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Melt Down?


Tropopause_Fold

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steve and i basically wrote up the same thoughts at the same time, so figured might be worth a new thread to keep the ideas separate.

Pete and Hunchie get 4-6 front end dump before the deluge. Between 2 and 6 inches of water tied upon the pack. Cold 1.5 rain for all of SNE with dews near 40 , quick intense hitter. Results should be a rapid increase in rivers that are at or above their median flows. Unlike most springs SNE rivers are chocked with ice. Ice jamming could become an issue if not with this storm then the intense cutter next week. I would expect some pretty good urban flooding in areas with deep snow, snow melt should be on the order of 50-65% due to the lower dews and lower temps. If there is a higher dew point assimilation then melting would become greater. Next weeks warmer intense cover will probably result in a fully ripened pack releasing in spring floods. JMHO, again ICE jams are the wildcards.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ct/nwis/current/?type=flow

agree steve - was actually going to start a thread with the following text but will just put it in here instead now that i've seen this post from you (though maybe we need a spring flood thread??)

well not that this is going to make anyone very pleased...but it might be time to start thinking about flooding potential over the next week to 10 days (and/or beyond?). this certainly isn't to say it isn't going to snow again...or winter cancel...or grab the ipod, turn on your sarah mclachlan and head for the garage...or any of that stuff...i'm just pointing out a potential hazard.

a quick look at the most recent snow water equivalent estimates suggests 1 to 8" of water is locked in the snowpack across SNE - with a large area estimated between 4 and 6"...highest amounts in parts of GC.

just a quick and dirty approach: given january 1st through the first few days of february had basically 6" of LE at ORH with just about all of of that falling as snow and ice...these satellite estimates are likely accurate for the most part.

anyhow, sometimes we "luck out" and get a slow melt down/sublimation...that sort of 10 to 15 day dry stretch with daytime highs in the middle 40s and nightime lows in the 20s.

i'm not so sure that will unfold this go around...or at least soon enough to spare us some problems. the next few weeks should be pretty active stormwise, starting with this friday's event.

thankfully, for now the pattern is rather progressive so most of the rain events should be relatively short-lived, hopefully helping things out. but if we get a bunch of 1 to 2" rainstorms and then get a slow mover/cut-off type deal that's a different story.

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Well, if this winds up being the case (slow rains with higher dews and 40s or whatever, then another, then another), then last week's torch really helped by melting while things were pretty dry (other than the freak show Friday evening).

Would you mind changing the title to add Feb 24-March 5 or something?

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Well, if this winds up being the case (slow rains with higher dews and 40s or whatever, then another, then another), then last week's torch really helped by melting while things were pretty dry (other than the freak show Friday evening).

Would you mind changing the title to add Feb 24-March 5 or something?

i don't mind doing that...but why? LOL

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Well, if this winds up being the case (slow rains with higher dews and 40s or whatever, then another, then another), then last week's torch really helped by melting while things were pretty dry (other than the freak show Friday evening).

Would you mind changing the title to add Feb 24-March 5 or something?

I posted several times as much as I am a winter whore, having Feb be Bleh was not a bad thing infrastructure wise. elevation areas do not have the major flood issues we flatlanders do for obvious reasons. Still there is a lot of water which could release next week, just a heads up, more for us than headwater areas like you.

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I posted several times as much as I am a winter whore, having Feb be Bleh was not a bad thing infrastructure wise. elevation areas do not have the major flood issues we flatlanders do for obvious reasons. Still there is a lot of water which could release next week, just a heads up, more for us than headwater areas like you.

Your house should be ok, though? Isn't Moosup pretty hilly?

The Miller's River near here (further west on Rte 2, out nearer to Chris really) should be interesting with ice/flow next week

Winter always winds up in the sea one way or the other, only to be reborn in the mountains again next year

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Well...the basin average for the Blackstone River is 4.48" of SWE...and the GFS has 3-4" of rain in the next 6 days along with that really warm scenario on Monday. Could get pretty interesting.

The Blackstone is about 75% of long term median flow which is a blessing. The rise from the melt last week has discharged into the Atlantic.

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Your house should be ok, though? Isn't Moosup pretty hilly?

The Miller's River near here (further west on Rte 2, out nearer to Chris really) should be interesting with ice/flow next week

Winter always winds up in the sea one way or the other, only to be reborn in the mountains again next year

Oh I am fine. I am 300 feet above any water.

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It will be tough to match last March lol. Even then, it didn't quite reach here, just a foot or two short. Flood stage is 9 ft...it crested above 14 ft. The original NWS/ERC forecast was over 18 ft.

Yea 1000 year floods are hard to come by. Hopefully we reduce the pack before it builds again starting 3/5- 3/25

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It will be tough to match last March lol. Even then, it didn't quite reach here, just a foot or two short. Flood stage is 9 ft...it crested above 14 ft. The original NWS/ERC forecast was over 18 ft.

yeah last march was pretty phenomenal. that was pretty much entirely storm driven as opposed to snow melt / storm combo.

without any blocking present for the time being we should keep systems moving along and not be dealing with anything stuck spinning to our southeast. if we get one of those anomalous -4 sd u 850 events...look out.

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box's take:

2) HEAVY RAIN AND FLOOD POTENTIAL ON THE COASTAL PLAIN:

A VERY BRIEF PERIOD OF WET SNOW CAN NOT BE RULED OUT THURSDAY

EVENING...BUT LITTLE IF ANY ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED.

OTHERWISE...THE MODELS ARE IN VERY GOOD AGREEMENT IN SHOWING 1.50 TO

2 INCHES OF RAIN FALLING ACROSS THE COASTAL PLAIN THURSDAY NIGHT

INTO FRIDAY. THE HEAVIEST IS EXPECTED TO FALL FRIDAY MORNING INTO

THE EARLY AFTERNOON. THIS WILL ALMOST SURELY RESULT IN A VERY MESSY

FRIDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR WITH PLENTY OF URBAN AND POOR DRAINAGE

STREET FLOODING...ESPECIALLY WHERE SNOW CLOGS STORM DRAINS. THE

RIVER FORECAST CENTER RAN A CONTINGENCY BASED ON 2 INCHES OF RAIN IN

A SHORT TIME AND IT CAUSED A LOT OF RISES BUT NO RIVER FLOODING.

THEREFORE...NO FLOOD WATCH IS PLANNED AT THIS TIME. WILL HIGHLIGHT

THE EXPECTED URBAN/POOR DRAINAGE STREET FLOODING AND THE POSSIBLE

NEED FOR SHORT FUSED FLOOD ADVISORIES IN THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER

OUTLOOK. ALSO...WILL INCLUDE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF THUNDER FOR RHODE

ISLAND/SOUTHEAST MA WITH THE STRONG LOW LEVEL JET.

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