We mostly missed out on it in the Raleigh area and points south and east, but the major snow storm that rolled across the northeastern United States on December 18-19, 2009 left significant snow behind in northwestern parts of our viewing area and even more for the mountains and foothills of our state. You can see the snow left behind on the ground in the satellite image posted here, taken on Dec 20th.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Raleigh has completed a very nice summary covering details of the storm's evolution and impact, how watches and warnings worked out, and how some models and supplementary data sources performed as the event unfolded. For those of you interested in more information on this storm (and want to review what a "Miller A" storm is!) I've included a link to the summary.

It's worth noting that the Raleigh office also maintains a collection of summaries and case studies, some very brief and others in great detail, covering major weather events including winter storms, tropical systems and severe weather outbreaks across our area stretching back as far as 1954, but mostly for events beginning in the 1980s. This is a great resource for those interested in the weather history of our area, and I've included a link to that list of events as well.