I had a lot of fun this season looking back at what kind of winter we've had here in State College, Pennsylvania, home of AccuWeather HQ [Google Map], and also looking at the general snow drought in the Mid-Atlantic (that was partially spoiled by the March 1st storm). So today I'll update you on the results of our Central PA winter, now that Winter is technically over (though I'm quick to remind people that we had snow in May last year).

PREVIOUS UPDATES:

I'll make no bones about it. This winter was disappointing for Central PA, but not because it wasn't cold. As noted in my last entry, we experienced an extremely cold 2-3 week period in late November and early January, including the coldest weather I have ever experienced (literally) with a low of -15 at my house and -28 elsewhere in the state.

The disappointment came from the lack of snowfall, or more explicitly, the lack of major snowfall. My largest one-day snow total this winter was 3 inches. Penn State said theirs was 2.5". Pitiful. If you look at the last 3 winters, you'll see several snow events over 3 inches for each.

Want to talk total snowfall?

State College Snow 2008-2009:

Normal: 46.0"Penn State: 20.3"UNV Airport: 24.9"Jesse: 14.0"*

Penn State puts us at 20.3 inches, less than half of our normal 46. *I don't count snowfall under an inch, so I only measured 14 inches this season (I also measure ice - freezing rain and sleet - separately, we had an additional 5 inches of that, which is probably a record but I don't have the data to prove it. This was probably due to La Nina.). Our snowiest period was Jan. 10th-20th, which dropped 64% of the entire winter's snowfall by my records.

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/video/video_inline_launchV3.asp?video=http://qt.accuweather.com/flashvideo/vblog_ferrell/wxcam2winter&category=&thumb=http://qt.accuweather.com/flashvideo/vblog_ferrell/wxcam2winter.jpg&hd=false

SNOW COVER AT MY HOUSE NOV.1 - MAR. 31 (WEBCAM #2)

The only redeeming thing about this winter was the snow cover. Because we had so much sleet and because we had such long periods of cold weather, the ground was at least partially white at my house for 61 days, or 69% of the November to February period (52% of Nov-Mar and 49% of Calendar Winter). This, I believe, was unusually high, though I can't back that up. Even Penn State (who doesn't count anything less than an inch) recorded 39 days with snow on the ground.

Here's a complete list of the winter's events (as they were):

- Nov. 9th: First Trace of Snow - Nov. 21st: First Significant Snow (Dusting) - Nov. 24th: An Inch of Sleet, An Inch of Snow, FIrst Ground Covering - Nov. 27th: White Thanksgiving (Photos From 11/26) - Dec. 11th: Moderate Freezing Rain Followed by Dusting of Snow (Photos 12/11 & 12/12) - Dec. 19th: Heavy Freezing Rain after Sleet, Snow (Photos) - Dec. 21st: Another Dusting of Snow (Photos) - Dec. 24th: Heavy Freezing Rain Melts Ground Snow/Ice (Photos) - Dec. 25th: White Christmas In Milesburg, PA (but not here) - Jan. 6th: Another Heavy Rain & Sleet Storm (Photos) - Jan. 10th: Our Biggest Snow - 3 Inches! (Photos) - Jan. 15th: Another Snow - 2 Inches (Photos) - Jan. 18th: Another 2 Incher (Photos) - Jan. 27th: Heavy Snow Shower w/ Big Flakes (Photos) - Jan. 30th: Same As Above (Photos) - Feb. 18th: Sleet, Snow & Hail (Photos) - Feb. 20th: A Dusting of Snow Overnight - Mar. 20th: Flurries on the First Day of Spring (Video)

Like last time, you can download the spreadsheet containing all this data here; here's an explanation of my "J" columns:

J SNO: My estimate of snowfall for each date, based on memory (and a ruler if it's over 2 inches); under 1 inch equals a Trace which does not contribute to the total. J ICE: My estimate of freezing rain + sleet for each date, based on memory (and a ruler if it's over 2 inches). J CVR: My estimate of the maximum snow cover each day (at any time of day) based on my webcam archives. Does NOT include cover from shoveling or plowing - must be naturally occurring).

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