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.  

Summer Under the Stars - Katharine Hepburn on TCM! AKA 1938 Hurricane Survivor!

Summer Under the Stars is an awesome program that Turner Classic Movies channel runs in August every year. Each day they feature a 24 hour movie marathon for a different actor or actress from the past. Every year they show films of great actors and actresses like Bogart, Carey Grant, Bette Davis or Joan Crawford. However, my favorite day is always Katharine Hepburn day, which falls on August 7th this year (2015). 

Katharine Hepburn is one of my favorite actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I also like her because she is a Connecticut native, born in Hartford but raised at her family's summer retreat in Old Saybrook, CT where the Connecticut River meets Long Island Sound. I find her hilarious in her films Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story, as well as all films she starred in with Spencer Tracey, who she had a long term affair with! 

So you might be wondering why I'm talking about Katharine Hepburn, classic movies and Summer Under the Stars on a weather blog...Well, one of the other reasons I love Katharine Hepburn so much is that she survived the same hurricane that my grandmother lived through. She was in Old Saybrook on the day of the infamous Great New England Hurricane of 1938, aka The Long Island express. She had even gone swimming in Long Island Sound that very morning. Her waterfront home was destroyed by the storm and she barely got out alive but a hurricane was no match for a strong woman like Katharine Hepburn! Although her house was destroyed, she showed up the next day to start cleaning up the destruction and even posed for a few publicity photos. Check them out on my hub! 

Check out the rest of the photos and the story at my article on Hubpages titled: "Katharine Hepburn, the Hollywood Legend and Hurricane Survivor"

Drought Continues for Coastal Connecticut

The latest U.S Drought Monitor map came out yesterday and coastal Connecticut is still in a D-1 Moderate Drought. The coastal areas have been in this drought for a couple months now. Even with the occasional rainy day, we have not been able to make up for the rainfall deficit. On top of having a rainfall deficit, this summer has had unusually low dew points. When you have dry heat, it sucks the moisture right out of the ground and plants. I've had to be vigilant when it comes to watering my vegetable garden this year. At least I have had to worry about any molds or mildews on the vegetable plants this year! 

Hopefully as we move into fall, we will move away from a weather pattern of scattered thunderstorms and move into one that favors more substantial all day rains. 

Beautiful Beach Day at Silver Sands State Park in Milford, CT

Nothing in summer is better than a beach day. The cool breeze off the water cools your skin, while your other senses are pleasantly overwhelmed by the crashing surf, ocean smell and hot sand. For me, the beach is a place of relaxation and exploration. The beach is a natural transition zone between the marine ecosystem and the land ecosystem. So naturally, this area is filled with interesting plants, animals and environmental formations. 

Below are photos I took at Silver Sands State Park in Milford, Connecticut. From shells, to interesting rocks and a beautiful sunset, I was able to capture some cool aspects of what makes the beach awesome and interesting. 

The first photograph is a close up image of shells on the beach. 

Shells at Silver Sands State Park

The next photograph is of Charles Island. Its a very small island that is located just off the coast of Milford and is a part of the Silver Sands State Park. What makes this island unique is its tombolo (essentially a sandbar) that forms during low tide, connecting the beach to the island. You can even walk out there but you have to be careful not to get stuck when the tide begins to rise! Also, the island is off limits from May - October to protect endangered birds nesting grounds. 

Charles Island in Milford, CT and the tombolo connecting the island to Silver Sands State Park. 

The next image is of a cool feature I discovered at low tide. It must be something man made that hasn't been moved in a while. Now it' is part of the seascape, creating an artificial tidal pool at low tide. Its pretty neat! 

Man-made tidal pool at low tide in the afternoon sun. 

Here's a close up photograph of the little tidal pool. So cool! 

Tidal pool at Silver Sands State Park in Milford, Connecticut. 

Long Island Sound is one of those places in the world that has a huge difference in tide levels from low tide to high tide. This area of Silver Sands has a very shallow and flat area off shore that allows for a lot of sand to be uncovered during low tide. As the tide goes out, it forms these little ridges in the sand, which just happen to glisten in the afternoon sun too! 

Low Tide at Silver Sands State Park

A piece of concrete is exposed during low tide. It's past use is hard to determine but I'm sure it currently provides a lovely home for fish and hermit crabs! 

Concrete at the beach

Clams, oysters and muscles were once abundant in the waters off Milford, Connecticut. Over time however,  over fishing and pollution diminished their presence. They're not completely gone. Muscles are a lot more abundant and easier to find than oysters or clams. Below is a muscle shell on the beach. 

Muscle shell on the beach

Beautiful piece of red seaweed on the beach during low tide. 

Seaweed at Silver Sands State Park

Birds love the beach for its abundant sources of food. They also enjoy walking in the sand and leaving their footprints behind! 

Bird prints in the sand at Silver Sands State Park

Finally, what would a day at the beach be like without a beautiful sunset to end the day! 

