Yeah. lol The bands from the back end of the low altogether have always been showing a North/Northeasterly track, so we can expect at least another good round this evening coming from the U.S and Eastern Ontario before things start to ease just a little bit. Some wicked snow and wind out there - current gusts were clocked at 74 km/h from the NE. I also noticed that things have taken a little mixing of ice pellets with the snow, as I had briefly mentioned as a slight possibility in my report for this evening. I'm pretty sure it will all change back to snow pretty soon, based on where the mixing precip zone is hovering, though.

This has been quite epic, huh? Reports of lightning have also been seen in Ottawa, Cornwall, Belleville, and as mentioned, over Lakes Ontario and Erie.

Aside from that, I'm still expecting those winds to pick up a little more very shortly.

Edit: I wouldn't be surprised if we saw one or two more flashes of lightning given how tall some of these cloud tops are that I'm detecting on the infra-red.

Trav.

La Presse just reported that between 20cm and 30cm of snow have fallen. The maps show that secondary band of snow will now end, but a third one is coming!!

Snow, winds, lighthing and thunder everywhere!

I think this is the best snowstorm I've been in my life. My parents agree, but I'm sure the 1971 storm was more powerful.

I've probably been having about as much fun as the two of you watching this storm today - it's chillingly beautiful!

Hehe. The third major component will be here in 10min. It's going to get wild again! Enjoy!!

Hey guys,

Well, I did promise a monstrosity of a storm. I agree, though, it's the most powerful snowstorm I've ever seen in my life.

And Enkil is correct - this current precipitation wave is strong and relatively slow moving (notice its speed of motion every 10 mins as it pushes North). There seems to be no end to the storm. Things will ease off while we're sleeping tonight. Could be at least another couple hours before this latest wave is finished.

On a side note, those winds are still fearsome. I've recorded the strongest gust at 93 km/h in the last hour. Ice pellets and snow seem to be either taking turns or are working together.

Again, wouldn't be surprised if you hear a crack of thunder with this wave. I am detecting light electrical activity within it:

http://www.theweathernetwork.com/lightning

And yes, TRae, this is a thrilling piece of work provided by Mother Nature!

Trav.

It appears now that we're heading into lighter bands after almost, as I said, two hours of that vehement burst of snow, though that doesn't necessarily mean that the snow will now be a whole lot lighter, but things will eventually calm down in the next few hours, particularly the winds.

Well, looks like we had a blast covering this storm during the last 24-36 hours. Personally, guys, after this storm finally moves out, I don't think we've seen the last of the snow. Also, as I've told Enkil, don't expect Spring to start off too early this year, again because of the La Nina present.

And once more, don't forget to turn your clocks one hour forward either before you gp to bed tonight or when you wake up in the morning. That said, at least we got longer days on our side.

Cheers,

Trav.

Hi guys,

Only three months to go and the Summer Firework competition will be on!

First of all, thanks to Travis for letting me know about this thread....thanks pal!

Regarding the comments that Enkil made about the snowstorm of 1971, I have to say he is right. Without hesitation, it was more powerful that the one we just experienced last Saturday. On the morning of Thursday March 4th 1971, we woke up to a mega snowstorm that left us with 48 cm of snow. I had the chance (yes, the chance, since I love Winter and huge snowstorms ) to live through both the 1971 and the 2008 storms. I was just 11 in 1971 and I lived in the exact same house as I do now, so I can compare how the surroundings looked like after both storms. After the March 4th 1971 snowstorm, Montreal was totally paralysed, which was not the case this past Saturday, even though it was very difficult to get around. Imagine if after this recent storm, mother nature would add another 18 cm on top of what we had already received! That can make the difference between a bus who can go through and a bus driver that has to abandon "ship"......and that's what happened in 1971. Cars, buses, trucks were abandoned on large boulevards and not because the minister of transportation was not equipped to do the job. Back then, Winters were snowy and snowstorms kept on coming during the season, which has not been the case in the last decades.

On that 1971 snowstorm, I just couldn't go outside by the backdoor because it was totally blocked by snow. I had to go by the front door and walk around the house to go the backyard. Once I got there, I did not even have to go up the 6 steps to reach the balcony.....I was already leveled with the balcony. The wind was much stronger than last Saturday's too......sustained winds reaching almost 110km/h at times. I had to shovel by layers and try to keep my eyes open in the process, since the snow was blown in my face continuously. It was just PURE FUN AND PLEASURE and it felt like I was in one of those movies where you see an endless fight against mother nature, except it was real life! Since I lived in the same house during both snowstorms, I can actually say that the 1971 snowstorm was way more powerful. Also, the 48 cm fell in a very short time, doubled with powerful winds of over 100km/h, made it almost impossible for the clearing equipment to cope with the snowstorm. The March 4th 1971 was a wonderful experience to me, impregnated in my mind forever and as of today, I am still hoping to relive another snowstorm of that magnitude. The March 8th 2008 snowstorm was a strong one indeed, but cannot be compared with the one in 1971....trust me!

