I think that even the wimpiest of us would agree that we have had a mild winter so far. That may or may not change in the coming weeks, but that's not what we're here to discuss today.
We're at roughly what I consider to be mid-winter. I may not be correct officially or technically, but it's a good working model. A little bit of November, all of December, January, February and March, plus a bit of April... early February is smack dab in the middle of that.
With that in mind, let's sort through some weather facts and speculation that may get you some proper mojo for those times when you ponder the weather at great lengths.
There will be a bit of a Boston focus, as I have a lot of Boston weather data handy. Your town may be different, but it's good enough to work with. I'm leaning heavily on a
Weather Channel page. I refuse to use Winter Storm Names.
- Some of our worst storms, like the Blizzard of '78, came in the shortest month of he year.
-
Top Boston Snowstorms
1. Feb. 17-18, 2003: 27.6 inches
2. Feb. 6-7, 1978: 27.1 inches
3. Feb. 24-26, 1969: 25.8 inches
4. Mar. 31 - Apr. 1, 1997: 25.4 inches
5. Feb. 8-9, 2013: 24.9 inches
6. Jan. 26-28, 2015: 24.6 inches
7. Feb. 7-10, 2015: 23.8 inches
8. Jan. 22-23, 2005: 22.5 inches
9. Jan. 20-21, 1978: 21.4 inches
10. Mar. 3-5, 1960: 19.8 inches
- Three of Boston's five snowiest months (including #1 overall, with a bullet) were, as you'll see, various forms of February.
- People looking at Top Boston Snowstorms charts in the future will be like,
"Damn, it must have sucked in 2015 to get 24.6 inches of snow on January 28th and then get 23.8" on February 7th," and they could quite possibly be completely unaware that there was also a Groundhog Day blizzard in 2015 that did like 18". We just fail to mention it, because History of any sort is full of these little nuances.
-
Top Snowfall Totals For A Month in Boston, and remember that you lose about 10% of the calendar with February:
1. February 2015: 64.8 inches
2. January 2005: 43.3 inches
3. January 1945: 42.3 inches
4. February 2003: 41.6 inches
5. February 1969: 41.3 inches
- It's odd that December or March didn't force their way in the mix up there in that list. I suppose that Spring is asserting herself by March, and that the ground is too warm in December.
- April, which has had some heavy blizzard-type snowfalls, just doesn't get enough follow-up events to break into that very close (one inch of snow stands between the second worst month of snow ever and the fifth worst) pile of months that make up rankings-2-5.
- March had a 19.8 inch head-start in 1960 and failed to get near the top 5. April had about 24" by April 1st of 1997, but couldn't generate enough powda to be a true player.
- Barnstable, which is in the middle of Cape Cod and gets Gulf Stream water, has had a worse winter so far than more-northern Boston has chalked up. Boston has had 10" of snow this winter, while parts of Cape Cod took in 15" of snow from just that last storm.
- Boston does about 43.6" of snow per winter. I think that Barnstable clocks 25" or so per winter.
- Boston's 10 Worst Winters:
1. 2014-2015: 110.6 inches
2. 1995-1996: 107.6 inches
3. 1993-1994: 96.3 inches
4. 1947-1948: 89.2 inches
5. 2004-2005: 86.6 inches
6. 1977-1978: 85.1 inches
7. 1992-1993: 83.9 inches
8. 2010-2011: 81.0 inches
9. 1915-1916: 79.2 inches
10. 1919-1920: 73.4 inches
- Notice that nearly 2 feet of snow stand between #2 and #5 on this list, while 1 inch stands between #2 and #5 in snowiest months. Those were some genuinely awful winters.
- Boston got 94.4 inches of snow in the thirty days between January 24th and February 22nd, 2015. It would be the third snowiest winter overall, just those 30 days.
- Any kid about 25 years old or so who has lived here all of his life can hold his own with any old-timer, no matter how salty he may be, in a discussion about difficult Boston winters. Even a 105 year old man will have only seen three other winters that would place in the top ten.
- A 128 year old man would have seen the Blizzard of 1888, albeit as a child. However, at that point, the 128 year old man would be more interesting than Blizzard of 1888 discussion.
- Old folks would have recourse against whippersnappers in things like Ice Storms and Really, Really Cold Weather. It generally goes without saying that this current generation has better plowing and forecasting. It also generally goes without saying that old people have a better
feel for the weather, and always will.
- In 2015, Boston had a Boston-record 37" snow pack. We had 6 feet of snow fall between January 24th and February 10th, and 90" between 1/24 and 2/15. We had 4 days where we had at least 12 inches of snow (a record shared with 1978 and 1960-61). Boston had 6 days in a row with at least a half-inch of snow. They also had 28 straight days where the temperature didn't get above 20.
