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Wintry Favorite winter storms of all time

It's hard for me to pick just one.

February 12th, 2010 -- I still remember you starting that thread on Accuweather, GG. The southeast group tracked that storm for about 9 or 10 days. We had some good times over there for about 2 1/2 years. I heard the forum will soon be closing. Good memories). About 8 1/2" from that particular storm.

January 7th, 1988 -- It was pretty darn cold when this storm came through the south. I recall receiving sleet, snow, sleet and more snow. We stayed out of school for a week, as it was so cold and that stuff wouldn't melt for jack.

January 2nd-3rd, 2002 -- A two-part snowstorm. A pretty, decent thumping on the 2nd, and added maybe another 3" the following day as there was light snow and snow showers throughout the entire day.

January 24th, 2000 -- The surprising snowstorm, which is widely known as the "Carolina Crusher" for most folks in the Triangle area of NC. Ended up with about 6 1/2"-7" of snow. It came down rather hard at times.

March 24th, 1983 -- A very, late season snowstorm in the deep south. It's slightly vague in my memory, though. I think we had a couple inches at the most.

A few others: December 26, 2010 (we had about 2 1/2", but it gets added due to it snowing Xmas time); late February 1989 (picked up about 4"); January 10th, 2011 (initially, looked like we'd receive more sleet/freezing rain than snow, but ended up with about 7" of snow and a nice glaze of sleet/freezing rain); March 1st-2nd, 1980 (cold as the dickens....... Mainly, sleet/freezing rain on the 1st; but mainly snow on the 2nd); April 3rd, 1987 (not much, if any, accumulation....... but, the fact it snowed down this way in April is impressive. It snowed for about an hour and a half then tapered off).
 
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March 1-2, 1980 edges out Dec. 26, 2010. We dug tunnels through 3 foot snow drifts man it was amazing
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December 8, 2017 was my favorite snow to witness in my home state of Alabama. I’ve seen many 1-3 inch events, but 4.5 was what I received and it snowed buckets full for a couple hours. Probably wasted an inch and a half due to how warm it was at first, but it was awesome. It was our first year in our new house for my wife and I, and it was so beautiful with all the Christmas lights up.



Now my favorite storm out of state has to be Christmas 2010. We had a cabin in pigeon forge and we had 1-3 on Christmas Day, but Christmas night the NW flow set up and we woke up to probably 8 inches of the prettiest snow I have ever seen.

I am still waiting on my first 6+ inch snow in Alabama, and I feel like it will come soon. I love the tracking and waiting on it just as much as I love it when it gets here. I love being under a winter storm warning in the south and the absolute joy and excitement that it brings to many people like me.
 
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Several storms come to mind, but the best storm of all has to be Jan 7-8, 1988. 16 inches of powder and temps near 20 degrees for the storm. As far as the coldest storm goes, March 2-3, 1980 takes the prize. Heavy snow (blizzard conditions) with temps in the upper single digits during the height of the storm. The Christmas storm comes in 3rd just because of the date and how rare a white Christmas is for most.I was only 4 years for the Feb 1969 storm, but my folks still talk about the 15 inches it dumped and all the thunder and lightning during the storm. That's my list..... here's hoping I can top those this season.
 
Jan 88, hands down, forever!! That storm can’t be duplicated these days. That was before warm noses and +NAOs, were the norm
 
Snowpacalypse and Snoverkill. 35" and then an additional 19" just a few days apart. I was living in Crofton MD. At the time The record breaking winter of 09-10 up there. There was literally no place to put all the snow, saw a car in my parking lot get totalled because a mound of snow collapsed on it. Blizzard conditions several times during those two. Lots of fun,but trying to work was a pain.
 
Easy Blizzard of 93 , lock the thread . Right around 16 inches at my parents house . The wind was incredible and I remember hearing transformers blowing all throughout the night

My second favorite was my first White Christmas in 2010. We were at the in-laws in north Alabama , 4.5 inches on Christmas morning is something I’ll never forget

There were also some pretty epic ice storms in the mid to late 90s as well


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Tarheel1 said:
Jan 88, hands down, forever!! That storm can’t be duplicated these days. That was before warm noses and +NAOs, were the norm
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Mack,
That was a great storm at KATL, where there was 4” of sleet, a Tony dream!

Ironically, Jan 1988 was during a solid +NAO. And it wasn’t just a +NAO blip. Practically every day of that winter had a +NAO, including 64 straight days 12/25/87-2/26/88:

ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/cwlinks/norm.daily.nao.index.b500101.current.ascii

I’ve said in the past that a -NAO is overrated for major SE US winter storm chances, including for the Carolinas. If folks would look at the data in this link, they’d realize this. I’m not saying it hurts the chances, but I am saying that it doesn’t help all that much per looking at all major winter storms since 1950. The edge with a -NAO has been only slight at best.

Big Carolina winter storms during a solidly +NAO period:

2/1973, 2/1989, 3/1980, 3/1983, 1/1988, 3/2009, 2/2014, the 2 big snows of 1/2018

There has been a significantly greater correlation of big Carolina snowstorms with +PNA than
-NAO though not near a perfect correlation as that is not the case with any index:

ftp://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/cwlinks/norm.daily.pna.index.b500101.current.ascii

My favorite ATL major snow actually experienced: probably snowjam 1/1982. Favorite ATL sleet: 2/1979. Favorite ATL ZRs: the back to back weekend 1/2000 storms.
SAV major snows experienced: 2/1968 and 2/1973 though I was just a kid and didn’t enjoy them as much as I would today as an adult. Favorite major SAV storm (and possibly favorite anywhere): 1/2018 hands down. This was a combo of .5” ZR and 2” of sleet and snow, the largest liquid equivalent for a winter storm there (0.75”) since 1922! And it was 100% wintry with temps under 32 the entire time.
 
