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Northern Ohio Obs/Discussion Part 2


Trent
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Here is a graph showing Lake Erie ice cover percentages. As you can see, we pretty much went from zero to completely ice covered in a matter of days:

 

The coming winds this weekend should open up some areas again. If the bottom falls out again later next week then it looks like Erie will be out of business by the end of January.

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The coming winds this weekend should open up some areas again. If the bottom falls out again later next week then it looks like Erie will be out of business by the end of January.

 

It's pretty much closed for business right now. With such a significant amount of ice concentration it can only push around so much. There will be the usual break up/open area just east of the western basin. Here's the ice concentration... pretty impressive.

post-1277-0-33841200-1421337155_thumb.gi

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Interesting disco from CLE. Clearly there are no weenies working there. Unless I'm mistaken, aren't we looking at an 18 hour window or so with temps in the upper 30's? I'm not sure that qualifies as warm spell.  

 

THIS FEATURE WILL BRING WITH IT ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM FOR SUNDAY AND AN ASSOCIATED WARM FRONT SATURDAY NIGHT AND COLD FRONT SUNDAY MORNING. THIS COLD AIR MASS IS EXPECTED TO BE A GLANCING BLOW AS WELL. THE ONE GOOD THING IS THE WARM AIR ADVECTION SATURDAY INTO SATURDAY NIGHT WILL LIKELY KEEP PRECIPITATION MOSTLY IN THE FORM OF RAIN AND WILL HELP MELT OFF SOME OF THIS SNOW PACK WE
HAVE IN PLACE.
SO FAR...QPF AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT AND SHOULD LIMIT ANY THREAT FOR RUNOFF AND RAPID STREAM RISES AND PROBLEMS WITH ICE JAMMING. BUT...AS ALWAYS...WILL KEEP A WATCH ON THE ICE SITUATION THROUGH THE WARM SPELL.

 

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That's kind of funny. I can't imagine there are many meteorologists that don't find snowfall exciting. It's hard to believe that a degreed meteorologist would prefer 38 and rain over snow in January.

I think 95%+ of this board would find 30s and rain the most miserable kind of weather out there.

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That's kind of funny. I can't imagine there are many meteorologists that don't find snowfall exciting. It's hard to believe that a degreed meteorologist would prefer 38 and rain over snow in January.

I think 95%+ of this board would find 30s and rain the most miserable kind of weather out there.

 

Well, its safe to say he's definitely not a winter sports enthusiast :) Afternoon model runs continue the boring pattern. Hopefully we can cash in on the clipper parade.

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Now we have one day in the mid 30's counting as a January thaw next weekend lol

 

ONE TROUGH AFTER ANOTHER ROTATES SOUTHEAST INTO THE AREA THROUGH THE
PERIOD WITH A TREND TOWARD BROAD UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BY THE WEEKEND.

SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IS PROGGED TO MOVE EAST AND OUT OF THE AREA ON
WEDNESDAY TAKING THE REMAINING PRECIPITATION WITH IT IN THE FORM OF
SOME LIGHT SNOW. OTHERWISE...AS LOW PRESSURE EXITS STAGE
RIGHT...MORE ARCTIC AIR IS POISED TO SLIDE SOUTH INTO THE FORECAST
AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. THE GLANCING BLOW OF THE ARCTIC
AIR WILL EVENTUALLY START TO SHIFT EAST OF THE REGION INTO MAINE AND
NOVA SCOTIA. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS EAST AND WE SHOULD START TO SEE
THE EFFECTS OF ANOTHER JANUARY THAW BY THE EARLY PART OF THE WEEKEND
AS WARM AIR ADVECTION TAKES PLACE.
BUT WE CANT GET TOO EXCITED AT
THIS POINT AS ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO DIVE INTO
THE AREA BY EARLY NEXT WEEK BRINGING THE WARMER AIR TO AN ABRUPT END.

BUT IN THE MEAN TIME...THE ARCTIC AIR WILL SETTLE IN OVER THE LAKES
AND WE COULD SEE AN OUTSIDE CHANCE FOR SOME RESIDUAL LAKE EFFECT
SNOW TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION. LAKE ERIE IS ABOUT THREE FOURTHS
ICE COVERED WITH A HOLE IN THE EASTERN PORTIONS UP BY BUFFALO.
ALTHOUGH...WE CANT RULE OUT THE LAKE MACHINE BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD
EVENTS OF SNOW WITH A COMPLETELY ICE COVERED LAKE DUE TO MOISTURE
FLUX FROM THE ICE ITSELF AND THROUGH THE CRACKS.

