Thoughts on Winter Storm Stella

Winter Storm Stella was definitely a difficult storm to forecast. I want to begin by stating that I hope you understand how challenging it can be forecasting particular events, like this one. My snowfall forecast called for 18 to 24 inches inland and 12 to 18 inches at the coast. For most people, that forecast was way too high because of the mixing that occurred for several hours during the day Tuesday. I wish I emphasized that chance for mixing at the coast and inland even greater in my forecasts for this storm because that was one of the main uncertainties. Another issue with my forecast were the wind gusts. All of the weather computer models consistently advertised very strong winds greater than 50 mph for our area, which would lead to lots of power outages. During the storm, winds thankfully weren't nearly as strong, so most remained with power. This also lead to a bust for a blizzard. This time, the weather models totally had the storm wrong. It's hard forecasting the future and not all storms pan out the way you plan them too.

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Snowfall Totals:

Snowfall totals ranged from seven inches in Bridgeport and Stamford all the way up to nineteen inches in New Fairfield, which was one of the locations where may forecast did verify.

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Wind Gust Reports:

Winds were also strong around the area, but again they weren't as strong as advertised. Here's some of the reports from around the area:

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