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The best one for me was the Blizzard of '93. I was 13 and got to play in more snow than I had ever seen at that age! Course now as an adult I've been to Granby, Colorado and seen TONS and then there was that snow storm of 2011 and 2014, though they don't compare to having multiple snowmen on the front lawn and sledding from the front yard to the fence in the backyard in 1993!!
 
#1 - March 1993 - A no brainer for me. I was still living in my hometown of Rome, GA at the time and we received 18" of snow along with my only personal experience of both thundersnow and blizzard conditions. The downside was that we were without power for 6 days. A wood-burning fireplace and gas stove were our saving graces that week! Considering it was 25 years ago, it's amazing how good the models did with that storm as it was well forecasted several days out. To demonstrate just how regionwide the effects were from the storm, the power crew that fixed the lines in our neighborhood was from Michigan!

#2 - January 7-8, 1988 (Rome, Ga) - A solid 6" of snow followed by a nice, slick layer of sleet on top made for epic sledding. Tony would've loved it!

#3 - April 2-3, 1987 (Rome, Ga) - Snow in April? Yep, and quite a bit of it. I believe we ended up with between 5-6" which would've been a great storm at anytime during the winter. But, two weeks after astronomical spring? Unreal!
 
El Kabong said:
#1 - March 1993 - A no brainer for me. I was still living in my hometown of Rome, GA at the time and we received 18" of snow along with my only personal experience of both thundersnow and blizzard conditions. The downside was that we were without power for 6 days. A wood-burning fireplace and gas stove were our saving graces that week! Considering it was 25 years ago, it's amazing how good the models did with that storm as it was well forecasted several days out. To demonstrate just how regionwide the effects were from the storm, the power crew that fixed the lines in our neighborhood was from Michigan!

#2 - January 7-8, 1988 (Rome, Ga) - A solid 6" of snow followed by a nice, slick layer of sleet on top made for epic sledding. Tony would've loved it!

#3 - April 2-3, 1987 (Rome, Ga) - Snow in April? Yep, and quite a bit of it. I believe we ended up with between 5-6" which would've been a great storm at anytime during the winter. But, two weeks after astronomical spring? Unreal!
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That late 80s/early 90s period was pretty awesome !
 
1. SotC 1993 (13"); I was in Tuscaloosa, AL as a ten year old and loved every minute. Would love something like this as an adult
2. 9-10 January 2011 (9"); First winter in Huntsville, AL. Huntsville received over 21" that winter from 4 or 5 different storms. Thought I'd moved to the great white north, lol
3. 1994 Ice Storm (~2" sleet and freezing rain); also in Tuscaloosa, barely remember, and I may have the year wrong, but we were without power for quite a while
 
Looks like 93 is the SE favorite, not surprised. Just hope I get to see it one more time but with my kids. Great Storm with great memories with my dad.
 
Nice hearing all your input on favorite storms. Thankfully I was not alive in 1993, RDU only got like one inch from the storm of the century which seems to be the SE Favorite. I also find January 2011 interesting because it was mostly an ice storm for us, yet farther south it was a significant snow storm. Proves how different snow totals can be even in the same region of the country.
 
My fave: Jan 1988, 10+ inches of powder, topped with sleet, on the ground for nearly 2 weeks.

Runner up: Mar 1993, 20+ inches of heavy wet snow, along with thunder and high winds.
 
With a name like "Storm of the Century" it's not surprising at the number of amazing facts/statistics associated with the storm. A few of the more notable include:
1. Every state from Alabama to Maine (going NE, of course) had at least one reporting station with at least a foot of snow.
2. At one point during the early morning hours of March 13th, every county in Alabama was under a Heavy Snow Warning, which will likely never happen again. I still have a copy (somewhere) of the forecasts and discussions issued by NWS Birmingham leading up to and during the storm. Several years back I posted a PDF copy on the old TalkWeather forum.
3. Mount Mitchell, NC reported 14-foot drifts
4. 28.38 inches barometric pressure was measured at White Plains, NY (Cat 3 Hurricane Strength)*
5. For the first time, every major airport on the East Coast was closed at one time or another by the storm.
6. 60,000 lightning strikes were measured during the storm

Here's a graphic showing the winter side of the storm. The effects from the severe side of the storm were just as devastating. It was truly the Storm of the Century.

march-11-13-1993-rsi-climate-gov.jpg
 
1) Christmas 2010 (lived in Raleigh) - 9 inches of beautiful snow. My father-in-law was visiting from Florida. He complained the whole time. His dog that he got when he lived in Montana had a blast.
2) February 2014 (lived in Winston-Salem) - like 10 inches of snow/sleet mix (mostly snow). It took forever to melt.
3) December 2017 (lived in Roswell, GA) - 8 inches of all snow.

Runner Up - pretty much any snowstorm when I lived in NC that my dog Abby (see avatar) got to play in the snow. She loved the snow so much.
 
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