The weather outside is frightful...

December 27, 2010 9:59 AM

Thirty inches of snow in thirty seconds. (via Reddit)
posted by Rory Marinich (52 comments total)

Or: thirty inches of snow in fifteen seconds.
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:03 AM on December 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

Hey that looks like where I am. I never thought I'd say I missed Chicago weather.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:04 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Someone needs to write a children's story about that determined little clock.
posted by griphus at 10:04 AM on December 27, 2010 [41 favorites]

Where was this?
posted by quodlibet at 10:05 AM on December 27, 2010

Belmar NJ, according to his other videos.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 10:06 AM on December 27, 2010

It did seem like it was coming down about that quickly. What an impresive storm.
posted by caddis at 10:07 AM on December 27, 2010

Someone needs to write a children's story about that determined little clock

Flava Flav and The No Good, Horrible, Very Bad Frostbite
posted by bondcliff at 10:07 AM on December 27, 2010 [37 favorites]

I relate to and feel sad for the clock.
posted by angrycat at 10:16 AM on December 27, 2010 [5 favorites]

Someone needs to write a children's story about that determined little clock.

The best part is that little clock grows up to marry the Mount Washington anemometer
posted by pointystick at 10:24 AM on December 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

that was a really awesome (in the truest sense) storm. here in new brunswick it was a complete whiteout blizzard from 4pm on till i went to bed at 2am. the winds are still killer, i went exploring earlier and was in drifts up to my mid chest (4ft). we got probably 2ft total.
posted by Mach5 at 10:30 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Even for a total of 20 hours, that is a ridiculous amount of snow.
posted by jwmollman at 10:37 AM on December 27, 2010

My wife got 4" in 30 seconds.

Man, was it cold afterwards!
posted by hal9k at 10:37 AM on December 27, 2010 [27 favorites]

That is SO cool. We're expecting a winter storm here in central Montana, but nothing like what the Easterners are getting. Maybe a foot for us. But we're going to be colder, FWIW. So there's that.
posted by davidmsc at 10:41 AM on December 27, 2010

This one's for you, hal9k.
posted by fight or flight at 10:41 AM on December 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

Meh. I've seen this happen in REAL TIME, forget the time lapse.

A couple of years ago, not too far north of here, folks had ten feet of snow on the ground. At once. Yes, ten feet. We decided to drive up to see what that looked like. Well, it doesn't look like anything... just walls of white lining the road. No views, just walls of snow with occasional tunnels to homes.

You've got to get your clocks going pretty darn early to impress those of us here in the Snow Belt.
posted by kinnakeet at 10:42 AM on December 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

Wow. After reading about this blizzard this morning I have been trying to find pictures of it...this fits the bill. So cool (no pun). Love the way you can see the tree in the background just slowly sagging under the weight of the snow as the clock ticks on!
posted by jnnla at 10:42 AM on December 27, 2010

What an impresive storm.

It hit the New York Perfecta -- JFK, LGA, EWR and ISP all closed. Lowest pressure 962mb / 28.4inHg.

Here's some highlights from the latest Public Information Statement. Alas, that link will have different info on it eventually, I don't know how to get a fixed link to this particular report.

Snow: Newark: 24.2" Islip 13.7" JFK 15.5"

Wind Gusts: Newark 51 mph, JFK 59mph, Islip 64 mph. Winds are still 20-30 gusting 50, which is just blowing all the snow around.

"Epic" is not an understatement here. This is going down with the 1978 and 1996 Blizzards in terms of impact. The usual tell of an Epic New York Blizzard is the city schools closing, but this time, they were closed for the holidays.
posted by eriko at 10:44 AM on December 27, 2010

Meh. I've seen this happen in REAL TIME, forget the time lapse.

