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Potential Light Snow Event January 2nd-3rd


John1122

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This is getting close, as soon as tomorrow night in the Western areas. WFO are getting more bullish for the event. 

 

The GFS has been showing something very similar to this for several runs in a row now. This was the 0z run that came out a few hours ago.

 

tnsnow10.jpg

 

 

MRX has made a rare, bold call from their office.

 

 

 

FOR THURSDAY...STRONG UPPER DIVERGENCE/FRONTO-GENETIC FORCING AND
ISENTROPIC LIFT WILL PRODUCE WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION. AS FRONTAL
BOUNDARY PULLS EAST ACROSS THE REGION THURSDAY...COLD AIR WILL COLD
ARCTIC AIR WILL SPILL INTO THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS DURING THE
AFTERNOON AND EVENING. PRECIPITATION WILL CHANGE TO SNOW FROM WEST
TO EAST AND HIGH ELEVATIONS FIRST. BY LATE AFTERNOON/EVENING...A GOOD
PART OF THE REGION WILL EXPERIENCE SNOW.

FOR THURSDAY NIGHT/FRIDAY MORNING...OROGRAPHIC NORTHWEST FLOW SNOWS
WILL BE PRODUCING FAIRLY DECENT SNOWFALLS OVER THE NORTHWEST FACING
SLOPES. ALSO...STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION ALONG WITH SOME LOW-LEVEL
INSTABILITY WILL PRODUCE SNOWS EVEN ACROSS THE VALLEY. WARNING
CRITERIA IS POSSIBLE OVER THE FAR EASTERN MOUNTAINS AND MOUNTAINS OF
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA...SUCH AS HIGH KNOB. ADVISORY CRITERIA SNOWS ARE
POSSIBLE ACROSS THE PLATEAU...CENTRAL VALLEY...NORTHEAST TENNESSEE...
VALLEYS OF SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA AND CHEROKEE/CLAY COUNTIES OF NORTH
CAROLINA. WILL INCLUDE IN THE HWO.

 

 

Most other AFO's are putting 50% or better chances for snow in their forecast for Wednesday night into Thursday night as a powerful coldfront crashes through the states. It appears that there is the potential for at least a ground covering event over the areas shown above on the GFS snowfall map.  Temps will fall into the 10s and 20s Thursday night and likely won't recover above freezing in many areas on Friday, with some not making it out of the mid to upper 20s.

 

The potential is higher and for higher accumulations if you live in an upslope prone area in SE KY, SW VA or East Tennessee. 

 

Let's hope this is the one that covers up some grass blades and hopefully is the start of a few days or weeks to remember for a long time to come.

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JKL's take on things.

 

 

 

THE FIRST ITEM TO BE CONCERNED WITH IS A QUICK MOVING SHORTWAVE
PASSING THROUGH THE REGION THURSDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. MODELS HAVE
TRENDED A LITTLE FURTHER SOUTH WITH THE WEAK SURFACE LOW. BOTH THE
31/00Z RUNS OF THE GFS AND ECMWF NOW TRACK THE LOW UP THE EASTERN
TENNESSEE VALLEY INTO WESTERN VIRGINIA. A LOW TRACK INTO EAST
TENNESSEE TYPICALLY RESULTS IN ENOUGH WARM AIR SPREADING NORTHWARD
INTO SOUTHEAST KENTUCKY THAT P-TYPE STARTS OUT AS RAIN...OR AT LEAST
IS PREDOMINANTLY RAIN. HOWEVER...FURTHER NORTH P-TYPE MAY START OUT
AND STAY AS SNOW...BUT EXACTLY WHERE THAT LINE SETS UP IS YET TO BE
DETERMINED. ANY RAIN WILL QUICKLY CHANGE TO SNOW SHOWERS THURSDAY
AFTERNOON AND THURSDAY NIGHT AS MUCH COLDER AIR FLOODS SOUTHWARD
BEHIND THE LOW. MODEL QPF IS GENERALLY BETWEEN A TENTH AND QUARTER OF
AN INCH FOR THE EVENT...WITH HIGHER AMOUNTS TO THE SOUTH. THIS SHOULD
EQUATE TO A GENERAL 1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW AS IT STANDS NOW FOR MOST
LOCATIONS. FLURRIES OR ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS WILL LINGER IN THE EAST
AT THE START OF THE DAY ON FRIDAY...BUT END QUICKLY AS HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS IN AT THE SURFACE.
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BNA

WED NIGHT INTO THU IS WHERE IT STARTS REALLY GETTING INTERESTING.

GENERALLY LEANED TOWARD PREVIOUS FORECAST REASONING WITH COLDER

TEMPS EXPECTED LATE WEEK INTO THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK AS THERE

IS GENERALLY MORE AGREEMENT IN THE MODELS AT LEAST THRU THE FIRST

PART OF THE WEEKEND COMPARED TO PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS...WITH THE EURO

STILL SHOWING AN IMPRESSIVE CAA PATTERN WORKING INTO THE MID STATE

LATE WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. A TROUGH OVER THE CENTRAL U.S.

