Snow: Another 'storm'
Amazing run of "penny" snows continues.
Snow: Another 'storm'
At the halfway point of February, snow has been observed officially in Philadelphia on 10 of the 14 calendar days.
Yet not one February snow has been able to topple the reigning snow champion of the winter of 2012-13 -- the 1.5 inches measured at Philadelphia International Airport/National Park on Jan. 25.
And that one was almost a freak of nature, squeezed out of a paltry amount of precipitation.
Once again this moring, Jan. 25 has emerged as the leader. The official total at the airport for the latest round was 0.2 inches.
Up to 2.5 was reported in the suburban counties, and 3 at Fort Dix, but snow had a hard time sticking to roads after daytime temperatures shot into the 40s and could not get back to freezing during the snowfall.
As of today, the seasonal total in Philadelphia stands at an even 7 inches. Thus the total for the last two winters is still an inch shy of a foot.
This comes after two winters in which over 10 feet of snow was measured in Philadelphia.
But if you've been around here long enough, you know those winters more anomalous, perhaps not to be repeated in the lifetimes of anyone reading this.
The Big Ones are the exceptions in the period of record. As we've noted, from Feb. 7, 1967 until Jan. 20, 1978, not a single Philadelphia snowfall measured more than 7 inches.
Winters in which the seasonal total didn't crack double-digits aren't all that unusual.
In the period of snow record in Philadelphia, dating to the winter of 1884-85, 17 such winters have occurred - about 13 percent of the total.
The sheer quantity of snowfalls this season has been impressive, given the total accumulation. We've counted 23 days in which at least a "trace" was observed at the airport.
The record for such futility, however, may never be equaled. In the winter of 1972-73, snow was observed on 21 days.
Not a bit of it was measureable, making it the only winter on record without at least 0.1 inches of snow.
Never have so many contributed so little.
Even in such a parched snow season, we have had to endure endless heavy breathing by the commercial weather services about dire calamities that have not in fact happened. Are those folks ever going to cotton on to the Boy Who Cried Wolf effect?— Dave Clemens- Do you still pay any attention to the local TV news? I couldn't tell you who any of them are.
I get my weather forecasts from yahoo. They seem to nail it most times (no hyping involved). - My Mom always argued that supermarkets colluded with the local weather folks to drum up business in advance of any type of snow.— Timmy
@Dave Clemens: LOL! You'd also think the heavy breathing would have increased the humidity, which would contribute to these daily dustings of snow that we've had. We still remain under threat of losing our bread and milk supply as long as the ambient air temp remains below 32 with these guys and gals....
@JustSomeGuy33: 2 Words. Sheena Parveen. Seriously, though, Accuweather on line does a credible job for our local areas....- Seriously, people who run out and buy food because of a pending snowstorm is out of their minds. There are many supermarkets within 1-2 miles of most residential areas. Worst case, you can walk in the snow to get there. Not to mention many minimarts like WAWA are even more abundant. Even if you cannot go out and get food, I am sure there is enough food in your pantry to survive a week or two in case of an "emergency".— penncrow19
- The best part was last Friday, when we were told we'd get 3-6 inches and got nothing. THEN Saturday around 2pm, what do I see? The salt trucks coming by and salting....the dry streets. What a waste of city resources. this city is so corrupt.— beatthis11
- Ever noticed that most of the TV "meteorologists" are women now? I figure that the networks have realized that a woman getting hysterical over an inch of snow is a lot easier to tolerate than a man.— DonQ
- I think news stations should be held culpable for throwing citizens in a panic when they give out blatant inaccuracies in their forecast. The elderly get thrown into frenzies and flock to the supermarkets thinking they won't be able to get out for days to get supplies thus what they do buy goes to waste after the food/milk expires.— MikeyRider
- OK, then if they don't tell you a storm is coming, and we get hammered, are you going to hold them culpable then, too? Everyone is so great at predicting storms after they have or have not happened.
— verve - This story is not entirely accurate. We have had many winters where we received one snowstorm after another. I remember how bad the winter of 1978 was. In the late 80's over 10" of snow fell on Thansgiving day. In 1983, we were hit with one ungodly storm after another. In 1993 we were crushed with a couple of blizzards. 2006 we got nailed with a 34" storm. How about the two previous winters other than last year. One storm or top of another. What these winters all had in common was frigid temperatures, and DOUBLE DIGIT accumulation. Figures do not lie. I have a fried in North Dakota and another in Montanna. They are use to seeing storms that dump feet of snow all winter but the last few years the snow seems to have been turned off. Crazy.— Bob H
- Sheena Parveen!!!! ooohh la la, be my valentine— FunCakes
- I got this guys.
C-2" of snow. Final call.
You heard it here first.— phillyPeteZ - maybe we'll have hourly updates and a cool graphic on this "storm". Pathetic, last night's snow didn't amount to anything and yet we had hourly updates. Save the updates for hurricanes, blizzards, and other EXTREME weather.— palmyra21
Tony Wood has been writing about the atmosphere for The Inquirer for 26 years. E-mail Tony here. And read all his columns here.
