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Pittsburgh/Western Pa Weather


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This snow map is a perfect example of the typcial outcome for SWPA. Warm tonge extends do about I80. Looks like GFS has caved to the Euro, no surpise there. I agree with the analysis, if we can get a slightly earlier transfer we should be a good. A stronger high pressure to the North should help establish cold air and force an earlier transfer.

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This snow map is a perfect example of the typcial outcome for SWPA. Warm tonge extends do about I80. Looks like GFS has caved to the Euro, no surpise there. I agree with the analysis, if we can get a slightly earlier transfer we should be a good. A stronger high pressure to the North should help establish cold air and force an earlier transfer.

Yeah, we see it all the time. And a lot of the time, the models end up underdoing that "warm tongue". The warm air ends up hitting us sooner than expected which cuts our totals down substantially, especially where I'm at. I get snow for about an hour and then the slop begins.

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.SHORT TERM /TUESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...

-- Changed Discussion --

MODELS ARE IN AGREEMENT THAT A FEW LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS WILL BE

POSSIBLE ACROSS THE RIDGES EARLY ON CHRISTMAS DAY AS LOW-LEVEL

MOISTURE LINGERS IN THE WAKE OF THE LOW. HOWEVER...WEAK HIGH PRESSURE

PASSING NORTHWEST OF THE AREA WILL ALLOW MOST OF THE AREA A BRIEF

RESPITE FROM PRECIPITATION BEFORE THE NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES FROM

THE SOUTHWEST.

A MODEL CONSENSUS CURRENTLY INDICATES A DEEP TROUGH ENTERING THE

CENTRAL PLAINS ON TUESDAY AND CLOSING OFF INTO A LOW. THIS CLOSED

LOW IS PROGGED TO TRACK ACROSS THE TN VALLEY TUESDAY NIGHT INTO

WEDNESDAY. THERE ARE STILL A RANGE OF SOLUTIONS WITH THE TRACK OF

THIS SYSTEM...AND PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON

THE TRACK AND HOW A WARM WEDGE WRAPS IN FROM THE SOUTHEAST AND AROUND

THE LOW. SOLUTIONS RANGE FROM THE COLDER ECMWF TAKING THE SURFACE LOW

SOUTHEAST OF THE RIDGES TO THE NAM TRACKING THE LOW INTO WESTERN

PA.

FUTURE FORECASTS WILL NEED TO MONITOR HOW WARM AIR WRAPS INTO THE

LOW...AS THIS WILL DRIVE THE PRECIP TYPE. CURRENT FORECAST

REFLECTS THE WARM 850MB WEDGE OF AIR ADVECTING INTO SOUTHWEST PA.

THIS WOULD LEAD TO THE PITTSBURGH METRO BEING RIGHT ON THE EDGE OF

THE HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATION TO THE NORTH...A WINTRY MIX CHANGING

TO RAIN TO THE SOUTH...AND ICE ACCUMULATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO.

THERE IS THE POTENTIAL FOR AN INITIAL SHOT OF HEAVY ACCUMULATING

SNOW ACROSS A GOOD PORTION OF THE AREA...HOWEVER THE DURATION OF

THIS SNOW IS STILL UNCERTAIN. BEST CHANCE FOR OVER 6 INCHES LOOKS

TO BE NORTH OF PITTSBURGH...BUT WILL HOLD OFF ON A WINTER STORM

WATCH FOR NOW WITH STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY ON THE NORTHWARD

PROGRESSION OF THE WARM WEDGE...DRY SLOT...AND POTENTIAL ICE

ACCUMULATIONS. IT SHOULD HOWEVER BE NOTED THAT THIS SYSTEM HAS THE

POTENTIAL TO BRING SNOW AND ICE ACCUMULATION THAT COULD LEAD TO

SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO HOLIDAY TRAVEL THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY...THE CLOSED LOW WILL SHIFT INTO THE

MID-ATLANTIC...WITH CAA ENSUING IN ITS WAKE. THIS WILL ALLOW FOR

PRECIP TO TURN OVER TO ALL SNOW WEDNESDAY NIGHT...WITH SOME LAKE

EFFECT AND UPSLOPING SNOW SHOWERS CONTINUING INTO THE DAY ON

THURSDAY.

