Eastern U.S. digs out from the Nor'easter of 2009

The mighty Nor'easter of December 2009 has moved out to sea, taking most of its snow with it, but a very white Christmas is in store for millions of U.S. residents, thanks to the 1 - 2 feet of snow the storm left behind, from the Smoky Mountains to Massachusetts. Winter begins tomorrow, but Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has already recorded more than an entire winter's worth of snow--a ridiculous 23.2 inches from this weekend's storm, the second heaviest snowfall in Philadelphia history. The all time record is 30.7 inches, set during the January 1996 blizzard. The normal winter snowfall for an entire season is 19.3 inches.

The 15 inches that fell at Reagan National Airport in Washington D.C. Saturday broke the all-time record for any single calendar day snowfall in December for Washington D.C., and was the third greatest snowfall in the city since records began in 1884. The previous December single calendar daily record was 11.5 inches set on Dec 17, 1932. The two-day snow total of 16.4 inches was the 6th highest 2-day snowfall on record for D.C., and December 2009 is now the snowiest December on record for the nation's capital,

In nearby Baltimore, the 20.5 inches of snow measured Saturday will go down as the fifth highest daily snowfall on any calendar day at Baltimore since snowfall records began in 1893. The storm total snowfall of 21.0 inches of snowfall on Dec 18-19 2009 marks the 6th highest two-day snowfall record for Baltimore. December 2009 is now the snowiest December on record in Baltimore, with 22.2 inches. The previous record was 20.4", set in 1966.


Figure 1. Visible satellite image from 12:01 pm EST on December 20, 2009, showing the Nor'easter of 2009 off the U.S. Northeast coast. Image credit: NASA/GSFC GOES project.

Some selected storm total snowfalls (in inches) from 1am Tuesday through 4am Sunday, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

...CONNECTICUT...
NORWICH 17.0
GROTON 16.0
STORRS 15.0
MANSFIELD 14.5
HADDAM 14.0
OLD SAYBROOK 12.0
LISBON 11.0
DARIEN 10.5
NEW HAVEN 10.5
MILFORD 10.0

...KENTUCKY...
HARLAN 7.0
BEATTYVILLE 6.0
WILLIAMSBURG 1NNW 6.0

...MASSACHUSETTS...
SANDWICH 16.0
ATTLEBOROUGH CITY 15.0
MIDDLEBOROUGH 15.0
WAREHAM 15.0
FRANKLIN 14.0
BOURNE 13.5
YARMOUTH 12.0
WAYLAND 11.5
NORWOOD 10.0
BOSTON 7.0

...NEW JERSEY...
ATCO 24.0
MEDFORD 24.0
NEWPORT 24.0
TABERNACLE 24.0
JACKSON 23.5
BLACKWOOD 22.0
SICKLERVILLE 22.0
SWEDESBORO 22.0
TOMS RIVER 21.0
TURNERSVILLE 20.5
CHERRY HILL 20.0
MOUNT HOLLY 16.6
ATLANTIC CITY 12.1

...NEW YORK...
UPTON 24.9
SAG HARBOR 20.0
NORTH BABYLON 19.0
COMMACK 18.2
ISLIP 17.1
MOUNT SINAI 16.1
ORIENT 15.0
STONY BROOK 14.9
FLORAL PARK 13.5
MASSAPEQUA 11.6
BROOKLYN MARINE PARK 11.5
LIDO BEACH 11.5
JFK ARPT 10.9
NYC CENTRAL PARK 10.9

...PENNSYLVANIA...
PHILADELPHIA 23.2
HILLTOWN 20.5
BROGUE 20.0
QUARRYVILLE 20.0
FOLCROFT 19.0
WEST CALN 18.6
SECANE 18.5
PEQUEA 18.0
UPPER CHICHESTER 18.0
ORRTANNA 17.1
WALLINGFORD 17.0

...RHODE ISLAND...
WEST GREENWICH 20.0
PORTSMOUTH 18.0
SOUTH KINGSTOWN 18.0
COVENTRY 17.0
HOPE 17.0
BARRINGTON 16.0

...WASHINGTON, DC...
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY 16.0
THE MALL 16.0

...DELAWARE...
WILMINGTON 17.0
HARTLY 15.5
NEWARK 13.9
WOODSIDE 12.8

...MARYLAND...
OLNEY 23.3
BETHESDA 23.0
COLUMBIA 23.0
DERWOOD 23.0
SIMPSONVILLE 1 SSE 22.9
GAITHERSBURG 1 NW 22.0
GERMANTOWN 22.0
BALTIMORE-BWI 21.1
GLENMONT 21.0
SMITHSBURG 21.0
ANNAPOLIS 20.8
MILLINGTON 20.0
FREDERICK 19.0

...NORTH CAROLINA ...
ROBBINSVILLE 12 W 24.0
ASHEVILLE 17.0
BOONE 16.0
EAST MARION 15.0
RUTHERWOOD 15.0
FLEETWOOD 14.0
WAYNESVILLE 13.8
WEST JEFFERSON 13.0
MARSHALL 7 N 12.0
GREENSBORO 4.5

...OHIO...
BRIDGEPORT 5.0

...VIRGINIA...
INDIAN VALLEY 26.0
MUSTOE 25.4
FISHERVILLE 25.0
ROCKY BAR 3 ENE 24.0
CROZET 1SSE 23.0
COVINGTON 22.6
CENTREVILLE 1 SE 22.0
ALEXANDRIA 19.0
DULLES INTERNATIONAL 18.0
REAGAN NATIONAL ARPT 16.4

...WEST VIRGINIA...
MARLINTON 26.0
FRIARS HILL 25.0
HORSE SHOE RUN 25.0
BECKLEY 24.0
HENDRICKS 24.0
JUMPING BRANCH 24.0
CANAAN VALLEY STATE 3SW 22.0
WILLIAMSBURG 22.0
GRANDVIEW 21.0
CHARLES TOWN 18.0


Copenhagen
Our Climate Change expert, Dr. Ricky Rood, has left Copenhagen's COP15 climate change talks, and is now facing a challenge of a different sort--how to get out of snowbound Washington D..C. His latest post, called The Party is Over: Copenhagen Devolved presents a fascinating look at what it was like to be at the conference, and what was (and was not) accomplished there. I'll be posting my own summary of the legacy of the Copenhagen talks soon.

Next post
I'll have another post Tuesday.

Jeff Masters