Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,606
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    ArlyDude
    Newest Member
    ArlyDude
    Joined

1/12 Possible Overrunning Storm


Zelocita Weather

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 258
  • Created
  • Last Reply

The main problem here is that we aren't getting a -AO to coincide with the -EPO

like we did last January. The strong +AO pulse leaves just enough of a SE Ridge

in place to favor the interior for frozen potential. 

 

 

Which is why people shouldn't get there hopes up. I don't expect anything more than minor snow events until the AO changes. I do believe we'll get a negative period next month offering the best odds for a storm based on Cohen's theory. Still some time to sort things through before making definitive statements about this storm as some icing is still on the table. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 12z ECMWF starts the coast as rain and the far interior as snow with a narrow band of ice/sleet in between. Then the surface cools some but the mid-levels stay fairly warm. It would be a rain to ZR/IP for the immediate coast and just inland and mostly snow for the Poconos, NW NJ and most of the LHV with a battleground extending from about the DE Water Gap up through NE NJ and perhaps even the city.

rain to ZR? Don't recall anything like that ever happening in this area. Would probably not be a big deal with temps close to freezing. N&W a different story as always in these situations. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

rain to ZR? Don't recall anything like that ever happening in this area. Would probably not be a big deal with temps close to freezing. N&W a different story as always in these situations. 

You have some weak coastal development so you get some cooling as winds flip around but it's not enough to sufficently cool all layers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

rain to ZR? Don't recall anything like that ever happening in this area. Would probably not be a big deal with temps close to freezing. N&W a different story as always in these situations. 

its not going to be a big deal on the treated roads and sidewalks - power lines and trees are the main concern with freezing rain situations even north and west...........as of right now it is impossible to accurately forecast who is going to get what but of course the further north and inland you go the chances of frozen increase..........

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which is why people shouldn't get there hopes up. I don't expect anything more than minor snow events until the AO changes. I do believe we'll get a negative period next month offering the best odds for a storm based on Cohen's theory. Still some time to sort things through before making definitive statements about this storm as some icing is still on the table.

Yea Cohen is having a great year.....eek

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which is why people shouldn't get there hopes up. I don't expect anything more than minor snow events until the AO changes. I do believe we'll get a negative period next month offering the best odds for a storm based on Cohen's theory. Still some time to sort things through before making definitive statements about this storm as some icing is still on the table. 

 

If the front end arrives fast enough it could start as frozen at coast but  go over to rain

and then back to frozen again to end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This could be 2 to 4 or 3 to 6 just N of NYC

This is a good set up just N of 80 . The worst KNYC gets is st hr 84. Plus 1 and 32 with .3 falling on the 12z euro so that's prob sleet and rain and between 78 and 80 it could get dicey.

South of the Driscoll and out on to the island temps go to 34 so they go over.

The N shore may frozen longer and flip back quicker if the euro is right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It should go , without saying especially in a winter such as this one, nothing is set in stone here, 72 hours out and models will shift. How radically will determine precp. type and intensity, a more off shore track and we are looking at more frozen. If the SW if stronger than progged then we are talking dynamic cooling and so on. Wait and see is the best approach IMHO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's a touch warmer than the GFS at the surface and therefore the potential area for icing is little narrower.

 

The Euro tends to usually run too warm on its surface temps so thats not a surprise,,,the hardest part of this event will be our temps to start off, we don't see WSW flow here too much during winter weather events, my experience is usually it does not help moderate things much outside of eastern LI since its a land component.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told that the cause of the latent heat release was due to friction.

 

 

Energy is used changing ice to water. That energy is released when water changes back to ice.

Heat, from the surrounding atmosphere, is required to melt ice or to vaporize water, which is why the air column will cool when falling rain evaporates (or if falling snow/ice melts).  The reverse occurs when falling rain freezes on cold surfaces, i.e., heat energy is released to the atmosphere, or when water vapor condenses into water droplets (or directly to snow/ice).  

 

Some people not familiar with the 2nd law of thermodynamics think that the freezing rain or condensation scenarios violate the 2nd law, since the entropy (the measure of disorder of the molecules: water vapor has far more disorder than liquid water, which is a little bit more disordered than ice) of the water phase is decreasing when it freezes.  

 

However, one has to consider the entire system, which includes the surrounding atmosphere - the heat energy released to the atmosphere raises the air temperature, which creates more entropy/disorder, since the air molecules move faster and more randomly when heated.  The overall entropy has to increase in this situation, but the "subsystem" of just the water turning to ice can have a decrease in entropy.  

