3 Years Ago - The Infamous Blizzard Nemo of 2013

It was three years ago on February 8-9 2013 that I experienced one of the most amazing storms of my life. The infamous blizzard of 2013, also known as Nemo. This blizzard ended up producing close to 40 inches of snow in my town in just one night! It was record breaking. 

Check out the official snowfall total map below. The dark purple is where 30-40 inches of snow fell. That's where I live!! 

Here is a picture of me helping shovel out some of the drive and the snow drift that was taller than my garage!! 

Since we were snowed in for a few days, the neighbors got together and used snow plows to plow the street! Great teamwork! 

Amazing Sub-tropical Storm Off-Shore

We were side swiped by a pretty powerful storm today. If it had been a hundred miles closer to shore, we would have had a massive blizzard. Instead, it stayed just offshore and gave us light snow all day. Enough to make all roads slippery and treacherous. 

Even though the storm was far away, it was stunning from above. Check out the beautiful satellite images of the storm. Notice the spiral and hurricane like features. 

While being on the fringe of the storm, we were still able to pick up a few inches of snow. This was due to a nice snow band that set up over western Connecticut. 

Blizzard Jonas Melts in a Week!

The above image is two satellite images of the northeast. The top photo was taken the day after the blizzard of 2016. Notice the large extent of the snowcover. The bottom photo taken about a week later on February 1st, shows the dramatic melt that occurred in just one week. This was due to above average temperatures from the infamous January thaw! 

Here's a table showing how fast the snow melted in Central Park. The table was released by the National Weather Service New York City office. It also shows the temperature departure for each day. In just four days, Central Park went from almost two feet of snow to just six inches! 

Blizzard of 2016 From Above

The blizzard of 2016 was a very impressive and interesting storm. Two feet of snow covered areas from Virginia to NYC. Luckily (since I'm a snow lover) the Connecticut shore did get about a foot of snow. However, the northwest hills of Connecticut were not as lucky. 

Check out the sharp cut off of snow accumulation in northern Connecticut, as seen in these date little images taken just a day after the storm. 

You can also see the extent of the snowcover! What a massive storm! 

Frosty Windshield Patterns

Now that winter has finally decided to show up, it's also showing off! Check out these cool pictures I took of the frost that formed on my car windows. They're like tiny snowflakes superglued to the car. It's not only cool but beautiful. 

And here's one with a filter from Snapchat! 

Then the next morning, I had this kind of frost. Notice the difference in the shapes! These are more elongated! 

20 Years Since the Blizzard of 1996

I'm officially starting to feel old. It was 20 years ago today January 6, 1996 that a blizzard hit the northeast burying us in close to two feet of snow! 

I actually remember this storm pretty well. I was only 8 at the time but I remember it being the very first snowstorm that gave me not one but two days off from school! In fact, school was cancelled the night before! Knowing snow was on the way and school was already cancelled was one of the best feelings a kid could have! 

I wish I had some time to dig up some old pictures from the storm because I'm sure they're great ones. My siblings and I were still young, so the snow depth was quite impressive compared to our small frames. 

I even remember my dad having to snowblow a path through our backyard gate so we could open it. This way we were able to slide down the hill in our backyard, through the gate, down the side yard, over the 4 foot snow banks on the curb and go airborne into the street!! Before you freak out about anyone getting hit by cars, it was a dead end street and all the neighborhood kids were having fun while the parents kept and eye out for traffic. It was an AWESOME time! 

Here's a cool graphic of the weather pattern that the storm formed in. 

A Repeat of Hurricane Sandy?

Science-fiction-ish for now, but the 12z Canadian shows #Erika w/ a Sandy-esque hook into NYC. http://t.co/E4x5q8m32K pic.twitter.com/vxPsvZn60L

— Eric Holthaus (@EricHolthaus) August 27, 2015

DON'T PANIC YET! Before everyone freaks out, just remember this is one run of one computer model. Is there a possibility that it would happen...yes. Is that possibility high, not at all!!! 

I found the Canadian model's forecast for current Tropical Storm Erika very interesting. As you can see in the GIF above, tweeted out by Eric Holthaus of Slate, the weather model from our neighbors to the north, takes Erika right up the coast, then a hard left into New Jersey. This is the exact path Hurricane Sandy took in 2012. Its amazing that a path like that would show up on a computer model again. 

Is it possible? Yes. Likely? Not really. Sure the pattern supports blocking to the north, preventing a storm from going out to sea like most do but will Tropical Storm Erika live through the wind shear in the Caribbean or the high mountains of Hispaniola? We'll have to wait to find out. Most models have the storm emerging into the Bahamas by the end of the weekend and giving Florida a close encounter or even a hit (Florida hasn't been hit by a hurricane in 10 years!!!) 

Right now the storm will hopefully give Puerto Rico some beneficial, drought busting rain. For everyone else, its a good time to keep an eye on it but that's it. No panicking just yet! 

Below are images from the Canadian computer model, showing Erika off the coast of North Carolina with a 932 millibar low! That would be an extremely dangerous storm. Below is also an image from the model, showing the storm off the coast of New Jersey by September 4th.