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Pittsburgh/Western Pa Weather


meatwad

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They've dropped them quite a bit actually. I was in the 4-6 range with the last map. Now I'm 2-4. This one is probably more realistic.

Pretty big cut back, but agreed that its probably a safer bet at this point. I was in the 2-3, now right in the  middle of the 1-2. Slight tick SE and I'll be in that <1. If its not the warm tongue, its the sharp cutoff to the North it seems. Lots of potential storms in the flow though so if this one doesn't pan out for your back yard hopefully the next will. I'd love to be in that 4-6 range with temps falling into the teens though.

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Well we're right on the cusp of the 4-6" and 6-8" predictions down here. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out: despite the GFS output ATM, I'm not too confident in hitting those numbers. Not sure what the snow growth will be like around the area. For that I would appreciate an expert's opinion as it will pretty much determine what sort of ratios we see.

Not an expert, but i think you are sitting pretty. Best forcing will be down there and ratios should be good.

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With ratios at 25:1 and even higher....even .15qpf would be 5".....a little tick north and were set!

I don't think we see anywhere near 25:1 ratios, maybe more like 12:1 or 15:1. Although its going to be cold, other factors come in to play like where the best forcing is and where the dedritic growth zone is setup.

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attachicon.gifimage.jpg

From my buddy..... Here's the chart for ratios...

Well I think the text below the chart explains pretty well that ratios can vary from that and I think this storm is one of those cases. If your close ot I-70, NWS says 20:1 not out of the questions, but up my way although its going to be colder, ratios will be less. Either way, that chart is a pretty handy tool to get a rough estimate. I won't pretend I know how to look at a Skew-T and figure out ratios.

 

STRONG LIFT LOOKS TO MOVE INTO THE AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST

OVERNIGHT AHEAD OF A FAIRLY COMPACT AND QUICK-MOVING 500 MB SHORT

WAVE TROUGH. AN 850 MB AND SURFACE LOW FORM IN WEST VIRGINIA

QUICKLY IN RESPONSE TO THE MID-LEVEL TROUGH BOTTOMING OUT AS IT

ENTERS KENTUCKY. AS THIS OCCURS...VERY STRONG FRONTOGENETICAL

FORCING RESULTS ALONG THE OHIO/WEST VIRGINIA BORDER AND TRANSLATES

NORTHEASTWARD TOWARD THE RIDGES OF FAYETTE COUNTY. A COMBINATION

OF LIFT FROM FRONTOGENESIS AND DEFORMATION IN THE LAYER FROM

850-500 MB IS A COMMON THEME ON THE NEW 18Z NAM AND GFS IN THIS

CORRIDOR...WHICH PLACES THE LIFT SOLIDLY IN THE DENDRITIC GROWTH

ZONE...LIKELY NOT ONLY INCREASING QPF AMOUNTS IN THE

CORRIDOR...BUT ALSO SNOW TO LIQUID RATIOS. THIS WILL LIKELY YIELD

ROUGHLY A 5 HOUR OR SO PERIOD OF VERY HEAVY SNOWFALL IN THE

AFOREMENTIONED CORRIDOR STARTING AT AROUND 10Z IN THE AREAS WEST

OF MORGANTOWN...AND EXITING THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF GARRETT COUNTY

BY ROUGHLY 18Z. GIVEN CONSENSUS QPF AND RATIOS OF 17-20 TO 1 DURING

THE TIME...IT SEEMS 6 TO AS MUCH AS 10 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN

THESE AREAS. WINTER STORM WARNINGS THAT WERE ISSUED EARLIER STILL

LOOK VERY SOLID. IF ANY EXPANSION IS NEEDED...IT MAY JUST BE TO

INCLUDE THE REST OF FAYETTE COUNTY. HOWEVER...GUIDANCE WAS NOT

CONVINCING ENOUGH AT SUGGESTING 6"+ SNOWS THERE TO WARRANT AN

UPGRADE AT THE MOMENT.

FARTHER NORTH...BOTH LIFT AND MOISTURE QUICKLY FALLS OFF A CLIFF.

FRONTOGENETICAL LIFT MAY WANDER AS FAR NORTH AS A

ZANESVILLE...PITTSBURGH...INDIANA CORRIDOR...HOWEVER QPF SEEMS

LIKELY TO STRUGGLE TO 0.10 TO 0.15 INCHES DURING THE DURATION OF

THE SNOW EVENT. EVEN GENEROUS RATIOS WHICH SEEM LESS LIKELY THIS

FAR NORTH DUE TO THE HIGHER ALTITUDE OF THE LIFTING PROFILE IN

TIME HEIGHT SECTIONS...LARGELY ABOVE THE DENDRITIC GROWTH ZONE

FARTHER NORTH LIKELY MEAN THAT THE NORTHERN TIER WILL STRUGGLE TO

ACHIEVE CRITERIA. HOWEVER...GIVEN AN ONSET IN PITTSBURGH DURING

THE RUSH HOUR AND THE LIKELIHOOD THAT THE GRADIENT OF QPF/SNOW

ACROSS THE NORTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES MAY BE RATHER STARK...THE

ADVISORIES STILL SEEM WARRANTED...EVEN IF WIDESPREAD ADVISORY

CRITERIA ACCUMULATIONS FAIL TO MATERIALIZE.

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Yea that's not too promising..... Oh well hopefully Saturday brings some hope

NAM has been further SE with the shield all along. I'll probably stay up to see what GFS says but not sure which one I should trust lol. NAM looks similar to the 12z Euro I think. Thus far this winter, I've noticed on my drive in to work in Greensburg the snow on the ground was gradually less, I think tomorrow will be the opposite.

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Storm bust.  Back end approaching.  Not even an inch of snow. The commute was absolutely terrible.  Barely a dusting on the road and traffic crawling.

Seems like these storms just hit at a bad time for us. We may get very little, but what we do get hits at rush hour. Yeah, unless something moves in later, I know I'm not seeing 2-4 or even 1-3 out of this one. We can just add this one to the numerous small amounts that we've received this winter so far.

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Well, I guess this qualifies as a bust for our area. Most areas North of the M/D line will be lucky to his half their totals I think. Looks like the system took a more Southerly track, that combined with the shap cutoff will really cut totals down.

 

Here is the NWS discussion point:

PREVIOUS DISC...MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW JUST A BIT FURTHER SOUTH
TRACK WITH SFC LOW...DEEPEST MOISTURE...AND THE HEAVIER SNOW.
LATEST MODEL DATA ALSO CONSISTENT SHOWING A VERY FAST MOVING
SYSTEM AS THE MAIN LOW MOVES OFF THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST THIS
AFTERNOON. WITH THE SFC LOW EXIT...DEEPEST MOISTURE WILL SHIFT
EASTWARD TAKING WITH IT THE SHIELD OF HEAVIER SNOW. CAA WILL BE
ONGOING THROUGHOUT THE DAY...SO HIGHS WILL BE IN THE
MORNING...WITH TEMPS SLOWLY FALLING THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

 

Oh well, onto the weekend.

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City south and east will definitely beat north. Seeing reports of 3" in Penn Hills while it looks like a sharp cutoff north

This showed up well on the models. You could see the higher qpf in the southeastern part of the county and it seems to be holding true. I picked up one inch and have had mainly flurries since 10:00 am. In fact the sun is shining through the clouds currently.

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