FOR TEMPS...HIGHS ON CHRISTMAS WILL BE NEAR NORMAL SEASONAL VALUES

WITH LITTLE THERMAL ADVECTION. WAA DEPENDENT ON THE LOW COULD

BRING TEMPS AROUND 10 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL SOUTH OF

PITTSBURGH...WITH NEAR SEASONAL NORMALS ELSEWHERE. BEHIND THE

LOW...TEMPS WILL BE AROUND 5 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL.

-- End Changed Discussion --

&&

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Both the 6z NAM and GFS are an improvement in my eyes. Looking at the Cobb Data they are both spitting out about 8-10 inches with some mixing. I would take that in a heartbeat. I would still feel better if this all shifted SE another 50-75 miles though just to keep the warm tongue at bay. I just can't trust a model showing the freezing line right over Pittsburgh in this type of setup. One good thing in my opinion is both models show us getting the majority of our snow pretty quickly so that lends more confidence to the idea since hopefully we can get our high qpf in while its cold enough for snow. If it warms over 0 in any of the layers while we are in a dry slot or low qpf I don't think anyone will have much to be upset about.

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Im still holding out hope!.....lets see what things say by tonight....maybe it trend a little more east!! yes!

As we both know very well, We're in that tricky area around Bethel Park where the warm air invades very quickly with these types of systems. We've seen many storms here in Bethel where we start out briefly as snow and then quickly changeover to slop and rain, while folks north of Pittsburgh get a much more prolonged period of snow. I don't know if that's going to happen here, but I just get that funny feeling that it will just based on past storms like this one. I think there's going to be a wide range of snowfall totals between northern and southern Allegheny County. It we can somehow get the transfer to happen sooner, that would make a big difference. Right now, it's very close for us in southern Allegheny county and to our south.

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As we both know very well, You and I are in that tricky area where the warm air invades very quickly with these types of systems. We've seen many storms here in Bethel where we start out briefly as snow and then quickly changeover to slop and rain, while folks north of Pittsburgh get a much more prolonged period of snow. I don't know if that's going to happen here, but I just get that funny feeling that it will just based on past storms like this one. I think there's going to be a wide range of snowfall totals between northern and southern Allegheny County. It we can somehow get the transfer to happen sooner, that would make a big difference. Right now, it's very close for us in southern Allegheny county.

I know I am right on Peters border and I am expecting to get the warm tongue of death. Rarely when they project it to stay south of I-70 does that come to fruition. Ii inevitably makes it at least to Bethel Park, and I fully expect that for this storm.

Clown map...Snow depth at hour 84

img-resized.png Reduced: 41% of original size [ 1400 x 1000 ] - Click to view full image

12znamsnow084.gif

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As we both know very well, We're in that tricky area around Bethel Park where the warm air invades very quickly with these types of systems. We've seen many storms here in Bethel where we start out briefly as snow and then quickly changeover to slop and rain, while folks north of Pittsburgh get a much more prolonged period of snow. I don't know if that's going to happen here, but I just get that funny feeling that it will just based on past storms like this one. I think there's going to be a wide range of snowfall totals between northern and southern Allegheny County. It we can somehow get the transfer to happen sooner, that would make a big difference. Right now, it's very close for us in southern Allegheny county and to our south.

I went to school at SRU, and I always thought while I was up there, that I was going to get in on all snow events that mixed in Pittsburgh. I was always amazed that these types of storms, even up there, mixed, even when KPIT was calling for all snow in Pittsburgh.

At the very least, the front end thump looks to be intense, and that should be a good 4-6 hour window of heavy snow. Based on the GFS and NAM, in that scenario even if we do change over we could still be looking at a very quick 4-8 inches. If the Euro scenario holds, we get over 10 inches possibly.

