March 4-6, 2001 snow bust

I know we this is where we generally talk about snowstorms we remember fondly.  Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but I feel the need to being up an event that turned out to be one of the biggest weather disappointments of my childhood, which occurred at this time sixteen years ago.  For days leading up to this, models and forecasts were calling for a Godzilla, perhaps a Roidzilla, from DC to SNE.  

As the title suggests, the storm was set to begin on the night of Sunday, March 4th and last all the way through Tuesday, March 6th.  I was ten years old at the time and back then, I didn't really watch TV for weather reports.  Instead I read the weather maps and information from Newsday and the New York Times which my family had daily.  I remember seeing the papers comparing this potential snowstorm to other big events, including January 1996 and March 1888.  Midday Sunday, we get the message that school would be closed that Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of the snow.  I remember waiting anxiously for the storm to hit.  Later that night, the first snowflakes fell and I went to bed that night expecting a lot of snow on the ground come morning.  Well, I woke up on the morning of the 5th and saw that only about an inch of snow had accumulated.  Talk about a crushing moment.  I kept asking myself how this could possibly happen.  The fact that this could bust as bad as it did made this a let down.

I will say this though, the next day, the second of our two snow days, we did get several inches of good snow and me and my sister had fun in the fresh snow with the neighbors.  So I at least got consolation from this.  Those that live SW of NYC, however, received no consolation.

Now, looking at the discussion from this, this seems to have been a Miller B type setup.  The phase was going to occur just off the Mid-Atlantic coast, it actually occurred a day later near Beantown.  As a result, the Roidzilla occurred north of I-90 as opposed to along I-95.

Here is the discussion from Ray's Winter Storm Archive on that storm: http://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/2001/05-Mar-01.html

Here were the snow totals from Upton, notice how portions of eastern LI did get a Godzilla out of this.  Also notice how Columbia University measured 7.0" while the zookeeper measured 3.5": http://www.northshorewx.com/climatedata/PNSOKX20010307.htm

And here is the YouTube video which actually refers to that snow event along with a "timelapse" of the snow from what is likely somewhere in NJ.  I know the title is insulting, but it illustrates what was occurring at this point.  Note that the person speaking is Paul Kocin:



Years later in the Northeast Snowstorms book (which he and Paul Uccellini co-authored), they explain what occurred in the snow event as well as show a snow map from the event.  For those of you that have the two-volume set, it is in Volume I, the description is in pages 262-263 and the snow map is on page 264.

You may see me post time and time again with reference to this event whenever we are tracking a major snowstorm.  Well, this helps to being it to more detail.

Great story Math...thanks. Really well told, too! Reminds me of the Big Bust of 2015...the Frankenzilla that wasn't, unless you lived in NE. I felt the same way you did in '01. Of course, I was 41 at the time, but still...

math i remember that t storm and it was a big bust and a big disappointment for me and everyone else who loves snow . i was 17 years old on that day i was working at a&p as a stockboy .on the morning of sun people were going crazy buying their grocery from bread coldcuts meat and so on .when i got home from work i right away put on the weather channel when i heard 15 to 24 inches of snow and nyc schools were closed for monday i was very happy.
next morning when i woke up i thought was dreaming because we only ended up with 3 inches of snow