December Snow Storm Buries The Northeast, Breaks Records Across The Region
BOSTON (CBS) -- Buried. How else do you describe the insane, mind-boggling amount of snow that fell across the Northeast yesterday?
Sure, we set some cute, little records here in southern New England yesterday. New daily snowfall records occurred in Boston (12.7"), Hartford (7.8"), Providence (6.4"), and Worcester (10.5"). A memorable storm for sure considering we so rarely get big snows before Christmas anymore.
In fact, the two-day total of 13.1" in Boston was good for the 4th biggest December snowstorm on record and the 3rd biggest pre-Christmas snowstorm. Not bad!
The largest snow total from the state of Massachusetts occurred in Florida, MA (I am not making that up, Google it), where they got 24".
If that were the whole story, I'd say that was a pretty good little storm.
But the story doesn't end there…not even close…
You hear us talk about heavy banding of snow in some of these storms. You get under a band and many times you can get 1-3" of snow in an hour. These bands will often dictate who ends up in the "jackpot" and have busted a forecast or two for sure.
Well, a snow band for the ages set up Thursday in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and New Hampshire. What made this so rare, was its distance from the center of the storm and the insane intensity at which the snow fell hour after hour after hour.
Many towns such as Binghamton, New York reported rates of 5-6" PER HOUR underneath this band of snow on Thursday. Try keeping the driveway clean with that!
Check out some of these snow totals and keep in mind, Boston averages about 44" in an entire season!
- Sanbornton, NH: 42.4" - That is awfully close to the 24-hour snowfall record for the entire state of New Hampshire (49.3" atop Mount Washington, but that's almost cheating at over 6,000 feet).
- Binghamton, NY: 42.0" (40.0" at the official airport site) - That was good enough for the biggest snowstorm in the city's history! The old record was 35.3" in March of 2017. Binghamton averages about 82" in a full season, meaning they got about half in one day.
- Williamsport, PA: 24.7" - Another all-time record. And even more impressive, the city known for the Little League Baseball World Series only averages about 35" in an entire winter season.
- Alba, PA: 43.3" - This is currently under investigation and may end up as a new state of Pennsylvania 24-hour snowfall record.
- Ludlow, VT: 44.0" and Landgrove, VT: 42.0" - Both may have set new state Vermont 24-hour snowfall records.
It is simply jaw-dropping. We really have nothing to compare it to here. The only thing that comes to mind was the record snow-blitz in February of 2015. Boston received 64.8" that month but we had a week or so between storms to dig out and prepare for the next one. It was no picnic, if you were here, you'll never forget it, but over 40" in one day is a whole new ballgame.
One positive to take from all that snow, ski resorts in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire should be good to go for a while…
