Low heights in AK are never ideal, but the ridging on the west coast combined with a pretty good Atlantic side make that a nice look. There’s also a bigger piece of the TPV farther east. If that TPV was over AK...it would be suboptimal.
It’s the end of an op run, but the 12z gfs shows the sort of evolution we want to see. Cutter brings down an arctic airmass behind it and an active pattern provides a series of strong short waves moving into that cold air. That cutter also acts as a 50/50 low to reinforce the cold. Then hopefully we get a nice snow event before our annual 70F Christmas Eve when the pac puke arrives with Santa.
^important differences between those HH euro and GFS runs. Euro slower with the shortwave and more separation between it and the weaker kicker in central Canada. Get tomorrow’s storm near where the gfs has it and game on...
Faster motion for this perfect track rainstorm gets it out of the way a bit and allows this Monday possibility room to amplify and maybe turn the corner a bit.
2013-14 storms show up under D5 rule in effect?