If you have been following this blog for sometime you might remember a post I did back in October titled, “Mayor Promises No Snow this Winter” here is the first paragraph of that post:

Could you imagine Mayor Bob Duffy, or Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks promising a Rochester winter with out snow? You’d probably think they lost their minds, but that is what the mayor of Moscow Russia is promising this winter. In an article published on Time.com, the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, is promising to keep the snow away from the city by using the Russian Air Force to seed clouds before they reach the city. City officials hope that by seeding these clouds with cement powder, dry ice or silver iodide most of the snow will fall outside of the city.

Apparently Moscow’s mayor is not very good at keeping his promises. Last week while we focused on our first big snow storm of the season, Moscow was getting hammered with snow too. A 4 day record of 26 inches (or 67 cm) of snow fell on Russia’s capital last week breaking the previous February record set back in 1966.

So much for controlling the weather, you can read more on this story here at the Moscow Times. I figure after telling you about this back in October I needed to update you on how things were going.

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As we expected this upcoming storm has generated one of our most commented topics so far here on this blog. This morning, there has been a nice back and forth discussion between myself those commenting on last night’s post from Chief Meteorologist Scott Hetsko.

An Anonymous poster who wrote: “but the hype continues…” when they ended a comment inspired my blog topic for today. Is what we’re doing hype or are we just doing our job?

I went and looked up the definition of “Hype” and I found two:
1. (Noun) – Promotion or advertisement; especially, exaggerated claims.
2. (Verb) “Hyping” – To promote heavily; to advertise or build up.

As I read those two definitions I could see how you could make the argument that we are “hyping” this storm since we are promoting it, and advertising it, but not sure if we qualify for “hype” since I don’t think our claims are exaggerated.

As a meteorologist it is my job to predict the future when it comes to the weather. I have a responsibility to inform our viewers of what weather will and can have an impact on their day and even week. If it’s going to rain I need to tell them so they can grab their umbrellas and take their rain coat. If it’s going to snow, even just a little, then I need to tell them that and depending on how much I need to inform them that it might make travel troublesome.

That is how I approach this storm that is very likely by Thursday night into Saturday. I definitely feel that this storm is along the New England coast is a certainty, the only questions we have is exactly where does the surface center and the upper level centers stack up and how much of an impact will this have on our weather when it finally occurs.

In my opinion and talking with Scott this scenario is typically favorable for us getting a big snow out of a storm like this. Most of the comments this morning trended away from the idea of this being a storm for us and only a couple of inches. Part of that was due to a slight shift east in the center of the storm system by a couple of he models and also the NWS office in Buffalo mentioning that we might get 6-12″ here in Western New York.

(this was only the first half of my post this AM, if you want to read the rest, please visit the News 8 Weather Blog & also read the comments)

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If I told you there would be one day this winter where all 50 states would have snow someplace on the ground would you believe me. Well that was the case on Friday February 12th and an University of Oklahoma meteorology graduate student has documented proof in the form of pictures.

This all started for Patrick Marshall, a meteorology graduate student at the University of Oklahoma, with a tweet on his own Twitter account, “If snow sticks to the ground in Florida tomorrow … every state (including Hawaii) will have snow on the ground.”

After some encouragement from his friends he decided to try and document the proof of every state having snow on the ground with pictures. Using social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook and setting up an email address so he could receive pictures he then started to post them on his blog. (You can see all the snow pictures he received here)

The hardest place to find snow was in Hawaii but Saturday he received an email from a Hawaiian resident who claimed to have taken pictures of several small patches of snow located not far from the 13,796 foot summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. After he got confirmation from the NWS in Honolulu, Hawaii Marshall successfully documented through pictures snow on the ground in all 50 states including Washington D.C.

This is pretty cool. I don’t know how many times this has happened before but to have snow as far south as the Florida Panhandle and through Mississippi and Alabama what an accomplishment.

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To Follow this storm and get excellent up-to-date weather information, forecast and current weather condition check out the following sites: Washington D.C. – Capital Weather Gang | NY NJ PA Weather Page | Philadelphia, PA: PhillyWeather.net | Maryland Weather | AccuWeather.com Weather Matrix Blog |

No snow yet here in CT, at least not here where I am, but it is still forecasted of around a foot or more. Here are some pictures I received from my sister near D.C. in Leesburg VA. The first pic I received around 11am EST:

This one I received around 3:30pm EST her little VW Bug is almost completely blanketed in snow.

