Snow Capped Wild Week of Weather 13 Years Ago

Record rainfall, localized flooding, over a half-foot of snow, and school cancellations punctuated a four-day stretch from Tuesday through Friday, February 23 through 26, 2010.

According to the National Weather Service office at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, nearly a half-foot of snow (five inches) fell five years ago today, which set a new record for the date, eclipsing the old mark of three inches established in 2007. However, the heaviest snow fell West of Fairfield, with one spotter who lives in the Greenwich backcountry measuring 19 inches.

Sue Drexler of Greenwich sent two photos from the town's backcountry. The first is of Lissy with Holly and Maddy playing in the snow, and the second is of Sue and Holly cross-country skiing. It was a Winter wonderland in the Gateway to New England.

Here is a sampling of the snowfall totals from across southwestern Connecticut from Friday, February 26. Remember, the average snowfall for the entire month in our region is 7.6" based on 40 years of climatology.

• Wilton: 11.3"
• Greenwich: 10.6"
• Darien: 10.3"
• New Canaan: 9.1"
• Stamford: 8.1"
• Norwalk: 7.8"
• Bridgeport: 5.0"

Prior to the snow, the bigger weather story was the heavy rain. Nearly five inches (4.68") of liquid precipitation was recorded from Tuesday through Friday, highlighted by nearly two-and-a-half inches (2.36") of rain February 25, which established a record for the date. In fact, the first of two storms that week delivered 1.82" of rain cumulatively from Tuesday through Wednesday. Keep in mind that the normal average liquid precipitation for February is 3.15".

Here is a breakdown of the liquid precipitation recorded each day during the week of February 22 through 26, 2010:

• Monday: 0.02"
• Tuesday: 0.72"
• Wednesday: 1.10"
• Thursday: 2.36"
• Friday: 0.50"

Paul