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2nd Annual Snow Thread for the Mountains


Met1985

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Looking at various thermal profiles this morning..looks to me in almost any scenario..elevations above 5500 feet may absolutely get slammed by this event. At my mtn top level...looking at generally 0 to 1 C for almost the whole event with cooler temps above.  A foot of wet snow seems quite possible. The NAM solution would throw in about 60 mph winds tomorrow morning just to add to the fun.

 

For those looking at bufkit and other sounding data..this slide is useful to keep in mind.

 

 

 

 

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If I have to hike to reach the snow line I swear I will.lol. Brasstown Mountain is literally in eyesight. Might just have to camp above 4000'. Or I could just drive on up to NC. Thanks Mikegold for the great info. One thing I'm in for is a virtual rainforest this summer in my location. Average of around 70" of rain yearly. That in itself will be super cool!

 

Your welcome! I hope you enjoy the rainforest.  My mtn top was crushed with over 110" of rain last year although much of it fell during the Winter time during strong SW low-level jet situations. Summer accumulations are much more modest as areas near the Blue Ridge such as Lake Toxoway receive the better rainfall during the Summer months while the Central mtns are shielded somewhat.  The lowest elevations at Gorges State Park probably feel the most like a rain forest in the Eastern U.S. due to the combination of almost daily showers that fall there in the Summer plus the sub-tropical vegetation that is found as well.

 

It does look like your area is an initiation spot for thunderstorms as depicted by study that was done specifically for the Athens Georgia radar site during the month of July. Second map shows lightning flash densities. It should be apparent that storms typically form along the Escarpment or lee trough and either stay stationary..drift to the NW and dissipate or forms lines moving off to the East.   As a storm chaser, I absolutely love determining ahead of time exactly where the first convection of the day will form.  For fun this Summer-you might want to give it a try. Use your meteorology skills to see if you can figure it out and drive to the spot to see how your forecast verifies. Enjoy! :)

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Guys am I crazy to think this could be 6-10" for a lot of folks along the northern blue ridge? Say from Boone to Jefferson? Sure seems possible with the trends I'm seeing

 

12Z NAM develops a warm nose over that area fairly quickly so sleet is probably favored over snow with that particular model. (I recall that the 06 GFS was colder than the NAM.) As for the threat of heavy snow-this may really end up being an extreme elevation event with only the highest elevations above the warm nose. Mt. Mitchell could end up with a crazy amount of snow in this setup. My mtn top not as much as the total QPF will be much less due to more of a SE to E to NE low level wind components..all of which nail Mt. Mitchell. 

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Any maps guys? Wow this one will surely be surprising some people this morning when they watch the news, seems JulienWunder is still underplaying it though

wlos seems to always underplay these events until they're practically on top of us.  From everything I'm reading I think this will stay all snow for all of the mtns.  and a lot of it.  6-12 heavy wet snow.   Robert says major winter storm for a lot of folks around here. mostly snow for the mtns. 

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I say from reading a couple of guys lingo that are reliable sources if its mostly snow as they are saying 8-12

 

Yeah I agree if its all snow we could get that much.  I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around that warm nose not at least hurting out accumulation a little at the end.

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Asheville BUFKIT NAM sounding came in slightly cooler at the 800 mb level such that almost entire event would fall as snow at 6000 feet and above dumping 2 foot amounts on Mt. Mitchell.

 

EDIT: GFS is drastically drier than NAM solution.  6" amounts seem likely with this solution.  

 

The NAM is probably too wet..the coarse GFS probably too dry so 1 foot totals on the mtn tops might be about right.

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Yeah, things are looking drier for WNC... of course :\ I just got 13 degrees for dew point outside my dorm. I also got 42 degrees too, which is 3 degrees higher than UNCA station. I am not liking the trends for anything significant here.

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The 12z euro?

 

Yeah, it's showing KAVL with 12 inches. 

 

Euro is definitely not dry for WNC east into the foothills and piedmont.

 

1 inch precip is not dry at all for downtown Ashevilee at all. KAVL at 1.4 inch.

 

 

Come on guys... no cliff diving just yet.  It is a nowcast situation from here on out.  No one knows whats going to happen.

 

 

I wasn't cliff diving :) I said 1-3 inches of snow right? Of course we could just as easily see more too

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Agreed. The models arent of significant importance at this point.

 

True, but I still don't like the look from short range models if we want big snow.

 

Is the Euro good in the short range though?

 

Well... you don't usually trust models this close to event... Euro is the king for medium range, but it's a battle between NAM, GFS, and Euro for shorter range.

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