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January Banter


Isopycnic

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neutral to slightly negative is the best we can hope for   :lol:       btw.....I'm going to play devils advocate and say the euro is showing the high too strong   :P  :ph34r:   :lol:

 

Maybe.  It's happened several times before.  I think you could turn out to be correct...although I hope not.  I hope it trends stronger and the low trends farther south. :)

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12z ECMWF put me at ground zero in AVL with 17 inches of snow. Not gonna happen, but what if we see at the most half of that? That's still a decent storm... we'll see :)

Mountains are sitting nice in this pattern honestly. Good luck, you should see some good snow in the next 240 I'd imagine. Outside the mountains and foothills, not too confident.

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According to Brick it will trend cooler and wetter so you guys better get the shovels out!

 

Brick is suggesting that it will trend colder to support snow.  Because Brick doesn't know what a 500 mb pattern is, his implication is nullified.

 

However, certainly the surface temps could trend colder.  One would hope the depth of the air would increase to the point that sleet would become the predominant P-type.  A west coast trough, flat or otherwise, and a SE ridge, even if the ridge axis is offshore, does not support a widespread SE snowstorm.  Assuming the system is real, and if confluence holds in the NE, it will be a wintry mix/ice storm for most in the SE where temps are at or below freezing.

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I thought that you guys/gals might find this interesting, especially with all of the northern folks making fun of most of us during this past storm. The story explains itself:

 

MY PERSPECTIVE: As a tow truck driver from Colorado I wanted to share my perspective on what's happened in Alabama over the last 30+ hrs. I can remember has a young boy my dad missing Christmas because he was out for 40 hours in a blizzard rescuing people, mainly assisting First Responders, in one of our 4x4 tow trucks nick named "Stubby". He returned home exhausted but excited about making a difference. I specifically remember being in awe as he described charging his truck with chains on all 4 tires through a 10' tall snow drift so an ambulance could get through. I dreamed of the day I could do the same. Helping people in need, solving problems, making a difference has always motivated me.
The first time I worked through the night was a blizzard about 10 years later. I was driving a 1 ton dually 4x4, Unit F-18, at 16 years old. I was scared to death as I tried to recall the years of lessons my dad taught me about driving on icy roads, winching out and towing cars in a total white out. My youthful adrenaline was all that was needed to keep me working for 32 hours strait long before Red Bull existed. Within a few years I graduated up to the big rigs. Now instead of driving a 10,000lb truck with a 4,000lb car hooked on the back I was in a 44,000lb 4 axel semi hooked onto 85,000lb tractor trailers, cement mixers and garbage trucks. The stakes were raised. The margin for error was gone. The stress went up. Straitening out jack knifes, pulling semis out of the deep snow piled in the median, uprighting overturned tractor trailers became normal tasks in a Colorado blizzard. I've driven in zero visibility, pulled drive shafts out of trucks in 20 below with 60mph winds, dug through several feet of snow just to hook my cable to a truck, spent many nights in the cab or sleeper of my truck. I've spent lots of time on the roads in the worst imaginable conditions. What I have never experienced is what happened yesterday in Birmingham Alabama.
It wasn't windy at all. It snowed for a few hours. 4 inches at best. Visibility was fine. I lived in Colorado for 30 years and now in Alabama for the past 12. I can only remember one storm in Colorado that caused the absolute glare ice that we saw here over the past 30 hours. I had chains on both rear axels of our largest truck and nearly totaled it while my cable was hooked to a loaded semi 100'ft behind me on a hill on S. Tejon. It was one of the scariest moments of my 14 years driving trucks. I had the best equipment available and nearly destroyed it, the semi I was winching and 10 cars around us. Those conditions are as close to what we have now in Birmingham as I can remember. Yesterday the ground temperature was just right for the snow to melt just enough to create a 1" layer of ice and as the snow continued to fall it solidified the ice and made it even more slick.
You can make fun of the drivers in the south if you'd like but there's more to the situation than "a few inches" of snow. Over a million people were going about their normal business with no warning of what was to come. If the forecast was even close to accurate the city would have shut down as usual the night before. Schools and business's closed just like all the storms I've experienced here the past 12 years. (I've made fun of it every time) Instead, within hours, everyone is trying to get to their kids from school and get home from work at the same time on some of the worst roads I've ever driven on. No plows, no salt, no calcium chloride, nothing. As everyone knows in Colorado, 4 wheel drive, if you even have it, helps you go but doesn't help you stop. Glare ice is glare ice. Combine that with a hill in every direction it gets really bad really fast. Yes, I witnessed some extremely ignorant drivers (Coloradans have seen their fair share as well) but for the most part even the best driver couldn't navigate the sheer ice and the hills. Late last night on Hwy 119 I climbed in a new Audi a lady had slid into the ditch. I was able to drive it out onto the road. What an amazing all wheel drive car! As soon as I stopped so she could get back in and drive away the car slid immediately with nothing I could do. It was challenging just to find a place get the car to sit still. In most places the ice was difficult to even stand on without falling down.
It's heartbreaking to think of the thousands of families that were separated, the people stuck in vehicles for 6-10-24 hours, those who spent the night in a restaurant, gas station or store or walked miles to find warmth. I have a new found respect for snow in the south and will be more hesitant to make fun of schools closing before one flake falls. Snow is rare here and I'm sure because of this horrible experience we will overreact for the next ten years of "potential" flurries but compared to the difficulties yesterday everyone should get an unexpected day off now and then.
All the best to the towers still out there helping someone in need, solving problems and making a difference! God Bless!
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Brick is suggesting that it will trend colder to support snow. Because Brick doesn't know what a 500 mb pattern is, his implication is nullified.