Yeah? Well I once saw it happen backwards. Thirty inches of snow, slowly ascending into the heavens like souls during the Rapture. I found God that day and vowed to never pass out drunk on my back in the park again.
posted by griphus at 10:45 AM on December 27, 2010 [7 favorites]

It's me, the yardstick! I'm here to save you, little clock! Oh nooooo... goodbye, goodbye!
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:50 AM on December 27, 2010 [17 favorites]

Someone needs to write a children's story about that determined little clock.

No Christmas is complete without a family reading of TickTock, the Little Clock Who Said Bring Me the Fuck Inside. You Asshole.
posted by nanojath at 10:50 AM on December 27, 2010 [54 favorites]

We've had 1.5" of snow here in Denver this winter so far (metro, not the mountains) so this video makes me a little sad. We had a "brown Christmas". I know snowstorms are chaotic, but it just doesn't feel like winter.
posted by Kimberly at 11:08 AM on December 27, 2010

And yet another item to add to my "Reasons to Never Live Above the 35th Parallel" list.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:11 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Can we call this the Boxing Day Blizzard of '10? It sounds delightfully antiquated.
posted by condour75 at 11:13 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

We got 17" or so in Worcester and the wind seems to have put every flake in the city into a giant mound in my driveway. I was kind of embarrassed about getting my Subaru stuck in the drifts this morning, but seeing as my landlord just managed to get his massive 4WD pickup stuck in it, I feel a bit better now. It's seriously 4-5 feet deep in more places than it isn't.
posted by rollbiz at 11:29 AM on December 27, 2010

that was really cool. it makes me really glad i moved back to the west coast. it's raining today but i will make it to my friends house for lunch with no problems. it won't be a will testing, finger and toe risking, struggling my ass off to stay up and maintain momentum hell ride. just a damp ride i won't give a second thought to.

that video is really awesome however. i love the idea of all that, i just dislike it in real life.
posted by rainperimeter at 11:42 AM on December 27, 2010

2.5" accumulated sideways snow in Boston.
hi snow, you're doing it wrong.
posted by raztaj at 11:53 AM on December 27, 2010

My favorite part of the video is when its creator said to himself “You know what, fuck it. I'm just gonna punch the snow down in front of the clock. It's getting really cold out here.”
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 11:54 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

I relate to and feel sad for the clock.


A couple of weeks ago, I was waiting for a bus in a blizzard in Minneapolis. A bus that was never going to come; Metro Transit had stopped service. I stood outside for half an hour.

I know exactly how that clock feels. I was that clock.
posted by louche mustachio at 11:55 AM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

Defeatist Eastern-seaboarders. This snow is not the snow you seek.
posted by Mental Wimp at 12:10 PM on December 27, 2010

Washington DC was in this weird hole of snowlessness. We had maybe a 1/8" and most of it blew away by this morning.
posted by exogenous at 12:14 PM on December 27, 2010

20 inches here on the Upper West Side (nudge nudge) except on the corner of 109th St. and Riverside, where the wind was whipping so hard off the Hudson that it kept the intersection and a few lucky cars entirely free of snow
posted by stargell at 12:27 PM on December 27, 2010

I am jealous of the person who filmed this. They have timed their snow, and posted it. The event has taken place.
Where I am? Still fucking snowing.
posted by Adridne at 12:28 PM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

stargell, your facebook link doesn't work. Maybe a direct link to the image?

It's at nearly 30" in Jersey City, which is quite the feat. This video's great; it really describes what it felt like to open the door and see a wall of snow keeping me in.
posted by inmediasres at 12:37 PM on December 27, 2010

Until it happens to New Yorkers, it really hasn't happened.
posted by Mick at 12:42 PM on December 27, 2010 [5 favorites]

Thirty inches of snow in thirty seconds.

I was fully expecting an avalanche.
posted by quin at 12:54 PM on December 27, 2010

Fixed:
Windswept corner and
One block away
posted by stargell at 1:01 PM on December 27, 2010 [4 favorites]

I saw pictures of Times Square (which I visited last week) with a paltry 2" or so.

