DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME FACTS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

Folks, I cannot take full credit for today's blog post, as Brian Neudorff found the article where today's subject matter stems from. He blogged about the 1999 Snowstorm... so I took up the "Spring Ahead" post. But as we all know, we lose an hour of sleep tonight as we turn our clocks ahead at 2AM on Sunday morning.

First and foremost: It is "Daylight Saving Time"... sans "S" on the Saving. I will freely admit that in conversation, I say Savings time. But this is not the correct version. But don't worry, apparently there are more Google searches for the incorrect way than the correct way!

What else... ahh yes! Apparently daylight makes people better drivers. When DST is instilled, it lowers the frequency of lethal car accidents. That's always good to know.

Arizona and Hawaii are the only two states that do not observe DST. But let's be honest folks... do either of those places really need an excuse to extend sunshine? We'll gladly take their extras.

For the rest of the interesting facts... click here. Enjoy!

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE MARCH BLIZZRD OF 1999

Written by: Brian Neudorff

March 3-4 1999 a deep low pressure moved from West Virginia north across New York to Quebec, Canada. Heavy rain changed to heavy snow as cold air circulated into the region. Snow fell at the rate of two to three inches per hour. Across Monroe and Wayne counties snowfall amounts were greatest with over two feet falling. 24.3" of snow fell in a 24 hour period, this was the second greatest snowfall in a 24-hour period. The record, 29.8", occurred in March 1900. The near record snowfall fell during a 15 hour period starting at 11:00 PM Wednesday March 3rd through 2:00 PM Thursday March 4th, 1999.

The winds were also very strong with gusty northwest winds as high as 45 mph and produced blizzard conditions at the Rochester airport for a 7 hour period from 5:00 AM until 12:00 PM on March 4th, 1999. Drifts reached four to five feet in places. The New York State Thruway (I-90) was closed from Depew to Syracuse. Several hundred cars were stranded in the closed section. The Governor declared Monroe, Wayne, Oswego, Wyoming, Livingston, and Cayuga counties State Disaster Areas. Orleans, Ontario, Wyoming, Livingston, Monroe and Wayne counties were also declared Federal Disaster Areas. The National Guard was called on to help remove cars, rescue stranded motorists and deliver food and medical supplies. Schools and businesses were closed throughout the area. Nearly 10,000 customers lost power during the storm.

Some of the snow reports included: Hamlin 28"; Perinton and Fairport 26"; Penfield 25"'; Ontario and Rochester Airport 24"; Walworth 23"; Victor 22"; Greece and Webster 20"; Portageville 17"; Palmyra, Canandaigua, Avon and Franklinville 16"; Mt. Morris 15"; Dansville 14"; Oswego, Honeoye, and Angelica 13"; Batavia, Friendship and Albion 12"; Olean, Alfred, Whitesville, and Strykersville 11"; Sodus and Salamanca 10"; Bennington 9"; Wales 8"; and Darien and Arkwright 7".

If that wasn't enough, to add insult to injury a strong storm moved from Ohio to New England and dropped a general six to twelve inches of snow across the entire region. The snow fell just two days after much of the area was recovering from another major winter storm. The heavy snow was blamed for numerous auto accidents--some with injuries. Rochester, NY received another 18.4 inches of snow, bringing the three-day total to 40.7 inches. This established several new snowfall records for that city, including a record snow depth of 36 inches.

Other snow amounts included: Fairport, Penfield, Castorland and Ontario 18"; Pittsford and Montague 17"; Webster, Greece and Palmyra 16"; Mt. Morris 15"; Highmarket and Lyndonville 14"; Wales, Albion, Sherman, Victor, Honeoye and Watertown 12"; Lockport, Bennington, Arkwright, and West Monroe 11"; Youngstown, Alden, Perrysburg, Dansville, Avon and Oswego 10"; Niagara Falls, North Tonawanda, Buffalo, Darien, South Dayton, Friendship and Fulton 9"; Elma, Angelica, Franklinville, and Alfred 8"

