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Feb. 18-20, 2012 Disco/Analysis


Poimen

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I agree. I think people are getting overly excited seeing the soundings for their area and looking at snowfall accumulation maps. Even though the trend looks good, the situation has not changed, and that is there is no cold air in place in front of the storm and we are relying on cold air to catch up with the moisture. As everyone here in the Southeast knows this rarely works out. I can probably count on one hand how many times it actually resulted to anything significant in the Northern Piedmont of NC. The most likely outcome based on real life experience is that there will be a band of heavy wet snow that develops as the cold catches up with the moisture and the storm is pulling away. While it will be pretty to look at the result will likely be a slushy accumulation in grassy areas outside of the mountains. This is how these situations play out 95% of the time in this area so why would this be any different. I have to always remind myself that the snowfall accumulation maps are rarely accurate as they can give a lot of false hope. I still doubt anyone outside of the mountains and South of Virginia will see anything significant in the way of accumulating snow from this. That being said, it will still be the biggest event for Northern NC so far this season, which isn't that difficult to accomplish.

I think you hit the nail on the head. Any other winter this would be a big disappointment, but a few hours of seeing some snow and slushy accumulation in the grass sounds like a big win for this winter.

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HPC's latest thought on snow... http://www.daculawea..._snow_disco.php

I never knew that discussion existed until the other day.

...DAY 3...

...CENTRAL APPALACHIANS/MID ATLANTIC STATES...

WELL-ADVERTISED WINTER WEATHER EPISODE FOR THE EAST CENTRAL

US...AS CONFLUENT FLOW ALOFT AND MULTIPLE SHORTWAVE IMPULSES TRACK

EASTWARD ACROSS THE OHIO VALLEY TO THE OUTER BANKS. THE 4-8 INCH

SNOWFALL PROBABILITIES EXIST ALONG AND NORTH OF H7 LOW TRACK

ACROSS HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF EASTERN WEST VIRGINIA AND SOUTHWESTERN

VIRGINIA. DOWNWIND LOCATIONS THAT COULD RECEIVE 4+ INCHES INCLUDE

MARYLAND...EASTERN VIRGINIA...DELAWARE AND SOUTHERN NEW JERSEY

WITH POTOMAC BASIN AND DELMARVA ACCUMULATIONS SUPPORTED BY RATHER

LONG-DURATION H85-H7 FRONTOGENESIS AXIS AND BANDED COLD-SECTOR

PRECIPITATION ALONG NORTHERN PERIPHERY OF COMMA-HEAD/DEFORMATION

SHIELD. GENERALLY SPEAKING...AN 'ALL-DAY' SNOW FORECAST FOR

SUNDAY...INCLUDING SUNDAY NIGHT ACROSS MUCH OF THE MID ATLANTIC

REGION...THE POTOMAC BASIN...DELMARVA AND THE MID ATLANTIC COAST

LINE AS SURFACE CYCLONE RACES EASTWARD ACROSS OUTER BANKS. A

RATHER MARGINAL THERMAL/MOISTURE PROFILE BELOW H85 ON SUNDAY FOR

HEAVY SNOWFALL WITH FORECAST CHALLENGE CONCERNED WITH ACCUMULATION

POTENTIAL BELOW 1000FT MSL AND THE SUSTAINABILITY OF SNOWFALL RATE

EXCEEDING THE MELTING RATE THROUGHOUT THE DAYLIGHT HOURS.

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I have posted this morning's video and discussion on the blog.... see it here.

Not going to rehash all of what I typed there, but the big thing to key on is that separate piece of upper level energy diving into the backside of the system Sunday. It is much more pronounced on the non-GFS models, and that is what keeps the precip going much longer on many other non-GFS models Sunday afternoon/ evening.

As I said on the blog, this isn't a cold chasing the precip scenario per se....it is a separate piece of energy diving in, keeping the precip going after the cold is settling in.

You can see the vort clearly on the Euro chart below...in western TN.

post-390-0-29779900-1329481714.png

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That almost- always present jump north in the modeling in the 11th hour before systems always sticks in my head. Possible.

FWIW- Per JB this morning, he still thinks the slp will be north of the models (Knoxville to Elizabeth city) instead of Atlanta to south of cape Hatteras? He likes the JMA track! So no snow in NC on his maps....

