2007 — Dec 15-17, Midwest and East Coast Snow Storm — ~10

lornajarrettblanchard December 15, 2007

— >25 Wikipedia. “Mid-December 2007 North American Winter storms.” 2-16-2014 mod.[1]

— ~10 Blanchard estimate based on locality breakouts below.[2]

— 4 Santa Barbara News Press, CA. 12-18-2007.

— >3 AP. “Snow with a vengeance from Midwest… Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL, 7.[3]

— 0 NCDC. Storm Events Database. Search Results all States, Snow/Winter Storm/Weather.

Indiana (4)

–4 AP. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in [NY].” Capital, Annapolis, 12-17-2007, A2.

Michigan (2)

–2 AP. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in [NY].” Capital, Annapolis, 12-17-2007, A2.

Pennsylvania (2)

–1 Undisclosed location. Traffic accident.[4]

–1 Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, Sep 16. Car hits tree in heavy sleet, man, 28.[5]

Wisconsin (1)

–1 AP. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in [NY].” Capital, Annapolis, 12-17-2007, A2.

Canada, Nova Scotia (1)[6]

Narrative Information

NCDC, Northeast IN, Dec 15-16: “A powerful winter storm tracked in from the gulf states with abundant moisture. Cold air was in place across all of northern Indiana, allowing the precipitation to fall in the form of snow, which was heavy in many locations. Accumulations range from six to more than fourteen inches across the area. The highest amounts, ranging from 14 to 17 inches were found along a swath from Kosciusko county northeast into parts of Elkhart, Noble and Lagrange counties. Many schools and business were closed the following day due to the snow as well as strong winds which caused large drifts.” (NCDC. Storm Data, Vol. 49, No. 12, Dec 2007, p. 48.)

NCDC, West MA, Dec 16-17: “A low pressure system traveled from the lower Mississippi Valley into the lower Ohio Valley on Saturday, December 15th. This low then redeveloped just off the Delmarva peninsula by Sunday morning, December 16th, and intensified rapidly, becoming the primary low center. This low then tracked into the Canadian maritimes by Monday morning. Snowfall amounts ranged from 8 to 15 inches across northern Berkshire County, to 3 to 6 inches across southern Berkshire County, where sleet and freezing rain reduced the amounts. However, a few tenths of an inch of ice accretion also occurred across southern Berkshire County due to the freezing rain. This significant wintry mix led to the closings of numerous schools and businesses for Monday morning, and also created treacherous driving conditions from Sunday into Monday morning.” (NCDC. Storm Data, Vol. 49, No. 12, Dec 2007, p. 78.)

NCDC, East MI, Dec 16: “A deepening storm center moved northeast toward the lower Great Lakes on Sunday (16th) and brought widespread heavy amounts of snow. Widespread snow, heavy at times, moved into the region during the early morning hours and persisted throughout much of the day. Snowfall ranged from generally 6 to 10 inches throughout much of Southeast Lower Michigan. Strong gusty winds of 35 to 45 mph created 1 to 3 foot drifts with near blizzard conditions across much of Southeast Lower Michigan. Blizzard conditions were reported across the eastern Thumb Region from late Sunday morning through much of the afternoon, mainly along M-25 near the Lake Huron shoreline. Numerous accidents were reported during the storm and schools were closed on Monday.” (NCDC. Storm Data, Vol. 49, No. 12, Dec 2007, p. 79.)

NCDC, Extreme Southeast MI, Dec 15-16: “A powerful winter storm tracked in from the gulf states with abundant moisture. Cold air was in place across far southern Lower Michigan, allowing the precipitation to fall in the form of snow, which was heavy in many locations. Accumulations across the area ranged from six inches to more than a foot. The highest amounts ranging from 12 to 14 inches were found across much of St. Joseph and western parts of Branch county. Many schools and business were closed the following day due to the snow as well as strong winds which caused large drifts.” (NCDC. Storm Data, Vol. 49, No. 12, Dec 2007, p. 80.)

NWS, Vermont and NY: “The first major snowstorm of the 2007-08 Winter season for Vermont and northern New York, actually occurred prior to the Winter Solstice (December 22^nd 108 am EST). Snowfall totals from this pre-winter storm ranged from 6 to 12 inches in southern Vermont, where a prolonged period of sleet and/or freezing rain occurred, to a rather uniform 12 to 18 inches across the rest of Vermont and northern New York.

