Chris's Corner - The February Funk

It's been snowing here in Bowling Green since at least 6:30 this morning...huge, fat flakes coming down at a decent clip right now. It's beautiful, one of those snows that clings to every branch and gives a lacy appearance. Sticking to roads, too. I'm eyeballing a good inch or so already, I'd say. 33*

Models definitely showed some snow up your way this morning.

12z NAM supports the forecast Chris put out this morning very well...500mb vort max lines up with the heaviest band across central IL nicely.

Flat out heavy snow again. I would almost call it violently snowing.

This is referencing an editorial in cape girardeau's small town newspaper in the wake of the 24 inch blizzard. The weight of snow caused structures and awnings to collapse and the persistent high winds caused highway signs to blow over. There were several hours of thundersnow. It was a 90 mile wide of snow that dumped 10 inches on the fringes to 24 inches at cape and jackson. This editorial refers to the 3 years of the new ice age. The year before brought 15 inch snowfall and the year before that was a 10 inch blizzard. All 3 years, ice gorge formed on the MS River. Ppl wld get arrested walking across the river. The significance of all of this was that the avg annual snow at cape was abt 14 inches at that time. The forecast the night before was a revised forecast. Rain will change briefly to snow. Accums wld be 1 to 2 inches. That was the first forecast to mention snow. The forecast wld later be revised upward for 2 to 4 inches of snow. Finally during the course of the storm, NWS got word that things were out of hand. A blizzard warning was issued in the morning if the storm in progress. The area was already getting several hours of 3plus inches of snow per hour.

The headline on the Feb. 27, 1979 issue of the Southeast Missourian was 3/4 inches tall and read: "New yardstick, blizzard of 1979." The entire front page was blizzard coverage.

Say nothing more about the snow of 1917-1918

by John L. Blue
Missourian Executive Editor

Say nothing more about the snow of 1917-1918. Hereafter the yardstick will be the Great Blizzard of Feb. 25, 1979.

Researchers and reporters, delving into the weather records hereafter will use this as their reference point -- and what a point it is.

Never, at least in recorded city history, has there been anything like it.

Cape Girardeau is paralyzed. Nothing moves but emergency vehicles and a few with four-wheel drives authorized by police. All others are subject to arrest.

Grocery stores, doing a rush of walk-in business, are running out of bread, milk and other staples. Businesses are shut down. There are no burials -- the bodies are being held until the weather moderates.

Everywhere there are snowdrifts, man-made or nature-made. The man-made ones are a canyon down the streets, allowing one-way traffic for police and other emergency vehicles. The nature-made ones are drifts six and eight feet high. Cars are buried.

But what was it like when all of this came about?

Listen, posterity, here's the way it has been this winter, and on the day of the great blizzard.

It is the third year of the New Ice Age. Zero temperatures and below have been common each of these three winters. Snowfall is far above what it normally has been in the memory of anyone now alive. Last winter there was a 15-inch snowfall, but it was peanuts to what is outside right now.

On Dec. 7-8, 1978, there was a four-inch sleetstorm, starting as freezing rain on the night of Dec. 7, turning to sleet on Dec. 8 and continuing through a good part of the day.

A few scatterings of this sleet remained on the ground in deeply recessed areas when on New Year's morning, early, snow fell. That snow, augmented by others through January and February, stayed on the ground until it finally vanished (except for piles on parking lots) on Feb. 22, under 1.42 inches of rainfall with the temperature in the high 50s. The next day the temperature rose to 60 degrees. Rain amounted to 96 inches.

Then the deluge.

www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2168376699871933&set=pcb.808130732878967&type=3&theater&ifg=1

Next week looks moist.

Yes the cpc has a hazard for just south of here for heavy rain. If history is any indication, based on other heavy rain events, this cld trend north.

The deformation zone tonight looks pretty anemic on the models. Maybe we can get some banding to help us out

this "drayzzle" sucks.

All about timing. 

BRTN, If you pull this one off, I will be amazed even more at your Wx knowledge. You and FRIV see snow happen when no one else does. Fingers crossed it happens.

Could be some interesting times on the plains later today. Over 200J of CAPE

That's a crazy looking squall sounding! The front range had a wild squall yesterday.

Chris there’s nothing for Festus, except northern JeffCo! They wondering about temps and slick roads?