WILL DROP TEMPERATURES BACK A FEW DEGREES DUE TO THE COLD AIR
EXPECTED IN THE LONG RANGE.

 

The Tuesday-Wednesday clipper could be somewhat interesting, but I think it might slide just too far north for you guys. And then we'll go from there.

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Now we have one day in the mid 30's counting as a January thaw next weekend lol

 

ONE TROUGH AFTER ANOTHER ROTATES SOUTHEAST INTO THE AREA THROUGH THE

PERIOD WITH A TREND TOWARD BROAD UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BY THE WEEKEND.

SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IS PROGGED TO MOVE EAST AND OUT OF THE AREA ON

WEDNESDAY TAKING THE REMAINING PRECIPITATION WITH IT IN THE FORM OF

SOME LIGHT SNOW. OTHERWISE...AS LOW PRESSURE EXITS STAGE

RIGHT...MORE ARCTIC AIR IS POISED TO SLIDE SOUTH INTO THE FORECAST

AREA WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY. THE GLANCING BLOW OF THE ARCTIC

AIR WILL EVENTUALLY START TO SHIFT EAST OF THE REGION INTO MAINE AND

NOVA SCOTIA. HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS EAST AND WE SHOULD START TO SEE

THE EFFECTS OF ANOTHER JANUARY THAW BY THE EARLY PART OF THE WEEKEND

AS WARM AIR ADVECTION TAKES PLACE. BUT WE CANT GET TOO EXCITED AT

THIS POINT AS ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL TROUGH IS EXPECTED TO DIVE INTO

THE AREA BY EARLY NEXT WEEK BRINGING THE WARMER AIR TO AN ABRUPT END.

BUT IN THE MEAN TIME...THE ARCTIC AIR WILL SETTLE IN OVER THE LAKES

AND WE COULD SEE AN OUTSIDE CHANCE FOR SOME RESIDUAL LAKE EFFECT

SNOW TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE REGION. LAKE ERIE IS ABOUT THREE FOURTHS

ICE COVERED WITH A HOLE IN THE EASTERN PORTIONS UP BY BUFFALO.

ALTHOUGH...WE CANT RULE OUT THE LAKE MACHINE BECAUSE WE HAVE HAD

EVENTS OF SNOW WITH A COMPLETELY ICE COVERED LAKE DUE TO MOISTURE

FLUX FROM THE ICE ITSELF AND THROUGH THE CRACKS.

WILL DROP TEMPERATURES BACK A FEW DEGREES DUE TO THE COLD AIR

EXPECTED IN THE LONG RANGE.

 

The Tuesday-Wednesday clipper could be somewhat interesting, but I think it might slide just too far north for you guys. And then we'll was a from there.

The folks at CLE just can't get enough of the warmth.... They should look for jobs in the south. Up to 42/32 Imby. Not a lot of melting with the low DP. The snow is compacting though.

The 12z gfs was a nice hit with the clipper. Looked like the euro brought it right over us though. Great post on the upcoming pattern btw.

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The folks at CLE just can't get enough of the warmth.... They should look for jobs in the south. Up to 42/32 Imby. Not a lot of melting with the low DP. The snow is compacting though.

The 12z gfs was a nice hit with the clipper. Looked like the euro brought it right over us though. Great post on the upcoming pattern btw.

Thanks, hopefully the pattern can deliver at some point. Probably will snow on January 30 or February 1 as those are when I'm driving to/from home next. We hit 54 in Athens, just snow piles left here, although that's been the case for a few days.

 

It's possible the clipper drops a 1-3" type snow, the models keep edging south with it, so it's looking better for northern Ohio now.

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I was driving on the Shoreway and it looked like all the ice was gone outside of the typical shore ice. Winds/thaw must have broken it up or pushed it out into the central lakeshore. I'm curious what the visible satellite will look like, it wouldn't shock me if the ice that had formed this past week was quite thin. Temperatures this week don't look as cold as originally forecasted, so perhaps we can keep the central basin somewhat ice free a little bit longer.

