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Houston Area (+ AUS, SAT and MMMY) Snow Miracle Thread


Ed Lizard

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My brother in law lives in Houston, and apparently "according to him" some people down there are already freaking out about this... it definitely doesn't take much of any type of winter weather to mess up the roads down there and cause plenty of carnage on the highways.

Very cool to see snow as far south as the Gulf Coast... this Winter has definitely affected 90-95% of the country... the Houston metro looks to be next!

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With the number of elevated freeways/overpasses here, any wintry precip we get will be a nightmare for driving. With the extended period of cold leading up to this wx event, it looks like ALL the roads will be tricky once the frozen stuff starts falling.

Does anyone know if HOU is bringing in any sand/salt trucks for this?

Public safety demands a 3 day weekend. Just a coincidence Sunday is our greatest secular holiday.

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Is it really a miracle if it happens three winters in a row lol?

Haha fair point, though this setup looks to potentially be the best of the three.

Looks like the coldest opening 10 days of Feb for Texas in a long time, even eclipsing Feb 1989.

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I agree Brian. I've been looking at some photos I need to scan from the late 40's of my Mom and then me playing in the 2-12-60 event. And 73 was fun as well. I missed the 04 event while living in the Keys. Interesting pattern that looks good for delivering. Brownsville to Corpus to Houston and inland. Crazy...

:popcorn:

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Guesstimating looking at Canadian Global, it goes over to rain in Houston, San Antonio-San Marcos-Austin metro college/shopping Division 1 Bowl Subdivision (in 2012) I-35 corridor looks like big winner.

3 six hour intervals of snow between 0.1 and 0.25 inches liquid equivalent.

f66.gif

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My family is ~60 miles west of San Antonio and it's looking like they won't even see a flurry out of it. My daughter is 10 years old and has never seen snow; it would be nice for her to see a flake or two at least. :arrowhead:

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Model are too warm, folks. I'd be very cautious in regards to sensible weather across the area. Oh, and it's a balmy 18.2F this AM under thickening clouds. Coldest I've seen since 89.;)

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX

537 AM CST WED FEB 2 2011

TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-021445-

HOUSTON-TRINITY-MADISON-WALKER-SAN JACINTO-POLK-BURLESON-BRAZOS-

WASHINGTON-GRIMES-MONTGOMERY-LIBERTY-COLORADO-AUSTIN-WALLER-

HARRIS-CHAMBERS-WHARTON-FORT BEND-JACKSON-MATAGORDA-BRAZORIA-

GALVESTON-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CROCKETT...TRINITY...GROVETON...

MADISONVILLE...HUNTSVILLE...SHEPHERD...COLDSPRING...LIVINGSTON...

CORRIGAN...ONALASKA...CALDWELL...LAKE SOMERVILLE...

COLLEGE STATION...BRYAN...BRENHAM...NAVASOTA...THE WOODLANDS...

CONROE...WILLIS...LIBERTY...CLEVELAND...DAYTON...COLUMBUS...

EAGLE LAKE...WEIMAR...SEALY...BELLVILLE...HEMPSTEAD...

PRAIRIE VIEW...BROOKSHIRE...HOUSTON...PASADENA...KATY...TOMBALL...

HUMBLE...WINNIE...MONT BELVIEU...ANAHUAC...EL CAMPO...WHARTON...

PIERCE...SUGAR LAND...MISSOURI CITY...RICHMOND...ROSENBERG...

EDNA...BAY CITY...PALACIOS...PEARLAND...LAKE JACKSON...ALVIN...

ANGLETON...FREEPORT...LEAGUE CITY...TEXAS CITY...FRIENDSWOOD...

GALVESTON

537 AM CST WED FEB 2 2011

...WINTER WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...

WITH THE COLD ARCTIC AIRMASS OVER SOUTHEAST TEXAS...WINTER

WEATHER WILL BE POSSIBLE THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY AS AN UPPER

LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES OVER THE AREA. THIS WILL SUPPORT GULF

MOISTURE LIFTING OVER THE COLD AIRMASS MAINLY AFTER MIDNIGHT

THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING. BANDS OF PRECIPITATION COULD DEVELOP AND

GIVEN THE EXPECTED TEMPERATURE AND MOISTURE PROFILES...SNOW WILL

MOST LIKELY FALL ALTHOUGH SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN CANNOT BE RULED

OUT ESPECIALLY ALONG THE COAST. THE MOST LIKELY AREAS AFFECTED BY

ACCUMULATING WINTER PRECIPITATION WILL LIKELY BE FROM VICTORIA TO

HOUSTON TO CLEVELAND. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE AROUND 1 TO 3

INCHES BUT COULD BE LESS IF SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN DEVELOP. ICE

ACCUMULATIONS COULD POTENTIALLY BE AROUND A TENTH OF AN INCH.

