Posted on Mar 24, 2015
2014-2015 Wildest Winter Season. Share your stories.
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Here is an article I found on the Weather Channel about the possible world record snowfall in Italy. It is truly amazing on the suspected amount. The full story can be found here... http://www.weather.com/storms/winter/news/italy-24-hour-snow-march-2015
So, the big question...is global weather change (warming) a reality or just some political thing. I can find other articles about why climatologists believe the temps are rising. Ask yourself, where are the temp gauges located?? Airports and in cities. What is surrounding these gauges? You got it...concrete which warms up. It's pretty crazy.
Anyway, I also just read that GLOBALLY, January 2015 was actually quite warm but some areas were extremely cold and snowy while areas were very hot and dry. Just a way that mother nature balances herself out.
So, what is your winter story. Mine wasn't very eventful. I'm in Omaha, NE area and the one answer is...COLD. We were below 0 several times but not much snow; however, the winds are crazy here. The windchills are something to be desired for. I've never seen schools being closed for windchills. It isn't as bad as the time I was in Fairbanks, AK when the temps didn't get above -25F for 3 weeks straight. So...what was your winter like?
On with the article:
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An impressive winter storm may have produced snowfall rates rivaling a long-standing world snowfall record from the 1920s in Italy last week.
According to Meteoweb.eu, 256 centimeters (100.8 inches) of snow was measured in about an 18-hour period in the town of Capracotta, Italy, on Thursday, March 5, 2015. Capracotta (population about 1,000) is located about 90 miles east of central Rome in the Apennine Mountains, at an elevation of 4,662 feet (1,421 meters) above sea level.
The village of Pescocostanzo also picked up 240 centimeters (94.5 inches), or almost 8 feet of snow, last Thursday, according to Meteoweb.eu.
"That would be maintaining a rate of around 5 inches of snow per hour for 18 hours," says senior meteorologist, Tom Moore.
Put another way: Imagine that Boston's January-February 2015 snowfall (99.1 inches) fell in less than 24 hours.
alt
Enlarge
Infrared satellite image of snowstorm affecting Italy's Apennine Mountains on March 5, 2015.
The slow-moving storm responsible for this massive dump of snow in the Italian high country also generated a massive windstorm that downed trees in Tuscany, as well as other parts of Italy, Bosnia and Croatia.
(MORE: Powerhouse windstorm hits Italy, Adriatic)
Is This A World Record?
The short answer is: "Maybe."
The official U.S. record 24-hour snowfall, 75.8 inches, was measured in Silver Lake, Colorado, from April 14-15, 1927, according to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt. However, a February 1963 event in Alaska may have topped that.
Globally, the 24-hour snow record belongs to Mt. Ibuki, Japan, where an incredible 90.6 inches was measured on Valentine's Day, 1927.
A committee of meteorologists and climatologists from the World Meteorological Organization is tasked with investigating global extreme weather events to ensure proper instrumentation and measurement techniques were followed before certifying a new world record.
However, the WMO does not archive or verify world snowfall extremes. "Snowfall sampling is markedly complex and not consistently standardized or monitored around the world," said Dr. Randall Cerveny, chief curator of the WMO's World Climate Extremes list, in a forwarded email.
The U.S., Canada and Japan are the only countries that maintain historical snowfall and snow depth records, according to Burt. Only the liquid equivalent precipitation (how much water from melted snow) is tracked in Europe, he says.
Measuring snowfall isn't a matter of sticking a ruler into the ground. The standard procedure for snow measurement in the United States involves the use of a snowboard, wiped clean after each regular snowfall measurement.
Winter weather expert Tom Niziol was a part of a team looking into a claim of 77 inches of snow in 24 hours from a lake-effect snowstorm in Montague, New York, in 1997. "Instead of the standard four measurements in 24 hours, the observer made five (measurements). Therefore, this snowfall total was disqualified from the record books."
High winds can whip snow into large drifts. Winds gusted over 100 mph in the Capracotta, Italy event. This is another reason a snowboard must be used for accurate snowfall measurements. You don't want to measure the height of a drift, or for that matter, any pre-existing snow prior to the event in a snowfall measurement.
Despite that, Italy's Apennines are notorious for these mammoth snow events. Montevergine, in the southern Apennines, once had 54.4 inches of snow in 24 hours on Feb. 22, 1929, according to Burt.
"The official snowfall stats from the Italian Met service for this event are in," said Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology at Weather Underground.
"According to weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera, who is from Italy, the 24 hour max accumulation was 88cm (34.6") amongst all stations in the area (at the Capracotta regional station of the Civilian Protection)," Masters reported.
"Snowfall amounts were mostly between 70 and 80cm (28 and 31 inches) in 24 hours...snow depths [data] from March 4, 2015 for the region show that there was already around 1 - 1.5 meters of snow on the ground before the event, so presumably a lot of blowing and drifting made for some dramatic-looking snow depths on the ground like in the photo shown here."
(MORE: Deepest Snow on Earth)
Burt also said the Guinness Book of World Records may look into this event.
Regardless, the storm left some incredible piles of snow in its wake.
So, the big question...is global weather change (warming) a reality or just some political thing. I can find other articles about why climatologists believe the temps are rising. Ask yourself, where are the temp gauges located?? Airports and in cities. What is surrounding these gauges? You got it...concrete which warms up. It's pretty crazy.
Anyway, I also just read that GLOBALLY, January 2015 was actually quite warm but some areas were extremely cold and snowy while areas were very hot and dry. Just a way that mother nature balances herself out.