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I have posted this morning's video and discussion on the blog.... see it here.

Not going to rehash all of what I typed there, but the big thing to key on is that separate piece of upper level energy diving into the backside of the system Sunday. It is much more pronounced on the non-GFS models, and that is what keeps the precip going much longer on many other non-GFS models Sunday afternoon/ evening.

As I said on the blog, this isn't a cold chasing the precip scenario per se....it is a separate piece of energy diving in, keeping the precip going after the cold is settling in.

You can see the vort clearly on the Euro chart below...in western TN.

post-390-0-29779900-1329481714.png

Great disco Matt, also saw you posted the RPM on Facebook...matches up well with last nights Euro snowfall map...

tZMqK.png

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That almost- always present jump north in the modeling in the 11th hour before systems always sticks in my head. Possible.

Yep, that's been my worry all the time. To close to call for N.Foothills right now, But if I had to place a bet it def would be cold rain..

BTW- Great disco this morning!!! Lots going on to say the least....

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I have posted this morning's video and discussion on the blog.... see it here.

Not going to rehash all of what I typed there, but the big thing to key on is that separate piece of upper level energy diving into the backside of the system Sunday. It is much more pronounced on the non-GFS models, and that is what keeps the precip going much longer on many other non-GFS models Sunday afternoon/ evening.

As I said on the blog, this isn't a cold chasing the precip scenario per se....it is a separate piece of energy diving in, keeping the precip going after the cold is settling in.

You can see the vort clearly on the Euro chart below...in western TN.

post-390-0-29779900-1329481714.png

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!! Excellent discussion and great addition to this board!

We REALLY have to watch that separate piece of energy. Those things can be quite the power packs and can give many surprise hefty winter weather. Now, I'm not saying this is going to be the case, but I think someone along and just north of GSO to Ric is going to get a good thump of snow. I'm predicting the NWS is going to play big time catch up with this system(s).

One thing for sure, it's fun to track and watch!!

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Great disco Matt, also saw you posted the RPM on Facebook...matches up well with last nights Euro snowfall map...

tZMqK.png

MHX (Morristown) pretty much thinks that there is no chance at snow except for the highest elevations. Yet, Nashville thinks that there's a good chance at a wintry mix for the entire eastern part of the state.

Go figure.

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The only thing I can add after looking at all the modeling is this.

When we are within 48-72 hours of the event and there is still considerable spread there is usually a surprise or two. This one certainly isn't cut and dry. Hopefully the surprises are in our favor and not against us. Would be nice to see the 12z guidance come in a little colder yet.

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MHX (Morristown) pretty much thinks that there is no chance at snow except for the highest elevations. Yet, Nashville thinks that there's a good chance at a wintry mix for the entire eastern part of the state.

Go figure.

I think there is a pretty good chance at snow for Nashville north into the plateau north of I-40. Certainly eastern KY sees a nice snow as does western and southwestern VA. As for east TN, even the Euro shows a warm nose holding strong even up into KTRI. For that reason, I am not very optimistic up this way.

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I think there is a pretty good chance at snow for Nashville north into the plateau north of I-40. Certainly eastern KY sees a nice snow as does western and southwestern VA. As for east TN, even the Euro shows a warm nose holding strong even up into KTRI. For that reason, I am not very optimistic up this way.

Possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised if a deformation band set up on the back side for East TN (as it has done many times before with systems like these, and as it's shown up in a few later model runs).

I won't be hiking back up to Mt. Leconte to see snow though even though I think it probably will snow a good bit up there. The last time I was walking through snow from an arctic front and it was dry and powdery. I don't want to hike ten miles in heavy wet snow instead.

I still think there could be surprises in our favor and if not both of us could make a short trip up on I81 or I75 and see a bit of this.

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Thanks! Yeah, this one is definitely a fun one to watch. If you love the weather, you've got to enjoy watching this.

Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner!! Excellent discussion and great addition to this board!

We REALLY have to watch that separate piece of energy. Those things can be quite the power packs and can give many surprise hefty winter weather. Now, I'm not saying this is going to be the case, but I think someone along and just north of GSO to Ric is going to get a good thump of snow. I'm predicting the NWS is going to play big time catch up with this system(s).

One thing for sure, it's fun to track and watch!!

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