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I hope you guys get all snow. I hope it starts a little later than daybreak Wednesday. I am driving up to the 20 inch + clown map area on Wednesday so I will be glad when I get there. I may have to move my departure time up even more on Wednesday morning to like 6:00 am. Hope to be driving just ahead of it. :santa:

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I went to school at SRU, and I always thought while I was up there, that I was going to get in on all snow events that mixed in Pittsburgh. I was always amazed that these types of storms, even up there, mixed, even when KPIT was calling for all snow in Pittsburgh.

At the very least, the front end thump looks to be intense, and that should be a good 4-6 hour window of heavy snow. Based on the GFS and NAM, in that scenario even if we do change over we could still be looking at a very quick 4-8 inches. If the Euro scenario holds, we get over 10 inches possibly.

Front end thump does look impressive on the NAM, granted its pretty far out for the NAM. The NAM track is pretty ideal for us.

121226/1900Z 55 08016KT 28.1F SNOW 11:1| 1.6|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.148 11:1| 1.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.16 100| 0| 0

121226/2000Z 56 08018KT 27.9F SNOW 12:1| 2.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.222 12:1| 4.5|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.38 100| 0| 0

121226/2100Z 57 09015KT 27.9F SNOW 10:1| 1.8|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.172 11:1| 6.2|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.55 100| 0| 0

121226/2200Z 58 09013KT 28.1F SNOW 9:1| 1.4|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.158 11:1| 7.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.71 100| 0| 0

121226/2300Z 59 09015KT 27.9F SNOW 12:1| 2.5|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.203 11:1| 10.2|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.91 100| 0| 0

121227/0000Z 60 09017KT 27.8F SNOW 5:1| 1.0|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.177 10:1| 11.1|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 1.09 100| 0| 0

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Front end thump does look impressive on the NAM, granted its pretty far out for the NAM. The NAM track is pretty ideal for us.

121226/1900Z 55 08016KT 28.1F SNOW 11:1| 1.6|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.148 11:1| 1.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.16 100| 0| 0

121226/2000Z 56 08018KT 27.9F SNOW 12:1| 2.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.222 12:1| 4.5|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.38 100| 0| 0

121226/2100Z 57 09015KT 27.9F SNOW 10:1| 1.8|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.172 11:1| 6.2|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.55 100| 0| 0

121226/2200Z 58 09013KT 28.1F SNOW 9:1| 1.4|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.158 11:1| 7.7|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.71 100| 0| 0

121226/2300Z 59 09015KT 27.9F SNOW 12:1| 2.5|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.203 11:1| 10.2|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.91 100| 0| 0

121227/0000Z 60 09017KT 27.8F SNOW 5:1| 1.0|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 0.177 10:1| 11.1|| 0.00|| 0.00|| 1.09 100| 0| 0

I usually just cut the NAM totals in half, especially when they're this far out. The NAM almost always overdoes QPF. It would sure be nice if this was the rare instance that it'd be right. That's a very nice front end thump for sure.

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I usually just cut the NAM totals in half, especially when they're this far out. The NAM almost always overdoes QPF. It would sure be nice if this was the rare instance that it'd be right. That's a very nice front end thump for sure.

Right - but QPF wise it's not much different than the GFS or Euro. It's mostly a P-type issue. So hopefully if it's getting the type correct, the actual total precip falls in line with model consensus (which has generally been 1.0 to 1.4)

Like everone else, I'd feel a lot better however if the the GFS depicted the 850 0 line about 50 to 75 miles further south

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PIT:

