An Evaluation of the April Fool's Snowstorm of 1997 and the Role of Elevation Dependency

On 31 March - 1 April 1997, the northeastern United States was hit by a major nor'easter that produced snowfall amounts of 30 to 90 cm in the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Vermont, affecting major metropolitan areas. Many snowfall records were set. Snowfall totaled 60 to 75 cm in the greater Boston area, 60 to 70 cm in northern New Jersey, and 50 to 60 cm in the Catskills of New York. The heavy and wet snow brought down electric lines leaving about 250,000 customer in Massachusetts, 100,000 in New York and 85,000 in Connecticut without electric service. The storm also brought high winds, often gusting to over 30 m s-1 along the coast.

During the early morning hours of 31 March 1997, a 1002 hPa low pressure system began to intensify as it propagated off the coast of North Carolina. From 1200 UTC 31 March to 0000 UTC 1 April 1997, the central pressure dropped 14 hPa; from 990 hPa to 976 hPa. Many places on the west side of the low, such as Christiana in extreme southeastern Pennsylvania, received up to 61 cm of snow.

By studying the distribution of precipitation and the associated dynamics, we intend to obtain a better understanding of the development of the nor'easter. The model did not produce a significant amount of precipitation west of the low over Pennsylvania and Maryland. In this unique and noteworthy case, terrain also played a significant role in determining the amount and type of precipitation.

We will investigate the models' under-forecasting of the precipitation and the elevation dependency by studying the mesoscale structure of the storm. Surface weather observations, upper-air soundings, vertical cross-sections, Doppler radar data, wind profiler data, and satellite imagery will be used in the analysis.

note: Investigators of this event include National Weather Service Albany, NY staff, University at Albany graduate staff, and National Weather Service Burlington, VT staff.