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Coast to Coast Record-Setting Storm

3 Feb 2021, 5:17 pm

Destructive mudslides, feet of snow, wind and waves collapsing houses along the shoreline — all part of a powerful storm system that brought impacts coast to coast to close out the first month of the year.

We start in California with a tale of two different types of precipitation.  While it was much needed moisture for the Golden State, it also brought hazards for days from the mountains to the beaches.  Some cities picked up more than a foot of rain, leading to flooding and mudslides.  This prompted evacuations and even rescue missions in Monterey County.

At the same time, mountain snow in the Sierras began coming down at a very fast rate, with final storm totals between six to nine feet.  The snow engulfed towns, snarled traffic, and even stranded those brave enough to be out on the roads.  From there, the storm system tracked toward the Midwest, with snow amounts measuring more than a foot in some locations from Milwaukee to Chicago to Northwest Indiana.

The snow set records for Chicago, IL, coming in as the largest snowfall event total in five years with 10.8” observed at Chicago O-Hare.

The final leg of its journey — bringing days of ice and snow into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  In the Big Apple, record setting daily snow totals rank this as one of the top 20 biggest snowstorms in recorded history.

In addition to snow, coastal cities had to brace for strong onshore winds that created large surf, which resulted in coastal flooding and significant beach erosion.

Homes were damaged and even destroyed with several in Sandwich, MA, collapsing into the ocean.

But while this historic winter storm brought lots of headaches, it also created happiness to those who needed an excuse to get outside and make the most of it.

This included a massive snowball fight in Washington, D.C. to several days of sledding … and even building a snowman in Central Park.

WeatherNation will continue to bring you updates on what weather might be impacting your neighbohood next, watch us on any of these streaming devices and channels.

About the author
Meredith Garofalo
Meredith is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist as designated by the American Meteorological Society.  She was born and raised in Cleveland but has worked from coast to coast covering almost every type of weather.  Meredith is a weather, space, and STEM journalist and has been live out in the field during destructive tropical storms on the Gulf Coast of Florida, raging wildfires in Southern Cali... Load Morefornia, and covered the wreckage from tornadoes in the Great Plains. In 2009, she reported on the damaging hail storm during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and in 2017, the historic California winter storms that produced record rain totals and devastating flash flooding.  Prior to joining WeatherNation, Meredith worked at KEYT/KKFX in Santa Barbara, CA, KOTA-TV in Rapid City, SD, WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL, and began her career as an intern at WGN-TV in Chicago.  She was Santa Barbara's "Favorite Weathercaster of the Year" in 2016 and the Community Partner of the Year in 2017 for her volunteer work with Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties and awarded with the 2018 Valparaiso University Alumni Association First Decade Achievement Award. Meredith is the current chair of the American Meteorological Society's Station Scientist Committee, which focuses on raising greater awareness & outreach when it comes to science education for viewers.  She's also an accomplished journalist, producing weather and science stories including rocket launches at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the new GOES-16 satellite and it's impacts on weather forecasting.  Meredith was personally invited by NASA's Johnson Space Center to interview astronauts on the International Space Station and was the only meteorologist in the nation to do an exclusive report accompanying the GOES-West satellite from Colorado to Florida, reporting on and covering it's launch in 2018.  Meredith's also worked on features that took her paragliding along the coast, white water rafting in Northern California, learning to surf in the Pacific Ocean, and how to be an aerial photographer while flying a single engine plane!

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