How much snow?
Jack Hughes
Snow covers a Southwestern Pennsylvania landscape after a recent snowfall. The 26.1 inches of snow that fell in December almost matched the total for all of last winter. (Photo by Rob Burchianti)
Almost as much snow fell this past December as in all of last winter, with 26.1 inches being recorded including a 2-4 inch snowfall on Christmas making for a white Christmas across all of Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Mountain locations reported 36 inches for December. Area ski resorts got off to a good start with plenty of natural snow and temperatures cold enough to make lots more of the white stuff. Average snowfall for the entire season in Uniontown is 38 inches. Because of the elevation difference, nearby Chalk Hill averages 88 inches per season. Oakland, Maryland, receives 96 inches, while Terra Alta in West Virginia sees on average 158 inches even though it is further south.
It鈥檚 hard to believe that cities argue over which city may claim to be the snowiest.
Truckee, California, leads the pack with an average of 203 inches per year. Marquette, Michigan, is next with 180 inches, followed by Oswego, New York, with 153 inches. Syracuse, New York, is next with 120 inches and tied for next place is our own Meadville (in Pennsylvania) and Flagstaff, Arizona, at 111 inches.
It is interesting to note that Flagstaff sits near some of the hottest cities in the country but since it is at an elevation of 7,000 feet it gets lots of snow. Remember that for every 1,000-foot increase in elevation, the temperature lowers by 5 degrees making it cold enough for abundant snow production. Flagstaff has seen as little as 32 inches and as much as 210 inches in a single season. Anybody who has seen the Grand Canyon in wintertime can attest to this large difference in snow with elevation. Phantom Ranch (elevation 2,500 feet) at the bottom of the Canyon receives little if any snow while the North Rim of the Canyon (6,000 feet higher) averages 130 inches per season.
For snow lovers, Soda Spring, California, averages 471 inches each season; Alta, Utah, gets 516 inches and Rainier, Paradise Ranger Station in Washington receives an average of 680 inches of snow per season.
Those who don鈥檛 like snow might like Phoenix with just 1 inch as their all-time record or Los Angeles with 3 inches. Most of Florida has seen snow in their weather histories including as far south as Miami on the East Coast and Fort Myers on the west coast.
Lake effect snows coming off of the Great Lakes have produced some memorable snowfalls.
Cold dry air coming across the warmer lakes before they freeze over picks up moisture and then is lifted as it encounters the hills just south of the lake. In the lifting process, clouds form and snow grows inside the clouds and then deposits it downwind from the water. Five inches accumulated in 20 minutes at Turin, New York, on Dec. 22, 1993. In nearby Copenhagen, New York, 12 inches fell in 1 hour.
In Montague, New York, 40 inches accumulated in just 12 hours, and that same town saw 77 inches of snow fall in 24 hours between Jan. 11-12, 1997. That broke the old record of 76 inches at Silver Lake, Colorado. There is a bit of disagreement over these two records but nevertheless it鈥檚 a lot of snow in a short period of time.
The 30-day record comes from Tamarack, California, with 424 inches. Mount Baker, California, holds the 6-month record of 1,107 inches and the season record of 1,140 inches.
That鈥檚 more than Uniontown gets in 30 years and that鈥檚 a lot of snow.
Let鈥檚 keep the Polar Vortex in Siberia.