STILL LOOKS LIKE IT WILL DEEPEN ON WED AND MOVES A WEAK LOW TO THE S

OF TN VALLEY WHICH WILL BRING A GOOD CHANCE OF PCPN STARTING WED

EVENING FAR W AS RAIN...WITH SPREADING EWD OVERNIGHT WITH A

RAIN/SNOW MIXTURE POSSIBLE NW PORTIONS. AS THIS TROUGH AND

ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT CONTINUE TO MOVE THRU THE AREA ON THU...COLD

AIR BEGINS TO WORK IN ACROSS NRN PORTIONS OF MID STATE WITH SNOW

LIKELY DURING THE MORNING HRS N FOR AREAS N OF I-40 DURING THE

MORNING HRS...WITH A RAIN/SNOW MIXTURE JUST TO THE S...AND RAIN

ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE MID STATE. THERE COULD BE SOME

ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL POTENTIAL ACROSS THESE AREAS DURING AT LEAST

THE MORNING HRS AND WILL MENTION THIS POSSIBILITY IN THE MORNING HWO

ISSUANCE. LATEST MODEL RUNS POINTING TOWARD SNOW ACCUMULATION

AMOUNTS AROUND ONE HALF OF AN INCH OR LESS IN THESE LOCATIONS. KEPT

TEMPS IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S ACROSS THE MID STATE. SNOW SHOULD

TAPER OFF DURING THE EVENING HRS ON THU...WITH DECREASING CLOUDINESS

AND LOWS IN THE TEENS...AS CANADIAN HIGH PRESSURE RIDGING INFLUENCES

BUILDING IN ACROSS THE MID STATE ON FRI AND CONTINUE TO INFLUENCE

THE WX THRU AT LEAST THE FIRST HALF OF THE WEEKEND...RESULTING IN

HIGHS ONLY IN THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER 30S ON FRI...AGAIN MID TEENS

FRI NIGHT...AND THEN BACK TOWARD MORE SEASONABLE VALUES BY

SAT.

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A blend of the jma and ukie looks good to me!

What will be interesting to see is how much "juice" left this one has after changeover.  I hate rain to snow, cold chasing moisture situations as they usually don't work out.  I do remember several times in the 80s where that type of a situation brought forth surprises though, so it's not like it can't happen.

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The 12z NAM shows a nice little upslope event and MRX mentioned warning criteria for the mountains and SW Virginia along with advisories for the northern valleys. I am sure the Plateau would be included. My area is awful for upslope events though I am in the northern valley. Get a bit of a rain shadow here. JC and Bristol do much better with these events. Now, when a Nor'reaster rolls we get the exact opposite effect.

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12z GFS continues to advertise a light snow event for I-40 north, from just west of the Clarksville and points east.  Enhanced amounts in parts of NE TN. (around 2 inches).  Really consistent on providing a lithe snow.  NAM has been just as consistent in saying NO.  I hope this is just the goofy nature of the NAM past hour 48 at play here.  Would be nice to get an inch or so and then see how low temps can go with this hard hitting, but quick cold snap following the system.

 

I bet upslope areas would hit warning level criteria with this look.

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You guys always do better in the E parts

What is crazy about this is that you have to be on a northwest facing slope. I am not. It is area specific within the region. The Plateau, SW VA, towards the Apps. It is a lot like lake effect snow. You have to be on the side facing the approaching moisture and have significant elevation gain. Literally, I can drive ten minutes from my house and see it, and nothing here. Pretty wild.

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These events are classic "know your area" events once the synoptic snow passes. But this is going to be a vigorous event with decent moisture and the upslope off the Plateau will overspread the valley area. 

 

I don't do Smokey Mountain or Eastern Mountains well, but I do well enough in Plateau events. It's also a case in Campbell County that you can get upslope with N flow too. As long as the lakes are involved. I had 8 inches of upslope in December 2010 out of an event. In 2007 I got under a band of snow that stretched directly from Lake Michigan all the way into Campbell County. It snowed 7 inches in 3 hours.

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These events are classic "know your area" events once the synoptic snow passes. But this is going to be a vigorous event with decent moisture and the upslope off the Plateau will overspread the valley area. 

 

I don't do Smokey Mountain or Eastern Mountains well, but I do well enough in Plateau events. It's also a case in Campbell County that you can get upslope with N flow too. As long as the lakes are involved. I had 8 inches of upslope in December 2010 out of an event. In 2007 I got under a band of snow that stretched directly from Lake Michigan all the way into Campbell County. It snowed 7 inches in 3 hours.

Probably the last time we seen lake effect sn.,it's been awhile.Hopefully the lakes will freeze up and we can get some bonus tokens

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I think the big difference between the GFS and the NAM is in how it handles the energy diving down the Rockies and the ridge to the west of that. The GFS has a slightly taller ridge which allows the energy to dig a little more to the southeast. Also the energy is stronger and more consolidated of the GFS while the NAM keeps the energy weaker and more separate.  

