January 26th-27th, 2011 - The storm that Frank called

With all the talk about the disappointment from the storm that just passed, let's talk about a better time shall we.

Mid-January 2011 we all knew we were in an active winter pattern with the Boxing Day Blizzard weeks earlier and the January 11th-12th, 2011 New England/Long Island snowstorm that brought 9.1" to CPK and the January 21st, 2011 moderate snowstorm that brought 4.2" of snow to CPK.  Soon after the latter event, I remember reading both on Accuweather.com and on the 7-online chat board about the possibility of another winter storm the last week of January.  Of course, the posts I always looked forward to were Frank's blogs (and just so you know, at the time, I thought Frank was a professional met who worked for Channel 7 (though not on-camera), it wasn't until much later that I learned he was only 18).  By the evening of the 22nd, despite the cold air we were locked into, it seemed that the upcoming storm would be a rain storm for us and that it would be an interior snowstorm.  I thought this all the way up to the evening of the 24th.  It was my first day of classes that semester at Manhattan College and the night before Frank said after a long day at work he would fill us in on another blog post.  After a long day of classes, I anxiously awaited his posts.  Because I was just learning about models such as the GFS, NAM, EURO, and Canadian, I used him to get my model information.  That evening he makes the blog and entitles it "The secret Godzilla?" I now became excited as he talked about how the dynamics were in place to come together at the right time.  The following evening, I watched the TV newscasts and they talked about the possibility of 6-12" in NYC.  And this storm came in two pieces, the first part came in that morning giving us a couple of inches.  I was very excited going into that evening for part 2 due to the enthusiasm from the chat board and once it came, boy did it come down hard:   We had several inches per hour for the duration of the storm!  When I woke up the next morning, not only did I see that all of my classes were cancelled for that day, but I turned on Channel 7 and learned that CPK from the two parts got 19" of snow(!!!), the second "Godzilla" event that season and only the second season that featured two such events (the other was 1977-78).  I would hear from people that no one was expecting this storm.   I would respond by telling them that I did see it coming because this guy Frank from this chat board I follow brought up the strong potential for it.  

Anyway, it brought January 2011 to 36.0" the snowiest January on record and the 2nd snowiest month overall behind only February 2010.  And it brought CPK's 2010-11 snow total to 56.1", putting it 8th on record (at the time).  I was really hoping that both of the records mentioned would be smashed but it was not to be.  CPK got no measurable snow the rest of the month and CPK got just 5.8" of snow the rest of the season to put it at 61.9" (3rd snowiest on record behind 1947-48's 63.2" and 1995-96's 75.6").  As shown in Frank's 2010-11 winter recap video he did in March 2011, the AO went positive after this storm, not necessarily favorable for an east coast snowstorm (while we did have a +AO, +NAO, -PNA the last couple of days from this storm, it didn't help having the low sliding to our east).

And I did a lot of filming from this event. Note that I was away in college and I neglected to bring my boots from back home so I went out in my sneakers (still worth it!) Also note that because I was relatively new to recording weather events, my left glove would often get in the way of the camera.

I filmed it in four parts:

Part 1: The afternoon of 1/26/11 during the lull between the two parts where I show around campus.

Part 2: MUST WATCH: The evening of 1/26/11 during the heavy snow.  It starts from a common room in my dorm building but at 0:59 in the video, I head outside to experience the snow and it BLASTED me.

Part 3: The afternoon of 1/27/11 I talk about the heavy snow and the records and show around a winter wonderland around campus.

Part 4: Also the afternoon of 1/27/11 when I took a stroll through Van Cortlandt Park through unshoveled walkways and grass fields.

Also, here is Frank's video from the winter of 2010-11.  From 1:53 to 2:30 in the video, it brings up the storm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzgysEz8sUw&index=1&list=FLwE9BgyqeghfSSlLLQp8o_g

For a more detailed analysis from that storm, this is a good link:

http://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/2011/26-Jan-11.html

Hope this helps with the sting we all have from this past storm.

That's awesome Mike! Frank you have come a long way! Look at those first maps you used to make! I remember them well!

Whoops! I forgot to post the links to the videos I made! Note that I was away in college and I neglected to bring my boots from back home so I went out in my sneakers (still worth it!) Also note that because I was relatively new to recording weather events, my left glove would often get in the way of the camera.

Here are the four parts:

Part 1: The afternoon of 1/26/11 during the lull between the two parts where I show around campus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHN8Z_nkM0A

Part 2: MUST WATCH: The evening of 1/26/11 during the heavy snow. It starts from a common room in my dorm building but at 0:59 in the video, I head outside to experience the snow and it BLASTED me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d50_Rt0-M0

Part 3: The afternoon of 1/27/11 I talk about the heavy snow and the records and show around a winter wonderland around campus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJGx4EEZP8o

Part 4: Also the afternoon of 1/27/11 when I took a stroll through Van Cortlandt Park through unshoveled walkways and grass fields: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynvdWIjK-mA

Math:

Great job, great memories, intense storm.

Brings me back to when we all discovered each other, and Frank made us a family.

Thankfully some of the family never made it over here.

aND THoSe MEmbeRS ShALl ReMAiN NaMELess.

AAAAA PLUS PLUS PLUS Mike

Excellent! Enjoyed walking with you in that storm!

Did that many, many times in years gone by in major snowstorms.Wish there were ways to record in the 60's, 70's and 80's!!!!

CPcantmeasuresnow wrote:Math:

Great job, great memories, intense storm.

Brings me back to when we all discovered each other, and Frank made us a family.

Thankfully some of  the family never made it over here.

aND THoSe MEmbeRS ShALl ReMAiN NaMELess.

You friggin' never fail to crack me up!!!!

This was a great storm, one I recall a few of us, Frank included called the morning would be colder and storm would way overperform mediocre expectations and it bombed. Was almost all snow from the start when it was supposed to rain and came down hard by after sunrise. Came into work and they sent us right home.

This is the storm that has a special place in my heart.  I know I mentioned this already a couple of times and I know the link is in the thread but I went outside a videotaped some footage during the storm.  Even though I was still new at it (as evidenced by the glove appearing at times on the left-hand side of the screen) and even though I did not being my boots with me from back home, it was all worth it.

And for the newcomers on this board that live at or around Riverdale/The Bronx, this is at Manhattan College (I was a junior at the time). For outdoor footage of the storm, go to about a minute into the video.  Both the heavy snow and the wind should fill you with amazement. Enjoy!

One of the heaviest snowfalls Ive ever seen. Rates of 2-3" per hour during that storm it came down like a sheet of white.

It was 10 years ago around this time that I experienced snowfall rates of 2"+ per hour. It may have been just for several hours, but it was a good several hours. And as I have mentioned before, two nights before this happened, Frank was the only one calling for a Godzilla potential in NYC.

And yes, I have been collaborating with you guys for over 10 years now. Let that sink in!