Picture of the Day March 13, 2009Demolition of Steeple Market is underwayREMEMBERING: THE BLIZZARD OF MARCH 1993Originally posted on my MyWeatherLive sitehttp://www.myweatherlive.com/MikeCainF9Weather forecasting can be a funny thing. You look at all the models, the computer spits out all the scenarios, and then Mother Nature goes and does something unexpected. The TV meteorologists are left standing with their arms raised in a shrug, and say, "Um, we didn't expect it to do that.".
However, in the second week of March 1993, the meteorologists got it right. They nailed this one on the head.
Early in the week, they were talking about a storm that could affect the East Coast for the coming weekend. It was going to start in a certain location, take a certain path, and these areas will get this much snow.
On Friday March 12th, the National Weather Service began running broadcasts about the blizzard warning. They warned of blowing snow, and possibly 1-2 feet of snow. Warnings were on TV and radio. "This is not a test. This is a warning!"
It was slated to start snowing around 1:30pm Saturday March 13th. The snow would be the heaviest between 5 and 7pm that day. Then the wind was going to start blowing. It would blow all night Saturday night and all day Sunday.
People listened. And got prepared, stocking up on the essentials for the weekend.
Milk and bread flew off the shelves at the grocery stores here in Fairfax. (We did not then, nor do we now, have a supermarket here.)
Fairfax Pharmacy reported heavy sales in prescriptions, books, coloring books, and first aid kits.
J&L Hardware, sold 100 packs of batteries Friday and Saturday. Coleman fuel, candles, kerosene, and lamp oil were all in demand.
From 10am(when they opened) to 2:30pm, Family Video rented out 951 movies.
It started snowing around 1:30pm. The heaviest was from 5-7pm. The wind blew. We ended up with about 2 feet of snow. People stayed home.
School was postponed Monday to allow for clean up. Teachers had an inservice day instead.
This was the biggest snowstorm Vermont had seen in 100 years.
The entire East Coast got hit. The NASCAR Winston Cup race in Atlanta, GA was postponed.............because of snow.
Funny thing..................a couple of weeks later, the snow was all gone because the temperatures moderated.
In Vermont, March can be it's own season sometimes.