February 5, 1989 snowfall

After getting off to a good start, the winter began to get even better. On the morning of  Sunday, February 5th, snow began to fall a little bit after 8. By noon, there was an inch on the ground. It looked as though there might not be any school on Monday. The snow continued to fall throughout the afternoon hours, and by 8 PM, there were three inches recorded at the house on Chicken Hill. The storm ended shortly before 4 PM, and it left the island frosted with a decent accumulation.

The snow started back up around midnight, and it fell heavily throughout the region. A new storm system was making its way into the region, and by 8 AM on the 6th, it switched to heavy rain, melting the snow. The temperatures made their way into the upper 30’s, and became steady at 36. The rain froze and made everything glazed, causing numerous slip and fall injuries on island.

the storm at its peak

Stats:

Accumulation: 3″ Forecast: 1″

Wind: 20 mph Unofficial: 25 mph

Damage: None

Review: March 4-6,2001 snow “Bust”

Often times, we all have painful memories, like when a loved one has died, or even when we move. In the meteorological community, we all have a painful memory: March 2001. From a Nantucket perspective, the storm was decent. On the 4th, which could be considered the first day of the storm; snow began to fall after dark. Winds at this point, still had not picked up. After Midnight, the snow which had been falling ,switched over to a light freezing rain.

Something was not right: The temperature, which had been rising steadily from freezing to the low 40’s throughout the day. Another factor, the wind had been increasing out of the East-northeast. The rain continued throughout the day on the 5th. Meanwhile on the mainland, places such as Durham,NH were receiving a screaming blizzard.  The rain, had backed off leaving a nasty raw day in place.

The rain was not done however. It picked up just before 10 AM on the 6th. Any hope for snow, had been dashed with the falling of rain. The wind had now become a factor. The low pressure itself was offshore by about 100 miles, and this caused wind gusts to be in the 40’s. Sustained, the winds were in the low 20’s. The next day, the low pressure system kicked out of the area, and became the offshore fishing grounds’ problem.

The problem with this storm, was that it was overforecast. Originally amounts of up to 3 feet were predicted for the region, this was not going t0 verify, because the storm moved too fast.

map depicting snowfall totals

Stats:

Accumulation: 0″  Forecast: 5″-Bust

Winds: 40 mph  Unofficial: 42 mph

Damage: only pride

Review: January 19-20, 2002 snowstorm

For the most part, the winter of 2001/2002 was a bit of a dry winter. It had been mild just after Christmas and the New Year, and fears that Nantucket might not get any snow were beginning to come together. A low pressure area was in the Appalachians on the 19th, and steadily moved eastward. The 19th on Nantucket began as a clear day, it wasn’t until 2 PM that any clouds began to filter in. Gradually the sky went from a milky haze to all out overcast.

Snow began after dark, and grew in intensity. At this time, the wind also switched; until now, the wind was out of the east-southeast.  Most areas near and around Nantucket saw their snow end by 4:30 AM on the 20th.  5.5″ fell on the island. Wind was not a problem with this storm, however there was a peak wind gust of 26 mph, however unofficially there was a wind gust of 30 mph and this was recorded at Chicken Hill.

There was also a brief, and I mean brief period of rainfall. This rainfall did not melt the snow cover at all. By 10 AM, the sky was clear, and the storm was all but a distant memory.

snow contour map for SNE

radar image from the snowstorm

Stats:

Accumulation: 5.5″  Forecast: rain

Wind: 20 mph  Unofficial: 30

Chicken Hill-Why its important

Chicken Hill

This house is where the annals of my website were recorded. From the street, we can see the front room, that was the unofficial “study” On the left hand side of the house, is the TV room. The windows leading off to the back of the house, was the sun porch ,or the weather center. The garage was where most of the snow removal equipment(i.e. snow shovels) was located.

Let’s take a photo tour of the house, shall we?

The back

In this picture, is the back yard. Here, is where the snow measurement was done. I used to have a yardstick nailed to the back fence for accurate measurement. It was actually a very accurate measurement system, the margin of error was .2″

The Blizzard of Jan. 2005, however damaged the fence. A new one was built that summer.

Stairs leading to upstairs

These were the stairs used to access the other weather center(tropical weather,winds, and rain).

Weather archive room

This was the unofficial “Study” I kept wx archives in this room. My archives, as well as my father’s were stored in a desk just out of camera view.

MMM food

Dining area.

The heart of the place

This is where the computer was.  It isn’t there any more.

Upstairs portion of house

This is where those stairs would take you. This concludes our tour of Chicken Hill

Chicken Hill is important because it is one of the highest points on the island. For example, during the April 15-17, 2007 nor’easter a recorded gust of 85 mph was recorded here, however it was unofficial.