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January 21st Snowstorm Obs


Baroclinic Zone

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As Will noted, snow growth is not great....kind of harkens back to Dec 13, 2007....in the sense that makes up for it some by coming down at a pretty good rate.

Just eyeballing, looks like about .5" down.

15.6\10

Despite your disdain for the winter so far things are looking up. Flake size is improving, ratios are high, nice event in a year of meh. Cheer up bro it's snowing.

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Despite your disdain for the winter so far things are looking up. Flake size is improving, ratios are high, nice event in a year of meh. Cheer up bro it's snowing.

I'm still recovering from a minor surgery, so stuck in the house all weekend and in a level of discomfort will do that....more so than usual.

I'll give it a rest, though.

2.5-3" will be fine.

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Not sure we'll hit the high end here MIke.

Horrible snow growth. Little needles that don't stack well.

We've had over 2 hours of SN- w/ only 0.5" or so to show for it.

Cold 16F

Enjoy the beach!

Thanks, Chris. I guess even crappy flakes are better than none. That said, I guess my angst about missing a decent storm may have been unwarranted.

Fantastic geography--the mountains right from the ocean are awesome. Some of the bathing suits are pretty fantastic as well. But I suppose that's for another forum.

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That's just it....ratio is mainly determined by flake type....when the max lift is not in the snowgrowth region, we see these plates...which don't add up as quickly as fluffy dendrites.

Thank you. Fine snow doesn't mean fluffy snow. It may be easy to move but it doesn't pile up well.

Many mets make the mistake of going balls out on ratios because it's cold. Wrong. Go balls out on ratios when the column is cold AND you have strong lift through the SGZ.

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Hey, it be fluffin outside. Whatever may accumulate put it in the bank and run. It's better than 50 and rain.

Outlook bleak in many aspects.

Eyeballin good 3/4" down. Next...next...next.........looking but not seeing anything to cause any sleep-less model huggin nights.

Sure looks priddy outside. A garden variety winter event.

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Thank you. Fine snow doesn't mean fluffy snow. It may be easy to move but it doesn't pile up well.

Many mets make the mistake of going balls out on ratios because it's cold. Wrong. Go balls out on ratios when the column is cold AND you have strong lift through the SGZ.

I think we're plenty cold enough, but we lack lift.

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Thank you. Fine snow doesn't mean fluffy snow. It may be easy to move but it doesn't pile up well.

Many mets make the mistake of going balls out on ratios because it's cold. Wrong. Go balls out on ratios when the column is cold AND you have strong lift through the SGZ.

Yeah you gotta have lift in the DGZ. It does help having a cold profile but you need the forcing. Yesterday looked like we would have some of that. I think today it will be relegated to the heavier bands. I think parts of CT into se MA should have some decent flake size later.

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Moderate here now, sugar snow, flies 30 feet with the snow blower, the skis send up bombs in the air. Actually starting to see some decent dendrites now.

Yeah the best band will see a mix of flakes... but you have strong enough forcing in the low levels plus synoptic scale forcing with the jet streak to the north that you'll do well.

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Yeah you gotta have lift in the DGZ. It does help having a cold profile but you need the forcing. Yesterday looked like we would have some of that. I think today it will be relegated to the heavier bands. I think parts of CT into se MA should have some decent flake size later.

Exactly. Unfortunately many mets ignore the cloud microphysics. It's crucial. I have no problem going 20:1 with a cold BL, cold sounding, and a big burst of omega through the SGZ when it's clear where best banding/forcing is setting up.

Saying it's going to be 19F and snowy means you're going to get this epic fluffy snow is just wrong.

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That's just it....ratio is mainly determined by flake type....when the max lift is not in the snowgrowth region, we see these plates...which don't add up as quickly as fluffy dendrites.

Yeah...this. The snow growth region everyone mentions is basically just the max dendritic one of -12C to -18C. Like you said, you want strong omega in that zone with higher supersaturations for the largest dendrites and ratios. If the lift is poor you get smaller dendrites. If you are outside the range of those temps you start mixing in other types of snow crystals that don't have the ability to produce really high ratios like the large dendrites do. In very cold airmasses you can get small columns and bullets that have relatively lousy ratios.

When it comes to ratios with different crystal structure, everyone just has to look at their shape to get an idea of the ratios they'd produce. Think of dendrites as a bunch of tree branches thrown into a pile. The pile gets stacked high the more you add as the branch structure traps air in between. Now throw them through a wood chipper and watch how much lower the pile gets. There's your columns, needles, bullets, and small plates.

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