28 YEARS AGO TODAY: THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF MARCH 1993
The storm was called by some people "The Storm of the Century". It was an anomaly of nature because of its intensity, size and far reaching affects. At the peak of the storm, its affects stretched from Canada to Central America with its main impact across the Eastern United States and Cuba. The system developed when three independent weather patterns merged in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm system resulted in three days of heavy snowfall, rough seas, blizzards, coastal flooding, tornadoes and very cold temperatures. The storm system was an anomaly in nature. The development began when a blast of cold arctic air (a strong dip in the strong jet stream structure) pushed down through the Plains into the Gulf of Mexico before pushing back up the eastern seaboard. On Friday, March 12, a strong complex of thunderstorms had developed in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and then merged with a narrow band of snow and rain that was moving in from the western United States. By that evening the two systems had merged with the strong jet stream. The system developed into a very potent storm system which began tracking across the Gulf toward Florida. The United States Coast Guard reported that the sea conditions in the Gulf were absolutely unbelievable. According to the Petty Officer Rob Wyman, he told the Washington Post that the sea conditions looked like a big washing machine. There were huge waves, spray, and hail. Some of the sea bouys had sustained hurricane force winds. The sea was so powerful that a 200 foot freighter sunk 70 miles off Fort Myers, Florida. By the time that the Super Storm had passed, the Coast Guard had deployed more than a hundred planes, helicopters, and boats. The deployed had rescued 235 as well as more than a hundred boats in the Gulf of Mexico. As the storm blew ashore, it created 15 tornadoes over Florida that had overturned mobile homes and launched trees and other debris. Between 4:00 and 5:30 am on Saturday, a storm surge as high as 12 feet in some places came ashore.
The weather models were not able to accurately predict how deeply the system would intensify. The system developed so far south in the Northern Gulf before hitting Florida with a central pressure of 975 millibars. However, NWS models and personnel did recognize the risk with this phenominal storm system. NWS personnel were confident enough to allow several northeastern states to declare a State of Emergency before the snow impacted the region. On the social side of matters, temperatures across the south were rather mild for March and this raised doubts among the public that cold air move in so quickly, much less heavy snowfall in the near future. This coupled with the fact that it doesnt get very cold in the south this time of year anyway added to the disbelief. As a result many radio and television stations were not confident enough to forecast too much snow to the southeatern United States public, until it was on more solid ground by surface reports.
As the storm system deepened, temperatures over much of the eastern United States began to fall quickly. The area of low pressure rapidly deepened as it moved into northwest Florida by early Saturday morning. As this happened snow began to spread over the eastern United States and a squall line moved over the Gulf of Mexico into Florida and Cuba. The low tracked up the United States eastern seaboard during the day on Saturday and into Canada by early Monday morning. The storm system caused blizzard conditions over much of the eastern seaboard. It brought thundersnow from Texas through Pennsylvania with some white out conditions.The system was responsible for 300 deaths and power outages to over 10 million customers. Most of the deaths were due to heart attacks from shoveling snow. The storm system directly affected over 130 million people. Every airport along the east coast was closed for some time during the storm. Every airport from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Atlanta, Georgia was closed for some time because of the storm. A record low pressure of 28.35 mb (960 mb) was recorded in New England. Such low readings were usually of a Category 2 or 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Record low temperatures were recorded in much of the south.
With the assessment of this storm system, 26 states and an estimated 100 million had been affected. This had an impact on travel, hundreds of fatalities, and billions of dollars of damage and economic losses. As far as weather historical records, there has not been a winter storm system to match the effects of this system.
Maximum snowfall amounts (inches):
Mt. Le Counte, TN - 60
Mt. Mitchell, NC - 50
Snowshoe, WV - 44
Syracuse, NY - 43
Latrobe, PA - 36
Lincoln, NH - 35
Albany, NY - 27
Pittsburgh, P - 25
Hartford, CT - 24
London, KY - 22
Chattanooga, TN - 20
Ashville, NC - 19
Birmingham, AL - 17
Washington, DC - 13
New York, NY - 12
Waynesboro, MS - 9
I cannot find any write up from ILN on it for local area impacts so if anyone finds anything please post.
