February Snow Events

February turned out to be great month for accumulating snow storms in Virginia. Even Richmond got in on the action.

Below are links to some photographs I took of the February 6th and February 9th, 2010 snow events.

• February 6th, 2010 (Total of 7.5")
  
• February 9th, 2010 (Total of 3.75")

It's also interesting to note that the quick burst of wrap around snow we received on February 9th was also responsible for reports of snow-thunder in the Richmond Metro area. I personally did not hear any thunder, but the rapid rate of snow fall from this event was amazing (nearly 4" in about 3-3.5 hours time).

January 2010: New Records

For the month of January, three records were established for the North Church Hill observation point.

• New Lowest Recorded Temperature: 12.8 on January 31st (The morning after the snow storm that occurred on January 30th)
• New Highest Recorded Wind Gust: 29 MPH on January 28th
• First day to record a high below 32 degrees
  

While I'll be the first to admit that the new record wind gust is not substantial, it's important to note that the wind field around my weather station is far from ideal. Located in the center of an urban block, it lacks substantial clearance around the anemometer. Consequently, a recorded gust higher that 20 MPH signifies a strong wind event occurred on the 28th.

My Crappy MSPaint Take on the Rain vs. Snow Issue

 

It's archaic, but this somewhat describes why we sometimes see all snow, a mix, or all rain. It highly depends on the temp about 100-1000 feet above the ground.

The higher up the 32 degree line is and larger span it crosses, the more ice and rain we see. The closer the 32* (or lower) line is to the surface, the more snow we see.

Summary for 2009: North Church Hill

Attached to the left is my summary data for 2009 (North Church Hill). While there were a few technical difficulties in gathering my data (Late April through Early June), a good portion of the year is summarized in the document below.

Enjoy!

Just a hunch....

Keep an eye on March 2nd-4th... My hunch? I'm usually optimistic for snow, but I think IF we do see a storm head this way, it will be mainly rain...Temps just seem too high for an all snow event...Sad, I know. I think our winter, as far as wintry weather, is over...other than maybe a few slushy inches next week...But hey, it was a good winter by RIC standards. Any season with over 6" is great for us.

Meh...Right on that dreaded r/s line...

Test - Midlo (Brandermill) Rapid Fire Wx Data

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