Almost forgot.....on Sunday March 7th 1971, just three days later, we had an additional 20cm of snow.....those were the good old days when Winters were for real!

Enjoy the rest of the season!

Pierre

Hi Pierre,

You and Enkil are both correct to say that the mighty snowstorm of March 4th, 1971 was more powerful than that of March 8th, 2008, but both were certainly monsters nevertheless. Since this Winter storm ended up being the biggest of its kind since November, I thought it would be interesting to compare the features of both. So, here we go:

March 4th, 1971

Total snow accumulations: 47.0 cm
Conditions: Snow and blowing snow
Strongest sustained wind: 74 km/h
Duration of strongest sustained winds (between 61-74 km/h): ~4 hours
Strongest achieved wind gust: 108 km/h
Storm longevity: ~28 hours (started at 5:00 p.m of March 3rd)
Lowest air pressure: 97.29 kiloPascals (kPa)

March 8th, 2008

Total snow accumulations: 32.8 cm
Conditions: Snow, blowing snow+ice pellets
Strongest sustained wind: 72 km/h
Duration of strongest sustained winds (between 63-72km/h): ~4 hours
Strongest achieved wind gust: 93 km/h
Storm longevity: ~40 hours (part 1 and part 2)
Lowest air pressure: 98.15 kiloPascals (kPa)

Comparatively, both storms had identical features, and both were fairly ubiquitous. First, the maximum sustained winds or the strongest wind gusts were not massively far apart - the difference between the strongest gusts was 15 km/h, and only a mere 2 km/h difference between the strongest sustained winds. Also note that the longevity of the strongest sustained winds between both storms were about equal in time span.

The duration of both storms were different, mainly in part because this recent storm had two components to it, and so it naturally prolonged the storm for several more hours. However, the snow total gathered from the first part was a great deal smaller, at least in our region, than that of its bigger brother since the snow was mostly light and was taking breaks up till 11:00 a.m of March 8th. Finally, the air pressure was roughly the same, but each was VERY low, indicative as to how intense both storms really were. Generally, the lower the air/barometric pressure, the stronger the storm. Judging from the identical air pressure values, that leads me to believe that we were in close proximity to the center of the low in 1971 as well.

Concluding, the storm of March 8th, 2008 was equally quite vicious and paralyzing, especially considering the amount of snow we in Montreal already had prior to it. Even though we picked up ~33 cm of snow in Montreal, that doesn't necessarily mean the storm wasn't capable of crossing that 40 cm threshold. Let's not forget that Ottawa did in fact receive 52 cm of snow (this was 5 cm more than the 47 we picked up on March 4th, 1971), while Niagara Falls collected just 1 cm less, making both areas easily crippled. Reasons behind our slightly less accumulations were simply because of the interference of ice pellets, either strickly falling that way or mixed in with snow occasionally - we had at least four hours (not consecutively) of mixing. Interestingly, Ottawa had picked up 17 cm of snow from part 1 of the storm, compared to our 7 cm, so they were already well ahead 10+cm from us after this initial part. In the long run, this is certainly a storm to remember in Canadian history!

But you're right, Pierre. Winters in the 90's and as far back as who knows when were much more fearsome one after the other!

Edit: As for the record, we're still liable to picking up 37.2 cm (a little bit less than that after today's accumulations) to beat 1970-1971. As far as that goes, I'm watching another possible Winter storm just in time for later next week, but I'll keep a close eye on it until then.

Edit 2: I did forget to mention yet another possible Winter storm (a Colorado Low) that has a slight chance of hitting Ontario and Quebec later Saturday into Sunday. However, at this point the models suggest that it will stay South of the border, giving us a few flurries and then zooming into the Maritimes - there's a good chance it will stay this path. If the jetstream changes its pattern and migrates further North, then that changes everything. Gotta keep an eye on this one in addition to the one I mentioned briefly in my first edit.

Trav.

Hey guys,

Again, sorry for the double post, but I just wanted to post some video footage that I took during the storm. It's nothing much, as I did this in a rush, but it still gives an idea of how big the storm was. There's three short parts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IV6jHauJIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbRhj-RK83Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOYRn4J60Q

Trav.