Blizzard conditions were confirmed at the Jersey Shore and southern Delaware
All the Shore towns were in the blizzard zone. Philly didn't quite make it, the weather service said.
Philadelphia and environs didn’t quite make the grade, but areas along the Jersey Shore and in southern Delaware did experience blizzard conditions early on the morning of Feb. 23, the National Weather Service reported Friday.
Blizzard criteria — sustained winds or frequent gusts to 35 mph, with falling and/or blowing snow reducing visibility to less than a quarter mile for three or more continuous hours — were met along about a 20- to 25-mile-wide corridor in New Jersey from Monmouth to Cape May, said Alex Staarmann, a meteorologist in the Mount Holly office who was part of the investigative team.
Those conditions also were observed in Sussex County, Del.
In addition to direct instrument observations, Staarmann said, the weather service relied on available visual evidence from photographs and videos. “They’re an element of analysis as well,” he said.
As for why Philadelphia came up short, Staarmann said “the visibility certainly was low enough at times, but the winds weren’t quite as strong as we were forecasting farther inland.”
Among the locations where blizzard conditions were preliminarily confirmed were the extreme eastern portion of Burlington County, Atlantic City, Long Beach Island, and all the resort towns in Cape May County.
The weather service had posted a blizzard warning for the entire state of New Jersey, all of Delaware, and for Philly, Delaware County, and nearby portions of Bucks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties.
However, conditions were not quite so extreme to the north and west of the city, nor were the snow totals quite so robust.
Blizzard or not, by any other name it was a disruptive storm that generated 20 inches of snow in parts of the region, and 14 inches at Philadelphia International Airport, No. 16 on the all-time snow list that dates to the winter of 1884-85.