The Capital Weather Gang reports:

Accumulation at National Airport has burned past the previous greatest December snowfall on record for Washington, D.C. (12 inches in 1932). With 14 inches as of last report, and still going strong, this storm now ranks No. 10 on the list of D.C.’s biggest snowstorms.

There are also post from AccuWeather.com’s Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell on his Weather Matrix Blog on some snow totals he has received:

NWS Spotters:

Friars Hill, WV: 25.0″
Mount Mitchell & Robbinsville, NC: 24.0″
Greenville, VA: 22.0″
Hollywood, MD: 11.0″
Woodside, DE: 10.0″
Ortanna, PA: 8.1″
Bridgeton, NJ: 7.3″
Washington, D.C.: 7.0″
Baltimore, MD: 6.0″

Facebook Fans:

Barbara M. from Hico, WV: 25.0″
Savannah K. from Maryland: 21.0″
Michale J. from Troy, VA: 20.0″
Christina G. from Wythe, VA: 19.0″
John T. from Fredericksburg, VA: 16.2″
Scott P. from Keyser, WV: 16.0″
Paul D. from Roanoke: 15.0″
Susan M. from Broadway, VA: 14.0″
Kathy P. from Fredericksburg, VA: 14.0″
Mike B. from Amissville, VA: 12.0″
Philip M. from Nokesville, VA: 11.5″
Wayne S. from Annapolis, MD: 10.0″
Deb C. from Clinton, MD: 9.0″
Keith M. from Milford, DE: 8.75″
Amy H. from Loudon County, VA: 8.0″
Matt F. from Columbia, MD: 7.0″
Greg H. Leesburg, VA: 7.0″
Tim H. from Boone, NC: 7.0″
Dan W. from Boonsboro, MD: 7.0″
Catty R. from Statesville, NC: 7.0″
Amy F. Reidsville, NC: 7.5″
James F. from Yanceyville, NC: 7.0″
William L. from Chambersburg, PA: 7.0″
Jen C. from Manassas, VA: 6.0″
Loralea K. from Egg Harbor, NJ: 5.0″
Vickie H. from Nottingham, PA: 4.0″
Norma N. from Thornville, OH: 4.0″

Twitter Followers:

@CBS19Weather from Charlottesville, VA: 13.0″
@mckenler from Asheville, NC: 8.5″
@georgiehopper from Knoxville, MD: 8.0″
@Dslizzle from Triad, NC: 8.0″
@ryanpj from Roxboro, NC: 6.0″

Power Outages:

Dominion Power: 7,000
Progress Energy: 63,000
Duke Power: 29,000

If I get any more I will try and share them… Also leave me a comment about your snow amounts and what you are experiencing.

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The below post comes from WROC-TV News 8 Chief Meteorologist Scott Hetsko from the News 8 Weather Blog. Check it out everyday. It is updated every day.

Written By: Scott Hetsko

While watching my Yankees win their 27th title last night and the 7th under the Steinbrenner regime I began to wonder…is there a connection between Yankee titles and Rochester snow? The answer is of course not but hey let’s look at the numbers just for fun! If you want a snowy Winter, you should be happy the Yanks won last night. Below are the years the yankees won the series and amount of snow for us the following winter.

1977: 160.9″
1978: 138.5″
1996: 104.7″
1998: 111.6″
1999: 110.7″
2000: 58.1″
2009: ???

Average snowfall after Yankee title: 114.1″

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Could you imagine Mayor Bob Duffy, or Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks promising a Rochester winter with out snow? You’d probably think they lost their minds, but that is what the mayor of Moscow Russia is promising this winter. In an article published on Time.com, the mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, is promising to keep the snow away from the city by using the Russian Air Force to seed clouds before they reach the city. City officials hope that by seeding these clouds with cement powder, dry ice or silver iodide most of the snow will fall outside of the city.

