TheEnforcer
02-17-2003, 11:08 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Feb16.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18315-2003Feb16.html)
The meteorologists saw the storm brewing. On their bays of computer screens, the surface maps showed the low-pressure system coming out of the Mississippi Valley, heading on a collision course with that cold dome of Canadian air.
Leading up to the weekend, they said, any number of things could have defused the major winter storm. Cold, high pressure could have pushed down further south, or the wild, warm, moist air moving up from the South could have veered off to sea. Countless other smaller things could have thrown off the whole thing. But they didn't.
"Everything has to come together for it to be a perfect snow storm," said Accuweather meteorologist John Dlugoenski.
And it did. By Saturday, the paths of intense cold and warm wet air collided, and the snow began. Yesterday, a second front of air moving up from South Carolina followed, turning inches of snow into a foot -- and more.
"In 150 years, we've had only two storms over 20 inches besides today," Dlugoenski said. Last night, meteorologists predicted that the snow could drift three feet deep in some areas before it ends midday today.
They hesitated at first to call it a blizzard, but by yesterday afternoon they decided -- with the wind, the cold, the amount of snow -- it qualified, Dlugoenski said.
"We're calling it the blizzard of 2003," he said. "There is the potential that this could be the biggest storm ever."
If the snow does not turn to sleet, compressing the fluffy crystals into hard pellets, some forecasters said that accumulation could top previous area storm records, perhaps even the all-time greatest 28-inch snowstorm of 1922. In 1899, a Valentine's snow dumped 20.5 inches on the city. Exactly 24 years ago this weekend, 18.7 inches, the third-biggest storm on record, fell. The 17.1 inches of snow in 1996 constituted the fourth-largest snowfall.
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More at.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Feb16.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18315-2003Feb16.html)
Any people in the DC area here??
The meteorologists saw the storm brewing. On their bays of computer screens, the surface maps showed the low-pressure system coming out of the Mississippi Valley, heading on a collision course with that cold dome of Canadian air.
Leading up to the weekend, they said, any number of things could have defused the major winter storm. Cold, high pressure could have pushed down further south, or the wild, warm, moist air moving up from the South could have veered off to sea. Countless other smaller things could have thrown off the whole thing. But they didn't.
"Everything has to come together for it to be a perfect snow storm," said Accuweather meteorologist John Dlugoenski.
And it did. By Saturday, the paths of intense cold and warm wet air collided, and the snow began. Yesterday, a second front of air moving up from South Carolina followed, turning inches of snow into a foot -- and more.
"In 150 years, we've had only two storms over 20 inches besides today," Dlugoenski said. Last night, meteorologists predicted that the snow could drift three feet deep in some areas before it ends midday today.
They hesitated at first to call it a blizzard, but by yesterday afternoon they decided -- with the wind, the cold, the amount of snow -- it qualified, Dlugoenski said.
"We're calling it the blizzard of 2003," he said. "There is the potential that this could be the biggest storm ever."
If the snow does not turn to sleet, compressing the fluffy crystals into hard pellets, some forecasters said that accumulation could top previous area storm records, perhaps even the all-time greatest 28-inch snowstorm of 1922. In 1899, a Valentine's snow dumped 20.5 inches on the city. Exactly 24 years ago this weekend, 18.7 inches, the third-biggest storm on record, fell. The 17.1 inches of snow in 1996 constituted the fourth-largest snowfall.
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More at.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2003Feb16.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18315-2003Feb16.html)
Any people in the DC area here??