CODE

ECMWF Deterministic FORECAST FOR: PIT LAT= 40.50 LON= -80.22 ELE= 1224

12Z DEC24

2 M 850 SFC SFC 700 6 HR 500 1000

TMP TMP PRS RHU RHU QPF HGT 500

© © (MB) (PCT) (PCT) (IN) (DM) THK

MON 12Z 24-DEC -3.3 0.9 1016 84 20 0.00 551 538

MON 18Z 24-DEC 5.1 0.2 1011 61 93 0.00 549 540

TUE 00Z 25-DEC 1.5 -0.2 1010 97 57 0.06 548 540

TUE 06Z 25-DEC 1.8 -3.9 1014 98 9 0.01 547 536

TUE 12Z 25-DEC 0.4 -5.0 1020 94 10 0.00 550 535

TUE 18Z 25-DEC 1.3 -5.6 1023 66 10 0.00 554 536

WED 00Z 26-DEC 0.7 -4.7 1024 76 8 0.00 557 537

WED 06Z 26-DEC -1.3 -2.0 1024 74 16 0.00 556 537

WED 12Z 26-DEC -1.5 -1.5 1019 71 96 0.01 555 540

WED 18Z 26-DEC -1.4 -4.4 1011 87 99 0.46 551 542

THU 00Z 27-DEC -1.3 -2.7 1006 85 98 0.24 544 539

THU 06Z 27-DEC -1.3 -4.7 1005 93 77 0.11 542 538

THU 12Z 27-DEC -1.6 -6.9 1009 92 89 0.03 542 535

THU 18Z 27-DEC -0.3 -9.3 1014 76 66 0.01 547 536

FRI 00Z 28-DEC -2.5 -8.8 1018 87 34 0.01 551 536

FRI 06Z 28-DEC -2.7 -6.6 1019 93 6 0.01 553 538

FRI 12Z 28-DEC -3.1 -4.3 1021 94 16 0.01 554 538

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Winter Storm Watch

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA 425 PM EST MON DEC 24 2012

OHZ039>041-048>050-PAZ007>009-013>016-020>023-073-WVZ001-250530-/O.NEW.KPBZ.WS.A.0006.121226T0300Z-121227T1100Z/TUSCARAWAS-CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-COSHOCTON-HARRISON-JEFFERSON OH-MERCER-VENANGO-FOREST-LAWRENCE-BUTLER-CLARION-JEFFERSON PA-BEAVER-ALLEGHENY-ARMSTRONG-INDIANA-WESTMORELAND-HANCOCK-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...NEW PHILADELPHIA...DOVER... UHRICHSVILLE...CARROLLTON...EAST LIVERPOOL...SALEM...COLUMBIANA... EAST PALESTINE...WELLSVILLE...CALCUTTA...COSHOCTON...CADIZ... HOPEDALE...STEUBENVILLE...SHARON...HERMITAGE...GROVE CITY... GREENVILLE...FARRELL...OIL CITY...FRANKLIN...SUGARCREEK... TIONESTA...NEW CASTLE...ELLWOOD CITY...BUTLER...ZELIENOPLE... CLARION...PUNXSUTAWNEY...BROOKVILLE...REYNOLDSVILLE...BROCKWAY... ALIQUIPPA...BEAVER FALLS...AMBRIDGE...MONACA...BEAVER... PITTSBURGH METRO AREA...KITTANNING...FORD CITY...LEECHBURG... FREEPORT...APOLLO...INDIANA...GREENSBURG...NEW KENSINGTON... JEANNETTE...LATROBE...MONESSEN...WEIRTON 425 PM EST MON DEC 24 2012

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY EVENING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...THE POTENTIAL FOR AT LEAST 6 INCHES OF SNOW.

* TIMING...LIGHT SNOW WILL BEGIN LATE TUESDAY NIGHT. SNOW INTENSITY WILL INCREASE DURING THE DAY ON WEDNESDAY BEFORE TAPERING OFF WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

* IMPACTS...HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO REDUCED VISIBILITY AND SNOW ACCUMULATION.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THAT SNOW ACCUMULATION MAY SEVERELY IMPACT TRAVEL. PREPARE FOR WINTER WEATHER AND MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS VIA THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOMEPAGE NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR OTHER NEWS MEDIA.

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