Will we see a storm like this again in NY/NJ?
OT: 29 Years Ago Today (Monday) - the Blizzard of 1996
- Thread starter Knight Shift
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it was truly the most snow I have ever had to work in. Simply unbelievable and required 3 days of work
i am shocked Numbers didnt start a thread on this one.
i am shocked Numbers didnt start a thread on this one.
I was working in NYC at the time. Remember the city being basically shut down, which felt strange. One of the people in our office said people were skiing up the avenues.
Man I remember 96 but I also remember 1978. I was a senior in HS, my brother was a freshman in college in Florida. Man I had to shovel that all by myself 😂
Great storm, great winter.
Remember having like three or four days off school in a row multiple times 95/96. Found a new water tower hill to snowboard in town - a good hourlong walk in those conditions but well worth it.
Close my eyes and I can relive the feeling of being there, place and time. 29 years. Damn.
Remember having like three or four days off school in a row multiple times 95/96. Found a new water tower hill to snowboard in town - a good hourlong walk in those conditions but well worth it.
Close my eyes and I can relive the feeling of being there, place and time. 29 years. Damn.
Ahh memories
It's when I first started really disliking snow and cold weather
Was a high school freshman living in Readingon (Whitehouse Station) - where we set the record for the day in NJ with 29.5 inches of snow
My dad had this new Touro snowblower he couldn't wait to try out, and try out we did
Well, try out he did at least (I shoveled)
We had to have gone out there at least 3-4 separate times, b/c though it was big, it couldn't handle 2.5 feet of snow at once
We had off an entire week of school, which was cool
Memories of childhood past...
It's when I first started really disliking snow and cold weather
Was a high school freshman living in Readingon (Whitehouse Station) - where we set the record for the day in NJ with 29.5 inches of snow
My dad had this new Touro snowblower he couldn't wait to try out, and try out we did
Well, try out he did at least (I shoveled)
We had to have gone out there at least 3-4 separate times, b/c though it was big, it couldn't handle 2.5 feet of snow at once
We had off an entire week of school, which was cool
Memories of childhood past...
The term “blizzard” gets used very loosely today. It was used rarely 30, 40 years ago. The 1996 storm was a true blizzard with very heavy, blowing snow with wind and very cold temperatures. Temps in the low 20’s, which is rare for a big snowstorm in this area. In southern Union County where I live, we received a legit 2 feet of snow. There were snow drifts on houses that were over the first floor windows, probably 12 feet or so. I remember 4 or 5 really intense, big snowstorms in my life. The Feb 1978 storm when I was a sophomore at RU, The Feb 1983 storm and the Jan 1996 storm standout because of the storm intensity and snow amounts.
en.wikipedia.org
North American blizzard of 1996 - Wikipedia
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Parts of NW NJ got over 30" in 2021. The one I remember best was 2010. Took parts of 2 days for my son and I to dig out completely.
I remember the winters of 94 and 96 were lots of snow and ice.
Ironically, I think in 95 we didn’t get much form what i remember
Ironically, I think in 95 we didn’t get much form what i remember
If i recall didnt the 96 storm end up melting in a couple days or was that another one? I was in Kendall Park at the time and recall lots of flooding from the melt along the D&R canal in Kingston.
Also, the years leading up to these winters were very dry, not much snow. I remember that because the eastern ski resorts had to make most of their snow because so little fell.
I got sick and missed a bunch of finals that fall semester. All of them got rescheduled for this week in early Jan 1996, so they got wiped out again! I was literally taking fall finals well into the spring semester. LOL!
I was a sophomore at Cook in '78 living in a first floor Newell apartment. The bedroom windows were completely covered by snow drifts. Classes cancelled - if I recall that was the first time in ~ 200 years.