So, what is your winter story. Mine wasn't very eventful. I'm in Omaha, NE area and the one answer is...COLD. We were below 0 several times but not much snow; however, the winds are crazy here. The windchills are something to be desired for. I've never seen schools being closed for windchills. It isn't as bad as the time I was in Fairbanks, AK when the temps didn't get above -25F for 3 weeks straight. So...what was your winter like?
On with the article:
---------------------------------------------------------------
An impressive winter storm may have produced snowfall rates rivaling a long-standing world snowfall record from the 1920s in Italy last week.
According to Meteoweb.eu, 256 centimeters (100.8 inches) of snow was measured in about an 18-hour period in the town of Capracotta, Italy, on Thursday, March 5, 2015. Capracotta (population about 1,000) is located about 90 miles east of central Rome in the Apennine Mountains, at an elevation of 4,662 feet (1,421 meters) above sea level.
The village of Pescocostanzo also picked up 240 centimeters (94.5 inches), or almost 8 feet of snow, last Thursday, according to Meteoweb.eu.
"That would be maintaining a rate of around 5 inches of snow per hour for 18 hours," says senior meteorologist, Tom Moore.
Put another way: Imagine that Boston's January-February 2015 snowfall (99.1 inches) fell in less than 24 hours.
alt
Enlarge
Infrared satellite image of snowstorm affecting Italy's Apennine Mountains on March 5, 2015.
The slow-moving storm responsible for this massive dump of snow in the Italian high country also generated a massive windstorm that downed trees in Tuscany, as well as other parts of Italy, Bosnia and Croatia.
(MORE: Powerhouse windstorm hits Italy, Adriatic)
Is This A World Record?
The short answer is: "Maybe."
The official U.S. record 24-hour snowfall, 75.8 inches, was measured in Silver Lake, Colorado, from April 14-15, 1927, according to Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt. However, a February 1963 event in Alaska may have topped that.
Globally, the 24-hour snow record belongs to Mt. Ibuki, Japan, where an incredible 90.6 inches was measured on Valentine's Day, 1927.
A committee of meteorologists and climatologists from the World Meteorological Organization is tasked with investigating global extreme weather events to ensure proper instrumentation and measurement techniques were followed before certifying a new world record.
However, the WMO does not archive or verify world snowfall extremes. "Snowfall sampling is markedly complex and not consistently standardized or monitored around the world," said Dr. Randall Cerveny, chief curator of the WMO's World Climate Extremes list, in a forwarded email.
The U.S., Canada and Japan are the only countries that maintain historical snowfall and snow depth records, according to Burt. Only the liquid equivalent precipitation (how much water from melted snow) is tracked in Europe, he says.
Measuring snowfall isn't a matter of sticking a ruler into the ground. The standard procedure for snow measurement in the United States involves the use of a snowboard, wiped clean after each regular snowfall measurement.
Winter weather expert Tom Niziol was a part of a team looking into a claim of 77 inches of snow in 24 hours from a lake-effect snowstorm in Montague, New York, in 1997. "Instead of the standard four measurements in 24 hours, the observer made five (measurements). Therefore, this snowfall total was disqualified from the record books."
High winds can whip snow into large drifts. Winds gusted over 100 mph in the Capracotta, Italy event. This is another reason a snowboard must be used for accurate snowfall measurements. You don't want to measure the height of a drift, or for that matter, any pre-existing snow prior to the event in a snowfall measurement.
Despite that, Italy's Apennines are notorious for these mammoth snow events. Montevergine, in the southern Apennines, once had 54.4 inches of snow in 24 hours on Feb. 22, 1929, according to Burt.
"The official snowfall stats from the Italian Met service for this event are in," said Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology at Weather Underground.
"According to weather records expert Maximiliano Herrera, who is from Italy, the 24 hour max accumulation was 88cm (34.6") amongst all stations in the area (at the Capracotta regional station of the Civilian Protection)," Masters reported.
"Snowfall amounts were mostly between 70 and 80cm (28 and 31 inches) in 24 hours...snow depths [data] from March 4, 2015 for the region show that there was already around 1 - 1.5 meters of snow on the ground before the event, so presumably a lot of blowing and drifting made for some dramatic-looking snow depths on the ground like in the photo shown here."
(MORE: Deepest Snow on Earth)
Burt also said the Guinness Book of World Records may look into this event.
Regardless, the storm left some incredible piles of snow in its wake.
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The one thing that just kills me are the observations made by civilians that this is the worst that the weather that has ever been and it does not matter if it is really cold or really hot. It proves Global Warming. You being in weather are a de facto Climatologist and weather forecasts start around climate, climate patterns and observations in real time.
And this does not include other factors like the vertical profile above the Earth. So much that we do not know and as you alluded to, there are some places without the proper protocols and equipment. Temperature gauges too close to paved areas and no ventilation shacks. So much fail in some many instances. So no, the IPCC and Pediatricians are not necessarily right about Climate Change and who is causing it. After 35 years experience in Weather, I just shake my head at the ignorance.
And this does not include other factors like the vertical profile above the Earth. So much that we do not know and as you alluded to, there are some places without the proper protocols and equipment. Temperature gauges too close to paved areas and no ventilation shacks. So much fail in some many instances. So no, the IPCC and Pediatricians are not necessarily right about Climate Change and who is causing it. After 35 years experience in Weather, I just shake my head at the ignorance.
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Maj (Join to see)
Amen to that. Oh well, it really isn't causing any heartache to me but it very annoying but humorous at the same time on how ppl take this situation.
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SSgt (Join to see)
I remember at Ramstein a Full Colonel brow beating me over a high wind forecast. I would not change it for love or money. He stomped away unhappy after I told him I would not take the warning out. Later that evening we had winds nearly 100mph in a gust. Vindicated but also knowing how dangerous it can be. Anyhow, nice meeting another weatherman. Take no prisoners. lol
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