[ORH_wxman]

Having it be the 30 year anniversary of the May 1977 storm, I decided to look up more information on this storm and found surprisingly little written on it. Theres a blurb on intellicast site about it and a couple other mentions, but nothing really that informative.

So I started looking up COOP data and plotting snow totals from the storm and decided to make a map of it in the process. I'm still looking for more detailed upper air maps, and hopefully I'll be able to post some stuff on that later on, but in the meantime here is the snow map. The event affected mainly PA, NY State and central/southern New England. Probably something like a 1 in 200+ year type event for how late it occurred. The map is also not perfect in areas on the fringe of snowfall, esp in PA and SE NY.



http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/6977/may1977snowgi7.png




Interesting that immediate metro west Boston had a general 3-7" (with more just a bit further W) and PVD had 7.0" yet Concord, NH was all rain being further removed from the cold pool aloft.

[AviationWX29]

Nice map Will. You can defintely see how elevation played a roll in this event. Especially from ORH west. You can see right up the CT river through Springfield nadda. but surprisingly the Hudson Valley along I 87 and the eatsern flank of the Catskills. Especially the northern part before ALB did ok. Unfortunately I do not recall this event even living in far NW NJ , I was only as kid.
But still a pretty neat event for SNE and CNE and Catskills and western Mass :thumbsup:

[Ian]

20" where I was in CT... not bad for May. ;)

[betanewt]

That sure looks like one amazing storm for May, too bad I wasn't even born yet to enjoy it.

The latest storm I ever witnessed was on May 18th out in Western Mass 02'. I was out in Amherst at the time, we got some very heavy snow that morning that amounted to a dusting on some higher spots on the UMASS campus. I took a drive up into the surrounding hills over 1200' and saw some decent accumulations probably on the order of 2 inches+. Much less snow than the 77' event but even later still! Pretty amazing stuff.

[famartin]

Traces of snow were reported at all 3 first-order stations in NJ on May 9-10 1977. (EWR, TTN and ACY)

[Calends]

I remember it well. I lived in Saratoga Spgs NY at the time. We had 10" of snow. It was amazing. Your map shows no snowfall for Saratoga county.

[ORH_wxman]

Calends, on May 9 2007, 09:03 PM, said:

I remember it well. I lived in Saratoga Spgs NY at the time. We had 10" of snow. It was amazing. Your map shows no snowfall for Saratoga county.

I'll be making a few tweaks to the map as I get better data, but none of the coop sites in Saratoga County that I have checked so far reported measurable snow...it doesnt mean the data is right though. KALB had 1.6" so Saratoga probably had more than them.

EDIT: I found a 3.3" and posted it, I'm sure areas with more elevation had significantly more and will update it again with some more data.

[Flying MXZ]

Wow, 27" in parts of the Catskills and close to a foot at my house. Being 5 months old at the time, I don't remember much of the storm. :arrowhead:

[ORH_wxman]

Flying MXZ, on May 9 2007, 09:14 PM, said:

Wow, 27" in parts of the Catskills and close to a foot at my house. Being 5 months old at the time, I don't remember much of the storm. :arrowhead:

The 12.0" in NE Delaware County is Stamford, NY coop site at 1,831 feet. Some of those coop totals may be low as well since not all of them measured at peak snow depth or every 6 hours. Many measured the next morning when it was already compressing/melting rapidly.

[kulaginman]

27" of snow in the Catskills must've done a number on trees and power lines in the area. At that elevation leaf-out was probably a good week or two away still but I saw what 12-18" of water-logged snow did to trees and power lines in the BGM area during the mid April storm of this year....a big mess! 1977 seems to have featured some rather anomalous events as that was also the year of the infamous "Blizzard of '77" here in Western NY....

[thunderdude]

I am wondering how far south did a trace of snow fell?

[MEkster]

Here the Albany sounding from 00z may 10th. Also attached is the 500mb height (shaded) and the 1000mb height (contor). Sweet.

http://i7.tinypic.com/4kbcry9.gif

http://i8.tinypic.com/6fjsto4.gif

[serbiesnow]

This will sound crazy, but I remember that 'storm'. Living in the connecticut valley, we had no more than an inch or two of snow ontop of all the trees,(fully bloomed) grass and so forth. somewhere I have pictures of this event, I will never forget how pretty it was, and how many tree limbs we had to clean up the next day. Looking at your map, I see that I had nothing compared to the higher elevations, but at the age of 13, my definition of the universe was much smaller back then,... I also recall how the crabapples had already lost their blossoms, and were in leaf bloom as well, and now, with all this global warming 30 years later, that same crabapple, and all those in the same neighborhood, are still just starting to blossom,....things that make ya go,....HMmmmmmmm

[40/70 Benchmark]

ORH_wxman, on May 9 2007, 07:44 PM, said:

Having it be the 30 year anniversary of the May 1977 storm, I decided to look up more information on this storm and found surprisingly little written on it. Theres a blurb on intellicast site about it and a couple other mentions, but nothing really that informative.

So I started looking up COOP data and plotting snow totals from the storm and decided to make a map of it in the process. I'm still looking for more detailed upper air maps, and hopefully I'll be able to post some stuff on that later on, but in the meantime here is the snow map. The event affected mainly PA, NY State and central/southern New England. Probably something like a 1 in 200+ year type event for how late it occurred. The map is also not perfect in areas on the fringe of snowfall, esp in PA and SE NY.
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/7868/may1977snowrx3.png
Interesting that immediate metro west Boston had a general 3-7" (with more just a bit further W) and PVD had 7.0" yet Concord, NH was all rain being further removed from the cold pool aloft.

Looks like I had about 3", I always get screwed in mid-May events.... :lol:

[ACFD E101]

I wasn't quite born yet(still 5 months away), but my family lived in Holliston MA. My dad still remembers this storm, as he told me that the leaves were out and the snow attached to them like concrete. Trees and powerlines coming down were common as well as power outages. What would have this board been like then if it existed????????
Nice research Will.

[ORH_wxman]

40/70 Benchmark, on May 10 2007, 10:48 AM, said:

Looks like I had about 3", I always get screwed in mid-May events.... :lol:

Bedford Coop site had 9.5". 3.0" at Chestnut Hill.

[ORH_wxman]

ACFD E101, on May 10 2007, 10:56 AM, said:

I wasn't quite born yet(still 5 months away), but my family lived in Holliston MA. My dad still remembers this storm, as he told me that the leaves were out and the snow attached to them like concrete. Trees and powerlines coming down were common as well as power outages. What would have this board been like then if it existed????????
Nice research Will.

They had to bring in the National Guard in central MA with all the downed trees and lines. The trees had just leafed out several days prior to the storm. Bad timing. There was bad damage in NY State as well.

[40/70 Benchmark]

kulaginman, on May 9 2007, 11:44 PM, said:

27" of snow in the Catskills must've done a number on trees and power lines in the area. At that elevation leaf-out was probably a good week or two away still but I saw what 12-18" of water-logged snow did to trees and power lines in the BGM area during the mid April storm of this year....a big mess! 1977 seems to have featured some rather anomalous events as that was also the year of the infamous "Blizzard of '77" here in Western NY....

The year after wasn't so bad either ;) . The late 70's were rockn! :guitar:

[40/70 Benchmark]

ORH_wxman, on May 10 2007, 10:58 AM, said:

Bedford Coop site had 9.5". 3.0" at Chestnut Hill.

Yea, I know, but I am a ways ne of KBED, looks from the map I had significantly less.

[JamieO]

UNV recorded a trace then a week later it was in the mid-upper 80s.