Storm History of the Blizzard of December '09

The memorable Blizzard of December 2009 laid down a swath of snow 1 to 2feet deep from the southern Appalachians to Long Island and southeastern NewEngland.The instigating weather system, which began as water-laden low pressure overnorthern Gulf of Mexico, wrapped into a powerful nor'easter as it reached themid-Atlantic Seaboard on Saturday.

Heavy rains soaking much of the South became snow along the North Carolinamountains on Friday morning, By Friday evening, the snow had spread well intoVirginia and West Virginia. Washington, D.C., lay mantled in its fresh snowfallby daybreak on Saturday with snow quickly overspreading Philadelphia to thesouthern half of New Jersey.

It was during Saturday, as the nor'easter wound itself up, that the storm'sblizzardlike character shone through. As snow depths climbed to a foot or morein the mid-Atlantic, winds rose to 30, 40 and in some instances even 50 mph.

Battling dry air from the north, the snow halted near New York until evening.

The dam then burst and heavy snow, sometimes 2 to 3 inches of it per hour,surged over the city and Long Island headed for southern New England. Highwinds blowing and drifting the snow made for a blizzard in the true sense ofthe word.

Sunday morning found snow depth topping the 2-foot mark on eastern Long Islandwith nearly as much by midday in southeastern New England. The storm raged onwell into the afternoon on Cape Cod.

One landmark record fell prey to this storm. Philadelphia got its heaviestDecember snowfall on record and the second greatest snowfall in city history.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Jim Andrews.