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January 2012 Storm Threats and Discussion


PhineasC

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People keep referencing back-loaded winters like 1987 or 2005 or 2007. The problem I have with this is- those were all El Nino years. La Nina February's usually suck badly here. I have little faith in March as well.

78-79 wasn't, though admittedly there was a 3" event around Thanksgiving which could be argued disqualifies it as a back loaded winter, but with over 40" at BWI, I believe it still qualifies; also, I'm talking snow as I do know that winter was cold unlike this one...so far

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People keep referencing back-loaded winters like 1987 or 2005 or 2007. The problem I have with this is- those were all El Nino years. La Nina February's usually suck badly here. I have little faith in March as well.

realistically we should not hold out much hope past mar 1 or so but nina can have some good march events

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2011/02/dc_end_of_season_snowfall.html

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12z Euro makes us wait....and I guess it is probably right with the idea of waiting....big OV storm day 7/8 before the next big cold push

Exactly where it tracks is still up in the air but a track west and north of us seems more likely than one right over us. That storm should deliver another nice cold shot.

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12z Euro makes us wait....and I guess it is probably right with the idea of waiting....big OV storm day 7/8 before the next big cold push

I wish I could feel condident with the Euro on anything past 2 days, but unlike prior years, I can't

GFS seems to be kickin' its butt this year, but that may not be a bad thing since the GEFS are looking much better past 7 days per NE thread

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12z Euro makes us wait....and I guess it is probably right with the idea of waiting....big OV storm day 7/8 before the next big cold push

also takes any clipper or any marginal events that it gave us at 00z away. basically, no precip through day 7

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Exactly where it tracks is still up in the air but a track west and north of us seems more likely than one right over us. That storm should deliver another nice cold shot.

I'm only out to day 9, but the look is certainly better than anything we have seen....that's 3 "good" runs in a row...too bad the skill at 216 hours isn't very good

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I wish I could feel condident with the Euro on anything past 2 days, but unlike prior years, I can't

GFS seems to be kickin' its butt this year, but that may not be a bad thing since the GEFS are looking much better past 7 days per NE thread

I'm pretty sure that isn't true...there may have been some discrete events where that was the case

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I'm only out to day 9, but the look is certainly better than anything we have seen....that's 3 "good" runs in a row...too bad the skill at 216 hours isn't very good

I think amplitude makes sense, Greg wrote an interesting CWG piece on the pattern and I think he's basically right. The pattern is in the process of changing but until the NAo goes negative most of our cold shots will be transient. Still there will be more of them opening the door somewhat for something to happen.

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People keep referencing back-loaded winters like 1987 or 2005 or 2007. The problem I have with this is- those were all El Nino years. La Nina February's usually suck badly here. I have little faith in March as well.

If you just play enso stats then your right. Odds are against. However, this Nina is not strong and is behaving quite differently that we would expect. It's more Nino'ish than Nina'ish so far. OND ENSO came in a .8. Plus, we have a raging +AO/NAO early on. History suggests that + cycle breaks down some during Jan and more during Feb. Best chance for aob temps is Feb imo. Does that mean good snow in feb? I have no idea.

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I'm pretty sure that isn't true...there may have been some discrete events where that was the case

yesterday's phantom snow storm on the Euro that the GFS was correct on and the Sunday storm that the Euro had as a big rain storm that the GFS had basically weak and moving OTS come to mind

maybe it's my selective weenie memory but the Euro seems to be following the GFS more than usual with respect to our sensible weather (or lack thereof)

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I think amplitude makes sense, Greg wrote an interesting CWG piece on the pattern and I think he's basically right. The pattern is in the process of changing but until the NAo goes negative most of our cold shots will be transient. Still there will be more of them opening the door somewhat for something to happen.

day 10 is a -NAO/-EPO...it isn't an "ideal" look...there is no stable block....there is no real sharp downstream trough in Europe where you probably want to see it, but there are formidable ridges into Greenland and the GOA and it looks less progressive than it has been...the trough in the east is broader than it has been and isn't racing east....

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Dec just missed the 2.282 AO record of Dec 06. Last month came in at 2.221. No other year comes close to the 1.459 / 2.221 Nov-Dec combo though. It's quite an anomalous run we're having. Sept @ .665, Oct @ .800 and then the 1.459 & 2.221 just recently. The back has to break eventually right? It will probably be march and april. lol

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yesterday's phantom snow storm on the Euro that the GFS was correct on and the Sunday storm that the Euro had as a big rain storm that the GFS had basically weak and moving OTS come to mind

maybe it's my selective weenie memory but the Euro seems to be following the GFS more than usual with respect to our sensible weather (or lack thereof)

the euro keeps overdoing storms around here in the midrange for a few runs but it's still clearly superior. just don't make anyone get those 500mb global verification maps. :(

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Day 10 Euro is an icebox. Cross-polar flow right into our backyard. Ridging into Greenland at the same time as well. Euro keeps the AO weakly positive I'd say by eyeballing. As I said earlier in the day, I like this time period for a chance of some snow.

http://raleighwx.americanwx.com/models/euro/12zeuro850mbTSLPUS_loop.html

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not to harp on you, but you're comparing two different things...a global verification number is a lot different than a qualitative assessment over a small regional area....

for example, if you computed an average of global political instability you wouldn't use it to predict "regional" political instability, even if the "global" average 100% accurately predicted "global" political instability.

i know what you're trying to say, but i'm sure you're confusing some readers, in a global verification the ECMWF has been superior for some time, this may not always translate to optimal performance of the model on a regional basis for given period of time.

im not sure you understood my post at all but thanks for the lecture...

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not to harp on you, but you're comparing two different things...a global verification number is a lot different than a qualitative assessment over a small regional area....

for example, if you computed an average of global political instability you wouldn't use it to predict "regional" political instability, even if the "global" average 100% accurately predicted "global" political instability.

i know what you're trying to say, but i'm sure you're confusing some readers, in a global verification the ECMWF has been superior for some time, this may not always translate to optimal performance of the model on a regional basis for given period of time.

I think everyone understands that....and I am pretty sure it has outperformed the GFS on the longwave pattern in our backyard the entire winter, even if it had some phantom storms for a run or 2 in the day 8-10 range....We all know about the KU it had at day 8-9 for 2-3 runs that never happened, but it picked up on the amplitude and degree of the current +PNA earlier and better than the GFS...no model is going to get smaller scale synoptic features correct at 192 hours

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im not sure you understood my post at all but thanks for the lecture...

i'm sorry if you took it as a lecture, just a general comment, i'll keep it to myself next time.

maybe it's been discussed before, I don't have the opportunity to read through all the posts, so i apoligize.

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i'm sorry if you took it as a lecture, just a general comment, i'll keep it to myself next time.

maybe it's been discussed before, I don't have the opportunity to read through all the posts, so i apoligize.

my post might not have been necessary. but i was not implying anything different than what you typed. i just see people throw out the 500mb verification scores like their some grand proof of anything which i don't generally see them as. but still in my personal watchings i'd side with the euro more often than the gfs while of course trying to factor in the biases of each that i know of.

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