The Northeast has seen its share of winter storms so far this season. But a back-to-back pummeling they took earlier this century was off the charts for some places.
On Feb. 10, 2010, 16 years ago today, a snowstorm hammered the mid-Atlantic with 10-plus inches of snow from northern Virginia to the New York City tristate area.
That alone would have been enough to impact everyday life in the Interstate 95 corridor.
But this storm followed another heavier snowstorm less than a week earlier.
The first "Snowmageddon" or "Snowpocalypse" snowstorm, as it was dubbed in social media, dumped over 20 inches of snow in many areas — from southern Pennsylvania, northeastern West Virginia and Maryland into northern Virginia, Delaware and southern New Jersey Feb. 5-6.
This first storm is still the heaviest snowstorm of record at Washington's Dulles Airport (32.4 inches), second-heaviest in Philadelphia (28.5 inches) and fifth-heaviest in Baltimore (25 inches).
States of emergency were declared in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Power was knocked out to hundreds of thousands. Emergency shelters were opened for those without heat, and travel across the region was snarled.
By Feb. 9 as the second storm was just getting going, 25% of D.C. plows were out of service and road salt was being rationed, WTOP radio reported.
Roof collapses due to the weight of snow were reported at a Smithsonian warehouse in Suitland, Maryland; an aircraft hangar at Dulles Airport; and a Walmart in Stafford Township, New Jersey, among other locations.
Front-end loaders and dump trucks were brought in to move the massive piles of snow from parking lots and streets to vacant lots. After using empty parking lots, city parks and even the Pimlico Race Course, the city of Baltimore resorted to dumping excess snow in the Inner Harbor.
February 2010 wasn't just the snowiest February — it was the snowiest single month on record in Baltimore (50 inches), Philadelphia (51.5 inches), Washington's Dulles Airport (46.1 inches) and Atlantic City, New Jersey (36.6 inches), among other locations.
The twin February snowstorms marked the awakening of social media, changing how weather was covered. The hashtags #snowpocalypse and #snowmageddon were used by many before, during and after the snowstorms.
And on a personal note, these twin snowstorms were the first storms I covered as a meteorologist at weather.com after finishing a 11-plus year stint at The Weather Channel TV network.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him onBluesky,X (formerly Twitter)andFacebook.
