* January 1772: "The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm" is so named because it trapped both men at their homes with snow up to three feet deep throughout Maryland and Virginia.
* November 1798: "The Long Storm" went down in history as the snowiest on record for that month. Stretching from Maryland to Maine, up to a foot-and-a-half of snow coated the region.
* January 1857: "The Cold Storm" produced severe blizzard conditions along much of the eastern seaboard. Temperatures fell below 9 below zero Fahrenheit, and snowfalls were between one and two feet deep.
* March 1888: The "Blizzard of '88" produced temperatures plummeting well below zero degrees Fahrenheit, ravaging gusts of wind and deep snow drifts that stranded several cities, leaving them without transportation or communication. New York City suffered the most damage, particularly to its harbor areas.
* January 1922: The "Knickerbocker Storm" dumped over two feet of heavy snow on Washington D.C. causing the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre to collapse, killing nearly 100 people.
* On 24 and 25 November 1971, Hagerstown, MD, received 15 inches of SNOW!!!
This last historical storm is the one I keep hoping will repeat itself!
I'm curious about that place. I wonder if the long and expensive trip is really worth it. Believe it or not, Europe has more skiable acreage in the summer than all of South America combined. It might be more fun and cheaper to ski the Oztal or Zermat glaciers during the warm months than fly all the way to Chile. Besides, if the conditions suck, you can always go hiking, biking, or sightseeing. Portillo, from what I have heard, is not near anything. I've also heard that you'll need a barf bag for bus ride up there--48 switchbacks or something ridiculous like that.
http://www.skiportillo.com/conditions/conditions.html
Portillo is reporting a base of 850 cms (over 235 cms of which have fallen in the last 7 days). And guess what, it is snowing RIGHT now! As Warren Miller would say, somewhere in the world right now, it is snowing.
Makes me want to drop everything and buy a ticket.
JDS
PS For us Mid-Atlantic types, any mountain sporting over 2500 feet of skiable vertical is not just a real mountain, but a REAL big mountain. :-)
Chile and Argentina may not have as much acreage, but all my friends who have skied there report that they are real ski areas with real variety of slopes, conditions, etc. I've heard the skiing compared to the Sierras in California. And if cost is roughly equivalent, wouldn't you rather fly to winter than summer?
PS No one tell my wife please.