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sci.geo.meteorology (Meteorology) (sci.geo.meteorology) For the discussion of meteorology and related topics. |
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NATIONAL STORM SUMMARY
MARCH 2009 1st-7th…A ferocious storm packing freezing rain, heavy snow and furious wind gusts paralyzed most of the East Coast on Monday, sending dozens of cars careening into ditches, grounding hundreds of flights and closing school for millions of kids. The devastating effects of the storm were seen up and down the coast. A crash caused a 15-mile traffic jam in North Carolina, forcing police and the Red Cross to go car-to-car to check on stranded drivers. The storm was blamed for 350 crashes in New Jersey, and a Maryland official counted about 50 cars in the ditch on one stretch of highway. By Monday, the storm had moved north into New England, and most areas in the storm's wake expected to see at least 8 to 12 inches of snow. The weather contributed to four deaths on roads in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and on Long Island. Diane Lugo, of Yonkers, NY, received a ride with her husband to avoid walking 10 minutes in the slush to her bus stop. "Getting out of the driveway was pure hell," Lugo said. "He got to work late. I'm obviously late." The South was especially hard hit, dealing with record snowfalls, thick ice and hundreds of thousands of power outages in a region not accustomed to such vicious weather. In North Carolina, Raleigh got more than 3 inches of snow; the March snowfall for the city has exceeded 3 inches only 11 times in the last 122 years. The Weather Service said parts of Tennessee received the biggest snowfall since 1968. The 15-mile traffic jam in North Carolina caused no serious problems and authorities were able to get traffic moving again. Travelers were stranded everywhere, with about 950 flights canceled at the three main airports in the New York area and nearly 300 flights canceled in Philadelphia. Boston's Logan International Airport had to shut down for about 40 minutes to clear a runway, and hundreds of flights were canceled there. Philadelphia declared a Code Blue weather emergency, which gives officials the authority to bring homeless people into shelters because the weather poses a threat of serious harm or death. Dozens of schools across North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine gave children a snow day. Schools in Philadelphia, Boston and New York City did the same. It was the first time in more than five years that New York City called off classes for its 1.1 million public school students. Some New York parents complained that the city waited until 5:40 a.m. to call off classes, saying they didn't have enough notice. Mayor Michael Bloomberg brushed off the criticism and praised the city's storm response, which included dispatching 2,000 workers and 1,400 plows to work around the clock to clean New York's 6,000 miles of streets. "It's like plowing from here to Los Angeles and back," Bloomberg said at a news conference, standing in front of an orange snow plow at a garage. Central Park recorded 7 inches of snow, and more than a foot was reported on parts of Long Island, where high winds caused 2-foot drifts on highways in the Hamptons. In Fairfax, VA, 8-year-old Sarah Conforti said Monday's day off was just what she'd been hoping for, and planned to "make a snowman or play in the snow with my friends," she said. Her mother, Noelle Conforti, said Sarah and her 10-year-old sister couldn't be happier about the school-free day. "The kids are against the window, just looking out the window like a cat," she said. "It's hilarious." Outside a medical center in New Rochelle, NY, Emilia Rescigna struggled to push a stroller through the snow and slush. Asleep in the stroller was her 1-year-old son Adam, who had a 9 a.m. appointment with his pediatrician. The snow began to accumulate in New Hampshire and Massachusetts as the storm moved north, but most residents there were taking it in stride. "This is New England, after all," said Dave Richardson of Salem, Mass. 8th-14th…Today's main weather activity occurred over the Northern US and the Central Plains. In the North, an arctic frontal system dropped southward across the Northern Plains and produced wintry precipitation across the Northwest, Northern Plains, and Upper Mississippi Valley. Blustery winds streamed in behind the system, allowing arctic air to plunge into the region. Temperatures were significantly lowered and windchills reached bitter extremes. Cold temperatures supported numerous bands of light to moderate snow showers, with pockets of heavy snowfall across these regions. The Northwest, Northern Plains, and Upper Mississippi Valley remained under Winter Storm Warnings and Wind Chill Advisories. Today's main weather activity occurred over the Eastern US as a cold front continued to produce mixed precipitation and thunderstorm activity. In the Northeast, a major storm system over the Great Lakes lifted into southeastern Canada today. A cold front associated with this system continued to produce mostly cloudy conditions with mixed precipitation across New England throughout the morning and afternoon. The heaviest amounts of precipitation fell across Rhode Island and Connecticut. Showers began to taper off by the afternoon as strong 20 to 30 mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph pushed the front toward the East Coast. Active weather also developed over the southern half of the front that extended through the Southeast and the Southern Plains. The system triggered cloudy conditions with light, scattered rain showers and sprinkles across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. Meanwhile, the Lower Mississippi Valley and the Southern Plains saw light to moderate rain showers with periods of heavy localized rainfall. The heaviest rainfall and strongest thunderstorms occurred over central Texas. Northeast winds accompanied storms and pushed unsettling weather into northern Texas. The most remarkable weather in the country occurred in the Southeast and up into the Appalachian Mountains on Friday. A weak front lingered along the Gulf Coast and up through the Southeast and allowed considerable moisture to stream into the Southeast. This produced widespread moderate rain from Texas