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It's all relative I guess, but in this country 20" of snow really isn't all that much. One 6"-7" snowstorm in each of the three coldest months and you reach that number. Sometimes in our winter a 2" or 3" snowstorm will leave no snow cover on the ground after the second day. In Richmond, VA roughly 10% of winter precip is in the form of snow, and in Syracuse, NY 80% is snow. We are 200 miles from each, but the transition is not linear, thank god. Am not a snow lover, except for winter ski trips.
True. Coming from a country which doesn't officially measure aggregate snowfalls over a season hearing that place X gets 60 inches or whatever conjures up an image of people living there being covered up to their neck in the stuff for three months solid Though instead of just measuring how much snow fell I've read of some people measuring the depth on each individual day and adding that up to get a measure of how snowy a season has been, i.e. one inch of snow which stays for a week would total more than six inches of snow which only lasts a day.
I actually am surprised by that given the much larger snow totals you get compared to here, even though we're talking about Philly which is about as far south as the NE goes. Here last winter we only had about 8" of total snowfall (my estimate) but at least that number of days with over 1 inch of cover.
Perhaps the variable daily highs and the more intense sun (both from less clouds and higher sun angle) melt snow faster.
Due to the hyping up from the media, I think people in the rest of the world sometimes view the NE US as if we are the arctic. NYC is not nearly as cold as Chicago and the upper midwest, nor as cold as anywhere in eastern Canada. In the Philly area, we average 13.7 days with snow cover of 1" or more in the three coldest months. Roughly 85% of days between Dec 1st and Feb 28th have no snow cover. Approximately 75% of winter precip is in the form or rain. It's not like we are Canada, where Toronto averages 65 days a season with greater than 1cm of snow on the ground.
As you said, it depends on what part of the Northeast you look at. New England is part of the Northeast and once you get away from the coast, snow most of the winter is the norm. We average 45 inches of snow (and exactly 0.0 inches in October!). Nevertheless, about half of our winter precipitation is in the form of rain, as warmer air tends to bring more precipitation. But rain is often followed by snow with a long cold spell, so the snow-free periods don't last long. My January mean is about the same as Toronto (though our diurnal range is bigger), and I'm at a slightly lower latitude than Toronto.
The line between snow most of the winter seems to be slightly north of NYC; corresponding closely with the 32°F winter mean line (maybe slightly less, perhaps 30°F?) I remember going to Philly in early March and enjoying feeling spring while it was about 10°F colder back in Western Mass. Snow from the storm is still on the ground here, btw.
Perhaps the variable daily highs and the more intense sun (both from less clouds and higher sun angle) melt snow faster.
As an example, I just looked up the data for our area for Jan 2011 ( a month 3F below normal). We got 15" of snow on Jan 27th. By January 31st, the snow depth on the ground (outside the urban center at the airport weather station) was 8" on the ground. By February 10th, the 15" snowstorm was gone from the ground. That is an unprecedented storm for our area, and temps were below normal up until about Feb 5th. Compared to England, the sun here is strong in winter. Think of it this way, comparing Philly and Birmingham, England (roughly middle of England) our sun altitude from horizon on January 21st equals Birmingham on March 2nd.
Still no frost in the forecast and thank God for that! If there's another bad thing about such cold it's that the ground gets very slippery and I hate poossy-footing around like an old doddery grand dad just to avoid falling over and splitting my skull open.
Here are my post-snowstorm photos. Nowhere as much as the Manchester, NH photos posted by 'dunno what to put here' but still interesting with all the snow.
The first few are from a short morning walk I took from my apartment:
Here are my post-snowstorm photos. Nowhere as much as the Manchester, NH photos posted by 'dunno what to put here' but still interesting with all the snow.
The first few are from a short morning walk I took from my apartment:
the power lines were a bit iced over:
some power lines didn't fare so well
red leaves:
orange leaves:
looking out towards the hills:
on the top of the hills:
Hope you like them!
Snow looks much nicer in New England than it ever looks around these parts. I actually wouldn't mind it as much in such nice surroundings. Reminds me of winter trips to Killington, though no leaves on the trees cept for Evergreens.
nice, nei!! Did your walk also consist on going up the hill?? wow!
I love the colours of the leaves!
I cant help but wonder if it wasnt too cold to go for a walk!
I guess the beautiful view from the hill makes it all worth it
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