The last time it didn't snow measurably at all until February was 1995, and the last time we got no snow at all in a winter was 1973

Wow that’s pretty wild that the next year followed up with a blizzard

I thought we didn't get any snow until March a couple years ago

yes I remember the big snows coming in feb-march

Lets hope that’s what happens next winter!

During the 2012-2013 school year, there were no full snow days. I think one early dismissal maybe. I remember because we got days off for Hurricane Sandy but not snow. So that’s a winter without snow on weekdays at least.

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Why would you want a blizzard?

For the snow? What do you mean?

During 2019-2020 winter we got .02 inches

Would you wish for a hurricane for the rain? Or a tornado for the wind? Blizzards kill people and generally fuck up everyone’s day

I mean, once upon a time it meant a snow day and for some (I realize not for all*) a break from obligations and a moment to have fun without all the planning and cost of vacations, whether as a kid or a parent or just an adult temporarily jumping back into kid activities with friends.

It wasn’t even that long ago. I was off from work (law firm) a week in early Feb 2010 while living in DC because it was the third major snowstorm (2-3ft, blizzard conditions, etc) that season and the city budget for clearing the roads was kicked 😆. I wasn’t a lawyer, so I didn’t have a secure work laptop. My roommates and I had blast that week. Internet was down for part of it, we had a fireplace, and lived in a walkable area.

It’s great we’ve solved some issues caused by blizzards now, but the downside is that we’ve also eliminated the enjoyable side of the same coin.

*Especially for major metro/urban/suburban areas, there’s a job/obligation/expectation and class divide that is stark when a blizzard rolls through. Small towns, IME, are more forgiving of this, non-chain businesses might just close for the day, or used to. It makes me sad that we couldn’t have more truly collective, real holidays, even Thanksgiving is a bit poisoned by non-holiday demands.

Come to think of it, the stark class and job obligation divide that is on display during blizzards is in a similar way one of things that really made the COVID pandemic so painful and riddled with anger and frustration. People who were privileged enough to get “hygge” or pursue a new hobby or workout at home or whatever were often the same people demanding obligations and expectations from those that couldn’t.

Didn’t mean for a long comment, it just got me thinking.

Really? I had moved away then, actually

Blizzards don't get bad enough here in Philly to kill people, especially now that work from home is so widespread, most people wouldn't even be travelling.

All snow means to me is... shoveling. And, l'd rather not. l don't care if it never snows again

I don’t care for rain or wind that much. I do enjoy snow though!

I love snow, shoveling, hot chocolate, feeling my nose go numb, the beauty of it fresh, the ugly of it dirty and half melted, all of it. Bring it!

The blizzard of 96 killed 13 people in PA and caused $1b in damages in Philly. Any blizzard impedes the ability of ambulances and fire trucks to get where they need to, and many Philadelphians don’t have heat in their homes, or homes at all.

If they don’t flip it at the counter, the next one is free!

I usually cringe when “climate change” comes up as an off-hand response to daily or seasonal weather variability. However, in this case given our proximity to the ocean, if the measurements are accurate, I imagine warmer surface temperatures mean it takes longer for the ocean to cool off enough to not create a significant barrier to snow. There’s also the heat island effect—there’s way more developed land in the whole region than even 30-40 years ago.

These are two major factors creating a weather bubble for the city and metro area. With snow, the ground layer of atmosphere is just too warm, so you get what we had the other day, rain changing over to snow higher up in the atmosphere that is mostly melted by the time it reaches the ground (sometimes it’s the other way around, but it wasn’t cold enough for that).

Same. I hate 40° and rain.

2023 is a lot different than 1996 and to pretend that the situation would be the same is disingenuous

Not sure. I remember the great snow of 2014 tho, was at sju at the time. Walking up and down city with forties Livin our best life. Good times.