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Some nice bursts of snow with a trough pushing through. I bet the ice did break up enough to allow some extra moisture to get picked up off the lake...someone could get 2-3" in Medina or south of Akron where the better band is. There were several rather unexpected light to moderate LES events last winter after the lake seemed to freeze due to winds moving the ice around and making holes, we could get that this year at times too.

 

post-525-0-12469800-1421645732_thumb.jpg

 

Edit: Yeah, this ice wasn't that thick as Trent suggested. Can definitely see how several hours in the 40's Saturday and good southerly winds made a nice hole along the southern shoreline. We won't be clear again for a while, although it won't be cold enough to really solidify things this week:

 

post-525-0-68183100-1421646293_thumb.jpg

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CLE is calling for the heaviest snow from Toledo through CLE. 3" seems a bit much but we'll see.

 

312 PM EST TUE JAN 20 2015

A FAST MOVING AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL CROSS THE REGION LATE TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. SNOW ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW WILL SPREAD INTO THE AREA FROM THE WEST AFTER MIDNIGHT. THE SNOW SHOULD REACH THE I-71 CORRIDOR AROUND DAYBREAK WEDNESDAY. ACCUMULATIONS OF AS MUCH AS INCH COULD OCCUR ALONG THE I-75 CORRIDOR BY DAYBREAK. ANOTHER COUPLE OF INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED DURING THE DAYLIGHT
HOURS WEDNESDAY. RIGHT NOW IT APPEARS THE HEAVIEST SNOW WILL FALL IN A LINE FROM NEAR TOLEDO THROUGH THE CLEVELAND METRO AREA TO NEAR YOUNGSTOWN. UP TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW IS POSSIBLE IN THOSE
AREAS WITH SLIGHTLY LESS AMOUNTS FURTHER NORTH AND SOUTH.
THE SNOW WILL BEGIN TO DIMINISH FROM WEST TO EAST LATE WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY EVENING.

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CLE optimistic for next week

HIGH PRESSURE IS EXPECTED TO NUDGE SOUTH ACROSS THE AREA BY SUNDAY

MORNING FOLLOWED BY ANOTHER LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT WILL MOVE EAST

OUT OF THE PLAINS STATES INTO THE OHIO VALLEY ON MONDAY. IF MODELS

PLAY OUT AS THEY ARE SAYING...THIS STORM SYSTEM COULD BE A MAJOR

SNOW MAKER FOR THE FORECAST AREA. AS ALWAYS...SNOW AMOUNTS ARE

DEPENDENT ON TRACK OF THE STORM SYSTEM SO WE WILL BE WATCHING THIS

ONE CLOSELY.

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There's some reason to be kind of optimistic about tomorrow's clipper...

 

You guys will get into the left-exit quadrant of a jet-streak for a few hours tomorrow morning, and will also be in an area of mid-level frontogenesis for several hours as well. The NAM shows the best lift juxtaposed in the snow growth zone tomorrow morning as well. I could see a few hours of moderate snow working out, I'd go with a 1-3" forecast personally. I can see how someone gets 3" or so but think it would be in a relatively narrow corridor.

 

As for Sunday/Monday, the Euro shows the shortwave with that "super clipper" closing off at 500mb over the Ohio Valley and show it taking on a modest negative tilt as it passes overhead (the e-wall plots are pretty low resolution, some higher resolution sources show a closed off contour at 500mb). That smells like a potential overperformer, but it may end up being better for Columbus than you if the GFS and Euro hold their track. We'll see.

 

post-525-0-05376200-1421804944_thumb.gif

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Bands have set up nicely on the west side. Flake size seems a bit disappointing thus far and radar looks more impressive than in actuality. Perhaps things will improve in a bit as better returns slide in. I think 2" seems reasonable at this point, especially for areas around Lorain County.

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CLE reporting heavy snow with an inch in the last hour. Looks like they've had 2 inches so far. The easterly winds with downsloping has really eroded some of the snow as it pushes northeast. If one were to look at the radar since this started, you'd have though the west side would be pushing 4-5" already. Must have been a lot of dry air aloft.

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QPF amounts were decent yesterday, ratios were not as we hovered around freezing. The little spike in temps in the afternoon allowed for some foggy drizzle that resulted in some compaction. We are nickel and diming our way at normal.

Interestingly, this year only has 3" less than last year on the same date. It really doesn't feel like 33" of snow has fallen this winter.

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