 

Anyway, from a meteorological perspective, it's not necessarily true that heavy rain falling into subfreezing conditions/surfaces is "better" than light rain.  One has to factor in several things, such as the water droplet temp (are the falling drops above freezing or supercooled to below freezing?), the surface temperature (and soil/paved surfaces are often warmer than trees/power lines) and the intensity of the precip to determine the most important parameter, which is the rate of ice accumulation for a given surface.  The best ice accumulation occurs when surface temps are well below 32F, with supercooled rain droplets falling onto those surfaces at a rate which does not warm the air above 32F - so it's possible for heavy freezing rain to accumulate well, although it's not as likely as light rain intensity if all the other conditions are the same, since less heat of fusion/freezing is released to the atmosphere.  

 

But even in situations which aren't optimal for ice accumulation, heavy rain will still  result in more ice accumulation - sure, the efficiency of conversion of water to ice is much less, but all that really matters is the rate of ice accumulation, which will be at least equal to or greater for the heavier rainfall.  For example, if the rainfall rate is falling at 1" per hour and only 0.4"/hr of that is freezing, that's still worse than if there is 0.3" per hour rainfall rate of which 0.2"/hr is freezing, i.e., 0.4" per hour of freezing rain accumulation is still worse than 0.2"/hr ice accumulation.  Jeff Haby has a decent explanation of freezing rain and the variables that affect ice accretion - see the link.  

 

http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/210/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Euro tends to usually run too warm on its surface temps so thats not a surprise,,,the hardest part of this event will be our temps to start off, we don't see WSW flow here too much during winter weather events, my experience is usually it does not help moderate things much outside of eastern LI since its a land component.

Since winds will be light from the SW, won't some of snow cover, especially down around south Jersey and DC, Baltimore area have in impact on temps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yea Cohen is having a great year.....eek

Cohen's SAI can still recover, but the longer the AO stays positive, the more difficult a December-February negative average will become. To illustrate this, below is a table that shows the required February AO average just for a December-February average figure of 0.0 based on a variety of January scenarios. This average takes into consideration the December 2014 figure of +0.413. I provide the percentage of February cases that met or exceeded the required February AO average for a winter figure of 0.0.

 

AO01092015.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told that the cause of the latent heat release was due to friction.

No, when water freezes, the latent heat from the liquid water transitioning into a solid is released into the air. It's the same mechanism that powers hurricanes-warm ocean water transitioning into a gas. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cohen's SAI can still recover, but the longer the AO stays positive, the more difficult a December-February negative average will become. To illustrate this, below is a table that shows the required February AO average just for a December-February average figure of 0.0 based on a variety of January scenarios. This average takes into consideration the December 2014 figure of +0.413. I provide the percentage of February cases that met or exceeded the required February AO average for a winter figure of 0.0.

 

AO01092015.jpg

 

Looks bleak Don.  The first half of Jan looks to be atleast +1.5, probably closer to +2 and the GEFS and EPS keep the AO around +1 until atleast the 20th.  To get a DJF avg of -1.0, the AO for Feb would have to avg roughly -2.5 to -3.0, which hasn't happen but a couple of times in the past 40 years...yikes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Models are notorious for being too cold in the mid levels during overrunning events at this stage, so I'd be very wary about predicting much snow for anyone besides maybe a narrow strip around I-84. I can't even count how many systems appeared to be colder at 850 and above 72 hours out just to warm up like crazy at the end in those levels when they caught onto the stronger WAA. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks bleak Don.  The first half of Jan looks to be atleast +1.5, probably closer to +2 and the GEFS and EPS keep the AO around +1 until atleast the 20th.  To get a DJF avg of -1.0, the AO for Feb would have to avg roughly -2.5 to -3.0, which hasn't happen but a couple of times in the past 40 years...yikes.

I doubt that we'll see a winter average of -1 or below. Since 1950, the only years that saw February have an AO average of -2.5 or below were:

 

1969 -3.114

1978 -3.014

1986 -2.904

2010 -4.266

 

A negative or strongly negative AO in February can help produce a snowy end to winter, but barring a dramatic drop beginning not too far into the future, the SAI forecast for winter 2014-15 could fail very badly. If it does, and I hope it doesn't given the implications involved, that could be a strong indication that forecasting the predominant state of the AO remains a low confidence exercise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Indeed Don if it fails then there's a lot more research to be done unless this year is an anomaly regarding the SAI disconnection. The highly negative QBO likely played a role.

Last winter it didn't do all that great either, though not as bas as could be the outcome this time around. I worry that consecutive winters of underperformance are more likely an indication that the correlation between trends in October Eurasian snowcover and the winter AO is weaker than the outcome is a matter of coincidence. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...