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The March 6 Storm- The (last) Great White Hope


stormtracker

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it is just a sharp cutoff...I;d say most of DC metro is 0.6 to 0.8

.6 qpf on the low end total would be a great multiplier for the current season snowfall and would still slash that 2 inch drought.

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it is just a sharp cutoff...I;d say most of DC metro is 0.6 to 0.8

Okay, thanks. I wonder if the occluding/redeveloping process with this thing is going to cause big headaches with the cutoff/edge of the spiraling comma. The exact timing of when it occludes and when it reforms, possibly more than once, is going to have a big impact on the way the precip is distributed.

The beautiful thing about the VA-MD corridor is its ability to squeeze out more moisture because of orographic processes. If isentropic lift / moisture advection etc. gets disrupted due to some crappy timing with occluding/reforming, that could kind of take the strength of the bands down as they are coming through. I have no idea...just speculating.

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Ill admit the euro just took the wind out of my sails a bit. I was not expecting it to go south but I will wait for ensembles to see if it was a blip or a huge red flag. Hearing it got suppressed mainly south of dc worries me because I think the northern edge of sig snow is either going to make it close to Philly or it gets suppressed south of dc. That's usually how these go.

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I can see between now and tuesday people saying "the north trend can stop now." We are in a good spot wrt being in the northern qpf max.

thing is, we're still at 72hrs+ so this ain't set in stone any any stretch

I guess that means it could go even further south but I don't think so

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How bleak are the numbers this run?

This is definitely more of a concern than it coming too north for you, I think. This is a pretty ridiculous blocking setup...nothing like 2009-2011 of course....but still ridiculous. Usually these events don't come at the point when the block is coming west and then south. They come once that period is over and it is lifting out as the coastal low takes over as the new "low anomaly" on the height charts.

 

 

Yeah, I really don't see this one coming north. The block is really oriented very much to the west. Several days ago, the suppressed solutions had the block oriented in this fashion where it was "pointing" towards the Midwest, meaning the downstream confluence and ULL features were very close to the coast, and thus a suppressive pattern. 

 

The runs that came north made a drastic shift with the orientation of the block, as it was oriented a lot more eastward. It was then "pointing" towards the Atlantic, and actually bridging with the height rises out ahead of our bowling ball, leading to large height rises, and the storm climbing the coast. Additionally, this meant that the downstream confluence was also further east.

 

Now, we are back to the original solutions with respect to the blocking: oriented well to the west, not bridging with the SE ridge, and the ULL/confluence is very close to the coast. Thus, the consistently suppressed solutions. 

 

The models appear to be pretty locked in with respect to the orientation and strength of the block, and it's hard to imagine that they are all significantly wrong with the strength and orientation of such a large blocking feature within a relatively small lead time. 

 

I definitely do think there is room for this to trend to the very high precipitation amounts for the DC area. But I'd be shocked if DC were too far south. 

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thing is, we're still at 72hrs+ so this ain't set in stone any any stretch

I guess that means it could go even further south but I don't think so

Im basing my assumption purely on experience. Blocks typically are not as entrenched as modeled 4-5 days out. That means everything wrt 100 mile shifts north. I hope im right.....bc i havent seen many be stronger and force systems south.

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Yeah, I really don't see this one coming north. The block is really oriented very much to the west. Several days ago, the suppressed solutions had the block oriented in this fashion where it was "pointing" towards the Midwest, meaning the downstream confluence and ULL features were very close to the coast, and thus a suppressive pattern. 

 

The runs that came north made a drastic shift with the orientation of the block, as it was oriented a lot more eastward. It was then "pointing" towards the Atlantic, and actually bridging with the height rises out ahead of our bowling ball, leading to large height rises, and the storm climbing the coast. Additionally, this meant that the downstream confluence was also further east.

 

Now, we are back to the original solutions with respect to the blocking: oriented well to the west, not bridging with the SE ridge, and the ULL/confluence is very close to the coast. Thus, the consistently suppressed solutions. 

