A Look Back at March 12-15 1993 Superstorm

 

 

This storm was called by some people "The Storm of the Century". It was an anomaly of nature because of its intensity, size and far reaching affects. At the peak of the storm its affects stretched from Canada to Central America with its main impact across the Eastern US and Cuba. This system had its genesis when three independent weather patterns merged in the Gulf of  Mexico. The storm system resulted in three days of  heavy snowfall, rough seas, blizzards, coastal flooding, tornadoes and very cold temperatures. This storm system was an anomally in nature. Its development began when a blast of cold arctic air (a strong dip in the strong jet stream structure) pushed down through the plains into the Gulf of Mexico before pushing back up the eastern seaboard. On Friday March 12, a strong complex of  thunderstorms had developed in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, and then merged with a narrow band of snow and rain that was pushing in from the western US. By that evening the two systems had merged with the strong jet stream. This system had developed into a very potent storm system which began tracking across the Gulf toward Florida. The coast guard reported that the sea conditions in the Gulf were absolutely unbelievable. According to the Petty Officer Rob Wyman who told the Washington Post that the sea conditions looked like a big washing machine. There were huge waves, spray, and hail. Some of the sea bouys had sustained hurricane force winds.  The sea was so powerful that a 200 foot freighter sunk 70 miles off Fort Myers. By the time that the Super Storm had passed the Coast Guard had deployed more than a hundred planes, helicopters, and boats, which had rescued 235 as well as more than a hundred boats in the Gulf of Mexico.  As the storm blew ashort it had created 15 tornadoes over Florida that had overturned mobile homes and launch trees and other debris. Between 4 and 5:30 am on Saturday a storm surge as high as 12 feet in some places ashore.

With the assessment of this storm system 26 states and an estimated 100 million  had been affected. This had an impact on travel, hundreds of  fatalities, and billions of dollars of damage and economic losses. As far as weather historical records are concern there has not been a winter storm system to match the effects of this system.

Looking  back at the weather models, it was not able to predict how deeply the system would intensify so far south in the Northern Gulf before hitting Florida with a central pressure of 975 millibars...but NWS models and personnel did recognize  the risk with this phenominal storm system. NWS personnel were confident enough to allow several northeastern states to declare a State of Emergency before the snow impacted the region. On the social side of matters temperatures across the south were rather mild for March and this raised doubts among the public that cold air would develop so quickly much less heavy snow fall in the near future. This coupled with the fact that it doesnt get very cold in the south this time of year anyway...added to the disbelief. As a result many radio and television stations were not confident to forecast too much snow to the southeast us public, until it was on more solid ground by surface reports.

As the storm system deepened temperatures over much of the eastern US began to fall quickly. The area of low pressure rapidly deepened as it moved into northwest Florida by early Saturday morning. As this happened snow began to spread over the eastern US and a squall line moved over the Gulf of Mexico into Florida and Cuba. The low tracked up the east coast during the day on Saturday and into Canada by early Monday morning. This storm system caused blizzard conditions over much of the eastern seaboard.  It brought thundersnow from Texas through Pennsylvania with some white out conditions.This system was responsible for 300 deaths and loss of power to over 10 million customers. Most of the deaths were due to heart attacks from shoveling snow. This storm system directly affected over 130 million people.  Every airport along the east coast was closed for some time during the storm. Every airport from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Atlanta, Georgia was closed for some time because of the storm. A record low pressure of 28.35 mb(960 mb) was recorded in New England. Such low readings were usually of a Category 2 or 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. Record low temperatures were recorded in much of the south.

