What's the most extreme winter weather you've ever witnesse?

[jj_frap]

I live in South-Eastern Ontario near Ottawa and Montreal, and in 1998, South-Eastern Ontario and Southern Quebec were pounded by five days of freezing rain, causing billions of dollars in damage, knocking out power to millions (for between 1 day and a few weeks), destroying countless trees, and shutting down the region for nearly two weeks.

The region got between 3 and 6 inches of ice, with us in Cornwall getting close to 5.

All in all, the storm caused the same level of devastation as a medium strength hurricane, and had the wind picked up to 30 - 40 miles the day after the ice stopped, as was forecasted, things would have been far worse.

[nystate]

Every winter here is extreme...

Last winter Oswego county got 8 feet of snow in a matter of days, with snowfalls rates of 6-8 inches an hour. I took some pics; it was amazing stuff!

In 2001/2002 Montague, NY picked up 127 inches of snow from a single storm in a matter of days. Didn't get pics of that, though...

[jj_frap]

WHAAAA???

Oswego isn't far from me and we never get winters that extreme.

[nystate]

WHAAAA???

Oswego isn't far from me and we never get winters that extreme.

It's all due to Lake Ontario. Heavy lake-effect snow band(s) come off the lake and dump tremendous amounts of snow. This page can explain it better than I can- http://www.erh.noaa.gov/buf/lakeffect/indexlk.html

[storm4u]

I live in South-Eastern Ontario near Ottawa and Montreal, and in 1998, South-Eastern Ontario and Southern Quebec were pounded by five days of freezing rain, causing billions of dollars in damage, knocking out power to millions (for between 1 day and a few weeks), destroying countless trees, and shutting down the region for nearly two weeks.

The region got between 3 and 6 inches of ice, with us in Cornwall getting close to 5.

All in all, the storm caused the same level of devastation as a medium strength hurricane, and had the wind picked up to 30 - 40 miles the day after the ice stopped, as was forecasted, things would have been far worse.

I was in sherbrooke quebec at that time visiting my grandparents what an amazing site that was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jj_frap]

I live in South-Eastern Ontario near Ottawa and Montreal, and in 1998, South-Eastern Ontario and Southern Quebec were pounded by five days of freezing rain, causing billions of dollars in damage, knocking out power to millions (for between 1 day and a few weeks), destroying countless trees, and shutting down the region for nearly two weeks.

The region got between 3 and 6 inches of ice, with us in Cornwall getting close to 5.

All in all, the storm caused the same level of devastation as a medium strength hurricane, and had the wind picked up to 30 - 40 miles the day after the ice stopped, as was forecasted, things would have been far worse.

I was in sherbrooke quebec at that time visiting my grandparents what an amazing site that was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I delievered newspapers during the worst of the storm.

In addition to the ice storm, I remember a lot of freezing rain that winter.

[Miss Mary]

The Cincinnati Blizzard of 1978 (not the same blizzard the east coast got hit with) would be the most extreme winter wx event I personally experienced:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/iln/PSACVG.htm

The blizzard caught local mets off guard. By late evening it was apparent a major winter storm was poised to hit the Cincinnati area. If you watched the 6 p.m. newscast, no mention of the storm was made, b/c forecasters then didn't know it was coming. A few mets were able to alert viewers for the 11 p.m. newscast. But by then many families had retired for the evening, as I had (I had to be up early for work). Suddenly around 5 a.m. I woke up to hear our storm windows rattling something awful in our older bungalow type house. I looked outside to see fierce winds, blowing snow and a stop sign across the street from my house, blowing back and forth, touching the ground both ways. It was gonna snap at any moment. I found out a blizzard was underway and travel was not recommended. Schools rapidly closed and more significantly, 75% of businesses I'd say. Very few people ventured out that first day, anywhere. I remember losing power and being stuck home for 3 days. There were huge snow drifts that had to constantly be plowed for essential travel. I hadn't been able to stock up on groceries so they were low. When I finally got out to the store, shelves were bare of milk, bread, soup, fruit, etc. Delivery trucks couldn't make it in with new merch/produce!

We've had other severe winter storms but the blizzard of 78 remains as Cincinnati's most severe event.

Mary

[therock1811]

My most extreme winter event is a tie...the President's Day Ice storm of '03, followed by the 1998 February 4-6 big snowstorm. I'm sure 1978 was yours Mary, but you gotta remember, I wasn't born until '85.

[Miss Mary]

Jeremy - LOL!!! True, true. But mention a snowy winter to anyone old enough to remember both winters of 77 and 78, back to back, and they will have opinions/memories/stories! We all thought the next ice age was coming!!! Crazy! One of those winters we had 3 days in a row of actual -24,-24 and -25 temps, forget windchills - those are actual temps. One day the high was -9! My car started each and everyday but it was struggle to get any heat to come out of the engine. I could see my breath inside the car the entire 30 minute drive to work. What else....I remember a 3 month span almost, where we had at least an inch of snow on the grass. You just didn't lawns for 3 months! Into late April and early May, it wasn't uncommon to see huge piles in mall parking lots still melting. I also recall one 14 inch snowfall that started on a weekday, by 7 a.m., going into evening rush hour. My 30 minute normal commute home took 3 hours - traffic was at a dead halt on nearly every major route and highway in the Cincinnati area. I remember getting home by 9 p.m., cold, tired and very hungry. Having to get up by 6 to do it all over again the next day!

Yep the next ice age - honest, people wondered what the heck was going on back then!!!

Mary

[QCWx]

My runner up would be the February 26th-27th snowstorm here. We had thundersnow, 3" an hour rates and totals over 15" in several locations.