Was living on the UWS and there were people riding snowmobiles on Columbus AveI was working in NYC at the time. Remember the city being basically shut down, which felt strange. One of the people in our office said people were skiing up the avenues.
you have to wonder where they were storing them up until that day
Was living and working in the city. Lived on the UES and worked WTC 1. I remember the firm getting rooms for everyone at the Marriott world financial. Some people turned it down and said they would commute from home. I was new so took the perk. I lived there for the week it was awesome. I also got 3 new clients out of it because multiple desks shut down for a day or two because they didn't have proper coverage. Worked my ass off the first 3 days. Only went to room to shower and grab a quick nap. I think I worked 40 houes straight. Then partied my ass off the last 2 days . HAHHAHAH
I remember both 1978 and 1996. My dad built me a really cool snow fort with tunnels all over the yard in the ‘78 storm.
1996, I was two years out of school and working at JFK. All of the rehab departments had an annual ski trip. A state of emergency was declared and we were stuck up in Vermont until Tuesday. Needless to say, administration wasn’t happy that almost 50 therapists were not able to work on Monday and Tuesday throughout the hospital system.
1996, I was two years out of school and working at JFK. All of the rehab departments had an annual ski trip. A state of emergency was declared and we were stuck up in Vermont until Tuesday. Needless to say, administration wasn’t happy that almost 50 therapists were not able to work on Monday and Tuesday throughout the hospital system.
Lots of NYC pics in this link: https://www.bygonely.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/New_York_City_Blizzard_63.jpg
The writing on the scroll in this Times Square pic looks like it could be announcing the Rutgers-Syracuse bball game is being postponed
The writing on the scroll in this Times Square pic looks like it could be announcing the Rutgers-Syracuse bball game is being postponed
Will have to check the year, but we built snow forts and a mini luge run after one of the larger storms in the mid-late 2000's when we were living near Sea Bright.
what is that ticker say between the signs? "Syracuse-Rutger. . . ?"Lots of NYC pics in this link: https://www.bygonely.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/New_York_City_Blizzard_63.jpg
The writing on the scroll in this Times Square pic looks like it could be announcing the Rutgers-Syracuse bball game is being postponed
That Cup Noodles sign that came after the coming soon was pretty cool:
2003 was insane as well, I recall NYC got around 3 ft and when it was melting you couldn't tell what was sidewalk and what was a quad high black puddle (which unfortunately happened to me).
I remember Rutgers students snowboarding behind their cars lol
I remember Rutgers students snowboarding behind their cars lol
Our flight home out of JFK after the holidays was delayed for two days. On the third day all systems were go until our plane went off the tarmac, sustained damage, and we were delayed another day.
I was stuck at a friend's house in Delaware for 2 days - and tried to get back to Morris County - NJ DOT had plowed all of NJTurnpike - but NONE of the exit ramps except GSP..... it was a nightmare figuring a way home - but finally make it.
That’s correct as I remember. December of ‘95 had been very cold. Many days in the 20’s leading into Jan ‘96 and remained very cold when the storm hit. Right after the storm , the pattern changed and temps went up into the 40’s for a few weeks. A lot of flooding issues because of the snow melting.
I'm guessing it is about the RU-SU bball game (which was scheduled for Jan 7) being postponed
Most of the snow fell on the 7th. NFC/AFC championship Sunday. Not a big start in the morning but as soon as the NFC Championship started at 1pm, Eagles @ Cowboys it exploded. Even better the Eagles lost. Watch in a bar but had to leave before the game ended as it was just piling up fast. Drove a Bronco II from South Philly to the Art Museum. I saw only one other car on the Ben Franklin Parkway. I parked at the corner of 27th and Brown where the plows had piled up a small mountain of snow. For the next 4/5 hours I cleared off my Bronco and created new tire tracks up the snow pile. The next morning I was the only one on the block who didn't have to shovel his car out.
That definitely was another storm. Philly was shut down for 3 days. They didn't allow any vehicles on the road except for people shuttling doctors and nurses to and from the hospitals. Since I didn't have to shovel out I volunteered right away. I did 5 round trips a day for the next 3 days.
