I have to say, I have lived in Washington D.C. area my entire life, and it is very rare where we see this type of attention given to a storm, this far in advance, and this much. SO much so that almost all major school systems in the D.C. Metropolitan area have already closed for tomorrow. The school system closures started coming in as early as Thursday morning. The hardware and grocery stores here, are a madhouse, and many are running out of basic items. I saw this myself when I went to pick up a few things at the grocery store up the street. Some shelves are just bare. The parking lots are INSANE. It is the type of crowds you normally see before thanksgiving and Christmas here. There are major traffic jams just getting into and out of parking lots, and there are not enough shopping carts at stores to accommodate the crowds.

Hardware stores or any other place that carries ice melt, snow shovels, scrapers, blowers... or any other winter weather cleaning equipment, forget it, they are SOLD OUT, and have been all week. One hardware store up the street from me was on the news, they sold 350 snow shovels in 5 hours!!!!! All stores that sell this stuff is It truly is insanity. Youd think that people would go get this stuff in advance, and you would think that people would keep their snow removal items on hand. Where do they all go? LOL! Oh, and the prices, they have gone up on all that stuff. LOL! Im glad I'm prepared and keep that stuff on hand. I just don't get the "end of the world" mentality when it comes to winter storms, especially in the Washington metropolitan area. Its just crazy!

Fortunately unlike last week, this storm didnt come suddenly. Also the rain/snow line will be farther north this time so extreme southeast Virginia and southward along the coast should be spared from snow.

The mid atlantic already got a record snow in december, this storm will be the 3rd major snow storm for most of the mid atlantic. Areas in New England have seen less snow than usual, and less snow than cities just to there south.

February is usually a month for storms like this on the east coast, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more just like this before the month ends. DC will definitely set snow snow records as will cities near by.

Looks like the areas that will get the worst of the snow will also be seeing some pretty cold temperatures at night too this weekend, possibly the coldest night of the year for some mid atlantic cities.

One thing I've noticed is people overstock up on items before a storm. People are either underprepared, or over prepared, but few are perfectly prepared. I dont think the stores were too crowded by me, but snow totals look to be in the 3-10 inch range, maybe more. Definitely not a lot of certainty with the snow accumulations by my area.

Good luck everyone. Hope you are all prepared!

If this is the case, then our part of the globe is doing the opposite! Where have the good ole "bermuda highs" we use to get often, gone for years now???

They found a penguin off the coast over here in Boston!

I was just watching the Weather Channel and they showed the grocery stores in Arlington....Totally bare shelves!!!
You all are in for a big one!! Sounds like you are well prepared for this one...People here in VB react like this when we have a Hurricane headed our way!!! Good luck to you all up north!!!

My son just called from Va. Tech...(Blacksburg, Va.) they already have 6-7 inches on the ground...Unbelievable!!!

All of this gives me the itch to go out and buy Milk, eggs, butter and some bread!!! LOL...I'll be watching to see how much you all get!!! Stay warm!!!

Laura in VB

I saw that too, and I saw it in person yesterday. That scene is in every store, all around the entire Washington / Baltimore metropolitan areas. 18-24" is the common snow totals we are hearing here from just about every source, with a possibility of some areas receiving up to 30". If this storm stalls or slows down, it could get ALOT worse for us.

How are your beautiful palms doing???

Are you guys going to get any winter precip out of this? From what I have seen its going to be mostly rain and wind for you down there. Up here they are saying they may upgrade the winter storm warming to Blizzard Warnings later tonight as we are supposed to get winds gusting to 35+ MPH with lots of blowing and drifting snow, and snow drifts of 4-6 feet.

This one could rival the blizzard of 1996 here, and were looking to add possibly 2-4 more inches on top of it next Tuesday! Will it ever end? I like snow, at least its something to look at / get kinda excited about when its cold, but really, its getting very OLD now. I WANT SUMMER!!!!!

Ill try to keep this updated with some photos.

Good luck to everyone affected by this. It is going to affect 30 MILLION people in a very major way. Incredible!