 

The models appear to be pretty locked in with respect to the orientation and strength of the block, and it's hard to imagine that they are all significantly wrong with the strength and orientation of such a large blocking feature within a relatively small lead time. 

 

I definitely do think there is room for this to trend to the very high precipitation amounts for the DC area. But I'd be shocked if DC were too far south. 

Yep, exactly. There is just waaaay too much blocking for some massive northward shift. The ECMWF tonight is so strong that it actually shaves the NE edge of the precip shield. I agree that a gradual northward shift is possible, in a realistic fashion, that could put the DC-PHL corridor back into the significant precip shield. But I think with either solution, nothing is going to stop that beautiful VA upslope. That area, as usual, is primed in these setups.

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Long time member, first-time MA poster coming in peace from the Southeast forum (deadsville over there) looking for some help understanding the 0z Euro run. First of all, comparing the 500mb maps from last night 0z run reveals a pretty shocking different. Tonight's run at 72 hours has the closed low over the Missouri/Ark/Tenn lines. Last night's run had it over ... IOWA?!? 

 

At 96 tonight it's off the NC/SC coast, compared to NE NC last night.

 

Yet, and here is what I don't get -- the surface features are actually NORTH of last night's positions?

 

HELP?!?

 

I'll hang up and listen.

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you wont hear me saying this often but I want the primary to hold on as long as possible...I'd really like the ULL to pull itself up by the bootstraps and wedge itself into SW VA....the GEFS was closest to doing this..it must have some amplified members...

Haha, yep I don't hear that too often. I still haven't seen the individual members yet of the GEFS but I know there has been several amplified members in previous runs.

I noticed the HPC tonight made note that the EURO seemed to be lagging when compared to the 12z euro ensemble mean and GFS suite. It is possible that this is due to the blocking and/or the initial drop southward being deeper than most guidance west of the Apps. I suppose the new 00z ensembles will shed some light on that...

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you never answered how much snow you got in your backyard since Jan 2011

 

I didn't see that'...we've had maybe 16 inches total.

 

Feb 19th last year was 8.2 and Jan 17th was 4.. everything else under an inch. 

 

I'm not saying your drought doesn't suck 15 inches was our difference on Feb 5-6 alone. 

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people down south b**ch about 8" storms when we get 15" because they think their snow climo is the same...Huff hasnt stopped complaining about PD2 in 10 years even though I sleeted for hours hundreds of miles north of him

 

 

Our snow climo is very close. LYH use to be close to 20, now maybe 17 or so with the new 30 year. Roa was 22, now back down to 19 or so. 

 

LYH and ROA went from Feb 96 till March 09 in LYH and Dec 19th in ROA without a double digit storm. Longest drought ever. 

 

We usually had a double digit event every 3-4 years, same as the Mid Atlantic. Many shared storms, but some differences. 

 

Weather is weather, and we know we don't change it-- but we are further from climo starting back from 1996. Won't change this event either way-- but climo does even out over time. 

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00z op GFS close-up clown map FWIW.

Eighteen inches in my back yard FTW.

 

No one will EVER hear ME complain about having to shovel 18 inches of wet snow. Even with ten foot drifts.

 

We won't have to BEG the national guard for assistance either.

 

Man I have NEVER prayed harder for snow. Not even back in high school to get out of a trig exam.

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Matt, at a quick glance, it seemed the 00z GEFS members were generally north with the majority of the members targeting the DC-area/adjacent VA for max QPF. ECMWF ensembles will be interesting.

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Without getting into the weeds here, it's not quite same as comparing DC climo to NYC. NYC averages about double the annual snowfall of

DC. I think DC and RNK are about the same? Though, DC does generally get bigger blockbusters.

Dulles runs around 22"

National about 16"

Roanoke 23"

Lynchburg 18"

So they are in the neighborhood

EDIT: Oops, that previous 30 year period, but still close.

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Nam looks weird with big dry slot over much of va

Cause it takes the primary to nearly CLE before transfering... and pretty much if you are south of EZF by 50 miles or more you are screwed while north of there its rakage time... but of course its during NAM suckage time. DCA would get more precip after 84 as well

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