January Thaw Ends With 5 Minute Blizzard

Posted by Tim Kelley January 29, 2010 at 9:11 pm

That 5 minute blizzard late Thursday January 28, 2010 brought a rapid temperature drop causing icy roads from New York to Maine. This is our NECN parking lot, the Squall looked like a blizzrd from 6:10 to 6:15 PM.

Many spotters told of Thunder Snow. Our Southwick MA spotter reported 1.5″ of snow in ten minutes.
Missy sent us this note: “Hello,Traveling from Belmont, MA to our ski condo at Sugarloaf in Maine. Worst snow squals I have ever experienced. Seemed more like a blizzard! Wind gusts and visibility only as far as vehicle immediately in front of you. Driving 40mph from Portland to Augusta. Very slick and scary!
Missy, Belmont, Ma.”
Rescue crews scrambled to clear accidents and treat injured drivers, for this we thank our emergency responders.
Today we are on the cold side of the arctic front for the first time since January 13th. This is also the coldest day of the winter here at NECN, with a high of 20°, beating the 21° on December 17th.

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Near my home, the Thursday snow fell onto a brown landscape, all the snow and ice had melted in our extended January thaw. In the period January 14th-28th our temperature went form average of 2° below per climo per day, to 2° above climo per day for the month of January, that’s a whopping 4° jump. Quite a thaw indeed.
Even in the thaw, much of Maine continued to add to snow pack, while Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island had little to no snow. Interior Massachusetts saw the snow pack build, until the record warm, windy rainy Monday January 25.
Our Thursday Squalls (with preceding surprise 4″ snowfall in CT??), were associated with cyclogenisis on an Arctic Front. The cyclone has now deepened to 983 millibars over Newfoundland resulting in a flow of air directly form Hudson Bay Canada to Nantucket Massachusetts (where ind continues to gust over 40 mph tonight. The weekend forecast calls for the 1032 arctic high to build in, bringing continued sunshine with diminishing wind, and moderating temps.. A severe winter storm continues eastward along Interstate 40, with winter storm warnings from Arkansas to North Carolina and Virgina, this is the third or fourth major winter storm in the deep southern United States this winter. Truly a memorable winter there.
Here in new England, my thoughts of a 1995/1996 repeat is obviously by the board now. This winter is full of surprises(Jan 19 election cyclogenisis, January 27 cyclogenisis), and we have no reason to believe the surprises will not continue this month. But for now, we have no storms in sight, even in a seven day forecast.
We have been going through a lot of growth here at NECN, NECN.com, and our Weather Graphics are all new HD. This has been a huge undertaking, with Matt making a super human effort to get this done without compromising quality. We are experiencing growing strains, that’s why we may not have blogged quite as often. We appreciate your patience, and all your helpful critique. Keep the comments coming.
For anyone looking for something to do Saturday afternoon in Hingham MA, Sean Fitzpatrick is hosting an ice sculpting lesson at the Derby Street Shoppes in Hingham, where there is also Ice Skating.

On Sunday, stop by Red Lion in Cohasset MA at 4 PM to meet Ray Kasperowicz ($50 suggested donation for his campaign to run for congress) and DR. Richard Lindzen, MIT Climatologist, who will speak about climate change.
Now for your viewing pleasure, here is a shot of the full ‘Wolf’ moon. Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre share thier photo, along with this comment.
“Despite the bitter cold and gusty wind, we took photos of tonight’s full Moon just a few minutes ago from our driveway in Woburn. As you know, it is the largest full Moon of the year since it is going to perigee (closest distance to Earth) early tomorrow morning. Full Moon occurs at 1:18 a.m. EST January 30, while perigee takes place at 4:04 a.m. (distance to Earth is 221,577 miles). This is why the full Moon tonight, also called the Full Wolf Moon, appears slightly larger and brighter than usual, and will generate exceptionally high tides.
By the way, in case your viewers are wondering, the bright reddish “star” to the left of the Moon is the red planet Mars, which, coincidentally is also making its closest approach to Earth.
Kind regards
Imelda and Edwin”