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2nd Annual Snow Thread for the Mountains


Met1985

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Lol Mike Ya not sure about this event at all. Really weird scrappy system. We will see how it all plays out. I agree with Haywood county being split. Big disparities from north to south. Shoot you can be getting plastered with snow up near the boarder but south they will be clear as a bell. Fascinating to see.

 

Indeed..rainfall ranges from what..35" to 110" across the county...snowfall from 5" to 100"! Maybe they should split it up into about ten different regions?  :whistle: No way can the NWS give a decent forecast for a single area with such a varied climate. In particular..the Waynesville area has vastly different weather than the North part of the county..the South side of the county and even just a few miles away in Balsam. Waynesville gets put under all kinds of various weather warnings over the year with hardly any weather of consequence actually occurring. When I drive down from the top of mtn to do shopping in Waynesville..its like going from either the snowbelt or rainforest into the banana belt..desert. I always have to shed various layers of clothing when I step out of my car.  Crazy.

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Indeed..rainfall ranges from what..35" to 110" across the county...snowfall from 5" to 100"! Maybe they should split it up into about ten different regions?  :whistle: No way can the NWS give a decent forecast for a single area with such a varied climate. In particular..the Waynesville area has vastly different weather than the North part of the county..the South side of the county and even just a few miles away in Balsam. Waynesville gets put under all kinds of various weather warnings over the year with hardly any weather of consequence actually occurring. When I drive down from the top of mtn to do shopping in Waynesville..its like going from either the snowbelt or rainforest into the banana belt..desert. I always have to shed various layers of clothing when I step out of my car.  Crazy.

Lol ya it is. Haywood county varies greatly from micro climate to micro climate. Hey when you are town in Waynesville give me a shout we will have lunch sometime.

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I agree with what you guys are saying but it seems like a lot of that is elevation driven. Buncombe is more geography driven imo. The airport which is south of town & the official obs site averages 20"+ more rain than I do up towards Weaverville. Many times during the winter I will have a snow or even heavy snow obs while the airport will report flurries, mostly cloudy, or even partly cloudy. All of this occurs with elevation differences of less than a couple hundred feet. With all the micro climates of the S Apps I gues it becomes almost impossible for GSP to really get super specific.

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I agree with what you guys are saying but it seems like a lot of that is elevation driven. Buncombe is more geography driven imo. The airport which is south of town & the official obs site averages 20"+ more rain than I do up towards Weaverville. Many times during the winter I will have a snow or even heavy snow obs while the airport will report flurries, mostly cloudy, or even partly cloudy. All of this occurs with elevation differences of less than a couple hundred feet. With all the micro climates of the S Apps I gues it becomes almost impossible for GSP to really get super specific.

 

The weather in the central mtns(region that is in between the typical NW and SE wind upslope areas) is very complex indeed and poorly understood.

 

That is why NASA/Duke U. etc have this area literally brisling with weather instruments with an intensive campaign of observation scheduled for later this year. This map is just a partial listing of all the weather instruments that will be deployed. (My mtn top is P20) http://iphex.pratt.duke.edu/FieldCampaign

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I know you probably gotta get some shut eye 85 but, keep us posted while you can. It looks & fells like a big snow outside right know....if only we had some moisture to work with!

Ya I know. Not much snow at all but a dusting on the cars and you can see a white tint to the grass. Wind is really picking up. Also very interesting Mike.

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That is really interesting Mike....could I bother you to edit your post & provide a link for bookmarking purposes?

 

Here is a link:http://iphex.pratt.duke.edu/FieldCampaign  (Then click on IPHEX 2014. Much of the site is not publically accessible without an account.)

 

This research will be associated with the launch of the GPM satellite that is set for February 27.

 

My mtn top location will be fully involved in all of this although it isn't clear just what additional weather instrumentation will be deployed during the April to October intensive field obs program at my location.  For sure-it will be a lot of fun for me to be part of it! 

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snow and wind are picking up.

Hey Met85...Mitchell Co Schools dismissing at 9:15 am and I drive a school bus.  It is not snowing here...yet.  My route takes approx 2.5 hrs.  Do you have any reports whether or not the snow is laying on the roads in the valleys in Haywood or Madison?  Trying to decide if I need to pick up chains at my bus garage...TIA

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Hey Met85...Mitchell Co Schools dismissing at 9:15 am and I drive a school bus.  It is not snowing here...yet.  My route takes approx 2.5 hrs.  Do you have any reports whether or not the snow is laying on the roads in the valleys in Haywood or Madison?  Trying to decide if I need to pick up chains at my bus garage...TIA

No reports yet. The snow is fine and blowing around a lot. Looks like some heavier echoes in Northern Jackson working north. You can see the surrounding mountains are receiving some decent snow but temps are hovering right around 23 degrees.

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Nice it looked like you would be getting hammered also. Well I got some pics I will post later. Last obs before taking a nap. Temp near 25 degrees with light to moderate snowfall. Enjoy fellas.

 

Interesting..it appears that there is nice isothermal layer with 25 degrees from top to bottom..always good for snow.  The axis of the heavy snow so far appears to be along an axis centered on the Balsams mountains similar to what was depicted earlier in the UV's fields on the RAP. 

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Looks like frontogenesis is now on-going through the 700 to 850 mb levels and is acting on the moisture in place. There is a separate area of moisture upstream that will move in tonight but likely only affect the areas on the TN line as frontogenetic forcing is lost and the upslope wind is rather meager. (1"+ accumulation now on the mtn top.)

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