This message is in response to La' Rondine's question 
concerning how long it took for the snow from the '96 
Blizzard to clear up.

La' Rondine-

Howdy!  Good question.  I was in college in Oklahoma 
already, and back home in New Jersey for winter break, 
so I did not miss any classes.  About five days after it 
snowed over 30 inches, very warm air suddenly blew 
over the state one morning, and it began to rain all day.

The warm air began melting the snow and causing really 
thick fog.  (why would fog form if warm air blew over 
cold snow?)  Then the rain melted the snow down even 
further.  The melted snow added to the water from the 
rain, and we had very bad flooding.  

I can remember bringing buckets of water outside from 
our basement and not knowing where to empty the bucket, 
since everything was just one huge lake and our street 
was a river since the sewers were overflowing.  I felt like 
I was Mickey Mouse in The Sorcerer's Apprentice.  :-)

By the next day, the water had finally washed away down 
the sewers and eventually out to sea.  There was little if 
any snow left.  That is probably one of the fastest, snow 
"disappearing acts" ever witnessed over such a wide area, 
with such a large amount of snow.  

My cousin, who was in 4th grade that year, said that he 
missed over a week of school due to the blizzard and 
then the flooding.  We have school until mid-June, so he 
was in school until the end of June, that year.

Hope this helps, I look forward to more questions!

CD
2/26/2001