Snow storms,
old and new
You may have
seen it on the national news. Or you may have witnessed it first-handBald
Eagle, "an epic storm, multiple day, heavy Buffalo-metro impact, little
wind, seasonable temperatures," with maximum snowfalls recorded from Lake
Erie at Buffalo of 81.6" and from Lake Ontario at Montague of 127". (This
season's lake-effect storms are named after birds. The staff at the National
Weather Service office at Buffalo has the honor of selecting the actual
names.) Go to the NWS site at: http://tgsv5.nws.noaa.gov/er/buf/lakeffect/lake0102/b/stormb.html
for a summary of the storm's details, radar and satellite images, and
photographs of the events. Follow the entire 2001-02 lake-effect season
at the Buffalo NWS office site at http://205.156.54.206/er/buf/lakeffect/01-02.html.
It may be
hard to believe, but 2002 marks the 25th anniversary of the Blizzard of
'77. The 1976-77 winter had the greatest snowfall for one season with
199.4", burying the old record of 126.4" in 1909-10. It was also a year
of brutally cold temperatures, with the period of Dec. 26, 1976, through
February 1977 marked by 45 consecutive days of below-freezing temperatures.
The Blizzard
of '77 began on Jan. 28. Wind gusts of up to 69 mph were recorded in Buffalo
(75 mph in Niagara Falls). Rapidly changing temperatures were reported
throughout the 28th, beginning when the temperature rose from five degrees
at midnight to 26 degrees by 11 a.m. As wind gusts rose from 29 to 49
mph and visibility became zero, the temperature plummeted from 26 degrees
to zero in just over four hours, and wind-chill factors reached bone-chilling
ranges of 50 to 60 degrees below zero. Interestingly, snow accumulations
in the Buffalo area were only around 12 inches (much thought to have come
from existing snow lying on the frozen surface of Lake Erie), though snow
drifts from the wind buried many houses. By storm's end, 29 people had
been killed and 20 animals at the Buffalo Zoo died. Details on the storm,
meteorological animations (see how far we have progressed in 25 years),
photographs, stories and more are found at the 25th anniversary Web site
at http://205.156.54.206/er/buf/blizzard/blizindex.html.
To keep abreast
of the latest news, trends and happenings about climate and meteorology,
visit the Science and Engineering Library Climate and Weather Page at
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/sources/climateweather.html.
SEL also maintains a Web site devoted to "Global Climate Change: U.S.
Research and Policy" at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/bio/ecochange.html.
Gary Ciszewski of the Mildred Blake Library in the Ellicott Complex has
compiled an outstanding "Meteorology Guide: Resources for Meteorological
Students" at http://members.aol.com/gnsharkfan/meteor.html.
Fred
Stoss, University Libraries
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