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 ?????