“On Saturday morning (15^th), a strong and unseasonably cold high pressure system was located across northern New England and southeast Canada. Meanwhile, low pressure was developing across eastern Texas. This area of low pressure gradually strengthened and incorporated abundant moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, as it traveled to the Mississippi and western Ohio River Valleys by Saturday night. During Saturday night and early Sunday morning (16^th), this primary low would continue to strengthen in the Ohio River Valley, while a coastal low would gradually develop along the mid-Atlantic coast, due to a strong, coupled upper-level jet stream as well as a deepening mid-atmospheric trough.

“Snow began to overspread New York and Vermont early Sunday morning (16^th) with snowfall rates rapidly increasing to over an inch per hour. The Ohio river valley storm maintained its strength during Sunday as it moved into the eastern Great Lakes, this allowed milder air aloft (4000-8000 feet) to move into the North Country, as well as drier air to be incorporated into the storm. These two factors caused precipitation to fall as a wintry mix (snow, sleet and freezing rain), as well as developed a lull in intensity of precipitation during the mid-late morning hours that lasted until mid-late afternoon. However, by late Sunday afternoon and continuing through Sunday evening, the secondary coastal storm intensified and this allowed the second part of this winter storm to wrap accumulating snow into northern New York and Vermont, as well as provided brisk winds that caused considerable blowing snow….” (National Weather Service Forecast Office, Burlington, VT. “December 16-17, 2007 Winter Storm Summary.” 12-28-2007 modification.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in New York.” The Capital, Annapolis, MD, 12-17-2007, A2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=123470671&sterm

Associated Press. “Snow with a vengeance from Midwest to Maine. Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL, 12-17-2007, p. 7. Accessed 8-15-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=128209464&sterm

Associated Press. “Winter Storm blamed for fatal crash, fall of TV towers in Pa.” The Progress, Clearfield, PA. 12-17-2007, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 49, No. 12, Asheville, NC, NCDC, NOAA, December 2007, 192 pages. Accessed 8-15-2015: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-EA14B481-ADCF-46D6-80C9-847B5E47E759.pdf

National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Search Results for all U.S. States, Heavy Snow. Dec 15-16, 2007. Accessed 8-15-2015 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?eventType=%28Z%29+Heavy+Snow&beginDate_mm=12&beginDate_dd=15&beginDate_yyyy=2007&endDate_mm=12&endDate_dd=16&endDate_yyyy=2007&hailfilter=0.00&tornfilter=0&windfilter=000&sort=DT&submitbutton=Search&statefips=-999%2CALL

National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Search Results for all U.S. States, Winter Storm, Dec 15-16, 2007. Accessed 8-15-2015 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?eventType=%28Z%29+Winter+Storm&beginDate_mm=12&beginDate_dd=15&beginDate_yyyy=2007&endDate_mm=12&endDate_dd=16&endDate_yyyy=2007&hailfilter=0.00&tornfilter=0&windfilter=000&sort=DT&submitbutton=Search&statefips=-999%2CALL

National Climatic Data Center, NOAA. Storm Events Database. Search Results for all U.S. States, Winter Weather, Dec 15-16, 2007. Accessed 8-15-2015 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/stormevents/listevents.jsp?eventType=%28Z%29+Winter+Weather&beginDate_mm=12&beginDate_dd=15&beginDate_yyyy=2007&endDate_mm=12&endDate_dd=16&endDate_yyyy=2007&hailfilter=0.00&tornfilter=0&windfilter=000&sort=DT&submitbutton=Search&statefips=-999%2CALL

National Weather Service Forecast Office, Burlington, VT. “December 16-17, 2007 Winter Storm Summary.” 12-28-2007 modification. Accessed 8-15-2015 at: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/events/16-17Dec2007/16-17Dec2007.shtml

Santa Barbara News Press, CA. 12-18-2007. Accessed at http://newspaperarchive.com

Wikipedia. “Mid-December 2007 North American Winter storms.” 2-16-2014 modification. Accessed 3-31-2014 at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-December_2007_North_American_Winter_storms

[1] Do not use as high fatality number in that we have not been able to substantiate.

[2] We have been able to designate nine deaths by State, plus one in Nova Scotia, for a total of Ten. Given the Wikipedia article claim that there were twenty-five deaths blamed on the storm it seems reasonable to assume that there were about ten or more, no doubt all indirect in that no mention of direct fatalities have been located in a NCDC or NWS source.

[3] All traffic related.

[4] AP. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in [NY].” Capital, Annapolis, 12-17-2007, A2.

[5] Brian Reagan of Salt Lake City. Associated Press. “Winter Storm blamed for fatal crash, fall of TV towers in Pa.” The Progress, Clearfield, PA. 12-17-2007, p. 1.

[6] AP. “Latest storm dumps 18 inches of snow in [NY].” Capital, Annapolis, 12-17-2007, A2.