The NWS is reducing the snowfall at BDL for January 8, 2011 and the monthly total by 2.7″. This is the statement that they issued today because of BOB COX!
"JANUARY 2011 SNOW TOTALED 54.3 INCHES AT BRADLEY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN WINDSOR LOCKS CONNECTICUT. THIS BREAKS THE JANUARY RECORD 43.1 INCHES SET IN 1996. THE PREVIOUS SNOWIEST MONTH ON RECORD WAS 45.3 INCHES SET IN 1945. THE DAILY SNOW TOTAL FOR 1/8/11 HAS BEEN CORRECTED TO 3.4 INCHES."
Bob used to appear on the FOX CT weekend news. But he's better known as the meteorologist for WTIC Newstalk 1080 as well as other local radio stations. Bob, Garett, Joe and I have all been talking about how the record was tainted after a storm on 1-8 reported a questionable amount of snow. The record is important to get right because we'll be referring to it many times in the future as a benchmark year! So Cox actually took action. Here's the e-mail he sent to the NWS Taunton office yesterday.
"Gentlemen,
As you are aware, January 2011 was an historic month for snowfall in the state of Connecticut.
I work with 6 other meteorologists out of an office in Hartford that services television, radio, and a major newspaper in the area. A number of us were scratching our heads a bit after the snowfall event of January 8, 2011. Between January 8th and 9th BDL reported 9.9" of snow.
Looking at both the PNS spotter reports and the preliminary LCD it appears that BDL reported 3.8" of snow on the 7th, followed by another 2.8" after midnight on the 8th from one event and then another 3.3" of snow during the night of the 8th from a second event. I believe the 2.8" that was reported after midnight on the 8th during the first event may be in error.
The town of East Granby, CT is located right next to BDL. Reports from the CT Dept. of Transportation show that East Granby only received 2.5" of snow from the first event (Jan. 7-the morning of Jan. 8). This was similar to some of the feedback we were getting from that part of the state. Also, North Granby (from the PNS statement) only reported 3.2" of snow from the first event, ending on the morning of the 8th, and East Longmeadow, MA only reported 2.0" from the same event. So we have BDL reporting 6.6" total from this event, East Granby 2.5", North Granby 3.2", and East Longmeadow 2.0". It appears that the 2.8" that BDL reported after midnight (early on the 8th) is the reason their total is so much higher that the surrounding reports. After reviewing NEXRAD 0.5 degree base reflectivity images for that time period, it does not appear to me that BDL could have received 2.8" of snow after midnight on the morning of the 8th.
Since the snowfall total for BDL for January 2011 is such an important number that we will be referring to countless times in the future, I urge you to review this and determine whether a correction is in order, or whether I am in error. Thank you for your attention to this.
Regards,
Bob Cox"
They have already responded! Check it out:
"Good morning Bob,
Did some digging (no pun intended) into the surface observations for BDL as well as data for surrounding reports. I have determined the there was an error in the snowfall reported for January 8th for BDL. Based on everything I looked at the snowfall between 1 AM and 7 AM for January 8th at BDL should have been reported as 0.1 inches as opposed to the 2.8 inches that was reported. Based on my findings the 24 hour snowfall for BDL for January 8th is now 3.4 inches.
The 24 hour snowfalls for BDL bor the 7 through 9 are as follows:
01/07/11 24 hour snowfall is 3.8 inches
01/08/11 24 hour snowfall is 3.4 inches
01/09/11 24 hour snowfall is T inches
This will be reducing the monthly snowfall for BDL to 54.3 inches which will still be a record for the month.
This updated data will be reflected in the BDL F6 on our web page. Also the corrected seasonal snowfall for BDL will be updated on the CLI product. Finally we will be issueing an updated RER for the record monthly snowfall for BDL.
Alan Dunham, OPL"
In the end 2.7" doesn't make a huge difference but now the record is more accurate.
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