through the Carolinas. A mixture of rain and snow fell in the Appalachians in the early morning hours, but this precipitation quickly moved into the Mid-Atlantic and became rain. 15th-21st…The East Coast saw active weather on Monday as a lingering front hovered over the South. A low pressure system sat just off shore and produced a stationary front that extended into Alabama. Moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms developed over the region, with Range, Alabama reporting 1.42 inches of rain. Dense fog stretched from Alabama to North Carolina, while strong winds were reported in Jackson, Florida. The Northeast saw increasingly cloudy skies and seasonable temperatures. A blizzard shut down major highways Monday in Wyoming and South Dakota, and meteorologists said one mountainous area might get as much as 40 inches of snow. Mount Rushmore National Memorial closed because of the icy, blinding weather in South Dakota's rugged Black Hills. Temperature plummeted as the storm moved eastward and wind gusted to more than 60 mph. Some residents of hard-hit northeast Wyoming said they had heeded forecasts and stocked up on groceries. "We are well prepared for a day or two of blizzard conditions," Marcia Shanks said in a telephone interview from her home in Gillette. The National Weather Service posted a blizzard warning for eastern Wyoming and western sections of South Dakota and Nebraska, with a winter storm warning for much of central Wyoming and mountain sections of Colorado. Four tornadoes briefly touched down in north-central and eastern Nebraska on Monday, while the western part of the state got snow. There were reports of downed power lines near the city of O'Neill. Wyoming shut down a 290- mile stretch of Interstate 25 from Cheyenne to Buffalo and a 165-mile section of Interstate 90 between Sheridan and the Wyoming state line. South Dakota closed the gates on a 250-mile stretch of I-90 from the Wyoming state line to Chamberlain. Parts of I-80 in southeast Wyoming also were closed. "There were places of maybe one-vehicle length visibility, just absolutely whiteout conditions," David King, emergency management coordinator for Campbell County in northeast Wyoming, said of I-25. Poor visibility and heavy drifting forced the South Dakota Department of Transportation to pull its snowplows off the roads Monday afternoon in several counties. The department said its plows would be back out Tuesday morning if conditions allow. No- travel advisories were issued for parts of central and northeast Wyoming and northwest South Dakota. Colorado closed about 30 miles of state highway in that state's northeast corner. Numerous schools called off classes altogether or closed early. The weather service said accumulations of up to 20 inches were possible in parts of Wyoming and northwest South Dakota, but 30 to 40 inches was possible in the northern Black Hills, where Rapid City, S.D., recorded a gust to 63 mph. 22nd-31th…The Southern Plains saw severe weather on Wednesday while wintry weather persisted in the Northern Plains. A low pressure system tracked across the Northern Plains and produced a frontal system that extended down the Mississippi River and into the Southern Plains. Strong flow from the Gulf of Mexico pulled abundant moisture into the South, which allowed for thunderstorm development with areas of heavy rain. Some of these storms turned severe. Penny size hail was reported in Gorman, Texas while strong winds blew trees on a church and pool in Meridian, Mississippi. Heavy rain with total accumulation of 1.67 inches was also reported in Meridian, Mississippi. To the north, the back side of this low pressure system pulled in cold air from Canada and triggered light snow over the Dakotas. Total accumulation ranged around 1 inch. The region continued to see flooding problems due to ice and snow melt. The region also saw near blizzard conditions with 17 mph winds gusting to 32 mph in Bismarck, North Dakota. The most active weather continued to be in the East Saturday as a major storm developed in the Southern Plains and moved towards the Mississippi Valley. In the cold air to the north and northwest of the storm, significant snow fell from northern Texas through the Plains. In the warm air to the east of the storm, a tremendous amount of moisture streamed into the Southeast and moved toward the Southeast Coast. This moisture produced very heavy rain and strong thunderstorms. Strong wind and large hail accompanied these thunderstorms in Georgia, Alabama and the panhandle of Florida. The Northern Plains saw heavy snow on Monday associated with a late- season winter storm. A low pressure system moved off the Rockies and into the Central Plains and pulled moisture northward from the Gulf of Mexico. This allowed for moderate to heavy snowfall over the Dakotas with blizzard strength winds. In Bismark, North Dakota, 7 inches of snow have been reported, while 29 mph winds gusting up to 44 mph were reported in Trail City, South Dakota. Most of the region saw snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour. In the East, a low pressure system in the Northeast pushed eastward and offshore on Monday. The system triggered light snow over northern New York, while heavy snow hit Maine with total accumulation ranging around 5 inches. The Southeast saw severe weather on Tuesday, while the Northern Plains and Upper Midwest continued to see wintry weather. A strong low pressure system moved through the Great Lakes region and produced a cold front that swept through the Mississippi River Valley. In the South, the system pulled abundant moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico which triggered moderate to heavy showers and thunderstorms, many of which turned severe. In Natchez, Louisiana, a tornado uprooted several trees and damaged a few homes. Meanwhile, quarter sized hail was reported in Montgomery, Louisiana, with 60 mph winds reported in Gonzales, Texas. Light rain extended along the front up the Mississippi River with 0.24 reported in Fiatt, Illinois. The Upper Midwest and Northern Plains saw light and steady snowfall with accumulations ranging between 1 to 3 inches. Blizzard like conditions persisted over the region with 28 mph winds and gusts up to 40 mph reported in Aberdeen, South Dakota. |
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