They are predicting only sleet this afternoon with heavy rain turning to snow tomorrow. Maybe 1-2 inches for Sat.

I really am going to the store for just regular items...But I would put a few $ that people are stocking up here as well!!!

You all are really going to get it this time...I really get
excited too with the snow...but enough already...

My palms are doing great!!! They are taking this rain and snow with no problems...I really don't worry about them anymore...They are just as healthy now as they are in the summer!!!

Keep us updated with the totals...and Photos if you can!!!

We still are out of salt and winter items here...They have already spent the entire budget (city of VB) on the roads in just one weekend!!! LOL!!! I know that you all will handle this storm better than we did...don't forget to make "Snow Cream" for your kids!!! (if you have any!!!)
Enjoy the snow!!! I kind of wish we were getting more!!!

Take Care...

Laura n VB

Can you believe that many of my customers here are COMPLAINING that you are all getting the snow, because the mountains here are just cold and bare..lol

Alot of snow boarders would love your snow..I am a snow boarder, and I still long to see the summer like you..
At least the sun is staying out a minute or two later each day ha..

Laura, you posted some of the most beautiful pictures ever..If you can Novaplantguy, it would be awsome.

Stay safe and hopefully the snow will melt fast, not do to warm rain storms though...Sheesh.

Now is the time to sit back and enjoy some great movies and hot chocolate...:-)

Take care

Mike:-)

I doubt its going to melt anytime soon. Temps for the duration of the event are to be in the mid 20s, then nighttime lows for the next 4 days are so are going into the low teens, possibly single digits with highs in the mid 20s, AND, 2-4 more inches of show expected sometime around tuesday. Fun huh? The snow is neat, HATE the cold tho. oh well. Soon enough I will live in a very warm climate and watch these things on the news and point and laugh at the TV. lol!

About 1/2 to 1" of very wet s now so far, and its coming down pretty good, but the roads and lots of things are just wet for now. Once that temp hits 32.0, were in trouble. Right now were sitting at 32.5 at my place, and 33F at the airport. Our high temp was 36F and that was around 8am. As the snow falls, the temps are dropping.

For reference, I am located at the very lower right hand part of the letter "D" in the DC on the map, in Old Town Alexandria, VA, about 3/4th mile from the shores of the tidal Potomac River.

Heres what we are supposedly in for:

You know, I wonder if that kind of heavy snow is the kind that crushes tree limbs and knocks power out?..Yikes!

I wish I could look at the picture you posted..I have a block on my puter that doesn't allow me to see anything..
:-(
I will have to look when I get home..I bet the pics are beautiful..Do you have any Sabel Palms or others affected by this storm. So weird to see them sitting in feet of snow.

When you say pretty amazing, you are not kidding!

We just missed this one again..I see the high clouds here in the sky from it though..God, I hope we don't make up for it with a very cold April, May, June, and July again...lol

I do know this, despite it all, the robins will be poucing on your lawn looking for worms, and the blossoms will be in full force there, while we sit waiting for another 2 months after that...Looks like I will be drinking hot coco and maybe a try at Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur for a bit longer than you are..:-)

Keep us updated please...

Mike..

Did you ever notice that when the rare Bermuda High sets-up in the winter season, we get good palm survival weather right up the East coast to Cape Cod. We saw a lot of that in Brooklyn NY in the 1980s.

Currently the meterologists for NYC are going crazy and the are not sure if the city is going to recieve 2 or 12 inches because the Greenland High is too unpredictable. If it pulsates slightly weaker the storm will push a 15-30 more north and we will have blizzard conditions. Currently, southern NYC is forecast for 8-9 inches of snow and Nothern areas 2-3 inches. I am on the southward side and should get around 7 if they are right.

Thank you..

I have been studying our local weather for years, tracking everything from snow storms to thunder storms, from high pressure systems to low, and the jet stream.. I missed my calling..