However, certainly the surface temps could trend colder. One would hope the depth of the air would increase to the point that sleet would become the predominant P-type. A west coast trough, flat or otherwise, and a SE ridge, even if the ridge axis is offshore, does not support a widespread SE snowstorm. Assuming the system is real, and if confluence holds in the NE, it will be a wintry mix/ice storm for most in the SE where temps are at or below freezing.

Lol he is just going by what they are saying.
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I for one am all for any winter precip that wants to come this way:  ZR/IP/SN.  Bring it all on next weekend!!  Ice on top of snow makes for some fantastic sledding and many days off school for the kids/teachers.

 

The winter of our discontent has passed...

 

The winter of our fondest memories is back upon us...

 

The snow drought is coming to an end...

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Mountains are sitting nice in this pattern honestly. Good luck, you should see some good snow in the next 240 I'd imagine. Outside the mountains and foothills, not too confident.

 

I'm just skeptical because I can't get the good ol' Johnston County out of me. We got screwed so many times in last few years, lol.

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I was asked about this (snow supposedly burning because it has lots of pollutants/chemicals). What the heck is this all about? Is this real???

 

http://wtfrly.com/2014/01/30/fake-snow-videos-doesnt-melt-normal-burns-smells-of-plastic/#.UurJ82eA3X4

 

Yeah must be residue from the chemtrails. All the rage with conspiracy theorist around the world.

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 I was asked about this (snow supposedly burning because it has lots of pollutants/chemicals). What the heck is this all about? Is this real???

 

http://wtfrly.com/2014/01/30/fake-snow-videos-doesnt-melt-normal-burns-smells-of-plastic/#.UurJ82eA3X4

 

Just your run of the mill internet idiots. 

 

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/16438279-fake-snow-in-the-south-its-called-sublimation

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Thanks. I told the person about sublimation vs. melting. But I was then asked why some people were able to burn it and it turn brown. I said I'd have to research it. Wtf?

 

My guess would be along with the author. Lots of chemicals in a lighter so if you're getting residue from the flame to "soak" into the snow that would explain why it could be brown. Could also have something to do with the fact that the vapor is taking in some of the butane and floating back into the snow. 

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