in the DC area.



If you're flying to that area of the USA this weekend, onward travel could be a problem.

How well and how far ahead ( with perfect hindsight) was this event forecasted and does it give any indication of whether we are getting significantly better at longer term forecasting of severe events?

Patty O Furniture

Here are 11 of the best #Blizzard2016 Instagram posts,

Inc this guy :P

Eugene Norman

Lirange wrote: »

That was up in the Wicklow Mts. Over 30 yrs ago. This happened in middle of Manhattan and other major cities. You can try and downplay this and big up past events "in little old Ireland" all you like. But it's a bit silly to minimise the scale of this event.

And you just had the temerity to type only and 30 inches in the same sentence without framing the only in quotes. But yeah those softies across the pond making a fuss. Nothing like the salt of the earth weather steeled Irish who just get on with it so.

You've read an incredible amount of tish into somebody pointing out that these pictures are of are snow drifts. 30 inches can be fairly easily cleared by a snow plough. Drifts are a different matter.

bnt

wil wrote: »

How well and how far ahead ( with perfect hindsight) was this event forecasted and does it give any indication of whether we are getting significantly better at longer term forecasting of severe events?

The models were in agreement days in advance here, as they were with Hurricane Sandy, but to varying degrees. Wunderground has some remarks on that here:

Early in the week, the GFS and ECMWF models correctly zeroed in on Maryland, including Washington, D.C., as a focal point for heavy snow around Friday/Saturday. This gave local forecasters the confidence to issue a blizzard watch on Wednesday morning, two full days ahead of the storm’s arrival.
...
New York was a tougher forecast nut to crack. Models agreed that there would be a sharp cut-off to the northern edge of heavy snow, a feature common in nor’easters, but they disagreed on where that northern edge would fall. As early as Wednesday, the NAM model was projecting huge weekend snowfall amounts in the New York area, while the GFS and ECMWF models tended to hold the heavy snow just south of New York, projecting only a few inches at best for the Big Apple. Forecasters at the National Weather Service’s local office in Upton, NY, wisely issued a prediction of 8-12” of snowfall and a blizzard watch on Thursday, just as blizzard warnings were being hoisted from Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia. In New York, this was the perfect situation for a watch, which is intended to alert the public that a particular outcome is possible but not guaranteed. As other models joined the NAM bandwagon on Friday, the blizzard watch for NYC was upgraded to a warning, which provided enough advance notice for city dwellers to stock up on provisions and city planners to prepare for the worst.

M.T. Cranium

Just posting this more for casual visitors to our forum than the regulars (to whom this won't come as any news) ...

The low that produced the Blizzard of 2016 (almost nobody seems aware of the name Jonas) is moving very quickly now across the North Atlantic. It will move north of Ireland Tuesday night, spawning a second low that will follow a few hours later with a sharp cold front. That will change the weather considerably from mild windy and wet to cold windy and with some snow showers that could be heavy on a few hills in the northwest (this by Wednesday afternoon-evening).

That won't last very long and it will quickly turn milder again with another shot of cold by Saturday.

But the main point is to say that the blizzard's heavy snow was produced on the cold northern side of the low whereas Ireland will be on the milder southern side, as was Cape Hatteras NC where the high briefly reached 16 C on Friday night as the low passed by there.

So if you happen to hear overly sensationalized media stories about the U.S. blizzard heading for Ireland, that's the actual scenario, a bit of snow from its trailing colder backside. If, let's say, there had been a cold high in place over northern Europe and a low like this took a track further south into southern Britain then you could have a snowstorm too. But it isn't going to happen that way.

Recovery will probably be fairly swift. The temperatures for the next few days will be mild enough in the daytime to encourage evaporation more than melting (either way the snow pack will be reduced by half by the end of the week) and with a few exceptions things should be fairly normal by mid-week, just with plenty of snow on lawns and open spaces, and almost the full load left behind in wooded areas. The fact that Washington and Philly (and to some extent NYC) are at quite low latitudes means that the sun is quite strong even in late January and if it isn't bitterly cold, highs can easily reach 7 or 8 C even over snow covered ground without a whole pile of warm air flowing in from the south. That will be the case this week. Toronto on the other hand is at a latitude similar to south-central France and snow can reflect enough insolation that the snow pack remains undisturbed unless there is warm advection. You'd be surprised how seldom the ground is actually snow covered in some of these places when you see their annual average snowfalls. It comes and goes quite fast. Not the case, of course, in upstate New York or the mountains of northern New England but they missed this storm and have a rather or very slight snow pack this winter.