Subject: CASILIST : PA Shuts Down ; Ocean Snow Event in Mass. Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 06:34:40 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators Update from HQ: Currently : 8 and light snow. We received 1" of snow last night after a dusting of sleet and some freezing rain. A mixed bag of frozen precipitation coated PA last night and non-emergency travel is not recommended this morning. All roads in Central PA are being reported as "bad" by local law enforcement offices. Penn State University has shut down. Besides PSU, all schools in the area, and many schools in the state are closed. -Jesse Now live from Mass. via a CASI Member: Subject: Ocean event Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 05:42:16 -0500 From: To: Hello, Greetings from the tip of Cape Ann, Rockport, Massachusetts. It's 5:40am and we are experiencing almost blizzard whiteout conditions in ocean effect 10 degrees F. My wife just called from Rt. 128, West Gloucester (3.5 miles away) on the way to work and there is no snow there!!! We get these conditions about once every 4-6 years. Expecting more significant wide spread snow this afternoon and tonight before a change-over to sleet and then rain. Chris Spittle Cape Ann Weather99 Rockport, Massachusetts, USA http://www.rockportmass.com Subject: CASILIST : Reports From PA Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 07:18:58 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators 4" (unexpected) Snow overnight here at HQ. Others: Subject: Delaware Valley Schools Friday Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 22:07:40 -0500 From: To: Asst Supt. Jim Purcell has announced that classes Friday will be held in South Africa (where it is summer) Boeing 707's are on standby at the DDMS complex at this hour See Below! (The real deal? 2 hour delay - effective immediately for Friday) Ongoing Updates, as always, at the Pike Weather Station http://www.sbccomputer.com/Pikeweather.html Subject: Snow/Ice - dangerous conditions Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 00:48:57 -0500 (EST) From: To: Here, 3 miles outside of Watsontown PA, it is currently (12:30 am) sleeting at a good clip. It has been doing this much of last afternoon and evening, with the exception of between 6 and 8 pm when a break moved over the area. primarily snow fell during last morning, with accumulations of 3.1". Just to my north, in Muncy, 7" fell! Sleet accumulations were around an inch. I never did experience much freezing rain at my location like predicted, but areas of southern and western PA certainly did! Tree limbs down and many power outages are reported in western PA because of the ZR. Roadways are very hard to drive on, and in some areas virtually impossible. Several area roads here in the Middle Susquehanna valley have been closed because of too many accidents. Hundreds of schools in just central/eastern PA have closed both yesterday and today. Public places, like malls, have closed early yesterday. The Hazleton mall never even opened! That is the smart thing to do. You end up spending more money on electricity bills and paying the employees than you would ever make from the customers on a day like yesterday. Interstates like 80 and 180 were not well maintained today. Actually, only every few hours did a PennDOT truck even come by! According to them, temperatures were too cold to have the special chemicals (like a new anti-skid material, being used for the first time this year) work effectively. Allentown PA didn't get out of the single digits all afternoon! Temperatures were coldest at the lower elevations during the day today, due to cold air damming and warm air streaming in just a few thousand feet overhead. Winter storm warnings remian in effect through this morning for most of PA... drive safely.... Greg Watsontown, PA ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Pennsylvania Weather Page - http://www.angelfire.com/pa/pawx -- ============================================================== Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org "Andy Warhol had it wrong, Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes *and* have their own Web page." --William Shatner || ICQ No. 136832 || --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Weather stuff Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 21:44:54 -0500 By popular request, we are taking a 'contrarian view' with this update "Pike County Pennsylvania has been discontinued until further notice" and from CASI member Greg D (Is it me...or is this funny?) NEW ALLTIME MAINE STATE RECORD MINIMUM TEMPERATURE SET ATALLAGASH... IN NORTHERN MAINE...WINDS HAD DIMINISHED A BIT OVERNIGHT... BUT TEMPERATURES WERE EXTREMELY COLD. OVERNIGHT...ALLAGASH RECORDED 55 DEGREES BELOW ZERO...BREAKING THE STATE'S ALLTIME MININMUM TEMPERATURE RECORD. THE PREVIOUS STATE RECORD WAS 48 DEGREES BELOW ZERO...SET AT VAN BUREN ON JANUARY 19, 1925. Atallasashsg? Hope this Guys OK!!!!! http://www.sbccomputer.com/newhampshiremoose.html Charlie Subject: CASILIST : Icing in ME NJ : I'm stuck at home Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 08:47:50 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators Well folks, for the first time since I have lived here in Pennsylvania (OK only 2 years but still) I am unable to get the car out of the driveway. We had an unexpected 4" of snow last night, which fell on top of 1" of sleet which was on top of 2" of melted sleet and snow (read : ice). Got stuck in the snow and couldn't go backwards or forwards. I will be telecommuting today. -Jesse -State College PA ---- Conditions in NE NJ via Member Michael Girone: Here in West Orange, about 17 miles WNW of NYC, we have moderate freezing rain that has been falling for a good part of the morning hours. Roads are very slushy, but with the freezing rain falling moderately, there's not a lot of ice on the streets. It's a different story with regards to trees and power lines. 1'8" to almost 1/4" of ice has accumulated on trees and power lines, and they are beginning to sag under the weight of the ice. Currently (8:07 a.m.), the southern sky is starting to darken a bit as an area of heavy precip is moving in. I recieved just under an inch of snow yesterday. The snowflakes were very small and were falling sideways most of the day, which cut down on accumulations. Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for most of my area this morning for the ice. Mike West Orange, NJ Subject: CASILIST : RE: Reports From PA Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:33:04 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators SBC C&C - Pa wrote: > Updating earlier quicky > > There are numerous report of an up-to-50 car > mess on I 84 between New York and Pa in > the Westbound Lane. > > Raining here and freezing on contact > Temps running 20-32 degrees depending on elevation > > Snowing lightly in other spots > > Charlie Subject: CASILIST : Franklin Co. PA Report / NE PA Report / High Wind at Raleigh-Durham Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 12:06:03 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators Subject: RE: CASILIST : Icing in ME NJ : I'm stuck at home Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 11:47:22 -0500 From: To: Last Update from here Interstate 84 Shutdown underway at 11:45 from Middletown NY to PA (15 miles) due to the accident. No word on exact number of cars or trucks or injuries, (just starting to make national news). System pulling away (apprently) from our area - Temps held steady past hour. Most roads still very slick Total accums 4-8 inches. many closures throughout the area Charlie Pike PA Weather http://www.sbccomputer.com/Pikeweather.html PS: Welcome to PA (Wait until this stuff melts!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: 3rd Winter Event Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 10:57:50 -0500 Franklin County Winter Storm Report 13–15 Jan 1999 The 3rd Winter Storm event for the area began 13 Jan 1999 at 1450 hrs with rain. Rain fell off and on in the afternoon with a high temperature for the day of 44 degrees and a low of 23 degrees by evening with rain changing to freezing rain. Sleet began at 2015 hrs and changed back over to freezing rain at 2230hrs. The 13th of Jan liquid precipitation totaled 0.08. The storm continued into the 14th of Jan 1999 with freezing rain off and on until 0700hrs, where it changed back and forth between light snow, sleet, and freezing mist. All sleet began falling by 0730 hrs, and continued for the remainder of the day with a total of 0.35 of liquid. On the 15th of Jan at 0001 hrs sleet continued falling till 0630 hrs when it changed to all snow before ending at 0930 hrs. Clouds then began to break up, giving way to partly sunny skies. The total precipitation for the day measured 0.14. Total liquid for this event totaled was measured at 0.57. The roads were never plowed until this morning causing many motorists to become stuck, or crash. This was the 2nd time that road crews failed to take action to clean roadways figuring on warm air moving into the area which never did. Numerous crashes were reported. Barry Hile ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Member Tim Armstrong Saw this METAR from RDU this morning... ================== SPECI KRDU 151014Z 33012G61KT 290V360 2 1/2SM +RA SQ BR SCT010 BKN017 OVC041 09/09 A2986 RMK A02 PKWND 24061/1009 WSHFT 0959 CIG 012 RWY 23R PRESRR P0012 ================== Winds before that were averaging around 10 kt, so I checked to see if this was a mistake, or if Raleigh was actually in the midst of something more significant...and found the following... ================== RDUSFDRDU TTAA00 KRDU 151132 STATE FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RALEIGH/DURHAM, NC 629 AM EST FRI JAN 15 1999 WILL BE UPDATING ZONES FOR PRECIP ENDING IN THE WEST...PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL SECTION AT 7 AM. PEAK GUST OF 61 KTS AROUND 515PM AT RDU AIRPORT REAL. CHECKED SRM...HAD FEW PIXELS OF 50KTS OR GTR. ALREADY MADE HEADS UP CALL. .RDU...NONE. RA ================== They meant to say 5 AM instead of 5 PM in there, but the