Today being January the 10th makes the 27th anniversary of when one of the worst blizzards to strike the United States ended. This event was known as the Blizzard of 1996. The Blizzard of 1996 was infamous for impacting the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United states. Places like Delaware, Washington DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were hammered with blizzard conditions. The storm would also impact the Northeast Region as well.

So how did this storm develop?

Before the storm system developed very cold air had been pulled down farther south. In fact, the cold air reached down to the Gulf Coast. The Mid-Atlantic had temperatures well below average.

A low pressure moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Due to above average water temps due to an ongoing La Nina. This low strengthened. It moved northwest across the southeast. The storm system produced freezing rain and snow across Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina. My area alone got 2-5 inches of snow on top of 0.25 inches of ice.

Eventually the storm system merged off the Carolina coastline. The storm system moved over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. As a result the low pressure system started to become a powerful storm system. It reached a pressure reading often seen in a category 2 hurricane. The storm system started to travel up the coast.

The very cold air that was over the Mid-Atlantic set the stage for a significant blizzard. The gulf stream also provided a lot of moisture for this storm system. As this storm system neared the Mid-Atlantic it had very cold air to work with and lots of moisture.

Due to warm air off the gulf stream being pulled into this system. Some places started off with freezing rain. Then the cold air took over. The snow started to come down in high amounts. The high amounts of moisture in this system meant there would be high amounts of snow. Moreover, due to this storm system being powerful the wind was described as being brutal. Some places saw wind guest over 50 mph.

The snow kept coming down for days as this storm system slowed down. This meant some cities were literally buried with snow. Around the 9th the storm system pulled away from the Mid-Atlantic and started to impact the Northeast.

In the Northeast this storm system produced heavy amounts of snow, storm surge, and winds over 50 mph.

On January 10th the Blizzard of 1996 was finally over. This storm claimed over 150 lives and caused $3 Billion in damages

Here was some of the snowfall amounts
Mountains of Maryland 36 inches
Reading PA 33 inches
Philadelphia PA 31 inches
Washington DC 25 inches
Baltimore MD 24 inches
Most of New Jersey 22 inches
New York City 21 inches
Providence RI 18.5 inches.

The high snowfall amounts also set up a flood disaster especially int he Mid-Atlantic States. After the blizzard temperatures warmed up. All of the snow started to rapidly melt. The ground could not handle the surplus of water. As a result severe flooding occurred from snow melt. The flooding was considered to be a secondary knockout punch from the blizzard.

This storm still remains historic 27 years later.