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the October snowstorm Ian Disaster its going to be a long winter thread


Ji

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Just curious, this is an unusual setup for late oct to say the least. Water temps off the atl coast are 60-65. Air temps are potentially going to be in the 30's. Pretty big temp diff and I assume pretty strong baroclonic zone. How well do models interpret this into their solutions?

A 30+ degree temp difference is pretty big compared to many winter storms that pop off the coast N of the gulfstream areas close to obx.

I'm probably just being a weenie but I wonder if the system evolves as depicted on the gfs/euro, could it potentially deepen rapidly and be more dynamic that what is modeled? That is probably the only thing that could help our area get any measurable snowfall given the marginal cold air source.

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have you looked at soundings for your backyard?.....are you too far west?

Can't look at much, since I'm at school. Just happens to be testing day.

From what I can surmise here, looks like the precip came west. I don't know temps, rates, or soundings back in my area. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Edit: GFS data on MeteoStar looks pretty good for my area, but that's only precip, 850 and surface.

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i dont know exactly where that is, but i'd be down to chip in if it looks like it will happen.

Super easy to get to. Up 270 to route 121 and only about 5-6 miles off the interstate. Hike starts close to the top. Only have to go up 400' to hit the top. Should make for some good pics with the leaves and all.....well, only if it actually snows....

edit- route 109 exit 22 is closest.

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Super easy to get to. Up 270 to route 121 and only about 5-6 miles off the interstate. Hike starts close to the top. Only have to go up 400' to hit the top. Should make for some good pics with the leaves and all.....well, only if it actually snows....

edit- route 109 exit 22 is closest.

i think i've been by it before.. on the way to HGR etc. i don't know much about places outside the immediate area not having a car.

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yes....you have an interesting column for later.....I wonder if/where there will be accumulation.....the sun angle is the same as about February 14th.....I think it would have to be heavy snow to stick on the warm streets...but it should stick to decks, grass, etc, if heavy enough and 34 or lower i would imagine

why dosent this stuff happen in Dec or January

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Read Wes's column...he mentions this and every other factor as well of course.....though I wonder if he won't have to be slightly more bullish for places in Upper MOCO and Loudoun tomorrow....

http://www.americanw...bout-the-storm/

Tomorrow, Jason probably will do the article but we'll talk about putting out a map with accumulations if warranted. I might not have been bullish enough but it's October and we're still over 36 hrs from the event.

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Is anyone above 800-1000'?....elevation will probably matter a lot

My neighborhood in Damascus has hill tops at 800+ feet. Many have mentioned Sugarloaf Mt. (1,200') which is a favorite hiking spot of mine. There is a nice winery at the base of the Sugar Loaf Mountain on Comus Rd. They open around 2:00pm. It is a nice place to end a day of hiking.

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I have mentioned this before....In NIna we get better/anomalous storm tracks early and late season....I wish I would have done the CWG outlook 2 weeks ago, because I would have mentioned this exact scenario as the way IAD could do better this winter if they do better.....Once we hit mid DEC to Early Feb, assuming Nina really kicks in, the northern stream becomes a monster and this scenario gets shunted out to sea or strung out or cuts west and redevelops to our north if at all....we can do ok in mid winter, but we will probably need to thread the needle( Jan 2000) or somehow get the PAC to cooperate when we have blocking (70-71).....Maybe we will all bust and NIna won't be a big factor but I doubt it

It's funny, I was thinking of doing an article prior to the season on the ingredients it takes to get a major snowstorm and why nina years are tougher for that to happen than nino years but delayed doing it and now we've already have a threat.

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Tomorrow, Jason probably will do the article but we'll talk about putting out a map with accumulations if warranted. I might not have been bullish enough but it's October and we're still over 36 hrs from the event.

Good writeup!

With an event you kinda have to toe the line a bit because it's just so anomalous...even if the guidance stays the same, it will still come down to a nowcasting situation of where accumulating snow may occur on saturday...

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I have mentioned this before....In NIna we get better/anomalous storm tracks early and late season....I wish I would have done the CWG outlook 2 weeks ago, because I would have mentioned this exact scenario as the way IAD could do better this winter if they do better.....Once we hit mid DEC to Early Feb, assuming Nina really kicks in, the northern stream becomes a monster and this scenario gets shunted out to sea or strung out or cuts west and redevelops to our north if at all....we can do ok in mid winter, but we will probably need to thread the needle( Jan 2000) or somehow get the PAC to cooperate when we have blocking (70-71).....Maybe we will all bust and NIna won't be a big factor but I doubt it

early in the thread I posted the CFS daily Enso forecast and it seems to be backing down some on the Nina fwiw

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/people/wwang/cfs_fcst/images3/PDFcr_nino34SSTMon.gif

there's always hope

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Good writeup!

With an event you kinda have to toe the line a bit because it's just so anomalous...even if the guidance stays the same, it will still come down to a nowcasting situation of where accumulating snow may occur on saturday...

Thanks, I think you do. Sometimes like in 2009-2010 it pays when you try to be a hero but usually being conservative is a smarter bet in marginal situations. I also left it open that it could end up being worse than what we're calling for now.

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From ze blog:

In the southern edge of the snowfall accumulation, surface temperatures are expected to remain too warm for accumulation of an inch or more. Some higher elevations (above 800 feet) just south of the one inch cut off could scrape out a dusting to an inch of accumulation. Weak warm air advection N/NW of the surface low is expected to keep the lower levels warm enough to prevent most of the accumulation in southern and central NJ and northeastern Delmarva.

20111029_MAsnowInitial.png

I decided to go with a 50/50 split between the latest (12z) GFS and ECMWF operational models. The NAM seems to be out to lunch with this system, as most other models agree with what the GFS and ECMWF put on the table.

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But is it really a win when the GFS showed this 2 weeks ago?

broken clock.... he's too concrete at d5 for my liking but 2 weeks out is a joke. the gfs always has a snowstorm 2 weeks out.

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