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2014/15 Winter Banter and General Observations


Baroclinic Zone

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Not to get lost down a derailed anecdote but a GGEM-like verification would be awesome from experiential perspective.  

 

We've seen those types of short duration turn around events, and they have always fascinated me.  Lots of Meteorology packed into a veritable atmospheric cinema.  In ...gosh I think it was January, 1994, we had just one such grab society by throat and thrash type of whiplash event.

 

The day dawned tinged in blue gray amid like 12 or 13F (literally) cold, with flurries and snow grains amounting to a chalk-dust on windshields and in between dormant grass blades.  Ground frozen uber solid.  There was no way the forecast was going to verify too well - no way.

 

Wrong.  

 

As the blue-like tinge to the air gave way to full day light, the temperature on the old CRT monitor started to rise. The day would turn out to be quite the lessen in breaking down hydrostatic equalibrium delivered like an angry nun.  Flits of flurries and grains continued, and then it was 22F at 1pm (or thereabouts..).  Then for about an hour, closer to 3pm ... the light steady snow came on ... and lasted for 10 minutes, just before flipping to light freezing rain.  At some point over that couple of hours I was distracted, and didn't see just exactly when the temp jumped from the low 20s to 32.0, on the button.  The weather charts featured a deep low passing west of the Apps, with retreated polar high near Nova Scotia and straight S to N oriented isobars from about Grand Banks to Caribou Maine by late afternoon...

 

Already at that point I was amazed in private reflection how the airs were some 20F warmer than a mere 8 hours prior, around dawn, with no sun under thick slate grey; and all that change was entirely for the cold air just massively leaving.   I remember seeing the early dusk sky lose the slate evenness, turning into fast moving sheets.  The temp then ...closer to 5pm, 36F, and the the 1/8th of an inch of accretion we managed to accumulate during the transition was already gone.   I was in the dining hall that was the lowest floor of Smith dorms, when I noticed shrubs outside the darkened window were bumping and rubbing occasionally against the glass.  At some point over that 45 minutes between 5 and 6pm, the warm front came audaciously through .. heralding in gales the bent tree tops toward the NNE.  The temperature was in the low 50s ... Steam plumes rolled off of snow banks, lifted by the gusting breezes. 

 

It ultimately rose to almost 60F by midnight, and corrals of college youth roamed the streets ... passing in and out of pubs in short sleeve shirts, as though the energy of the air awakened awakened society from a hybernatory slumber.  

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nice refresher for the ski areas, that with making mountains of snow in the cold and then a solid dumper should be top notch skiing if you don"t mind the cold. As long as the wind stays down cold is easy to take.

 

I'm getting on board that train.  I'm thinking a good chance of a 3, 4, 5" total over 48 hours, maybe more if it breaks right and someone gets in some lake effect band/upslope.

 

I think the para GFS is a horrible model so far, but I liked how it had 0.5" of QPF for MVL, :lol:

 

The northern to central Greens resorts should get a welcomed refresh though with several shortwaves moving through interacting with that arctic air and lake moisture.

 

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John, as soon as I read the first line, I correctly guessed the tonality of your post..."how intrigue can be derived from a rainer" :lol:

 

Well ... sure, a steady rain at 34F for a day and half followed by blasse, uneventful weather is boring. I'm not dishonest about that. But, that event ...the shear magnitude of change taking place over such a short period of time was nothing shy of astounding really. 

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cold is doing a nice job of overperforming today. i thought MOS was too warm but not as much as it will seem to be. sometimes with the NW BL flow and minimal snow-cover these OH Valley / GL to New England cold shots underwhelm.  

 

Yeah I stopped rising at like 10:30 this morning.  A nice NW wind.

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It seems we are slowing having a coup of the forum in the purpose of having a  "Met. only thread".....hmmmmm

 

(Not that I disagree with that...my posts usually don't contain much substance...)

 

No, there's plenty of non-mets who make valuable posts...we're just deciding to do a better job at keeping the clutter out of designated threads for more technical discussion.

 

We have a banter thread, lets use it.

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Well to give my numbers, as historical stats is my one pro area here, My calculations for my region of Northern RI state that to have a great winter we would have to have 25" by this weekend, and I'm still below 4".  Now, seasons with Less than 4" heading into January And seasons with Less than an Inch of Snow in December like this one, all fall between 15"-35" for the Season Total.  So pretty much, outside of a History making comeback in January through April that has Never been seen before (season to season speaking), this season is an unmitigated disaster.  GFS still shows just rain storms or cold without precip. like this winter has been until the 15th.  As ESPN says - Numbers, Never Lie.  

 

   Though I still am going to believe Ray's Prediction of a HECS 2 Footer.  Which I'm Always super happy with a winter that has 1 monster of B or 2005 or B of 2013 or B of 1996 style and historical value Regardless of what the rest had.  

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