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Central PA Thread


Eskimo Joe

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If you were to move that box about 15 more miles to the east, I'd be in the bullseye! My elevation (1800') might make up for that though!

Probably our snow will end closer to 10pm. I don't know how much further west the heavy snow will develop as radar indicates the heaviest precipitation may already be over for us. That's not to say we won't get another 4-5 hours of light to moderate snow. I think the winners will be 25-50 miles east of State College in a SW to NE axis.

Here is my thinking for best snowfall on top of the latest radar image. Higher elevations especially. Sorry for the ugly presentation, I don't really know of any good mac graphics programs for maps like this.

post-1406-0-89786800-1323296159.png

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Rates arent doing well at all here considering the echoes, actually I'd have trouble calling it light snow attm and i only got maybe a light coating in some spots. Nexrad has more eastward jog than i'd like to see. Storm better get its act together.

nothing on the ground here...not looking good for any accumulation .

light snow

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43.4 under the stevenson screen here at MU. Winds are out of the NNE at 10 mph. .81" for the day.

Ooo look at the guy with the fancy stevenson screen :-P

I just have a lowly FARS... I'm noticing an increase in windspeed too, although my station is somewhat sheltered by neighbors trees. Direction is exactly what you are seeing.

I'm assuming you're referencing the station on the earth science building?

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43.4 under the stevenson screen here at MU. Winds are out of the NNE at 10 mph. .81" for the day.

Cold air seems to be coming in rather steadily. A mesonet site in northern Carroll County at the Mason-Dixon Line in Maryland Rt. 30 is reporting 38 degrees, but it's on a hilltop around 1,000ft ASL.

EDIT: AWOS at Camp David is 39 degrees, so that 38 degree reading doesn't seem odd to me.

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I'm sorry if I am hamming it up, but this is really impressive. The wind is really blowing hard now, the rain is striping the house, and this temp drop is pretty fun. Down to 38.6.

Meso for rain -> heavy snow just issued:

post-1389-0-88485800-1323300283.gif

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2373

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

0521 PM CST WED DEC 07 2011

AREAS AFFECTED...CNTRL/ERN PA...S CNTRL AND SERN NY...MUCH OF VT/NH

CONCERNING...HEAVY SNOW

VALID 072321Z - 080315Z

A TRANSITION TO SNOW WILL OCCUR OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS. EXPECT

SNOWFALL RATES TO CONTINUE TO INCREASE TO NEAR 1 INCH/HR...WHILE

SPREADING EWD WITH TIME.

AS OF 23Z...RAINFALL RATES CONTINUE TO INCREASE ACROSS MUCH OF THE

NORTHEAST...WITH A TRANSITION TO SNOW NOW NOTED FROM ALTOONA PA NEWD

TO NEAR BINGHAMTON NY AND JUST WEST OF ALBANY. HEAVIER PRECIPITATION

RATES WILL LIKELY BE SUSTAINED AMIDST ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PWAT VALUES

/0.88 INCH PER 21Z ALBANY SOUNDING/ AND FAVORABLE VERTICAL MOTION

BETWEEN...

1. A WEAKENING UPPER TROUGH ROTATING EWD THROUGH THE HUDSON BAY AND

GREAT LAKES...AND

2. A STRONGER AND MORE POTENT UPPER TROUGH APPROACHING FROM THE

SOUTHWEST.

23Z VAD WIND PROFILE AT ALBANY REFLECTS IMPLIED COLD ADVECTION

BEGINNING...WHILE FARTHER EAST TOWARDS COASTAL REGIONS OF THE

NORTHEAST...WARM ADVECTION WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT A PREDOMINATE

PRECIPITATION TYPE OF RAIN. HOWEVER...THE 21Z ALBANY SOUNDING SHOWED

A MORE PROMINENT 850 MB WARM LAYER THAN NEARLY ALL 18Z DETERMINISTIC

MODEL FORECASTS...WITH COLDER SURFACE TEMPERATURES AS WELL. WITH

RAPID COLD ADVECTION OCCURRING AT THE SURFACE...A VERY BRIEF PERIOD

OF FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE BEFORE A COMBINATION OF LOWER

TROPOSPHERIC COLD ADVECTION...DYNAMIC COOLING...AND DIURNAL COOLING

CONTRIBUTE TO A P-TYPE OF SNOW. GIVEN THE AFOREMENTIONED PWAT

VALUE...VERY WET HEAVY SNOW CAN BE ANTICIPATED. ALTHOUGH THE

SEASONABLY WARM WEATHER PRIOR TO THE ONSET OF THIS EVENT HAS

SUPPORTED WARM GROUND TEMPERATURES AND ACCUMULATIONS MAY INITIALLY

BE LIMITED...HEAVY SNOWFALL RATES NEAR 1 INCH/HR SHOULD SUPPORT

INCREASING ACCUMULATIONS WITH TIME.

..HURLBUT.. 12/07/2011

ATTN...WFO...GYX...BTV...ALY...PHI...BGM...CTP...

LAT...LON 39887670 39907824 40837775 42447574 43277412 44447238

44387152 43557203 42437366 39887670

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Dry air?

Don't think it's really dry air, snow seems to have reverted back to a wetter form and flake size is pretty small. I'm hopin as this low starts to ride up the coast that it stablizes the back edge from pressing east or i'm gonna be bustin bad on my forecast...least back this way anyways.

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Don't think it's really dry air, snow seems to have reverted back to a wetter form and flake size is pretty small. I'm hopin as this low starts to ride up the coast that it stablizes the back edge from pressing east or i'm gonna be bustin bad on my forecast...least back this way anyways.

I don't get why I have returns that should indicate mod/heavy snow and I have light rain/snow mix. Weird.

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Ooo look at the guy with the fancy stevenson screen :-P

I just have a lowly FARS... I'm noticing an increase in windspeed too, although my station is somewhat sheltered by neighbors trees. Direction is exactly what you are seeing.

I'm assuming you're referencing the station on the earth science building?

Our weatherbug station and the "official" anemometer is on the roof above the wxcenter... our heated precip. gauge with wind blocking and stevenson screen is away from the building in a grassy area.

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I don't get why I have returns that should indicate mod/heavy snow and I have light rain/snow mix. Weird.

I'm pretty sure it's the result of melting snow aloft. The melted water clings to the partially melted flake, which results in a much higher reflectivity than a normal snowflake or raindrop. But the real precipitation intensity is much less than the radar dbz value. At the surface, and especially at lower elevations, snow or rain/snow mix could be relatively light. Higher up it's likely to be the large aggregate parachute variety. Immediately to the NW of the bright banding is where the accumulating snow should begin.

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I'm pretty sure it's the result of melting snow aloft. The melted water clings to the partially melted flake, which results in a much higher reflectivity than a normal snowflake or raindrop. But the real precipitation intensity is much less than the radar dbz value. At the surface, and especially at lower elevations, snow or rain/snow mix could be relatively light. Higher up it's likely to be the large aggregate parachute variety. Immediately to the NW of the bright banding is where the accumulating snow should begin.

Thanks. It already changed to snow earlier but it mixed back with rain for a while.

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Back edge is approaching quickly. Areas where the heavier returns are and to the east still have a chance for some accumulation. This storm just had upset written all over it. Too many things had to come together for this to be a widespread significant storm. The lack of cold air was/is the killer.

Latest HRRR (21z) is clearly too far west with the bulk of the precipitation.

Forecast (for 6pm):

post-1406-0-60568600-1323301539.png

Actual (6:08pm):

post-1406-0-95629200-1323301396.png

Kudos to the GFS for picking the storm up earliest and nailing the timing, and temperatures. (correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's the case).

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