-
Some perspective:
Heaviest One-Day Snowfall (inches and centimeters)
Georgetown, Colorado
63
160
Dec 4 1913
Thompson Pass, Alaska
62
157
Dec 29 1955
Giant Forest, California
60
152
Jan 19 1933
Mount Washington, NH
49
125
Feb 25 1969
Millegan, Montana
48
122
Dec 27 2003
Gunn's Ranch, Washington
48
122
Jan 21 1935
Deadwood, South Dakota
47
119
Mar 14 1973
Watertown, New York
45
114
Nov 15 1900
Heber Ranger Station, Arizona
38
97
Dec 14 1967
Morgantown, Pennsylvania
38
97
Mar 20 1958
Wolf Ridge, Minnesota
36
91
Jan 7 1994
Snowiest Average Winters, (inches and centimeters)
Mt Rainier, Washington
671
1704
Alta, Utah
546
1387
Crater Lake Park, Oregon
483
1226
Brighton, Utah
411
1044
Echo Summit, California
407
1035
Most Days With Snowfall
Mt Rainier, Paradise Station, Washington
121.4
Mt Washington, New Hampshire
118.5
Climax Mine, Colorado
104.4
Crater Lake Park Headquarters, Oregon
101.3
Shemya Island, Alaska
98.3
Yellowstone Park South Entrance, Wyoming
94.5
Snowiest Large US Cities, Average Year, (inches and centimeters)
Rochester, New York
99.5
252.7
Buffalo, New York
94.7
240.5
Cleveland, Ohio
68.1
173.0
Salt Lake City, Utah
56.2
142.7
Minneapolis, Minnesota
54.0
137.2
Denver, Colorado
53.8
136.7
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
46.9
119.1
Boston, Massachusetts
43.8
111.3
Detroit, Michigan
42.7
108.5
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
41.9
106.4
Hartford, Connecticut
40.5
102.9
Chicago, Illinois
36.7
93.2
Providence, Rhode Island
33.8
85.9
Columbus, Ohio
27.5
69.9
Indianapolis, Indiana
25.9
65.8
New York, New York
25.1
63.8
- Boston, and Massachusetts in general, rules 'Merica in one weather-related category... Wind Speed. Boston has an average wind speed of 12.4 mph. Massachusetts owns 4 of the top 5 spots when ranked among cities with more than 50,000 people. Weymouh, Brockton, Framingham, Newton, Peabody, Waltham, Quincy, Lowell, Brookline, and Lynn are all in the top 20.
Windiest US Cities (>50,000 people)
1.
Weymouth Town, MA (housing) (pop. 55,419)
14.7 mph
2.
Brockton, MA (housing) (pop. 94,089)
14.3 mph
3.
Framingham, MA (housing) (pop. 68,318)
13.6 mph
4.
Amarillo, TX (housing) (pop. 196,429)
13.3 mph
5.
Weymouth, MA (housing) (pop. 54,393)
13.2 mph
6.
Cheyenne, WY (housing) (pop. 62,448)
12.9 mph
7.
Fort Collins, CO (housing) (pop. 152,061)
12.8 mph
8.
Newton, MA (housing) (pop. 87,971)
12.7 mph
9.
Casper, WY (housing) (pop. 59,628)
12.7 mph
10.
Waltham, MA (housing) (pop. 62,227)
12.6 mph
11.
Loveland, CO (housing) (pop. 71,334)
12.6 mph
12.
Quincy, MA (housing) (pop. 93,494)
12.5 mph
13.
Greeley, CO (housing) (pop. 96,539)
12.5 mph
14.
Rochester, MN (housing) (pop. 110,742)
12.5 mph
15.
Great Falls, MT (housing) (pop. 59,351)
12.5 mph
16.
Peabody, MA (housing) (pop. 52,044)
12.5 mph
17.
Brookline, MA (housing) (pop. 58,732)
12.5 mph
18.
Lowell, MA (housing) (pop. 108,861)
12.5 mph
19.
Lubbock, TX (housing) (pop. 239,538)
12.4 mph
20.
Lynn, MA (housing) (pop. 91,589)
12.4 mph
21.
Boston, MA (housing) (pop. 645,966)
12.4 mph
- Viewed in the
Year Without A Sana Claus weather logic that I use in lieu of any formal meteorological training, New England is often brought up in arguments where people propose that there are actually several Misers involved in our weather. You could make a case for Warm Miser, Mild Miser and/or Seasonably Cold Miser.
It my be a case where Heat Miser and Cold Miser are General Grant and General Lee, and Seasonably Cold Miser is a subordinate, Jubal Early-style figure.
