Where is the Snow?

Snowmageddon 2009

It’s now January 17th, 2012. My car is clean, the roads aren’t stained with salt, the grass is green and I wore a t-shirt outside last week.  Is it really mid-January? The last time we had a  measurable snow was in October 2011 when we received 7″ of heavy wet snow during peak foliage conditions (the 100 year storm) so rare I was so excited for this event. I wonder if I had jinxed myself somehow that day though. I remember saying to myself  ”I’m so happy I had the chance to photograph  snow during peak foliage conditions, I don’t care if we do not get anymore snow this year, I’m happy with this rare snowfall.”  (as seen below)

Combining Seasons

Well so far, besides two other dustings of snow, we haven’t seen anything. Philadelphia  has no snow this year, Boston has only have a couple inches.. What is going on? The last 2 years we have broken snowfall records time and time again.. Now it seems as the snow has run out. Some factor that play into the lack of snow are this. The jet stream is in a position which allows warmer air to flow up in front of the storm systems that ride along it and all storm are moving to our north and west, we need them to our south and east. Need a Greenland high pressure to help out.

	This Season	Average season-to-date	Last season-to-date
Boston	2.7″	17.2″	40.4″
Hartford	14.6″	15.7″	45.4″
New York	2.9″	8.6″	30.9″
Philadelphia	0.5″	6.6″	21.1″

As you can see snowfall is way below average for this time of year. In  previous years I had already found myself in handfull of snowstorms, this year, I struggle to find it anywhere.

December 2010

 

Tree of Winter

 February Nor’Easter 2010 – Snowmageddon

 

 Snow Camping January 2010. Each winter I watch the forecasts like a Hawk wishing for a monster storm to ride up the coast. If / when it does I will be there waiting for it. I love how snow can transform any landscape urban or rural into something entirely different. Something as simple as a  tree in your backyard can turn into something new and beautiful.

On the Road

 White out conditions make for deadly travel during the day and at night. I have documented some of the biggest snowstorms on the east coast and if it wasn’t for reliable equipment it could have been ugly a couple times.

 

Driving through 15" of snow

 Being able to get around in snowstorms forced me to sell my old 1999 Chevy  Camaro SS a few years back (still miss her). I needed something that could handle every season and I couldn’t afford to get stuck in two inches of snow again with the SS.

 

Buried

 With a possible snow for the I-95 corridor this weekend, I will keep by eyes on the weather and hope for a snow. Winter better get it’s act in gear soon or I will have to think about moving to Canada. The jet stream needs to change its route, or we won’t see any major snowstorms this year. So far this winter it has stayed to my north and west, We need it t dip in the central US and ride up the eastern seaboard to get some heavy snowfalls.

 

Super Blizzard 35" of Snow 2010

 

 February Thundersnow

 

Battling the Cold

 

Protecting my gear/equipment  is just as important as protecting my well being.

 

Ice Night

 

The track a storm takes will determine where the snow/rain line will be. When warm air overrides colder air you can get sleet and freezing rain. Freezing rain is a nightmare, I can drive in 20″ of snow, I can’t drive in freezing rain.. unless it’s a flat road then maybe.  This particular night we had about one inch of freezing rain which brought down numerous trees and powerlines. It also turned the landscape into an incredible winter wonderland. As shown above.

 

Snow on the Coast

 

Hope you have a winter filled up tons of snow!

Advertisement