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Pittsburgh/Western Pa Weather


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GFS is now on board and gives us 6 inches of snow among the mixing. 

The Nam gives us 9 but I think that will change down unless the low moves a tad east on the other models.

Looking at the new GGEM we are right on the border of heavier rain and heavy snow. Beaver, Mercer and Lawrence Counties are in the hammer zone. A shift east and we are in the hammer zone. A tad west and more rain and warm tongue.

What I do like is how the models are all coming together and we are going to get something. What I find unusual is the amount of back end snow the models are projecting. In most storms we get an inch on the back end where as now they are showing more.

Still 48 hours out and lots could change.

 

http://collaboration.cmc.ec.gc.ca/cmc/cmdn/pcpn_type/pcpn_type_gem_reg.html

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Those big wrap around snows rarely come to fruition. I seem to remember we did pretty well with them in the second Feb '10 storm

 

Yeah I think that's more of a coastal phenomenon.  Once the low deepens enough, it is usually off the coast and too far east to really affect this region.  This area gets hit big, it seems, in rare instances such as a triple phase (ala 1993) or your classic Miller A where moisture from the Gulf attacks high pressure to the north (ala 2010).  Now I haven't lived out here my whole life so feel free to correct me.

 

As for this storm, still watching for another 36 hours or so before the details are hammered out.  Right now TWC and NWS seem confident, for whatever reason, in a decent amount of snow from N. WV up through Western PA.  The NAM seems to be their primary support (GFS is marginal but it is moving towards all the others--not sure why it was so far behind).  Blending all the models it is probably a thread-the-needle type event.

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Amazing how far off the GFS was for days and then it suddenly catches on as we get within a couple days of the event. All the other models have been pretty consistent in how this thing is going to track. Anyway, I'm thinking this is going to be an event where someone is going to get thumped but it won't be a very large area. There will be a sharp cutoff to the west while there will be mixing issues just to the east. Too bad we don't have that arctic high in place to feed cold air into the system. Combine that with still being in November and you have a system where you have to have a lot to go right to get a big snow event. That being said, I still think we are very close with this one. A lot of time yet to get a better idea exactly where this is going to track. 

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Winter Storm Watch


URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PITTSBURGH PA

312 PM EST SUN NOV 24 2013

OHZ040-041-049-050-058-059-068-069-PAZ013-020-021-029-031-073-075-

WVZ001>004-012-021-022-250415-

/O.NEW.KPBZ.WS.A.0006.131126T1500Z-131127T1800Z/

CARROLL-COLUMBIANA-HARRISON-JEFFERSON OH-GUERNSEY-BELMONT-NOBLE-

MONROE-LAWRENCE-BEAVER-ALLEGHENY-WASHINGTON-GREENE-WESTMORELAND-

FAYETTE-HANCOCK-BROOKE-OHIO-MARSHALL-WETZEL-MARION-MONONGALIA-

INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...CARROLLTON...SALEM...CADIZ...

STEUBENVILLE...CAMBRIDGE...ST. CLAIRSVILLE...CALDWELL...

WOODSFIELD...NEW CASTLE...BEAVER...PITTSBURGH METRO AREA...

WASHINGTON...WAYNESBURG...GREENSBURG...LATROBE...UNIONTOWN...

WEIRTON...BETHANY...WHEELING...MOUNDSVILLE...NEW MARTINSVILLE...

FAIRMONT...MORGANTOWN

312 PM EST SUN NOV 24 2013

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PITTSBURGH HAS ISSUED A WINTER

STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...IN EXCESS OF 6 INCHES POSSIBLE.

* SNOW BEGINNING...LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP MONDAY NIGHT. STEADIER

SNOW WILL MOVE FROM SOUTH TO NORTH THROUGH THE MORNING TUESDAY.

* PERIOD OF MOST INTENSE SNOW...TUESDAY NIGHT.

* PERIOD OF POSSIBLE TRANSITION...SNOW MAY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO

RAIN OR SLEET EVERYWHERE FOR A PERIOD TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND

EVENING.

* SNOW ENDING...WEDNESDAY.

* WINDS...NORTHEAST AT 5 TO 15 MPH.

* IMPACTS...HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED DUE TO

ACCUMULATION OF A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW...SLEET...AND ICE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THAT SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE

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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Usually, the local mets start out conservative with their calls. I think that's a pretty decent call for right now though. Still plenty of time for that to change either way.

This sometimes can be a huge downfall. I dont expect it to happen with this storm, but in 2010 we were forecasted for 3-5 then 6-12 then they just went with a lot.
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I actually think the lack of HP to the north is bad news (perhaps the death knell), particularly for the southern areas.  That warm tongue always rears it's ugly head without a strong enough HP system to keep in the low level cold.

 

I imagine this ends up being mostly rain for us down here (Motown) unless the low doesn't intensify as much as expected.  If that's the case then it is less snow for everyone, but not as much warmth/rain.  Always tough to say, though, how far north that rain/snow line moves.

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I actually think the lack of HP to the north is bad news (perhaps the death knell), particularly for the southern areas.  That warm tongue always rears it's ugly head without a strong enough HP system to keep in the low level cold.

 

I imagine this ends up being mostly rain for us down here (Motown) unless the low doesn't intensify as much as expected.  If that's the case then it is less snow for everyone, but not as much warmth/rain.  Always tough to say, though, how far north that rain/snow line moves.

 

Yeah, the lack of high pressure combined with the time of year probably hurts us to an extent. The low or lows are tracking right where we'd normally want them to for this area and yet the mixing and changeovers could still occur, for at least part of the storm. If this was happening in January and/or there was a high feeding some cold air into this, we'd probably see higher amounts. That being said, getting something like this so early in the season is a nice start to the season for snow lovers.

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Looks to close for comfort to me... NAM and GFS both continue to bring the 0c line further west but the heavy precip seems to stay in the warm sector. To bad as other have mentioned we don't have a strong high funneling in some cold air.

 

12z runs tomorrow should start to hammer in on this. One thing we have going for us that you might not normally have in an early season snowfall is several days of sub or near freezing temperatures. Ground temperatures should not impose any limit to snow accumulation.

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