Great Cold Fronts+

[Jeb]

Check out this thread by WEATHER53

 

 

Great Cold Fronts of the Past

http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=26067

 

 

 

 

This is WEATHER53's material, NOT MINE.

 

First up, I would like to revisit this date, March 8 1984-Perhaps DC's greatest thundersnow event that was seperate from an actual organized storm this surprise event dumped 2-8" of snow on DC metro area with localized rates of 2-3" per hour. Not as cold as today's but a short duration, 3-4 hour event that really packed a wallop. Happy anniversary.

Additional anniversary is 3/8/78 when 6-8" of snow fell in area.

Now onto the Great Fronts

 

4/17/83-Noontime temps in upper 50's fell to mid to upper 30's by late afternoon/evening with rain mixing with snow and wind gusts to 50mph.

11/9-11/87-Temps in 70's on 11/9, rain on 11/10 with temps in 40's in DC but 75 in Norfolk, on 11/11 8-15" of snow in DC area.

12/28/88-Cold front moves thru with gust to 77 at BWI, 60 mph gusts in Greenbelt. Temp drops 35-40 degrees in 12 hours.

11/22&23/89-Two strong cold fronts in less than 48 hours drop 4-5" of snow in DC area. This begins one of the top two coldest spells for November into and thru December on record. The 4-5" of snow is still around 2 weeks later.

3/20/90-High temps near 65 on 3/19, snow begins around 7am 3/20 with 6" in w. md, up to one foot in Pa, and 1-3" in DC area.

10/18/90-Strong cold front tears thru, confirmed tornados, over 2" rain most areas, winds gusts to near 70 mph.

7/25/91-After 3 preceeding days had highs of 101,97,101 cold front deluges DC area with isolated reports of 6" rain, numerous reports 2-3".

12/4&5/93-Late Fri., early Sat morn temps in 50's fall into 20's by dark Sat, sustained 25-35 mph for over 12 hours, gusts 40+, boat sinks in bay.

1/18/94-The Granddaddy of all cold snaps has temps fall from 30 to 5 with all day wind chills (old scale) -20 to -35, nightime wind chills near -50.

11/11/95-Extremely strong cold front drops temps 20 degrees in one hour, 30 degree total drop from afternoon high of 62 down to 32 by 8pm, with showers changing to snow squalls. This essentially began the protracted cold and stormy pattern of 1995-96.

3/31-4/1/97-March roars out after highs in low 70's winds increase and are sustained for 24 hours at 25-35moh with gusts to 50 with 1" snow in DC area and 4" in northeastern Md.

12/22/98-Morning temps rise to 60-65 then temps drop to 35 by dark, overnight low of 20. Temp at DCA dropped 47 degrees in 24 hours from 67* at 6am 12/22 to 20* 6am 12/23.

2/12-2/13/99-Record warmth of 74 at DCA on 2/12 then temp drops 16 degrees in 20 minutes, 30* in 2 hours. Afternoon highs on 2/13 in low 30's, wind chills 15-20 making it feel 50-60* colder in 24 hours.

3/3-3/4/99-Highs near 70 on 3/3, 2-3" snow in n & w suburbs next day.

1/13/2000-Temp around 60 at 1pm, cold front produces widspread gusts over 50 mph, number of reports of 60mph, scattered 70mph, 12 hours later tmps ranging 25-30*.

4/8-4/9/2000-Highs temps 4/8 75-80, temps drop 30 degrees in 2 hours, between 11pm-1am rain changes to heavy snow but little accumulation. 4/9 highs near 45, winds 20-30 mph, wind chill makes it feel some 60 degrees colder.

12/17/00-Extrmely foggy morning as temps rise from 40 to 60, then very strong thundertoms with 2" rain in 1-2 hours, winds gust to 40 and temp falls back to 40 in afternoon.

3/29-30/03-Dramatic temp drop from near 75 on 3/29 to 30's on 3/30 with snow, heavy at times, 2-3" far n& w area, dusting around beltway.

11/24/03-Warm month comes to an end as cold front drops temps 14* in 30 minutes, 17* in one hour and 25 degrees in 4 hours.

12/20/04-Front drops temps 30 degrees from 42 at 5pm to 12 5am. DCA coldest 24 hour period of the winter temps struggle to reach low 20's, wind chills below zero into afternoon.

3/7-3/8/05-High on 3/7 is 70, at 6am 3/8 temp is 55, by 11am temp down to 28 a 27 degree drop in 5 hours, with heavy snow and poor visibility, winds 25-35mph some gusts over 40 and 1.5-2.5" snow in immediate suburbs.

 

Pretty good company today, making the list of 20 "greatest" cold fronts in last 22 years.

 

 

 

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