January 1987 was pretty nasty too. I was working at the RAC and even though employers staggered closing times, traffic was at a virtual standstill for hours. I almost ran out of gas.
One of my favorite storms ever, along with Feb 83, Feb 2006, Boxing Day 2010, Jan-2016 and Feb 2024; see the link below to Ray Martin's (he was a NWS met for years - not sure where he ended up). NJ snowstorm page, which has summaries of storms from 1993-2013. I've posted about this storm before, but briefly, it was pretty well modeled ahead of time and I remember my boss and I were planning to fly to Ireland for work that Sunday afternoon, but for 2 days I had been telling him we had a big snowstorm coming and that we should consider postponing, but he kept saying no.
Finally, I went into work around 7 am that Sunday morning to get some files and I checked the forecast one more time (on the old NE.weather usenet page) and it looked ominous, so I emailed him and called him one more time and said we'd be nuts to go, as we'd get trapped at JFK for days, possibly and the snow had already started accumulating by 8 am and he relented - we absolutely would've been stuck there for at least 2 days.
The emails I sent to our team about the coming storm were actually the very beginning of my sideline as a weather guy and my snow email list began from that. Posting here started a few years later. Anyway, after doing some work for a couple of hours, I drove the 9 miles back from Rahway to Metuchen and by then the storm was starting to crank and there was already 3-4" on the ground, so the drive was an adventure (luckily little traffic though).
Got home and settled in watching the snow, shoveling and playing in the snow with my wife and our 2.5 year old son. Given that that storm put down about 28" of snow at our house (very difficult to measure due to the winds and drifting) and we have a shallow pitched roof over our family room and didn't want to have ice dams/leaks, with that much snow, I shoveled it, which was pretty easy.
The cool thing was it created 4-5' deep piles on the ground, so I took my son up on the roof with me and we jumped into the snow piles (was only 10' from the low point of the roof to the ground). We would do that 10-15 times a day for a couple of days (my wife grudgingly allowed it, lol) as my son just couldn't get enough of it. We had 6 more 12"+ storms between 1996 and 2006, so we did lots of jumping, but by 2006 he'd help me shovel and we'd let him do the jumping on his own, lol.
The other thing I remember was how much friggin' shoveling I had to do, especially since I helped our neighbors who were older and I also remember how amazing the snow removal was in Metuchen, as our street and most other streets were cleared by Monday afternoon, so I drove around that evening (despite orders not to) and saw how poorly a few neighboring towns were cleared - that continues to this day.
https://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/1996/07-Jan-96.html
Finally, I went into work around 7 am that Sunday morning to get some files and I checked the forecast one more time (on the old NE.weather usenet page) and it looked ominous, so I emailed him and called him one more time and said we'd be nuts to go, as we'd get trapped at JFK for days, possibly and the snow had already started accumulating by 8 am and he relented - we absolutely would've been stuck there for at least 2 days.
The emails I sent to our team about the coming storm were actually the very beginning of my sideline as a weather guy and my snow email list began from that. Posting here started a few years later. Anyway, after doing some work for a couple of hours, I drove the 9 miles back from Rahway to Metuchen and by then the storm was starting to crank and there was already 3-4" on the ground, so the drive was an adventure (luckily little traffic though).
Got home and settled in watching the snow, shoveling and playing in the snow with my wife and our 2.5 year old son. Given that that storm put down about 28" of snow at our house (very difficult to measure due to the winds and drifting) and we have a shallow pitched roof over our family room and didn't want to have ice dams/leaks, with that much snow, I shoveled it, which was pretty easy.
The cool thing was it created 4-5' deep piles on the ground, so I took my son up on the roof with me and we jumped into the snow piles (was only 10' from the low point of the roof to the ground). We would do that 10-15 times a day for a couple of days (my wife grudgingly allowed it, lol) as my son just couldn't get enough of it. We had 6 more 12"+ storms between 1996 and 2006, so we did lots of jumping, but by 2006 he'd help me shovel and we'd let him do the jumping on his own, lol.