As you say, that pesky "HIGH" off of Greenland had been sitting there for years now, and once in a while pulsates. Therefore the reason we get warm and hot weather, once in a while.. The jet stream lifts, allowing a warmer air flow to move in, just to get cut short within a few days again, while the stream buckles up in the west, allowing for above normal temps...

In fact, the same sytem that keep pushing the cold air down the coast all summer long that has replaced our Bermuda highs, an sdhas allowed the extreme heatwaves out west, is the same culprit that has killed all our thunderstorms in our summer now inmy parts along the seaboard. We get the oceanic sea breeze, maratine air, that stableizes the air all summer, killing any chance of good storms unless you live inland now, where the air is more destablized..:-(. Since I am thunderstorm chaser and reporter for local tv stations, I can no longer depend on seeing them in my backyard. I have to travel 30 or more miles west to take great photography..

So, while the inland areas get good rain storms, they dry out before ever reaching us, and instead we are replaced with cool ocean breezes, bringing in fog and drizzle, even in the middle of July.. Temps have avearged 20 degrees cooler here near the coast, while the inland areas enjoys warmer weather, without the support of the Bermuda highs anymore...Therefore the reason for our lousy, cooler than normal weather in the East..

I hope it goes back to the way it use to be..From the looks of it thus far, unless this stupid high off of greenland beats it and moves away, we are in store for another cold weather pattern for the rest of this year too, along the east coast..;-(

Keep your fingers crossed..

What I would do for a nice Berumda to last for more than but a day right about now..:-)

Below: 3 year old Sabal Minors, 2nd winter in ground unprotected.

Below: 3 year old Needle Plam, 2nd winter in ground unprotected.

Very very weird..It just doesn't seem right!

Thanks for the updates. Keep them coming. Do you think that the palms under the snow will survive, or do you have to remove the snow from them?

Sheesh, if they survive, then maybe I will ask you to send me one to try here..

Thanks

Mike..:-)

Our big storm(with gravity waves!(-:) didn't materialize as far as snow goes but I love these big events,should be epic enjoy and post some more pics!

BTW did you ever buy any of those Korean waggies.

Take care JIM

Winds are gusting over 40 MPH, Blizzard conditions have persisted since about 11PM EST with visibilities about 1-3 tenths of one mile at best. There at times have been whiteout conditions, with visibilities dropping to under 50 feet. The whiteout conditions usually last for about 1 minute during the very strong gale force gusts. On my walk I encountered some drifts that were probably 3-4 feet. Some trees are snapping. So far we have not lost power here, but tens of thousands in the D.C. Metro are currently without power. Its hard to measure exactly how much snow there is, because in some places the ground is bare, and in others there is 4 feet. I took my measurements in the least exposed place possible, and 19" is what I got 3 out of 5 times. The other two times, I got 17" Suffice it to say, that, on my hour long walk, it looked like something you would see on top of Mt. Washington, NH, or at a camp near the north or south pole. Snow accumulated 2,3,4" on the vertical side surfaces of buildings, signs, trees, stoplights completely packed with snow....etc. Snow does the strangest stuff when its blown around so much by gale force winds for sure.

I hope all is well up in "old town"....love that area (King ST.) Thanks for the pics...Your palms look very happy tucked in with the lights!!!

Laura in VB

Looks like another storm on Wednesday and that will head much farther north and also affect the entire mid atlantic. I dont like the snow, but I do like a big storm as long as it it doesnt become deadly. I really would like winter to end soon, but it looks like february is going to be a snowy, cold month. Hopefully this summer will be really nice and warm to make up for all the snow total records this storm is making.

Good luck!

BTW

The forecasters really nailed the D.C.etc forecast-you gotta give them credit for that!

We may get 8" of snow Monday-get ready for a wild finish to this winter!!!!!!

<

Here is the article on El Nino I was referring to-for what it's worth (-;

Imagine if the early settlers were a bunch of crybabies like today's folks are.