Apparently, weather modification has been used before in Moscow out ahead of the 2 major holidays of Victory Day in May and City Day in September in order to keep skies clear and the rain from falling on their parades. So how will this work? The city will pay the air force to seed the clouds from November 15th to March 15th to prevent “very big and serious snow” from falling on the city. This promise isn’t for all snow but for the large snows and blizzards that can occur during the winter. It appears they expect some snow to make it into the city but if all goes as plan they won’t have large crippling snow storms. The estimated cost to use weather modification is estimated to be half of what the city of Moscow has budgeted for snow removal each year.

Personally, I don’t know how I feel about this. I am not a big fan of weather modification because I don’t think weather is something humans can control or should even mess with. It will be interesting to see if the Moscow Mayor can come through on his promise and if he succeeds will other cities across the world try to do the same thing? What do you think?

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Over the last 24 to 48 hours there has been a lot of talk and discussion about the potential for a big storm riding up the east coast early next week from Monday into Wednesday. 24 hours ago this storm was looking like a potential historic storm but since then the forecast models have shifted this storm more to the east and it appears that parts of New England and northern New York could see the significant snow.

Here in Rochester, NY it was looking like we could get several inches of snow (15 to20 inches) but it is starting to appear that is not the case. This is all just speculation and it is very difficult to get a feel for these storms this far out.

As a meteorologist, I will be honest 24 hours ago I was excited about the prospect of this storm. It had some of the earmarks of being one of those storms you talk about. After seeing the latest info, reading some more information and talking with the other meteorologist at the station I have decided to take a wait and see approach. I think sometimes we forecast what we want or hope will happen instead of looking at all the facts and paying attention to the tends in the various forecast models. I think we will have a much better idea starting Sunday on what this storm will do. I personally like to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. If the current trend in the models holds true then this storm will be faster, weaker and farther to the east bringing some snow to some on the coast. At this point there are a lot of good ideas but that’s all they are until you actually have the storm form and it makes its move.

Here is AccuWeather.com’s snow forecast before the 12Z models came out this morning.

If you want to see what other meteorologist think of this storm there is a wide point of view over at AccuWeather.com

AccuWeather.com Headline: Groundhog Day Storm, First of Many Big Storms (AccuWeather.com is predicting a big storm in the eastern United States early this coming week to kick off what may be a stormy February and early March.)

AccuWeather.com Henry Margusity, Meteorological Madness: STOP the Model Nonsense & NAM has the Reality

AccuWeather.com Jesse Ferrell, The Weather Matrix Blog: Models on Groundhog Day Storm, Southeast Snow

AccuWeather.com Elliot Abrams, Northeast U.S. Weather Blog: The Post Groundhog Day Storm of 2009

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A potent winter storm will continue to stream moisture out of the western Gulf States through the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast tonight into Wednesday evening. Area National Weather Service offices have issued winter storm warnings and ice storm warnings  from Texas all the way to Maine. This storm has already claimed the lives of three people because of slippery roads in Oklahoma, with two deaths in Missouri and one each in Texas and Arkansas. Jesse Ferrell over on his Weather Matrix blog for AccuWeather.com is keeping track of the reports coming out from this storm because of ice. Here is part of his 3pm update:

My calculations show that near 150,000 people are now without power in the Midwest, and the freezing rain is being measured in inches. The Mid-Atlantic has also been coated with a few inches of snow. Some of the Midwest freezing rain and sleet amounts seem incredible, but you can read about even higher historical amounts on my blog.

Jesse also has some reports on freezing rain (being measured in inches), sleet and snow.

Through the Ohio Valley into the eastern Great Lakes and into New England snow will spread across the region tonight into Wednesday. Some place, especially through southern and central New York could get over a foot of snow. This will cause travel problems. Just be careful if you have to be out in any of these areas that are under a winter storm watch or any other kind of winter advisory.

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An Alberta Clipper is a storm that originates in western Canada typically in or near the province of Alberta during the winter. These storms are driven southeastward by the jet stream through Montana, the Dakotas and Minnesota before they turn across the Great Lakes basin headed toward the Atlantic Coast. This track keeps a clipper system hundreds of miles away from any mild water source like the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico. This lack of moisture keeps these systems “moisture starved,” so they typically don’t drop huge amounts of snow. In the wintertime, it may be associated with a narrow but significant band of snowfall.

Like the clippers we’re going to see this week, once a clipper passes it can usher in bitter spells of cold Arctic or polar air. Allowing the impacts of these storms to linger days after it has passed.

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