It’s Over Johnny

[PRINCETON ANGLER]

While we may not have seen the last flake of 2021-2022, it sure seems like other than Tombo, Erie, and our State College poster, our Winter is over. That means it time for grades. Participate in all or some of what follows as you wish.

1) How do you rate the Winter overall including temps, snow, gloom, whatever you value?

2) How did the Winter due relative to your expectations on December 1st?

3) What is your favorite, or at least memorable, takeaway from the season?
 

My Submission:

1) I enjoyed the consistent cold of January and we had enough snow to keep it interesting. December was my least favorite month as I always like a fast start to the season….. Grade C

2) I thought we were a bit lucky in the 20/21 Nina. My expectations were fairly low for 21/22 and with indices unfavorable a good bit of the season I think we were lucky again this year…. Grade B+

3) I was impressed with how many trips we took into single digits.

For your entertainment, enjoy this clip…. Think Heisy as Rambo, and Tombo as Colonel Trautman

 

 

[Rainshadow]

I would grade it as a C-. 

My December 1st expectations were close to what happened.  Not a shut-out, but not anything great.

Because of the SPV being on steroids most of this winter as it went along, I'd grade that part as an overachiever. The disconnect between the SPV and Trop during January gave a salvageable month.  Quite honestly just looking at the SPV strength, it had 2019-20 written all over it.

I was just impressed on how well the Canadian model did this winter and what a dog the UKMET was. The GFS seems to always manage to do GFS things regardless of upgrades.

 

[Parsley]

C. 

Plenty of cold. About 70% of normal snowfall (IMBY) with no big events. One solid ice event. A forgettable but not miserable winter overall. 

[Chubbs]

D.

Bad snow year - 13.7", slow tracking year, warm overall, January salvaged a passing grade

A slight disappointment vs expectations.

[CCsnow]

I give it a C. One more 2-4 event verifying would have bumped it up. January was a very wintry month, the rest pretty much sucked. Hard to complain too much though. Very easy to have virtually snowless winters with no sustained cold in the city, which would have really bummed me out as I was very excited for some winter weather after six years in California. Biggest complaint is that the bigger events all had poor snow growth that limited the aesthetic appeal, and the biggest event was so windblown that there were still patches of grass in the parks. Honestly, the prettiest snowfall was probably the first of the season on 1/3 where I was on the fringe with very light accumulation. Nice flakes that fell during the day, I had the day off and I felt like a little kid seeing snow for the first time in years. 

Considering the lack of any Atlantic blocking all winter, we made out pretty well. Kudos/mental health check to me for being outside for like 75% of the snow we saw, lol. 

[frankdp23]

1. I think we all grade differently.  To me, snow and days of snow cover come first.  For me an average season snow wise starts as a C.  I got about 60% of normal, so D there and snow cover was also a D.  The cold for about 45-50 days in Jan-Feb was very nice and I had more below 20 degree temps than I can remember. Dec was a zero though, so temps I would say B-. March which I count,  has been nothing winter wise.  Not cashing in on a decent storm or two during that cold stretch was disappointing.  Overall season to me was a C- to D+. 

2. This winter was about what I thought it would be.  I was thinking 18-24", finished in that range.  

3. Favorite moment was more personal.  It was getting my ATV and plowing with it.  Also riding it around with my son on some fields around here.  That was super fun and cant wait to do next year, though I hope to go mudding a few times from now until fall.  Least favorite would be the terrible December and missing the one large storm that brought the shore area's 15-20".

[Captain Lou]

Interior SNJ, I would give December an F, January a B+ being we had 3 events with 4 plus inches but not much sustainability. After the January 28/29 coastal, nothing of any significance here despite a few threats that turned out to be duds. So February and March I would give a D.

[iceman56]

I think our climate has shifted to a central VA venue, so the winter expectations have adjusted accordingly.   So give it a C.

Snow wasn't terrible, just no decent storms.

Decent amount of single digits, but no brutally cold days.

Biggest complaint was Nina could not let a pattern stick so it was a constant whipsaw.

[Chubbs]

11 hours ago, frankdp23 said:

1. I think we all grade differently.  To me, snow and days of snow cover come first.  For me an average season snow wise starts as a C.  I got about 60% of normal, so D there and snow cover was also a D.  The cold for about 45-50 days in Jan-Feb was very nice and I had more below 20 degree temps than I can remember. Dec was a zero though, so temps I would say B-. March which I count,  has been nothing winter wise.  Not cashing in on a decent storm or two during that cold stretch was disappointing.  Overall season to me was a C- to D+. 

2. This winter was about what I thought it would be.  I was thinking 18-24", finished in that range.  

3. Favorite moment was more personal.  It was getting my ATV and plowing with it.  Also riding it around with my son on some fields around here.  That was super fun and cant wait to do next year, though I hope to go mudding a few times from now until fall.  Least favorite would be the terrible December and missing the one large storm that brought the shore area's 15-20".

That's the way I graded. Average gets a C and snow gets more weight than temps. I expected C- going in.

[snowlurker]

C

December a waste.

January just fine with some plowable events down here.

February and March, pretty much no-shows with cold here and there.

I was reading for spring at the beginning of March.