My all time winter storm for this area...December 2003 Ice storm. The damage done to this region was as bad or worse than Hurricane Hugo. Huge trees and limbs were laying everywhere. I cant remember the exact figures but I think 1.3 million were without power and even that is probably too low. Here's a case study on the ice storm.

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nwsfo/storage/cases/20021204/

[jj_frap]

I saw thundersnow one time in the late-80s or early-90s.

It was a very cold evening (and as I was a little kid, I don't remember how cold), visibility was nil the entire drive from Ottawa to Cornwall, and every few seconds, a huge flash of lightening would fill the sky.

It went on for hours, and we must have had a couple of feet of snow when it was done.

It was fun for me, but scary for the rest of my family.

[Guest]

my worst... was either the blizzard of 96 when i was only 6.. or the presidents day storm. actually wait... i was in austria for this one. We were driving back from garmisch germany to Bonn, and we decided we would go through austria. This was in the late 90's, the year when they had the huge winter storms in the alps. I remember before we left garmisch there was about 3 feet of snow that fell in two days. well we were in a tunnel under a mountain in austria, and there were these huge avalanches going on. we were stuck in that tunnel for like 10 hours. horrible stuff.

[kmanWX]

Every winter here is extreme...

Last winter Oswego county got 8 feet of snow in a matter of days, with snowfalls rates of 6-8 inches an hour. I took some pics; it was amazing stuff!

In 2001/2002 Montague, NY picked up 127 inches of snow from a single storm in a matter of days. Didn't get pics of that, though...

yeah i remember those lake effact snows some of them came all of the way down to Phily....

[kmanWX]

my worst... was either the blizzard of 96 when i was only 6.. or the presidents day storm. actually wait... i was in austria for this one. We were driving back from garmisch germany to Bonn, and we decided we would go through austria. This was in the late 90's, the year when they had the huge winter storms in the alps. I remember before we left garmisch there was about 3 feet of snow that fell in two days. well we were in a tunnel under a mountain in austria, and there were these huge avalanches going on. we were stuck in that tunnel for like 10 hours. horrible stuff.

The PD03 Storms was bad but I dont think it had as much impacted at the Blizard of 96 had for all major cities...

[Tri-State_1925]

Extreme? Man...

It was in Feb of 1996...I was in MA. There supposedly was this front heading though PA and central NY that evening carrying a brief but intense band of snow. So I was like, 'Well, gonna have to stay up to see what the hype is all about.' I saw it coming on the radar but only made it 4AM before falling asleep...woke up around 5AM and thought I missed it. Opened the shades to find that the action had just started...heaviest snow I have ever seen in my life. I mean during the backside of the blizzard of 93 (during which I was sick with the flu) I woke up to take some medication and opened those same shades to see the largest snowflakes I had ever seen. But that didn't compare to this...the snow was literally coming down like some kind of WAY overdone special effects in movie. The snow wasn't falling, it was raining down fast. It lasted no more than 15 minutes, but we had at least 1 inch on the ground. One of the local mets was on the air the next evening talking about it...apparently he had gotten up early and saw it for himself. Maybe those in the Buffalo area have seen heavier stuff, but I've never seen anything close to that before or since...not in the 93 or 96 Blizzards, or in 01. Very extreme...

[ohiostorm]

I remember the Blizzards of 93 and 96 and the Presidents Day storm of 2003. The latter was probably the worst snow Ive seen. It snowed for 18 straight days non stop. We ended up with around 2 feet of snow. Ive seen many Ice storms too.

[nystate]

Maybe those in the Buffalo area have seen heavier stuff,

Buffalo tends to get lighter snows compared to Eastern Lake Ontario. For a while last winter the snow in Oswego County (east of Lake Ontario) was accumulating at a rate of about an inch every 7 and a half minutes. It was a complete whiteout. That snow event caused a few multi-car pileups if I remember correctly.

[Guest]

Maybe those in the Buffalo area have seen heavier stuff,

Buffalo tends to get lighter snows compared to Eastern Lake Ontario. For a while last winter the snow in Oswego County (east of Lake Ontario) was accumulating at a rate of about an inch every 7 and a half minutes. It was a complete whiteout. That snow event caused a few multi-car pileups if I remember correctly.

Oh i do hope to see some of this lake effect action this year now that i am in sw Michigan.

BTW as far as extreme winter events go I'll give you the short list.

Blizzard of 78 (Eastcoast/Philly)
original presidents day blizzard of 79. DC Metro
Blizzard of 83. (DC metro) this happens to be my all time favorite because it had it all. Thunder, Lightening, winds and Heavy snows!
Ice storm in 94 in Delaware. (most destructive storm ever for the state)
Blizz of 96 as ok but not great thanks to the mixed precip i got at the DE coast during the hight of the event.

I will mention some notables as well.
Back to back snowstorms at the MD/DE coast in 87
Vets day suprise snowstorm in MD. 1987
the big dump at the DE coast rght after the blizz of 96. snowed for 4 days straight!
Presidents day 2 storm in Ohio. Dumped 17 inches at my location in OH.

[cswitwer]

I'm going to have to say the Blizzard of '78. I was in Dallas TX, which didn't get that much of the blizzard at all, but it shut down Dallas pretty much. Offices closed, schools closed, power off, etc. Dallas didn't have sand trucks so the streets were completely impassable.

Of course, I was so young I loved it. We found a sled in the garage from when we lived in Illinois 2 years before, and made the best of it.

My mom clipped out a newspaper copy of a poem about the Blizzard and kept it inside the kitchen cabinet for years... not sure why.

[gravitylover1]

January of '93 in Tahoe. I wish I could remember exactly when but, we got 128 inches in 30 hours. At one point we set a record for 12 inches/hour for 4 hours! It was awesome going from daytime to nightime as the house went under the snow and all the windows got covered. I had to shovel for 16 hours the next day to get the Jeep out of the driveway.