THE 1991 MARCH ICE STORM

Written By: Scott Hetsko

On March 3rd-4th, 1991, a devastating ice storm paralyzed a large section of Western and Central New York. The freezing rain began during the late afternoon of Sunday the 3rd, continuing through the morning of the 4th. The ice coated trees and power lines and sent them crashing to the ground along with utility poles and transformers. There were also numerous reports of structural damage from the weight of the ice. Ice buildups ranged from one to two inches over the hardest hit areas. Over the western fringes of the storm area, the coating of ice was followed by 4-6 inches of heavy, wet snow. At its peak, nearly 325,000 customers were without electricity. Virtually all schools and businesses were shut down Monday and Tuesday (March 4th and 5th) in the affected areas. In the city of Rochester, schools were closed for the entire week. High water in flooded basements was commonplace when sump pumps were unable to work due to power failures. Governor Mario Cuomo declared eighteen counties state disaster areas. State agencies were authorized to provide manpower and equipment in helping residents affected by the storm. Utility crews were brought in from Ohio, Pennsylvania and Canada to aid in the restoration of power which was not accomplished entirely until March 16th. President Bush signed an order declaring 12 counties federal disaster areas. Until its time, it was the most costly natural disaster in the history of New York State as storm damages exceeded $375 million.

EVER TOO COLD TO SNOW?

Written by: Brian Neudorff

As I was checking my twitter account (you can follow me my twitter account is BrianNeudorff or follow StormWatch8) I came across this comment from someone I follow, "Ugh... Snow. Although, it was too cold to snow before, so this is probably an improvement, cause it's warmer, no?"

The idea that it is too cold to snow is a common misconception, that probably originated from fact that bitterly cold temperatures, even at total saturation (100% relative humidity), holds very little moisture. The truth is, it can never be too cold to snow on Earth.

Very cold air is dense and wants to sink, and sinking air usually equals a stable atmosphere. A more appropriate saying would be, it is "too dynamically stable to snow" This means the atmosphere lacks lift to form clouds and precipitation to snow, but living along the Great Lakes, when we get really cold arctic air we can see very light lake effect snow showers & flurries. This happens because we are adding more moisture to the air from the lakes & as the air arrives on shore it is lifted by the land and can form snow showers.

The fact that snow piles up year after year in Arctic regions, where temperatures can get as cold as -50 degrees illustrates that it is never too cold to snow.

100" OF SNOW TOO COMMON LATELY!

Written By: Scott Hetsko

This Winter has reached an all to familiar milestone: 100" of snow for the season! This used to be a rare occurrence in Rochester. Get this: There were NO 100" snow seasons from 1922 all the way until 1956! That's 33 winters and in the last 19, we've had 14 seasons with over 100" of snow (75 percent). Now that's quite a streak.

Do you have any theories as to WHY we've been so snowy since 1990? Any comments are welcome!

MARCH: IN LIKE A LION OR A LAMB?

Written by: Brian Neudorff

If you live along the eastern coast of the United states from the Carolinas all way up to New England March is definitely coming in like a lion. If you are out west in Denver where March came in with sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s then March came in like a lamb. But what about Rochester and the rest of Western New York? Is it more like a lion or a lamb.

In my opinion, with mostly sunny skies, very little wind, and no precipitation, March arrived in Western New York as a lamb not a lion. After talking to a few people it's starting to appear that my opinion doesn't count. Because of the harsh cold on Sunday many people view March arriving as a lion and hopefully leaving as a lamb.

It is very cold to start the month. We will be about 20 degrees below the average for Monday and about 15 degrees below average for Tuesday but the good news by weeks end is that warmer weather will arrive and we could be in the 40s by next weekend. As of now, that warming trend appears to be accompanied by some rain showers. We will have to wait and see.

FEBRUARY 2009 WEATHER SUMMARY

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

Contrary to the months preceding it, February 2009 actually wasn't quite as "wintry" as it could have been.

The average temperature for the month was 29.0 degrees. That is 3.7 degrees ABOVE normal, which is a relatively strong difference. We had 10 days where the high temperature was lower that 32 degrees, and 25 days where the minimum temperature was below 32 degrees.

On the precipitation side of things, this was the first month of the winter where we underachieved in the snowfall category. We received 13.9" of snow during the month, compared to an average of 22.2" for previous Februaries. This means that we were 8.3" below normal.

So where do we stand with regards to season snowfall? Well, since December and January were so snowy, we are still 22.4" above normal for snowfall to this date. Just over an inch of snow fell on the last day of February which put us over the 100" mark for the season... at 100.5".

Ready for Spring yet?