Some one better check in on Novaplantguy!! Either he has been buried in a snow drift, accidently plowed into a snow bank, frozen to death trying to save the porr palms, or still sleeping after hours of shoveling!! Where in the worl are you Novaplantguy! I hope you are having plenty of delicious hot drinks to keep you warm...Now they are calling this storm the curse of Obama!!

I hope you post some picks soon and that you are ok.

Hi Njoasis!!! Man, seems like forever before our plants will be able to see the great outdoors ha..Sheesh!

Don, are you just kidding? And what zone , or should I say state do you live in? lololol

From what I heard, my sister was in Teneesee when it snowed 3 inches last week, and they closed the schools down for 3 days...They called it a snow emergency....Ouch

Well, personally I think our weather is going to average below normal for quite sometime. I guess our plants and us will just have to get use to it..

I did notice something weird today...We never see Robins here until about the end of March, and yet there are flocks and flocks of them hanging around here lately, something I have never seen before..Quite strange!

Nite

Mike

I really don't mind the snow about the middle of this month and beyond..It look's like it is headed this way.

Where in the world did Novaplantguy go? I hope he and his palms survived that brutal storm...

Mike..:;-)

At least it won't overly warm up so that everything thaws, starts to grow, the goes into a deep freeze again..One year I lost half my trees to an early growing season, then winter for days again...Crazy

Sorry for the delay in posting. Just so much to do, see....etc. SO many incredible stories to tell. Suffice it to say that the forecast was correct. From the timing, to the accumulations, they hit this nail dead on the head. Once again, true to form, National Airport, which is one mile from me was one of the lowest totals, measuring 17.8", surpassing the blizzard of 1996. I live 1 mile from National airport, and I measured no less than 20" and no more than 26".The wind blew it around so much its hard to get an accurate measurement. 23" seems to be the most common number measured in and around my area, although some measured has high as 30". 27" was a very common number throughout the entire Washington Metropolitan area. Snow drifts of 3-5 feet were/ are common. Blizzard conditions were common, and whiteout condiditons did happen several times during the event. Visibilities were from at best 3 tenths of a mile, to often times less than 50 feet. Commonly, you could see about 1 city block. Winds were in the 30-40MPH range. Snow fall rates at times were 2+ inches per hour, and at 3 different times during this storm, we had THUNDERSNOW, with frequent lightining. It was during these thunder snowstorms when at times the snowfall rates would increase to nearly 4" per hour. It literally looked fake at times, as if someone was on he roof dumping buckets of snow over the side.

All but the final 4 or 5 inches was a very heavy wet snow, which was the reason for such massive numbers of power outages (hundreds of thousands) and numerous building collapses. Buildings are STILL collapsing even today. A 102 year old chruch as collapsed completely, a hanger at Dulles airport has collapsed, A fire house, a post office, a school, a shopping center... collapsed. Just to name a few. And the trees, forget it. There are trees bent, broken, or down, even uprooted, all over the area, on power lines, and over roads. There are still nearly 100,000 people without power that I am seeing on the news. Our subway system, METRO, suspended above ground service at 11PM on Friday evening, and will remain limited to only under ground service at least through today. METRO bus service is still also suspended, except for on a very limited basis. (about 8 lines out of a couple hundred) Most side streets remain untouched. Secondary roads are not very good, Man roads are passable, even stretches of more than 1 lane (were talking one lane for BOTH directions) and the interstates are in fair shape with 2 lanes, sometimes 3 available, but keep in mind that most of this is just very packed snow, except on the interstates, where there is a fair amount of slushy pavement. It has not been above freezing since about 12PM friday, and last n ight was in the low teens in the city, as is expected for the next few nights, with highs around 30. One bright spot, yesterday and today were both sunny. Today we MAY nudge above 32 for a time. Snow removal has become a problem as well, as there is simply just no where to put it. There is also no where for anyone to walk, so all foot traffic (and ski traffic) is in the roads as well, creating even more congestion.

However, we are once again under a winter storm watch, with potentially another 5-10 inches of snow Tuesday afternoon thru Wednesday afternoon. For places that it snows all the time like ski resorts or something, this is fine. For this area, well lets just say the word I would use to describe what it has done would be "crippling". Anyway, wont bore you with anymore typing.