THESE FROZEN PRECIPITATION ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE HAZARDOUS TO

AREA ROADS AND MAKING TRAVEL DANGEROUS.

KEEP IN MIND THAT THE EXACT LOCATION...PRECIPITATION TYPE...AND

ACCUMULATION AMOUNTS WILL LARGELY DEPEND ON THE TRACK OF THE

DISTURBANCE...TEMPERATURES...AND MOISTURE LEVELS. METEOROLOGISTS

WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS SITUATION AND UPDATE THE FORECAST

AS NEEDED. RESIDENTS SHOULD CLOSELY TO MONITOR THE LATEST

DEVELOPMENTS ON THIS UPCOMING WINTER WEATHER EVENT. A WINTER

WEATHER WATCH MAY BE ISSUED TOMORROW.

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Power outages reported from Austin to Houston this morning. Ugh...

Officials: Statewide rolling power outages ordered to conserve energy

by khou.com staff

khou.com

Posted on February 2, 2011 at 7:06 AM

Updated today at 7:11 AM

HOUSTON—The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has instructed utilities to begin rotating outages to compensate for a generation shortage due to numerous plant trips that occurred because of the extreme weather.

Rotating outages are controlled, temporary interruptions of electric service, typically lasting 10-45 minutes per neighborhood. The locations and durations are determined by the local utilities. Critical need customers such as hospitals and nursing homes are generally not included.

It is not known at this time how long the need for rotating outages will last.

Consumers and businesses are urged to reduce their electricity use to the lowest level possible, including these steps:

Limit electricity usage to only that consumption which is absolutely necessary. Turn off all unnecessary lights, appliances, and electronic equipment.

Businesses should minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.

Large consumers of electricity should consider shutting down or reducing non-essential production processes.<BR clear=all>

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Marginal for cancelling school Friday. Couple more days to shift that darker green 30 or 50 miles further West, not worried about liquid precip, but fairly warm temps, even if sub-freezing, in the saturated layer...

Not staying up for the GFS.

I'd be very weary of forecast soundings that look like the one you posted. That entire sounding might be sub-freezing... but that dendritic growth zone, from -10 to around -16 deg C, is pretty dry. That could lead to more of a freezing rain/drizzle situation, since I doubt slantwise convection can lift moisture up into that layer. Can't get snow if the ice crystals can't form. :)

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Don't think I've ever seen anything like this for South Padre Island...

Ocean effect snow/sleet: http://www.weather.g...story/KSPL.html ?

I could see it being possible with the direction of the winds allowing for a long enough fetch to pick up some of that juicy gulf moisture, but it could also be an error.

Probably the arctic front moving through lifting up the warm air, and wringing out any moisture available.

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I'd be very weary of forecast soundings that look like the one you posted. That entire sounding might be sub-freezing... but that dendritic growth zone, from -10 to around -16 deg C, is pretty dry. That could lead to more of a freezing rain/drizzle situation, since I doubt slantwise convection can lift moisture up into that layer. Can't get snow if the ice crystals can't form. :)

Thats why I noted that. All sub-freezing, but not very cold. New 12Z NAM is similar.

post-138-0-84680400-1296658235.gif

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Messy, messy looking travel, Ed....

The NAM has been dry locally, under .15 inches in immediate Houston area, some freezing/frozen precip has a better chance of triggering a 3 day weekend than just over an inch of snow, so maybe that isn't all bad.

People hating me on the local forum for saying the NAM is dry. Haters gonna hate.

The Euro and Canadian have had more QPF, but they aren't available at 9 am local...

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Marginal for cancelling school Friday. Couple more days to shift that darker green 30 or 50 miles further West, not worried about liquid precip, but fairly warm temps, even if sub-freezing, in the saturated layer...

Not staying up for the GFS.

nam_p60_066l.gif

Someone on the local forum just suggested I learned everything I know about guessing p-type from Fred Gossage. As if I would note that the saturated layer was fairly warm just on a lark.

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