I’m not sure what is so different with respect to the city’s ability to respond to a natural disaster

Police and fire budgets are training are much more substantial than they were almost 30 years ago. Forecasting is better so people will have more time to prepare. Much fewer people would venture onto the roads in order to get to work since work from home is so widespread, and the roads are where the majority of fatalities occur. I've lived in Philadelphia for my entire life and haven't had a power outage last longer than 15 minutes.

I'm with you! The world feels hushed and suspended in time for a brief moment. Everything looks magical. Winter is my favorite season and snow my favorite weather.

Its funny, the older you get you think "40s aren't a thing anymore". Then you realize, they are, it just stays with the 19-21 year old crowd. :)

Hahah yes, for the snowed in college kids we were really trying to stretch a dollar lol

I'm cringing at your post, you're imagining shit up and trying to convince others to believe that nonsense.

What am I imagining? Ocean temps directly affect our weather. Land development from farms to sidewalks and roads and parking lots directly affect our weather. Warm air is a barrier to snow.

So again, what “shit” am I imagining up?

Those things may mitigate some danger but it’s ignorant to pretend they make blizzards completely safe. I’m not sure why people are defending the guy who said he wants a natural disaster to occur. Beyond the safety issues and monetary damage, major snowfalls are pains in the ass

Well, in true American tradition, they're not a pain in the ass for me so I love them

The way it should be. God bless America

I hate 33 and rain

I don’t know but I’m getting reverse seasonal depression because I love the snow. I moved here from NY and it’s just making me sad how little snow we get some winters

You are spot on about the quiet and just overall busy-ness. It makes you truly recognize how "loud" the world is, the overwhelming signal to noise ratio (in favor of noise). Makes me miss running on country roads in the spring and fall (for college track/cross country).

Next spring, if the opportunity presents itself, try Wissahickon or Pennypack (or similar parks outside the city if that's where you are) after a good rain and the sun breaks out. I've gotten that feeling of quiet--at least from human created sound/noise--and suspended time at those moments.

The weather gods are truly spiteful sometimes.

I lived in west philly during a big snow in 2010-11ish and I remember people had lights up in their street trees. It created a kind of tunnel of sorts made up of retainer walls from the old houses, snowdrifts, and the tree trunks/lit up tree canopy, which were also covered in snow. It was so magical to walk through at night. All this sloppy cold rain can bite me.

I don't mean to channel a specific youtube channel, but god the "cities aren't loud, specific things in them are" rings so damn true if you stop for a minute and analyze the noise sources.

People die when it’s 70 and sunny too. I’ll be out playing in the snow while you’re inside making a Facebook post about the tragedy of a snowstorm. Not everything in life has to be terrible. You can choose to see the good in life.

Alright buddy keep living in your winter wonderland where it’s fine to wish for natural disasters. I hope nobody takes the parking spot you dig out

People take the spot I dig out all the time. I just dig out another. It happens. I’m not going to put a cone in the spot like a jackass. I’m usually out there helping my neighbors dig out there spots too, so it’s not like I’m only digging out one spot anyways.

Fun times. It stayed borderline freezing, not enough to seasonally kill off local vectors like roaches and ticks. Not only did we have COVID that spring, we had an extra season of opportunity for everything with 4+ legs.

I thought I moved north enough to escape tiger mosquitos.

I was too late. It doesn't freeze hard enough anymore to stop them from moving up the coast.

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I still like blizzards personally.

It's less fun now when you gotta be the one to shovel and still have responsibilities than when you were in school and got a day off. But I like snow, and it's always kind of neat going outside and there's just two feet of it right there.

I'm in NW Philly and it's a goal of mine to make it to the Wissahickon when it's snowing sometime this year! I'll have to time it right so that the roads are safe to drive on and the snow is coming down heavy enough so that it's sticking but not so heavy that I'll have a hard time getting around. But I always experience that god-I'm-so-small sense of awe when I'm there and I'm sure the snow would only dial it up. I wouldn't be happy living in a rural environment year round, but the hushed quality of snow makes me appreciate the unique quality of stillness that you only get when it feels like there's no one else around.

