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2/13/2014 Major Coastal Storm Observations


Rtd208

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Not much with temps at 33-34

Any rain at those temps would just get absorbed into the snowpack like with the last storm where it hung around 32-34 the whole time while there was a lot of rain. The snow pack was barely touched though I suspect it'll compact somewhat which would make things even worse if there's a lot of wet, heavy snow on roofs for example or trees. 

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This hasn't really been brought up much...but if we receive, say, 10 inches of snow and then get a half inch of rain....how much of that new 10" would melt?

Very little. All that will happen is the snow will soak up whatever rain falls and then freeze solid when the temps crash. So if anything, for snowpack preservation it could be good for some sleet/rain to fall into it. The sleet/rain on Wed last week made the snowpack here pretty much inpenetrable. Hasn't shrunk at all since then.

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Any rain at those temps would just get absorbed into the snowpack like with the last storm where it hung around 32-34 the whole time while there was a lot of rain. The snow pack was barely touched though I suspect it'll compact somewhat which would make things even worse if there's a lot of wet, heavy snow on roofs for example or trees.

Whatever snowpack we have will contain at least 4" worth of liquid all said and done

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This coastal front is scary for those right and I mean right on the water on li. Here a less then a mile from east bay we are holding the line currently with ne and light snow. This could be close. Someone se of the coastal is not going to be happy

I don't see much to worry about here for us (and if there's a reason to worry, I'll be the first to do so). 20s extend all the way out to Calverton still. The E wind shift seems to be straddling the beaches from Fire Island east to maybe Quogue and then north. Even that will crash enough to allow a good hit of snow initially.

 

For an idea of where the coastal front is headed, keep an eye on the Wxunderground map:

 

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/

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This hasn't really been brought up much...but if we receive, say, 10 inches of snow and then get a half inch of rain....how much of that new 10" would melt?

None, with temps in the mid-30s.  The rain will easily be absorbed by the snowpack (even if we had no snow on the ground already, even 5" of snow would be enough to absorb 0.5" rain - would make for about 3-4" of slush with a ratio of about 3-4:1).  Temperature is a far better driver of melting than rainfall (within reason). 

 

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/dvn/downloads/backgrounder_DVN_Snow_Melt.pdf

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the HRRR has the rain snow line about the right place right now.... and it gives us about 11 inches of snow.

 

pure powder falling right now

It's kind of hard to fathom we could see nearly or up to a foot by 9-10 am. The forecast still says 6-10" so I'm not sure what to believe but the HRRR has been deadly this season. 

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Any rain at those temps would just get absorbed into the snowpack like with the last storm where it hung around 32-34 the whole time while there was a lot of rain. The snow pack was barely touched though I suspect it'll compact somewhat which would make things even worse if there's a lot of wet, heavy snow on roofs for example or trees. 

I think there's a real threat for widespread power outages and tree damage and even roof collapse near the coast with the wetter snow expected here, plus strong wind gusts as the low deepens. The snow already has 2" of water in it and we could easily add another 1.5" tomorrow, with temps nowhere near warm enough to melt it, and a freeze as the low departs. A lot of flat roofs here still have 8-9" of snow on them, which could become 18" by the time this storm's over.

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Very little. All that will happen is the snow will soak up whatever rain falls and then freeze solid when the temps crash. So if anything, for snowpack preservation it could be good for some sleet/rain to fall into it. The sleet/rain on Wed last week made the snowpack here pretty much inpenetrable. Hasn't shrunk at all since then.

 

Snow cover here is at 9" and it hasn't changed for days.  The 1.3" that fell on Sunday has only compressed to about 0.9, which is something because it was 14:1 fluff.  Below that is 8" of solid snow.  Actually there is about a 3" layer of very hard snow/ice, and the old snow under that is somewhat softer.

 

It'll be interesting to see how they layer.  Any rain heavy enough to soak through the front end snow, if it rains enough to do so, is going to hit the old layer of ice beneath the new snow.  Not sure how that will react / pool up / run off, etc.

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Cars are dusted here in Long Beach.

 

For a brief period of rain/sleet that may not amount to more than some showers, trust me, what we're about to witness is beyond worth it. Getting more pumped by the minute looking at the radar down south.

Was just gona post the stuff around Dover and just S looks nuts

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Just following the thread from DC area, looks like what people are reporting is the initial heavy band is insanely heavy snow, 3-4" in less than 2 hrs.  Then there has been a switch to sleet, now reported in the Richmond metro.  We'll see if it progresses up 95.

Models have shown a bad snow cutoff to essentially nothing over the Delmarva, and hugging the immediate coast up to maybe ACY, and increasing rapidly north and west of there. I'm sure DT is flipping out now in Richmond.

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Models have shown a bad snow cutoff to essentially nothing over the Delmarva, and hugging the immediate coast up to maybe ACY, and increasing rapidly north and west of there. I'm sure DT is flipping out now in Richmond.

 

Yea, lows that actually make landfall in mainland NC usually don't yield optimal snowfalls along 95.

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Just following the thread from DC area, looks like what people are reporting is the initial heavy band is insanely heavy snow, 3-4" in less than 2 hrs.  Then there has been a switch to sleet, now reported in the Richmond metro.  We'll see if it progresses up 95.

Looks like that was modeled

Richmond

Overnight Snow and sleet before 2am, then sleet between 2am and 4am, then freezing rain after 4am. Low around 29. North wind around 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. Total nighttime snow and sleet accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

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Looks like that was modeled

Richmond

Overnight Snow and sleet before 2am, then sleet between 2am and 4am, then freezing rain after 4am. Low around 29. North wind around 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. Total nighttime snow and sleet accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

 

Yea, they are about 10hrs ahead of us I would guess.

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