Impact...In the south, where public works facilities in most areas generally have no reason to be prepared for snow removal, the storm is remembered because it resulted in a complete shutdown of  some regions for three days. Cities that usally receive little snowfall such as Chattanooga, Tennessee received anywhere from 2 to 4 feet of snow. This had caused some cities to adopt an emergency winter-weather plan for the future. Birmingham recorded a record low of 2 degrees fahrenheit during the storm. Syracuse, New York received 43 inches from the storm. New York reported a total of 12 inches. Two feet of snow fell in Hartford, Connecticut. The weight of the snow collapsed many factory roofs in the South, and snowdrifts on the windward side of buildings caused a few decks with substandard anchors to fall from homes. The heaviest snowfall was at Newfound Gap, where US Highway 441 crosses the Tennessee and North Carolina border with five feet; drifts up to 14 feet were observed at Mount Mitchell. There was wind gusts there as high as 110 mph according to NCDC.  Power outages on the average lasted for one to two weeks all over the east. The blizzard from this storm system had caused a  total of $6.6 billion of damage. Nearly 60,000 lightning strikes were recorded as the storm swept over the country, for a total of seventy-two hours, and many may remember their local news organizations touting the term "thundersnow".

Some of the higher snow fall amounts were: 
Mt La Counte TN 60 inches 152 cm
Mt Mitchell NC 50 inches 127 cm
Snowshoe WV 44 inches 111 cm
Syracuse NY 43 inches 109 cm
Latrobe, PA 36 inches 91 cm
Lincoln NH 35 inches 89 cm
Albaney NY 27 inches 69 cm
Pittburg PA 25 inches 64 cm
Hartford CT 24 inches 61 cm
London KY 22 inches 53 cm
Chattanooga 20 inches 51 cm
Ashville NC 19 inches 48 cm
Birmingham Al 17 inches 43 cm
Washington DC 13 inches 33 cm
New York NY 12 inches 31 cm
Waynesboro MS 9 inches 25 cm

Thousands of people were isolated by record snowfalls, especially in the Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia mountains. Over 200 hikers were rescued from the North Carolina and Tennessee mountains. Curfews were enforced in many counties and cities as 'states of emergency' were declared. The National Guard was deployed in many areas to protect lives and property. Generally, all interstate highways from Atlanta northward were closed.

 

Some of the highest wind gusts were

Some of the record low temperatures were: 

-12 degrees F Caribou MA
-11 degrees F Syracuse NY
-10 degrees F MT La Counte TN
-5 degrees F Elkins WV
-4 degrees F Rochester NY
1 degrees F Pittsburg PA
2 degrees F Birmingham AL
6 degrees F Knoxville TN
8 degrees F Greensboro NC
11 degrees F Chattanooga TN
15 degrees F Washington DC
17 degrees F Montgomery AL
18 degrees Atlanta GA
19 degrees F Augusta GA
21 degrees F Mobile AL
25 degrees F Pensacola FL

 

Some of the record low pressures were: 

28.38 inches Whilte Plains NY
28.43 inches Philadelphia PA
28.43 inches JFK Arprt New York
28.45 inches Dover, Delaware
28.51 inches Boston,Maine
28.53 inches Augusta, Maine
28.54 inches Norfolk, Virginia
28.54 inches Washington DC
28.61 inches Raleigh  NC
28.63 inches Columbia SC
28.73 inches Augusta, Georgia
28.74 inches Greenville SC
28.89 inches Asheville, NC

 

The storm system had brought hurricance-force winds up the eastern seaboard and brought in windy snow conditions from Alabama to upstate New York. The lowest pressure dropped to 960 millibars.

On the winter aspect of this storm system areas as far south as central Alabama and Georgia received 4 to 6 inches of snow. Some areas received heavier amounts like 12 inches in Birmingham Alabama with some reports of 16 inches area the metro area. The Florida Panhandle had some 2 inch amounts..which was accompanied by hurricane force winds and record low barometric pressures.

 

Some of  the highest wind gusts were: 

144 mph Mt. Washington NH
109 mph Key West FL
101 mph Flattop Mountain NC
98 mph Timbalier LA
92 mph South Marsh Island LA
90 mph Myrtle Beach SC
89 mph Fire Island NY
83 mph Vero Beach FL
81 mph Boston MA
71 mph La Guardia Airport NY

 

References for text and graphics

1. Memories of  the Super Storm  (http://www.weather.com/blog/weather8_15036.html)

2. Monthly Weather Review (http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~schultz/pubs/dickinsonetal97.PDF)

3. Berks Wintercast (http://berkswintercast.tripod.com/id62.html)

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