Glancing at the Snowy Record Book

The recent Nor'easter, which happened just nine days after Hurricane Sandy, delivered record snow to much of the Northeast. Officially, 8.3 of snow fell at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford on November 7 and 8, making it the snowiest November on record. The previous record happened 23 years ago, when a Thanksgiving storm brought over a half-foot of snow (6.6") on November 22 and 23, 1989, to the region. Consider that the normal average snowfall for the entire month is 0.6 inches.

Local climatologist Ralph Fato of Norwalk examined the record books and found that the Nor'easter brought the most November snow to the region in more than 61 years. However, what makes this year's snow even more impressive is that it happened well before Thanksgiving. In addition to Sikorsky's record snow, the official snow totals from the storm included 6.2" at Newark Airport and 4.3" at Kennedy Airport in New York.

According to Ralph, prior to this year's Nor'easter, the most snow for the month of November over the last 61 years at Newark Airport was 5.7" and 3.7" at Kennedy Airport on November 22 and 23, 1989. A quick glance at the record book for Sikorky Airport shows that there are only two other dates during the entire month on which at least three inches of snow fell. They include November 6, 1953 (3.4") and November 27, 2002 (3.0").

Take a look at the following graph which Ralph prepared. It shows National Weather Service data since 1950 for six coastal cities. The graph illustrates how the snowfall totals add up per decade. The average for an entire decade is highlighted by the first bar in black. Please note that the decade starts on the "0" year, ie: 1950-1959. Click the graph to enlarge it.

What is most striking is that coastal Connecticut needs just 58 inches of snow this decade to eclipse the total for the entire decade of the 1980s. Yes, there are still seven years remaining in this decade. Remember, the normal average snowfall is 27" at Sikorsky Airport.

In addition, this decade, Philadelphia has accumulated more snow than Chicago and Denver and has the same amount as Minneapolis. The "City of Brotherly Love" needs just 26 more inches of snow to beat the entire decade of the 1950s.

Baltimore needs just 55” of snow to have more than the entire decade of the 1950s. In fact, Baltimore needs the same amount of snow they have this decade (92”) to beat every single decade since the 1950s, with the exception of the 1960s.

Here are some additional interesting findings from Ralph's research:

* Since the 1980s, New York City and Bridgeport have been receiving more snow per decade;

* The last decade with below-normal snowfall in Boston was the 1980s;

* Washington, D.C. has not had an above-normal snowfall decade since the 1980s;

* Baltimore has not had an above-normal snowfall decade since the 1960s.

Special thanks to Ralph Fato for this compelling research. I found it quite interesting. I appreciate it, Ralph.

Paul