Sunset at Silver Sands State Park 

When is Your Warmest Day of the Year?

We're coming up on the "dog days of summer" and the heat is on for most of the country. This cool map below shows you the average days when a specific area sees their warmest day of the year. It varies throughout the country from early June through September. 

My area of southern Connecticut, typically sees the warmest day of the year in the time period of July 15 - 20.  Parts of Arizona and New Mexico peak in the latter days of June, While the immediate west coast peaks as late as the end of September!  

This is another awesome map from NOAA! Check out their Tornado Warning Map. 

U.S. Lightning Fatalities Graphic

Here's a great graphic out of NOAA showing United States Lightning Fatalities from 2006 - 2015. So far the deadliest year has been 2006 with 48 deaths. The graphic also shows which gender the fatality was, which is interesting because it's almost 80% male!! 

Lightning is a very dangerous aspect of any thunderstorm, even non-severe storms! Remember, if you can hear thunder then you're close enough to be struck by lightning! Also, many people believe thunder and lightning are separate events but lighting is the action that causes thunder to occur! 

When a storm is headed your way, please seek shelter immediately, stay away from windows and don't use your plumbing (sink, shower). If a house is directly struck by lightning, the energy can flow through utilities like plumbing and strike you while you're inside your home! 

If you can't find shelter during a storm, stay away from tall objects like trees, a car is safer to stay in than a field, just don't touch the metal frame of your car. If you are stranded outside, kneel down as low as you can be, while also limiting the amount of your body touching the ground, don't stand in water. 

A great way to stay alert to storms in your area is by downloading various apps. A free app with lightning detector built into it is the WeatherBug app. It will tell you how far away the closest lightning strike is. You can even change settings to allow the app to alert you when lightning is close by.  

With technology today, lightning strikes should truly be freak accidents! 

Want to watch a cool 3D visualization of how lightning forms? Check out the cool video 

Cool Tornado Warning Map!

Here's a cool piece of information that combines my love of weather and my love of geography. This map below shows the days since the last tornado warning by National Weather Service office regions. The map was made on June 30th, so i'm sure it has changed over the last week but for some areas (like where I live it has not).  The dark grey areas are the office regions that have recently issued a tornado warning in the last 30 days. However the red areas are office regions that haven't issued a tornado warning in over a year! 

Interesting enough, one of those regions is the New York City NWS office, which forecasts for NYC, Long Island, parts of the Hudson Valley and southern Connecticut.  According to this map, the last time the NYC region NWS office issued a tornado warning was 728 days ago (Now that it's July 9th, that makes it 737 days!) 

The only office region that has a long streak of no tornado warnings is southern Oregon, where they haven't issued a tornado warning in 3599 days (or 3608 days as of July 9, 2015). That's almost a decade!  

*This map doesn't illustrate the last time an area was hit by a tornado, just the last time a tornado warning was issued by the office. Tornadoes unfortunately do occur without any official warnings. 

Mammatus Clouds in Connecticut!

There was a severe weather event in Connecticut yesterday, June 23rd 2015. The worst of the weather was just inland from coastal Connecticut (most likely due to a seabreeze!) where towns of Wallingford and North Haven Connecticut were hit by multiple microbursts as confirmed by the National Weather Service. In those towns, winds reached upwards of 95 mph as air sank from the thunderstorms to the ground and spread out, toppling trees and damaging property. 

Where I live, we just saw some cool clouds, a few gusts of wind and a couple lightning bolts. Nothing too impressive, at least until sunset. As the storms began to move past us and the sun began to set, I was treated to an AMAZING display of nature's beauty. 

It all began as a strange yellow glow coming through the windows. As I stepped outside and looked around, I almost couldn't believe what was right outside my front porch...Mammatus Clouds! 

Mammatus clouds are a type of cloud that forms following a severe weather event, like tornadoes. These clouds look like little bubbles underneath the clouds and are formed as the thunderstorms weaken. As the storms weaken, downdrafts and updrafts mix together to form the udder (yes, like a cow udder) like structure to the base of the clouds. They are often seen in midwestern states but aren't as common here in the north east. 

Check out the photos I took below of the Mammatus clouds in Connecticut. I also took some great photos of the amazing sky at sunset too! 

All photos were taken by me in Milford, CT. 

Severe Thunderstorm Watch Issued 6/23/15

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for all of Connecticut untill 4 pm est. It looks like the chance of storms is increasing since the sun is staying out longer than expected, allowing temps to rise into the 80's already with dewpoints up into the 70's! It's definitely muggy enough for a severe thunderstorm!

Tornado Risk in Connecticut! 6/23/15

An enhanced risk of severe weather as well as a 5% chance of tornadoes has been issued by the National Weather Service for Connecicut today ( June 23, 2015). This type of severe weather setup usually only happens a handful of times a year in out area of New England.

Connecticut does typically see a few tornadoes a year, normally in June and July. 

Below is the tornado risk map issued by the NWS.