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Feb 8-10 Light snow event that i spent 10 days tracking


Ji

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We need at least a 200-mile buffer.

But you know what's funny? Some people were getting all excited about the look of the 12z Euro, which looked to produce a general 8-12" storm (higher amounts in places, I'm sure). But while those of us closer to DC and east would be elated with that, many of our sub-forum brethren have already had a storm or two with those totals. And funny enough, those people (and that 83Gizzards joker) barely even bothered with that run. We suck.

One storm with that total ;)

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even if DCA gets no more snow, 8.1" is pretty standard fare.....I'm not sure we suck more than we used to...I think we just suck

I think we suck more than we used to as well. My article should finally find the publish button soon. It's one spot and I'm already considering doing like a 20 site study of the NE but the evidence is pretty compelling. The least impact is seen in the core of winter and that's partly because of our recent more packed than usual run of rare events.
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 Take out the 5 or 6 oddball 30"+ inch seasons at DCA over the past 40 years and it averages 11.1", so yeah it's pretty standard.

 

plus models are just models...There is really no such thing as a bust...just poor modeling...I am sure if we had models 50 years ago, there would have been plenty of random 12"+ storms on the models that never materialized....I'm sure there is some 3.1" storm in some random winter like 1952-53 that was a HECS on a model....There are plenty of current pattern analogs that produced very little or nothing....becoming model addicts has created this notion that we bust or underperform all the time...There is no question the 20-25" winter has disappeared and that our climo has become a bit more richmond-esque, but we tend to hyperbolize everything....I know the models aren't designed to show impossible solutions...but they sure do show quite a lot of solutions that are climatologically improbable from outside their money range...and it is probably our fault that we bite at them.....I remember 5-6 years ago we never looked at models past 168 hours...now we routinely look at 300 hours....

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Did you see the super adorable pics of K eating snow earlier? And I made her a snowman

I did, but I was at work, where I can't reply to forums. So f'ing annoying.

Yeah...those pics were absolutely heart-melting! The B has eaten snow, and she loved it! But she refuses to walk, so we can't let her down in the snow yet (that is, when we actually have snow on the ground). :lol:

On-topic: Maybe the girls can eat more snow this weekend!

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plus models are just models...There is really no such thing as a bust...just poor modeling...I am sure if we had models 50 years ago, there would have been plenty of random 12"+ storms on the models that never materialized....I'm sure there is some 3.1" storm in some random winter like 1952-53 that was a HECS on a model....There are plenty of current pattern analogs that produced very little or nothing....becoming model addicts has created this notion that we bust or underperform all the time...There is no question the 20-25" winter has disappeared and that our climo has become a bit more richmond-esque, but we tend to hyperbolize everything....I know the models aren't designed to show impossible solutions...but they sure do show quite a lot of solutions that are climatologically improbable from outside their money range...and it is probably our fault that we bite at them.....I remember 5-6 years ago we never looked at models past 168 hours...now we routinely look at 300 hours....

though I agree with most of what you say, the fact is we've lost all flukes of consequence and have failed to capitalize in decent patterns save 10 days in 12/09 and 11 days from 1/30/10-2/10/10

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why specifically? i think odds are in favor of us not getting a hecs. i haven't totally followed the rest of the discussion. we all know you don't want to bullseye at this range, but models keep spitting out interesting scenarios despite what's wrong with the pattern. honestly.. rain would be fine with me as it fits the larger argument that dc sucks more than it used to when it comes to snow.

Why? I honestly think our forum has become littered with people who think if they bad mouth a storm enough it just might work out for them.

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though I agree with most of what you say, the fact is we've lost all flukes of consequence and have failed to capitalize in decent patterns save 10 days in 12/09 and 11 days from 1/30/10-2/10/10

MItch, none of the patterns since 2009-2010 have been anything close to being as good as that pattern was. I was super-bullish on the pattern and haven't been since so I think matt is right.    people have unrealistic expectations of snowfall around here.  We really haven't had a southern stream with strong blocking since then.  We've had blocking in a nina year giving us crappy tracks but last year the last two years the patterns have never really been good in the heat of winter.  The best pattern last year was in March. 