[Parsley]

Overall pretty good agreement, in the C to D range. Unless you lived near the coast for a biggie, a forgettable winter real quickly.

[Allsnow]

Horrible. D 

[icicleman]

I agree that there is something special about watching weather elements combine to create forbidding, brutal winter weather (and then having to deal with it), and the rarity of it down here in Delvalabad probably makes it even more special, but I favor winters with varied weather, so this winter exceeded my expectations. Beautiful trout fishing in December and February, xcountry skiing (twice!) in Ardmore in January, cold enough for decent JFBB skiing, couple snow bombs at the shore, got mulch down early in the warm+dry end of Feb.  Overall: B-

[mshaffer526]

C-. How many pages were in that tracking thread from last month? 🤣

[Chubbs]

57 minutes ago, icicleman said:

I agree that there is something special about watching weather elements combine to create forbidding, brutal winter weather (and then having to deal with it), and the rarity of it down here in Delvalabad probably makes it even more special, but I favor winters with varied weather, so this winter exceeded my expectations. Beautiful trout fishing in December and February, xcountry skiing (twice!) in Ardmore in January, cold enough for decent JFBB skiing, couple snow bombs at the shore, got mulch down early in the warm+dry end of Feb.  Overall: B-

Would give this year an A for temperature range: 12F swing Dec--->Jan, 25F average daily range in Feb,  20F average range in Jan, several 40F range days, Jan/Feb range 0.0 to 70.0F.

[Parsley]

2 hours ago, mshaffer526 said:

C-. How many pages were in that tracking thread from last month? 🤣

Those guys posting daily in the tracking thread deserve a beer or beverage of their choice. Much thanks to them for keep interest afloat here. 

[eastonwx]

C-

Minus: Snowfall of 19.4", when avg. is about 30"

Minus: Never used my snowblower

Plus: Did have a couple stretches where cold and snow cover lasted for about a week give or take

Of course, this is all subjective

 

[chescowx]

Solid D (escapes an F only due to January cold)

Based simply on the overall rankings (128 winter seasons)

26th warmest winter 33.9 vs. average of 31.4 (+2.5)

30th least snow 20.5" vs. average of 36.0" (-15.5")

To underscore how very warm the current warm cycle of local winters have been... of the top 25 warm winters - 13 have occurred just since 1980!

Top 25 warm seasons By ~40 year cycles: 1900-1939 (7) / 1940-1979 (5) and 1980 to present (13)

[chescowx]

14 hours ago, iceman56 said:

I think our climate has shifted to a central VA venue, so the winter expectations have adjusted accordingly.   So give it a C.

Snow wasn't terrible, just no decent storms.

Decent amount of single digits, but no brutally cold days.

Biggest complaint was Nina could not let a pattern stick so it was a constant whipsaw.

Agreed! temp wise our current climate phase = Virginia - however our current snow cycle is like Chicago in Chesco - so snow was IMHO terrible vs. average

 

[mshaffer526]

1 hour ago, Parsley said:

Those guys posting daily in the tracking thread deserve a beer or beverage of their choice. Much thanks to them for keep interest afloat here. 

Totally agree. I didn't have time to post all the time but you can bet I read every page. 

[ACwx]

I may have mentioned this on another thread before, but there is a metric developed to quantify how severe a winter season has been for various cities. This is hosted on the Midwest Regional Climate Center website here - https://mrcc.purdue.edu/research/awssi/indexAwssi.jsp

Definitely go in and play around with a few of the charts. Below is the overall region categorized and specifics for Atlantic City. Somewhat surprisingly we are only going to end up in the "Average" category, unless the cold snap over the next few days pushes us up into "Severe".

 

 

[Parsley]

45 minutes ago, ACwx said:

I may have mentioned this on another thread before, but there is a metric developed to quantify how severe a winter season has been for various cities. This is hosted on the Midwest Regional Climate Center website here - https://mrcc.purdue.edu/research/awssi/indexAwssi.jsp

Definitely go in and play around with a few of the charts. Below is the overall region categorized and specifics for Atlantic City. Somewhat surprisingly we are only going to end up in the "Average" category, unless the cold snap over the next few days pushes us up into "Severe".

 

 

Interesting. The index should have a YAWN option with a dot right over my house

Personally, to me it all comes down to sunshine. I can handle 100" of snow and snow cover for months on end as long as there are sunny days to enjoy over the winter. Lose the sun for long stretches and displeasure increases in me. This is why the older I get the stronger my desire to move south or west in another 10-15 years.

[philastorian]

It's one thing to have a C or D when everyone else is also in that range. It's another thing entirely when everyone else cranked out variations on As.  😛 Definitely my favorite part of this winter was hauling my snowshoes down to cape may point after they got their big whack. But for here? C-. Saved from a D by the fact that so many of the piddling little storms were at least a esthetically pleasing. I miss last winter. 

[JCT777]

I’d give it a C-, due to below normal snow and not many days of actual snow cover.

[Rojojojo]

C-

In a winter featuring a handful of very small marginal events, the city was bound to see a lot of white rain.  Two things saved winter from a failing grade: first, the end of January event; and second, the fact that winter featured several mild, sunny breaks (which IMO we may as well enjoy if we're not going to have snow).