Wimps.
posted by lathrop at 1:20 PM on December 27, 2010

I was in north Jersey for the holiday, planning to leave around dinner time Sunday. As soon as I woke up, my phone was blinking red with a blizzard warning. So I ended up on rt. 80 at noon driving west seemingly ten minutes ahead of the storm. Felt like I was in a CGI disaster movie.
posted by octothorpe at 1:49 PM on December 27, 2010 [1 favorite]

6:30AM. The ambulance was empty, pointing the wrong way down a one-way street, jammed against a parked car. It's still there, blocking the street.
posted by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 2:03 PM on December 27, 2010

the wind really is something. this snow didn't compare to some of the monsters we had in Philly last year, but it was substantial. our van was parked in a spot where we could have just driven right out if needed; across the street, cars were walled in by 4-ft. drifts.
posted by Mister_A at 2:04 PM on December 27, 2010

This isn't about Askmefi?
posted by a non e mouse at 2:15 PM on December 27, 2010

I hope I get to see snow one day.
posted by Duke999R at 3:16 PM on December 27, 2010

Here in Tucson, they're starting to freak out about the 10% chance of snow that may happen, possibly, on Friday.

Don't laugh. If we see the merest hint of flakes falling, half of Tucson is gonna go right out and get themselves in a traffic accident, just because.
posted by MrVisible at 4:17 PM on December 27, 2010

Here upstate, this is pretty normal. We get around 2-3 of these per winter. It's a lot of fun though, isn't it?
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:03 PM on December 27, 2010

half of Tucson is gonna go right out and get themselves in a traffic accident, just because.

What are the chances of them getting in TWO accidents? They're just being statistically cautious.
posted by flaterik at 7:26 PM on December 27, 2010 [2 favorites]

What a great idea, I am sure as the snow began to grow higher his motivation to stay up to see how long the experiment would last grew as well. I admire his diligence to keep moving the clock throughout all of that.

It sure was some snow storm, top 10 of my lifetime.
posted by berkshirenative at 10:04 PM on December 27, 2010

I had my first Christmas in the southern hemisphere this year. Whilst walking around in shirt sleeves was nice, it just didn't feel like Christmas.
I didn't say this, but I missed shovelling out the pavements at my mother-in-law's house in Vancouver.
posted by arcticseal at 10:12 PM on December 27, 2010

And yet another item to add to my "Reasons to Never Live Above the 35th Parallel" list.

I'll save this link for the inevitable MetaFilter posts about killer bees, scorpions, hurricanes, heat waves, droughts...

Yeah, snow like this is a feature, not a bug.
posted by explosion at 4:24 AM on December 28, 2010 [3 favorites]

Yeah, snow like this is a feature, not a bug.

ALL HAIL SNOW-KING
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 7:15 AM on December 28, 2010

Okay, I officially call BOO upon the last couple of winters. Washington gets 30" on the ground? NYC and Boston get 20" on the ground?

Here in the northtowns of Buffalo I don't think we've had more than a foot on the ground since the 2007-08 winter. And now they're saying this weekend will be a thaw so my backyard will turn into a disgusting swampy mess again.

Phooey, I say. Phooey.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:52 AM on December 28, 2010

People always say Duluth MN weather is so awful. Like they can't imagine that humans live here. But the thing is, it snows in late October, and it stays mostly frozen until sometime in April. We don't usually get huge dumpings (we're on the wrong side of the lake, you see), but it *stays white* for a good long while. We don't get that snow then melty slushy nasty thing, generally speaking, which is what I grew up with in Chicago. I never thought winter could be so beautiful til I moved here.

I'm going snowshoeing today. Twill be a lovely day in the sun. (Yay, Vitamin D!)
posted by RedEmma at 8:25 AM on December 28, 2010 [1 favorite]

This reminds me of some blizzards we had in Edmonton, where we'd go to bed with a dusting of snow and wake up to find the door to the house more than half snowed in.
posted by bwg at 4:20 AM on January 2, 2011