Because there are so many photos I am only going to post the same pics as above to show you for comparison, and perhaps a couple more as teasers. I will link you to the album where the rest of the photos are located so you can view them at your leisure.

Now, on to some photos: Here are the after photos from above:

And a few more:

Car dealership

20' tall trees behind my place.

Alexandria, VA or Aspen CO? lol.

The link to the album is below.

I would have covered those trunking palms buds (top of palm) with plastic, they are more delicate than the trunk. Freezing temps combined with water/ice can kill the bud.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN STERLING VIRGINIA HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TUESDAY TO 7 PM EST WEDNESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE... SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS... 10 TO 20 INCHES.

* TIMING... MID-AFTERNOON TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

* TEMPERATURES... TEMPERATURES NEAR FREEZING AT THE ONSET TUESDAY AFTERNOON. TEMPERATURES WILL DROP INTO THE UPPER 20S TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.

* WINDS... LIGHT SOUTHEASTERLY WINDS TUESDAY BECOMING NORTHWESTERLY 15 TO 25 MPH WEDNESDAY.

What beautiful pictures!!! I can't belive what is happening in DC...Hope you stay safe with this next storm coming around the bend!!! I'll be out flying for this next weather maker...hopefully they will cancel early and get the airports back to somewhat normal operations...(yea right!!!)

Thanks for all of the info!!! Great stuff!!!!

Laura in VB

<

The stores are just about bare. Just went out to pick up a couple more things (were still very well stocked up from the first storm) and it is rather nerve racking. Traffic jams everywhere, and virtually nothing left to buy. I stopped in to our neighborhood hardware store here in Del Ray to pick up more lamp oil for the oil lamps just in case because this time we very well may lose power, and the line for the next shovel shipment which was due in today, was amazing. about 50 people in line just for shovels, and another 150+ on the "waiting list".

Thank goodness this will be our last storm for at least a while!

Good luck everyone and I hope to see lots more snowy pics!

As far as totals go it looks like Long Island will get around 10 inches with some possible mixing especially early. NYC may have some mixing in the coastal parts and southern parts also early, but it seems like 12-18 inches is possible from the NYC metro and surrounding areas of new jersey south into philadelphia and northern parts of the Delmarva Penn. Areas away from the coast may see more than 18 inches. The wind will really pic up especially along the coast, but the whole area can see wind gusts at or higher than 40 mph! That will do a good job in knocking out some power and creating little visibilities. Im going to try to post some pics of the snow tomorrow.

The spring bulbs are coming up by me too. I notice the irises are really starting to peak now, about 1/4 of the inch up now. Not too bad. At least its a little sign of spring on the way. Also I dont know if its just me, but some of the buds on the trees are looking a little larger and the sun is definitely getting stronger because my plants by my southwest windows are growing really fast now.

Good luck with the storm everyone!

Here is just a small taste of what I am seeing in the photo below:

Winds gusting near 50MPH. Wind gusts as high as 60-65MPH reported in Northern VA. Whiteout conditions the past 3 hours continue to persist. Visibility at times is less than 15 feet. I honestly have honestly only seen conditions this bad once in my entire lifetime. This truly is incredible stuff!

Here is just a small taste of what I am seeing just in my neighborhood today:

Whiteout conditions. At at times that building across the street completely disappears. In fact, several times I cannot even see the sidewalk which is about 15' away. 50+ mph winds. In the photo below, behind the telephone pole that is barely visible is GW middle school which we have been unable to see for the last 3 hours now. It is a 4 story tall very old building built in the 1930s. It used to be GW High School, the high school Jim Morrison of The Doors graduated from. This is just absolutely incredible stuff!!!!!

Good luck!

There are also many trees down, traffic lights down from the winds, and of course, power outages galore.

Still near whiteout conditions, still snowing fairly heavily, winds still gusting around 45MPH or so, and it is now 16F, with about 9-10" on the ground.

