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The 2016 Storm of the Century, also known as the '16 Super Storm, the Great Blizzard of 2016, or Winter Storm Kayla, was a large cyclonic storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on February 22, 2016. The storm eventually dissipated in the North Atlantic Ocean on February 26, 2016. It was unique for its intensity, massive size, and wide-reaching effects, particularly in the southeastern United States. At its height, the storm stretched from Canada to Central America, but it impacted mainly the eastern United States and Cuba. The cyclone moved through the Gulf of Mexico and then through the eastern United States before moving onto Canada.
Meteorological history[]
During February 20 and 21, 2016, temperatures over much of the eastern United States began to drop as an arctic high pressure system built over the Midwest and Great Plains. The extratropical low pressure area formed in Mexico and moved eastward into the Gulf of Mexico along a stationary front, which developed thunderstorm activity near its center. A strong, short wave trough in the southern branch of the polar jet stream strengthened the surface low pressure area. As the area of low pressure moved through the central Gulf of Mexico, a short wave trough in the northern branch of the jet stream fused with the system in the southern stream, which further strengthened the surface low. A squall line developed along the system's cold front, which moved rapidly across the eastern Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Keys. The cyclone's center moved into the Bahamas early on the morning of February 21, 2016 with a significant storm surge in Bermuda that drowned several people.
Barometric pressures recorded during the storm were low. Readings of 876.0mb were recorded in Wilmington, Delaware, and even lower readings of 860.0mb were observed in Downstate New York. Usually such low readings near the coast of Gulf of Mexico are observed only in hurricanes of category 2 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale scale or within cyclonic storms at sea. Snow began to spread over the eastern United States, and a large squall line moved from the Gulf of Mexico into Florida. The storm system tracked up the East Coast during Monday and into Canada by early Monday morning. The storm left Canada by evening and it's remains passed over Southern Greenland around midnight. The final remains dissipated over Iceland the next afternoon. In the storm's wake, record cold temperatures were recorded over the next day or two in the southeast.
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Snowfall Totals By State
Texas: 15.6 inches in Sherman.
Oklahoma: 16.5 inches in McAlester
Kansas: 8.3 inches in Independence
Louisiana: 10.7 inches in Haynesville
Arkansas: 18 inches in Jacksonville
Missouri: 9.5 inches in Wentzville
Mississippi: 16.9 inches in Iuka
Tennessee: 135 inches on Clingman's Dome
Kentucky: 11.1 inches in Owensboro
Illinois: 11.7 inches in South Chicago
Wisconsin: 11.6 inches in Kenosha
Alabama: 19.4 inches in Stevenson
Indiana: 13.8 inches in Tell City
Michigan: 15 inches in Traverse City
Georgia: 92 inches on Bald Knob
Ohio: 16.6 inches in Springfield
South Carolina: 9.4 inches in Pickens
North Carolina: 180 inches on Mount Mitchell
Virginia: 24 inches in Winchester
West Virginia: 22.2 inches in Martinsburg
Washington D.C.: 18.8 inches (National Zoo); 21 inches (Dulles Airport)
Maryland: 32.4 inches in Salisbury
Delaware: 35 inches in Dover
Pennsylvania: 38.7 inches in Mount Pocono
New Jersey: 40 inches in Perth Amboy
New York: 36.6 inches in Corning
Connecticut: 35 inches in Waterbury
Rhode Island: 26.5 inches in West Greenwich
Massachusetts: 25 inches in Mansfield
Vermont: 30 inches in Burlington
New Hampshire: 27.5 inches in Littleton
Maine: 23.4 inches in Kittery
