*** Paul Piorek is editor and publisher of Paul's Local Weather Journal for southwestern Connecticut ... Paul is the on-air meteorologist at WICC 600 AM and 107.3 FM ... Paul is a New York Emmy award winner (2007), five-time Emmy nominee, and four-time winner of the Connecticut Associated Press Broadcasters' Association award for Best TV Weathercast (2006, 2008, 2009, 2012) ... Paul was voted Best Local Television Personality by the readers of Fairfield County Weekly Magazine (2012) ... Paul was inducted into the Housatonic Community College Hall of Fame and received the Distinguished Alumni Award (2012) ... The local weather journal is a two-time winner of the Communicator Award of Distinction (2012 & 2013) ... Paul is currently a full-time teacher of Earth Science and Mathematics in Fairfield ... Follow Paul on Twitter @PaulPiorekWICC ...

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Classic February Nor'easter Top Local Weather Story of the Year

A classic Nor'easter delivered heavy snow and strong winds to southwestern Connecticut February 13 and 14, 2014, nearly paralyzing local roads and closing schools. The Winter storm is the top local weather story this year. The heavy snow pushed the season's total well over four feet. The snow began falling lightly just after 1 o'clock Thursday morning, February 13, and the heaviest snow fell between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. Here is the surface map from 7 a.m.


There were white-out conditions during the morning with snow rates of one-to-three inches an hour. Another round of light snow developed early Friday, February 14, padding the snow totals. Cumulatively, nearly a foot-and-a-half of snow fell in Darien and Fairfield, and over a foot of snow was reported in New Canaan, Weston, Norwalk, Stamford, and Sikorsky Memorial Airport. Here are the snowfall totals from February 13 & 14 for southwestern Connecticut.


The storm's cumulative snow total was 12.2" at the airport, and that helped push the monthly total to nearly three feet (32.1"). Local climatologist Ralph Fato created this video showing the key highlights of the storm.



Paul