>Here is Jesse Ferrell’s post from yesterday talking about the crazy snow claim from Des Moines, Iowa as well as the incredible snow facts for the southern states and Mid-Atlantic states.
Lookin’ like a fool with yo snow on the ground.”– Weatherman’s youtube reinterpretation of American Idol’s “Pants on the Ground“
Thanks to blog reader George for pointing out this article to me. FoxBusiness.com is claiming that Des Moines, Iowa has received “25+ feet of snow” via “50 straight days of snowfall of more than 5 inches.” AccuWeather.com records show that the city has received only 28.5 inches of snow in 2010 (about 50 days), many with no snow at all. The National Weather Service in Des Moines shows a similar amount: 28.7″.
For sure, this season is setting some snow records, but we need to separate snowfall records from snow cover (snow on the ground… lookin’ like a fool with yo snow on the ground). Snow cover is harder to claim records on because the data is less well maintained. I tweeted last week about how all 48 continental U.S. states had snow cover on February 13th. No way to tell if that was a record, but it was pretty unusual.
Snow Depth Nationwide On February 14th
So what’s wrong with Fox’s article? They don’t quote a source… even if they had mistaken snowfall for snow cover, AccuWeather.com shows that Des Moines has had 77 days straight with over 5 inches of snow cover. The NWS issued this statement on Feb. 16th saying that the old record of 54 consectutive days of 5+ snow cover had been broken, and the new record was then 70 days – this is probably the source where the numbers were misinterpreted from. The NWS goes on to say that this season ranks 9th, not 1st, for snowfall, and the maximum seasonal snowfall ever in Des Moines was 71 inches, so the idea of 25 feet (300 inches) in 50 days is utter nonsense.
Why the record? Since Des Moines is only 9th for snowfall, it’s not the snow, as much as the persistent cold, that has allowed this to happen. According to AccuWeather.com they are 6 degrees below normal for this month, with January coming in at -3.5 F. They haven’t been above 35 degrees since January 24th, so the snow just can’t melt.
A similar situation is unfolding in other areas… many reports from our Facebook Fans in the Tennessee and North Carolina mountains say that the snow just won’t leave there this season, which is really unusual. I expect snow cover records are being broken in those areas as well, though data is not well maintained and unless the NWS issues a statement, we wouldn’t know for sure. They issued a statement for Grand Island Nebraska earlier this month saying they had broken their 3+ and 1 foot plus snow cover records.
At Mount Mitchell, North Carolina, the snow depth was 58 inches as of this writing (thanks to blog reader Trent for pointing this out), and over at Mount Leconte, Tennessee it’s 38 inches. Trent says that the record for snow cover at Mount Leconte is 40 inches but at Mount Mitchell, they’ve set an all-time new depth record (for themselves and the state of North Carolina) — previously 50 inches set in 1942 and 1993, and that they could be on the way to a new February or seasonal snow total there (data is harder to get for that).
Today’s NOAA NOHRSC satellite estimate of snow depth analysis shown above quotes the highest snow depths in the southern Appalachians as between 50 and 75 inches in parts of western Maryland, eastern West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. A couple places included in those higher amounts are Vinco, PA where StormChaser Ron keeps getting pounded with upslope snow, and Seven Springs Ski Resort in PA, who is saying on their website today that they have had 180 inches* of snow since December 10th (again, could be a record but no way to know) and show snow depths in a video that appear to be close to 75 inches. But the most impressive seasonal snowfall report comes from Timberline Four Seasons, WV who claims 217 inches this season (not to be confused with the Timberline Lodge in Oregon, there’s your 25 feet of snow!). *I had incorrectly shown this as “108 inches” earlier, which made me doubt the Timberline number, something I now see as plausible.
Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, apparently 94″ of snowfall accummulation in two weeks
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