As a small digression, I'm convinced that so many people hate winter only because our culture deemphasizes and devalues anything to do with slowing down. Winter should be a time of rest, recovery, taking stock, looking ahead. Of course people hate it when we're being forced to go go go at any costs when it feels so counterintuitive to this time of the year. (I mean, capitalism is still a problem in the summer; I just think that messaging makes winter in particular a difficult time to deal with.)

I mean, that is a bit of a pedantic point (I don't mean that as a personal attack). The full phrase would be "cities are loud places." The specific things are all human-created machines, processes, actions, etc., and cities have way more people and thus way more of these specific things. I don't get what point the youtube channel is getting at.

The specific things exist in my Jersey Shore hometown, but my current street in Philadelphia is way noisier right now in January than Ocean Ave, thus by extension, the city is a loud place, and the noise is constant. Even 3am is not exactly peaceful on my street.

He meant to say your facts don’t fit into his narrative.

I remember that, 4 or 5 yrs ago I believe.

Mannn time flies.

Shh, shh, don't tell 'em about hurricanes.

Yeah, this is the first year in a long while in which I have finished the holidays and felt a real sense of slowing down--or well, I did until I recently adopted a puppy. But the I feel the desire to just disconnect and hibernate--not entirely, since I am a very outgoing and active person, but relative to my baseline. All the years living in New Orleans were kind of exhausting, even for me. Halloween through like April/May was constant: the holidays, Mardi Gras season, St Patrick's/St Joe's, Mardi Gras Indians, Easter, French Quarter Fest, JazzFest, Bayou Boogaloo...crazy busy.

The summer was the downtime.

Oddly enough, if we could get a winter season cyclone, i.e., a Nor'easter, we would be much more likely in this area to have a significant snow event, at least so long as the arctic air was present.

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This post is doing it’s best to conjure what it desires -> current radar

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Lmao of course I live in South Philly and won’t see a flake probably. My own fault for living at sea level

Keep it that way 😂

I think we technically got a light dusting early in the season that year, like just barely enough to count as a snow

Yeah, I did some searching and it looks like that's the case

because its fun.

Even as a parent(full day of minding my child), a full time employee(take time off to care for said child), and a homeowner with sidewalks to shovel, a pile of snow is still ultimately fun as hell.

Clear blue skies are preferable, but I'll take snow over this icy rain we've been having anytime.

And during 1996, we had a historic blizzard. Looks like next winter is gonna be lit

I wonder if those ~5 days we had of consistent sub-freezing temps between Christmas and New Years this year was enough? I found a tick on my dog the other day which was pretty concerning, but I heard lanternfly eggs don't last long in sub-freezing temps.

https://jcweather.com/100yearlysnowtotal.php

The bar graphs here make it easy to visualize. I'm not sure where the heights are taken exactly (temps are at the airport, maybe there?)

God I love these early 00s websites.

Yeah the aesthetics are amazing

Nice!

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Yearly Philly snow totals dating back 100 years…

It happens all the time and always had, and it sucks, and it’s only January so entirely possible we’ll still have a proper accumulating snow.

I love how bright it gets on that first sunny day after a big snow. Since this happens when the dark has been particularly annoying, it’s especially pleasant.

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1973 I was bummed no snow days in school.

Lol dang must have really stung if you remember a half century later!

Lousy Smarch weather

I specifically remember us teachers complaining in March 2020 about not having any snow days yet. All we wanted was a day off. Darkly funny in retrospect.

That just scratched an itch in my brain for sure. I could almost hear the dial up. Hah.

What always blows my mind is how the weather differs so much with such little distance. 30 mins from the city today was a beautiful snow shower. Those big, fluffy flakes ❄️

It snowed yesterday

I would be curious if we got measurable snowfall yesterday in the city