The Forgotten Blizzard of 1886 - Are our climate records better today?
Tim MorrinJeffrey Tongue
NWS New York, NY
Gilda - 1946
January 9, 1886
March 13, 1888 ??
NCDC
• High 25• Low 15• Pcpn 0.30”• Snow ???
• Check of The Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), NOAA Regional Climate Centers.
• SAME RESULT. Record of 4.3” in 1974
NWS Web Page
Records
• Dr. Daniel Draper• 1841-1931• Director of the
New York Meteorological Observatory 1869-1911
• Records are in the Library of Congress
Where??
What Did Dr. Draper Report??
5”
How??
• The Draper self-recording pluviometer.
U.S. Signal Service:
Daily Journal• 28.719” Hg (972 mb)• Anemometer Cups Blown
Away. • 44 miles in velocity.• Street and RR Travel almost
entirely suspended.• Many Marine Disasters
Reported.
• TOTAL SNOWFALL:• 11.90”
Today
ASOS
ZOO
Central Park Zoo
Measuring snow
The correct way to measure snow
Sometimes not a “no-brainer”!
You will need two SNOW BOARDS. Approx. 3 ft X 3 ft and painted white.
One board never gets swept (this one is for continuous snow depth)
•The other board gets swept during snow event every 6 hours. Wiggle room here!!
•The total snowfall for event is the Summation of all 6 hourly measurements
First order climate locations
• At airports—MANY challenges• Poor siting-NWS has no say where they are.• Too many obstructions• Too few acceptable locations to measure.• CENTRAL PARK BETTER—open sky, natural terrain,
24/7 coverage, yearly training.• Doing it here since winter of 1996-97
QUESTIONS ?????
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