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plus models are just models...There is really no such thing as a bust...just poor modeling...I am sure if we had models 50 years ago, there would have been plenty of random 12"+ storms on the models that never materialized....I'm sure there is some 3.1" storm in some random winter like 1952-53 that was a HECS on a model....There are plenty of current pattern analogs that produced very little or nothing....becoming model addicts has created this notion that we bust or underperform all the time...There is no question the 20-25" winter has disappeared and that our climo has become a bit more richmond-esque, but we tend to hyperbolize everything....I know the models aren't designed to show impossible solutions...but they sure do show quite a lot of solutions that are climatologically improbable from outside their money range...and it is probably our fault that we bite at them.....I remember 5-6 years ago we never looked at models past 168 hours...now we routinely look at 300 hours....

Great post. There are model busts but storms are whatever they are.

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Why? I honestly think our forum has become littered with people who think if they bad mouth a storm enough it just might work out for them.

Maybe,  but Ian's gut has good chance of being right.   The cold air holding in with a good track is dependent on the vortex near Nova Scotia and if you look at the GFS and Euro today, there handling of that feature was hugely different.  To get a good track we need the vortex to stay as strong as it was on the euro run while also more or less staying put.  That can happen but most times will not without a big block over Greenland and the southern portions of the Baffin Bay area.  We have a really weak transient block trying to anchor that important vortex.  It might work out, but there is a good chance it won't.  Some of the 18Z GEFS members still had a cutter while others tracked the low to our south. 

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Maybe, but Ian's gut has good chance of being right. The cold air holding in with a good track is dependent on the vortex near Nova Scotia and if you look at the GFS and Euro today, there handling of that feature was hugely different. To get a good track we need the vortex to stay as strong as it was on the euro run while also more or less staying put. That can happen but most times will not without a big block over Greenland and the southern portions of the Baffin Bay area. We have a really weak transient block trying to anchor that important vortex. It might work out, but there is a good chance it won't. Some of the 18Z GEFS members still had a cutter while others tracked the low to our south.

I wasn't even thinking of Ian. When he posts there's reasoning behind it. I'm proud that I don't get emotionally tied up in this stuff. The weather is going to do what it's going to do. The only way to be disappointed is to sit around thinking what if. Sooner or later there's going to be a good storm region wide. Might as well be this Sunday. Also, we just had a good storm on 1/21. Others to the east got a good one last week. It's a better year than the last two. Plenty to be positive about.

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I wasn't even thinking of Ian. When he posts there's reasoning behind it. I'm proud that I don't get emotionally tied up in this stuff. The weather is going to do what it's going to do. The only way to be disappointed is to sit around thinking what if. Sooner or later there's going to be a good storm region wide. Might as well be this Sunday. Also, we just had a good storm on 1/21. Others to the east got a good one last week. It's a better year than the last two. Plenty to be positive about.

If the beltway cared about anyone outside of the beltway then that would be a good argument.

One decent event is not enough to be positive about.

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Well just keeping rolling around in your misery then.

This isn't just my opinion. I'm obviously not as miserable as two years prior, but this is still a depressing winter. We've busted two WSW and two fairly good patterns. Can't even seem to manage to get some FRZA tomorrow night. We just lost 1.5" to rain man. Sucks.

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This isn't just my opinion. I'm obviously not as miserable as two years prior, but this is still a depressing winter. We've busted two WSW and two fairly good patterns. Can't even seem to manage to get some FRZA tomorrow night. We just lost 1.5" to rain man. Sucks.

 

You put unrealistic expectations on every storm.  

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I wasn't even thinking of Ian. When he posts there's reasoning behind it. I'm proud that I don't get emotionally tied up in this stuff. The weather is going to do what it's going to do. The only way to be disappointed is to sit around thinking what if. Sooner or later there's going to be a good storm region wide. Might as well be this Sunday. Also, we just had a good storm on 1/21. Others to the east got a good one last week. It's a better year than the last two. Plenty to be positive about.

I'm happy with it.  I've had 13.7" so far this year.  

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This isn't just my opinion. I'm obviously not as miserable as two years prior, but this is still a depressing winter. We've busted two WSW and two fairly good patterns. Can't even seem to manage to get some FRZA tomorrow night. We just lost 1.5" to rain man. Sucks.

 

People keep saying that but we didn't. Folks in the desolate mountains of n'ern md or phily or nyc may cash in with today's storm but we were never meant to. 

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