The other thing I remember was how much friggin' shoveling I had to do, especially since I helped our neighbors who were older and I also remember how amazing the snow removal was in Metuchen, as our street and most other streets were cleared by Monday afternoon, so I drove around that evening (despite orders not to) and saw how poorly a few neighboring towns were cleared - that continues to this day.
https://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/1996/07-Jan-96.html
Winter of 93-94 was crazy because I recall it seemed to snow every 4 days from December to March. I was working in East Hanover at the time and the commute coming home on I-80 sucked. The new section of 287 had just opened as well and that was scary at times. I recall the 1996 storm but not many details.
Yes, I remember that winter. I can remember shoveling snow/ice around my home about twice a week for many weeks. I believe there was about a 2 week stretch with something like 5 significant snowfalls that dumped between 4 - 10 inches of snow each time.
Nice recap . Like I posted , I remember this storm but I thought the winter of 1994 as being worse than 1996.One of my favorite storms ever, along with Feb 83, Feb 2006, Boxing Day 2010, Jan-2016 and Feb 2024; see the link below to Ray Martin's (he was a NWS met for years - not sure where he ended up). NJ snowstorm page, which has summaries of storms from 1993-2013. I've posted about this storm before, but briefly, it was pretty well modeled ahead of time and I remember my boss and I were planning to fly to Ireland for work that Sunday afternoon, but for 2 days I had been telling him we had a big snowstorm coming and that we should consider postponing, but he kept saying no.
Finally, I went into work around 7 am that Sunday morning to get some files and I checked the forecast one more time (on the old NE.weather usenet page) and it looked ominous, so I emailed him and called him one more time and said we'd be nuts to go, as we'd get trapped at JFK for days, possibly and the snow had already started accumulating by 8 am and he relented - we absolutely would've been stuck there for at least 2 days.
The emails I sent to our team about the coming storm were actually the very beginning of my sideline as a weather guy and my snow email list began from that. Posting here started a few years later. Anyway, after doing some work for a couple of hours, I drove the 9 miles back from Rahway to Metuchen and by then the storm was starting to crank and there was already 3-4" on the ground, so the drive was an adventure (luckily little traffic though).
Got home and settled in watching the snow, shoveling and playing in the snow with my wife and our 2.5 year old son. Given that that storm put down about 28" of snow at our house (very difficult to measure due to the winds and drifting) and we have a shallow pitched roof over our family room and didn't want to have ice dams/leaks, with that much snow, I shoveled it, which was pretty easy.
The cool thing was it created 4-5' deep piles on the ground, so I took my son up on the roof with me and we jumped into the snow piles (was only 10' from the low point of the roof to the ground). We would do that 10-15 times a day for a couple of days (my wife grudgingly allowed it, lol) as my son just couldn't get enough of it. We had 6 more 12"+ storms between 1996 and 2006, so we did lots of jumping, but by 2006 he'd help me shovel and we'd let him do the jumping on his own, lol.
The other thing I remember was how much friggin' shoveling I had to do, especially since I helped our neighbors who were older and I also remember how amazing the snow removal was in Metuchen, as our street and most other streets were cleared by Monday afternoon, so I drove around that evening (despite orders not to) and saw how poorly a few neighboring towns were cleared - that continues to this day.
https://www.raymondcmartinjr.com/weather/1996/07-Jan-96.html
The 2010 storm was pretty bad and the cleanup was terribile in most parts of the state - from what I remember was that Christie was putting through public worker reforms so lots of snow plowing guys took the retirement, leaving many government entities short staffed and/or with inexperienced staff . As a result , I think a lot of roadways were missed !
What was the February 2024 storm ? Are you thinking of that big storm in 2021 ?
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