Snowicane or Not?
Was the Snowicanetm a true hurricane? Certainly not, by the book. The physical structure was completely different. However...
The powerful storm in the Northeast that arrived quietly Thursday roared into action as forecast and feared by AccuWeather.com meteorologists.
Our concern was that the storm might be taken too lightly by the public if we stuck to the norm of calling the system a nor'easter, snowstorm, or even a blizzard.
We were not only worried about immobilizing snow, but many other severe aspects of the storm. These ranged from high winds, downed trees and power lines, torrential rain and coastal flooding.
Gusts at official, low-elevation observation sites well away from the coast in New England reached 68 mph, just shy of hurricane force (74 mph). Gusts of 67 mph were recorded at two official stations over the interior mid-Atlantic states. A gust of 90 mph was recorded at Isle of Shoals Lighthouse just off the coast of New Hampshire.
The central pressure with this storm was as low as 28.64 inches of mercury and was as low as a Category 2 hurricane.
Winds from the storm blew the rain and snow horizontally in some areas.
Onshore winds produced a storm surge of 3 feet along the Massachusetts coast.
The storm tracked northwestward from the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall in the Long Island and Connecticut areas.
So what else would you call a storm that behaves and has impacts like a hurricane in winter? You can decide for yourself if we made the right call or not.
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