National Airport is now 6 tenths of 1 inch of snow away from setting the all time record for a single winter in terms of snow, since records were kept back in the late 1800s. Were at almost 55" at National, and Dulles airport is now at 72" of snow for the winter of 09/10 just slightly over 1 inch less than the snowiest place in the United States this winter, thus far. Again, incredible.

Again, lived here my entire life, born and raised native Washingtonian, and I have never seen conditions quite like this, ever.

Great pics, you really give a good idea of the damage you got. Im sure you must be seeing some power outages around the area too.

Good luck! At least we are now about half way through the storm and there's only another month before snow like this will be completely out of the picture.

I hope you all are ok up north...Unbelievable photos!!!
My entire 2 day crew was cancelled due to the blizzard conditions...I can honestly say that I have never seen conditions like this either!!!

Stay warm and good luck to you all...

I also have been watching the weather channel and they were doing an interview with the locals in Vancouver about how they were having springlike conditions when they are hosting the winter olympics...They showed a lady near the water and she was standing next to a row of Palms (looked like Windmills)
Quite interesting to see Palms in BC!!!! Check it out!!!

Have a great day everyone!!!

Laura in VB

Novaplantguy, glad you at least broke a record for the snow. I think DC, Philly, and Baltimore all broke some seriously high records. Pretty impressive. Originally this thread was just for the historic weedend storm, but it turned out that in less than a week another historic storm hit! Some students havent had school just about all week in places like DC. I didnt break any all time snow records by me because I didnt get much from the winter storm that hit in the weekend, but I did get a lot from this one. Now im at nearly a foot of snow and its still going. I posted some picks on a separate thread. Very impressive snow fall on the east coast. Its going to take a lot if heat to melt this snow, but since there is so much snow, I dont think there will be any suddenly warm temps.

Good luck!

Seriously everyone. I sit here in awe at these pictures and experiences! Novaplantguy, thank you for those pics! I look at all 180 of them!!!
Please keep us posted on the rest..You know, the worst thing that could happen now is if it instantly warms up and the rains come..It has happened here in Mass with epic flooding! I pray you are all ok.

Now the weird thing. There is absolutely no snow on the ground up in the mountains here in New England. In fact, most snow mobile trails are closed. I only have NO snow on the ground in my yard..NUTS ha?

They are talking a drought for spring if we don't get some soon.

Dave, our poor plumerias..I was hoping to be able to put them outside my March..But the weather men are saying that if this stupid High pressure off of Greenland that has been stuck there since last year that is causing all the cold air to rush down on us with an unusual dip in the jet stream, they are not expecting us to even get a warm spring or summer once again.. No Bermuda highs aloud!I give up!

Mike..:-)

Heres the pics of the downed trees....

Interestingly there is a storm dropping out of Manitoba(anther Manitoba mauler,same place your current storm came from!)
that is on the heals-so to speak-of this one,so it is possible that another is on the way Monday.
To early to tell the strength of this next one but it bares watching!

It ain't over just yet!
Great pics guys- The next storm-"The day after tomorrow"?????

TZ7, Be safe! I hope you guys dont get it as bad as we did here, especially in terms of the winds. Many of our streets look like the photos you posted, and some were with downed traffic signals. Post more pics if you can! Suffice it to say, all of my palms, including the large trachy in the pot wrapped in plactic and xmas lights, are buried. The in ground palms were buried as of last saturday, and now they are under 3 feet. My smaller trachy unfortunately had spear pull, although that may be more attributed to the fact I left the xmas lights on it one day when we hit 49, and the palm cooked to well over 100F im sure. It somewhat dessicated after that, and has not looked good since. I think these storms just pushed it over the edge. Well see if I cant get it to come back.

Ok Im going to bed. Ill post more photos tomorrow. Night all! Be safe.

Up here in northeastern Connecticut -the first storm we received nothing

yesterdays storm about 2"

Thus far this winter- about 25"

The NOAA weather prediction maps-both for temperature and precipitation predicted this

see http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/two_class.php