The Great Arctic Outbreak Of 1899

[knocker]

The Great Arctic Outbreak of '99 and the Great Eastern Blizzard of '99 occurred in February. It was an incredible sequence of back-to-back snowstorms sandwiched by an extreme cold wave. On February 5 to 8, a great blizzard struck the Mid-Atlantic Region. Baltimore received almost a foot of snow and Washington 14 inches over 4 days. As the storm moved out on the 8th, temperatures feel below zero on the 9th. Record cold settled in by the morning of the 10th, Laurel recorded a low of -18 F and Washington -8F. On the 11th, Washington, DC recorded a record minimum of -15 F and a record low maximum of only +4F. Fallston (Harford County) recorded -8F on the 9th and -14F on the 10th and 11th. Charlotte Hall in Southern Maryland reached -19F and Princess Anne -10F. A second blizzard struck on February 11. Temperatures near the start of the storm ranged from -15F to +11F. The storm dropped an additional 20 inches on Washington, 21 inches at Baltimore, and 9 in Solomons. An amazing 34 inches fell on Cape May, NJ. Snow depths reached 34 inches in DC and Baltimore, 24 inches in Princess Anne and as much as 41 inches at Cape May! Northwest winds of 48 mph created blizzard conditions and drove the snow into 10 foot drifts! These blocked transportation lines to the cities causing a major coal shortage that resulted in rationing. Food was also rationed, though not as severely as the coal. On February 16, an ice storm hit. Washington recorded its greatest monthly snow total with 35.2 inches and its greatest seasonal snowfall total with 54.4 inches. Frederick recorded 34 inches for the month. Baltimore had a record 33.9 inches for the month with a record 51.1 inches for the season (This record stood for nearly a century until 1996). Hagerstown also recorded its greatest February snow total with 31 inches for the month. The winter of 1898-1899 was so cold over a large part of the US that ice flowed from the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico! This has only been recorded one other time. On February 13, 1784, ice flows blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans and then passed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Credit: NOAA NWS

For a detailed meteorological analysis of the events http://journals.amet...AE%3E2.0.CO%3B2

Charts courtesy NOAA Central Library Data Imaging Project

Edited November 9, 2010 by weather ship

[Weather-history]

13th February 1899 minima

Kansas

Concordia: -32.2C

Dodge City: -31.1C

Witchita: -3C

Oklahoma City: -27.8C

Texas

Amarillo: -26.7C

Abilene: -21.1C

Palestine: -20C

San Antonio: -15.6C

Galveston: -14.4C

Missouri

Springfield: -33.3C

Arkansas

Little Rock: -24.4C

Tennesseee

Nashville: -24.4C

Chattanooga: -23.3C

Louisiana

New Orleans: -13.9C

Alabama

Mobile: -18.3C

Georgia

Atlanta: -21.1C

Florida

Jacksonville: -12.2C

By contrast, the UK was enjoying an exceptionally mild spell at around the same time

10th February 1899 maxima

Camden Square: 18.2C

Brixton: 18.9C

Norwich: 17.5C

Bury St Edmunds: 16.1C

Llandudno: 18.3C

Hitchin: 17.2C

Edited November 9, 2010 by Mr_Data

[LetItSnow!]

This spell very much reminds me of our recent events and quite a few events in recent years. I’ve spoken at great length recently about how I think that a warmer planet has had double an effect on our winter weather, how cold patterns in America end up forcing the Atlantic to become more active and how under a normal pattern that would more often lead to undercutting due to less prominent blocking to our south. Nowadays blocking is almost permanently to our south in some way so it leads to more chance of things going wrong. 
However this did also happen before (just not as much) and February 1899 is quite a good example. The closing days of January 1899 were by no means exceptional, with a cold high centred around the U.K. At this time the cold spell was getting going across Canada. 

 

By the 1st of February we actually had a decent pattern. We had blocking up to Iceland and a potential cold spell was on its way.

However, the temperature contrast on the East Coast spawned an area of low pressure which rapidly deepened and allowed moist, balmy southwesterly winds into western Europe by the 4th 

By the 8th it had turned exceptionally mild and the aforementioned warm spell started to take place, just as the cold really got going in America.

The chart for the 13th when those exceptionally cold temperatures occurred in America, all due to frigid air under an anticyclone. Very mild and wet for us though.

 

The rest of February 1899 was dominated by Euro heights. They did try to go up to Scandinavia but never really made it. It did turn drier though for us and probably with cold nights but fair days. The C.E.T. for February 1899 ended up at 5.1. The winter of 1898/1899 was exceptionally mild overall.

 

Edited December 23, 2022 by LetItSnow!

[RhHh]

16 minutes ago, LetItSnow! said:

This spell very much reminds me of our recent events and quite a few events in recent years. I’ve spoken at great length recently about how I think that a warmer planet has had double an effect on our winter weather, how cold patterns in America end up forcing the Atlantic to become more active and how under a normal pattern that would more often lead to undercutting due to less prominent blocking to our south. Nowadays blocking is almost permanently to our south in some way so it leads to more chance of things going wrong. 
However this did also happen before (just not as much) and February 1899 is quite a good example. The closing days of January 1899 were by no means exceptional, with a cold high centred around the U.K. At this time the cold spell was getting going across Canada. 

 

By the 1st of February we actually had a decent pattern. We had blocking up to Iceland and a potential cold spell was on its way.

However, the temperature contrast on the East Coast spawned an area of low pressure which rapidly deepened and allowed moist, balmy southwesterly winds into western Europe by the 4th 

By the 8th it had turned exceptionally mild and the aforementioned warm spell started to take place, just as the cold really got going in America.

The chart for the 13th when those exceptionally cold temperatures occurred in America, all due to frigid air under an anticyclone. Very mild and wet for us though.

 

The rest of February 1899 was dominated by Euro heights. They did try to go up to Scandinavia but never really made it. It did turn drier though for us and probably with cold nights but fair days. The C.E.T. for February 1899 ended up at 5.1. The winter of 1898/1899 was exceptionally mild overall.

 

That sounds like most of our winters to be honest!