rest of it is legitimate. As far as I can tell, they didn't update the NOWcast, they didn't issue any kind of warning, advisory, or even statement to address the fact that winds could approach near-hurricane force in the highly populated area of Raleigh, NC. Oh, well... Tim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- =========================================================== Subject: CASILIST : Reports From MA | NetNews : Alaska Radars Now Online Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 13:45:19 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators WSI now has several Alaskan radars online. See "NetNews" on the CASI front page for details. Member Mike Reddin wrote: > 1:30pm Beverly, MA Temp: 38F / Dew: 38F , 1/2 mile in Drizzle/Fog > > .50" liquid Equiv. Midnight to current time. > > Snow had begun around 1pm Wednesday behind the arctic front. Temperatures > dropped into the 20s and we got about 1" of snowfall before it tapered off > as flurries that evening. Snow began [ocean enhanced] around 8am with > a temperature of 4F and became heavier through the day... By 10pm I measured 9" here in Beverly, temperature was 11F at that time. About another 1" fell through Midnight at which point it began to mix with and by 1am Friday had turned to mostly sleet. That sleet fell heavily at times through 3 or 4am then finally turned to plain rain by 6am or so. Yuck :( > > Mike Reddin -- ============================================================== Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org "Andy Warhol had it wrong, Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes *and* have their own Web page." --William Shatner || ICQ No. 136832 || Subject: CASILIST : Final Storm Reports - MD Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 17:46:06 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators Matt Rosier wrote: > J, > > Thanks for the reports coming across the CASI list all day, as far as it > goes here in Carroll County, MD, we received about 1/2" of ice accumulation > total, which started as sleet during the early morning hours of Thursday > with on/off periods of sleet continuing throughout Thursday before changing > to a sleet/freezing rain mix during around 9/10pm. After midnight heavier > icing occured, mainly freezing rain which ended as a brief period of snow > around 9am this morning. Schools have been closed for 2 days and about > 160,000 residents across the state are without power due to downed trees > and power lines. Secondary road conditions were pretty bad this morning, but > have started to improve this afternoon as temperatures rise through the mid > 30's. The only remaining concern is additional downed trees and powerlines > due to the ice and stronger winds and the possibility of refreezing tonight > which could lead to hazardous road conditions. > > Matt -- ============================================================== Central Atlantic Storm Investigators - www.weatherwatchers.org "Andy Warhol had it wrong, Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes *and* have their own Web page." --William Shatner || ICQ No. 136832 || Subject: CASILIST : Post-storm Report, West Orange & a few surrounding areas Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 18:44:12 -0500 Organization: Central Atlantic Storm Investigators --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Post-storm Report, West Orange & a few surrounding areas Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 18:29:27 -0500 (EST) This was the first significant storm of 1999 where frozen and/or freezing precip fell for the majority (I'd say about 95%) of the event here in West Orange. Precip started early Thursday morning (just after midnight) as sleet. By dawn, there was about 1/2" of primarily snow on the ground. It snowed all day Thursday, but with only minor accumulations of up to 1/4" (the snow flakes were very small and falling sideways in the stiff N to NE wind). By nightfall, the precip had changed over to moderate sleet, which accumulated about 1/4" on the previously clear (relatively) streets. Total snow and sleet accumulation by this time was 1". When I woke up this morning (6:10 a.m.), the precip had changed over to moderate and occasionally heavy freezing rain, with at least 1/8" of ice on everything. Trees and power lines were sagging by mid-morning, and my lights were flickering for a little while. The freezing rain changed over to rain between 11:30 a.m. and noon before ending shortly afterward. Ice accumulations by then were 1/8" to 1/4", bringing the total wintry accumulation to 1 and 1/8" to 1.25". In Nutley (just to my NE), street flooding was a problem as the rain and slowly melting snow & ice had no where to go. NWS OKX put out flash flood watches and warnings to cover this. Tree limbs and branches were downed by the ice throughout the area. Scattered power outages have been reported across the area. Power went out late in the morning at the local Pathmark supermarket, making food shopping in the dark quite difficult as you can imagine. Mike West Orange, NJ