Monday, March 16, 2015

Wx Geeks: Inside Boston's record-breaking winter stats

Just about everyone's heard that a minor snowfall this weekend pushed Boston over the top: This is now the snowiest winter recorded, since official measurement began around the time of the Civil War.

The new snow came after a week of Springlike temperatures, and a weekend of rain --- cold rain, but fully liquid --- that shrank the huge snowpiles to something less than the Ice Age dimensions they'd attained.


A city 'snow farm,' where snow removed from streets is piled to melt naturally in Spring --- melting that's finally started to happen. (WCVB.com)

But to me, the total snowfall wasn't the most interesting part: With climate change, 5 out of 10 of the all-time snow records have come just in the last decade or two. Weather is a heat-driven system, and warmer temps mean stronger weather systems. High school physics.

What was interesting are sub-records like these:

By itself, the 30 days Jan. 24-Feb. 22, would have amounted to Boston's third snowiest season ever --- a near all-winter snowfall record, but in just one month.

Boston also set records, or came close, in:
  • Record snow depth in and around Boston
  • Fastest six-foot (1.8m) snowfall ever
  • Fastest 90-inch (2.3m) snowfall
  • Only the third time ever with four calendar days each with at least 12 inches (0.3m) of snow
  • At least 0.5 inch (1.2cm) of snow had fallen 6 straight days; close to a 100 year-old record
  • Most days with measurable snow in a month
  • etc.
But Spring is almost here; It's usually above freezing every day now, so whatever snow falls, probably won't last too long.

More records:

New England Record Snow Tracker: http://www.wunderground.com/news/new-england-boston-record-snow-tracker

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