 

NAM Hour 30:

 

post-6441-0-73061000-1388515542_thumb.gi

 

GFS Hour 30:

 

post-6441-0-65157100-1388515566_thumb.gi

 

NAM Hour 45:

 

post-6441-0-48128100-1388515599_thumb.gi

 

GFS Hour 45:

 

post-6441-0-76904200-1388515616_thumb.gi

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18z NAM is juicier but w/ less interaction with the southern stream. Still amazing to see the variations in model output. You know HPC mentioned the other day that lack of data (over northern Pacific?) is causing problems. May be until not enough data is being invested into the computer model.

Shouldn't the parcels be well within the ROAB network by now?

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AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NASHVILLE TN

421 PM CST TUE DEC 31 2013

.DISCUSSION...

A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY...BUT CHILLY END TO 2013 TODAY. WE`LL RING IN

THE NEW YEAR WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND LOW TEMPERATURES FALLING

INTO THE MID 20S TONIGHT. ZONAL FLOW IS IN PLACE FOR THE NEXT 24

HOURS AND SOME SUNSHINE SHOULD ALLOW TEMPS TO CLIMB TO AROUND 50

ON WEDNESDAY. CLOUD COVER WILL BEGIN TO INCREASE IN THE AFTERNOON

AS A SURFACE LOW MOVES INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTHWEST

WEDNESDAY NIGHT. THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE JUST SOUTH OF MIDDLE

TENNESSEE INTRODUCING NORTHWEST FLOW AND CONSEQUENTLY A SURGE OF

COLD TEMPERATURES AND SNOW INTO THE FORECAST ON THURSDAY. PRECIP

IS FORECAST TO BEGIN AS RAIN FOR MOST OF THE AREA EARLY THURSDAY

MORNING...THEN TRANSITION TO SNOW FOR AREAS MAINLY NORTH OF I-40

AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. AT THIS TIME IT LOOKS LIKE THE COLD FRONT

WILL SWING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING...WHICH MEANS WE WILL LIKELY

HIT THE HIGH TEMPERATURE SOMETIME BEFORE NOON ON THURSDAY AND SEE

MOST OF THE AREA FALL BELOW FREEZING AS THE DAY PROGRESSES. A

RAIN/SNOW MIX COULD SINK AS FAR SOUTH AS LEWIS COUNTY BEFORE THE

PRECIP TAPERS OFF LATE THURSDAY NIGHT. THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF

MIDDLE TENNESSEE HAS THE BEST CHANCE OF SNOW ACCUMULATION.

INCREASED SNOW AMOUNTS FROM AROUND A HALF INCH TO AROUND 0.75

INCHES FOR THE NW CORNER. AREAS EAST OF I-65 AND NORTH OF I-40 COULD

SEE AROUND HALF AN INCH AS WELL. ANY SNOW WILL LIKELY STICK AROUND

AS TEMPERATURES DIP INTO THE TEENS FRIDAY MORNING AND ONLY WARM

INTO THE UPPER 20S DURING THE DAY ON FRIDAY.

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I decided to try to make a snowfall map based on what I think might happen with this event. Don't laugh too hard as this is the 1st map I've done on here and it is not very pretty but it is a rough guess. Upslope snow is included as well. I probably got most of the orographic stuff wrong, but most of y'all know how your immediate region fares in these types of events.

 

post-6441-0-65231900-1388534572_thumb.jp

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I think that's a fantastic job. I can't draw even close to that well! You were close in my area I think, slightly there's a bit of 3000-3500ft peaks just south and southwest of your 2-4 area here that do well here in upslope too. 

I decided to try to make a snowfall map based on what I think might happen with this event. Don't laugh too hard as this is the 1st map I've done on here and it is not very pretty but it is a rough guess. Upslope snow is included as well. I probably got most of the orographic stuff wrong, but most of y'all know how your immediate region fares in these types of events.

 

attachicon.gifPost New Years Light snow.jpg

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I decided to try to make a snowfall map based on what I think might happen with this event. Don't laugh too hard as this is the 1st map I've done on here and it is not very pretty but it is a rough guess. Upslope snow is included as well. I probably got most of the orographic stuff wrong, but most of y'all know how your immediate region fares in these types of events.

post-6441-0-65231900-1388534572_thumb.jp

Nice map, even if it shafts us valley guys, lol. Very reasonable. Well done.

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Nice map, even if it shafts us valley guys, lol. Very reasonable. Well done.

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Haha yeah it does shaft the valley but I have just have a feeling it will work out that way. John I was thinking of your area when I made the 2-4 but you know your area well and I know you always do well in upslope situations I just didn't know how far south to put it.

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0z NAM is a whole lot juicier and warmer. It dug our shortwave further to the south this time which amped up the precip. I still don't think the models are done shifting toward the south just yet. Don't know if the backside is strong enough to offset the front half of rain.

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I noticed that too.  I am holding out hope the models will trend south and east with the late weekend system.  It was nice to FINALLY see the NAM realize heavier precip amounts.  It's usually the model that is OVER juiced.

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