Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

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

Superbowl Snowstorm Thread Part 3


TugHillMatt

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 987
  • Created
  • Last Reply

2.5" and very wet snow, still lots of melting and compacting going on here... raining down moderate sized flakes.  The 2.5" had .27" of water so under 10:1 ratios- those are going to have to improve big time for us to even sniff 10" out of this. 

 

The moisture plume with this is certainly impressive and lots more to come here but temps need to cool off a bit in the atmosphere to get those ratios up. 

 

Very calm outside too.  And I agree cyclone77 this is no where near what we had on GHD... we had very heavy snow and serious winds of 50+ mph through much of the snowfall... the screeching/howling wind with that was unreal not to mention a few bursts of thundersnow too. 

 

I am just sweating bullets since I told my clients to all plan on 10 to possibly 12" of snow and it appears I may have been 2-4" to high the way things look right now.... hope mama nature doesn't make me look like a fool.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And Blizzard warnings begin

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
340 AM CST SUN FEB 1 2015

.SHORT TERM...

TODAY AND TONIGHT...FORECAST CONFIDENCE IS HIGH.

FIRST ROUND OF ENHANCED FORCING WITH OMEGA WITH 850-700 MB WAA
MOVING ACROSS SRN WISCONSIN NOW...WITH ENHANCED BANDS ON REGIONAL
RADAR FROM S CNTRL IA TO WRN IL IN LINE WITH STRONGER FRONTOGENETIC
RESPONSE THAT LIFTS NORTH TO THE IL/WI BORDER REGION AROUND 12Z.
THOUGH THIS STRONGER FORCING REMAINS JUST TO THE SOUTH WITH THE 700
MB BAROCLINIC ZONE...MODELS SHOW A SECOND FRONTOGENETIC BAND IN
RESPONSE TO THE DEFORMATION ZONE TO THE NORTH OF THE 700 MB LOW
MOVING OVER SRN WI ROUGHLY ALONG THE I-94 CORRIDOR THIS AFTERNOON.

WIND NOW BECOMING A MAJOR FACTOR AS ALL MODELS HAVE DEEPENED LOW AND
INCREASED WIND SPEEDS AT/BELOW 1000 FT. THAT ARE MIXING DOWN TO THE
SURFACE. WILL BE SEEING GUSTS OF 30 TO 35 MPH. WHILE WINDS AND TREES
WILL LIMIT VSBY REDUCTIONS FROM FALLING TO 1/4 MILE FOR A PROLONGED
DURATION...OVER MOST OF SOUTHERN WISCONSIN THE HIGHER GUSTS ALONG
LAKESIDE COUNTIES AND THE HEAVIER SNOW SOUTH OF MILWAUKEE...PUT
RACINE AND KENOSHA INTO A BLIZZARD WARNING WHERE PROLONGED 1/4 MILE
VSBYS ARE EXPECTED.

Link to comment
Share on other sites


AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION  

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL  

347 AM CST SUN FEB 1 2015  

   

SHORT TERM  

 

347 AM CST  

 

THROUGH MONDAY...  

 

HAVE BEEN SWAMPED THIS MORNING AND AM RUNNING BEHIND...SO GOING TO  

KEEP DISCUSSION BRIEF THIS MORNING AND JUST HIT THE IMPORTANT  

CHANGES. THE BIGGEST CHANGES TO GOING FORECAST IS THE UPGRADE TO  

A BLIZZARD WARNING FOR PORTIONS OF NE IL/CHICAGO METRO AND TO  

LOWER SNOW AMOUNTS AND ADD MIXED PRECIP BACK INTO GRIDS FAR SE  

CWA.  

 

GUIDANCE HAS CONTINUED TO TREND NORTH AND STRONGER WITH THE TRACK OF  

THIS SYSTEM AND COMPARING GUIDANCE WITH SFC OBS AND BEST SFC  

PRESSURE FALLS IT WOULD SEEM TO SUPPORT THE FARTHER NORTH TRACK THAT  

THE RAP IN PARTICULAR HAS LATCHED ONTO. THE SOMEWHAT DEEPER LOW  

ALONG WITH THE VERY STRONG ARCTIC HIGH SPREADING SOUTHEAST WILL  

RESULT IN VERY STRONG WINDS DEVELOPING THIS AFTERNOON. INCREASING  

LOW LEVEL COLD AIR ADVECTION AND SFC HEIGHT RISES FAVOR PRETTY GOOD  

MIXING IN THE BOUNDARY LAYER...WHICH IS WHAT ALL MODEL FORECAST  

SOUNDINGS ARE ADVERTISING. TAKING EVEN THE BEST CASE SCENARIO AND  

ONE OF THE WEAKEST MODELS BUFKIT MOMENTUM TRANSFER VALUES SUPPORT  

4-7 HOURS OF WIND GUSTS BETWEEN 35-40 MPH LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND  

EVENING...WITH MORE AGGRESSIVE GFS/RAP SUPPORTING EVEN STRONGER  

WINDS OVER A LONGER DURATION. SNOW HAS BEEN WET THUS FAR BUT WITH  

TIME SHOULD SEE THE TRANSITION TOWARD DRIER/MORE BLOWABLE SNOW THIS  

AFTERNOON FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AS THE COLUMN COOLS AND THE SNOW  

LIQUID CONTENT DECREASES. BIGGEST UNCERTAINTY REVOLVES AROUND  

REGARDING UPGRADE TO BLIZZARD WARNING WAS THE SNOW LIQUID CONTENT  

AND PROBABILITY AND CONFIDENCE IS CERTAINLY HIGHER THE FARTHER NORTH  

FROM I-80 THAT YOU GET...BUT EVEN AS FAR SOUTH AS I-80 FELT FAIRLY  

CONFIDENT THAT WHITE OUT CONDITIONS COULD DEVELOP LATE THIS  

AFTERNOON AND ESPECIALLY THIS EVENING. FARTHER WEST ACROSS NORTH  

CENTRAL ILLINOIS FEEL THAT A BLIZZARD WARNING COULD EASILY BE  

JUSTIFIED...BUT IN COORDINATION WITH MKX/DVN HAVE OPTED TO HOLD OFF  

FOR NOW AS SNOW INTENSITY COULD BE DECREASING AS WINDS PICK UP.  

QUITE POSSIBLE DAY SHIFT MAY NEED TO RE-ACCESS THIS AND AN UPGRADE  

TO BLIZZARD WARNING FOR RFD AND POINTS WEST COULD OCCUR ON THE DAY  

SHIFT.  

 

OTHER BIG CHANGE TO FORECAST WAS TO ADD SLEET AND THEN DRIZZLE TO  

THE FAR SOUTHEAST CWA. SFC TEMPS HAVE BEEN A BIT WARMER AND THE  

FARTHER NORTH TRACK OF THE SFC LOW SHOULD KEEP LOW LEVEL WAA GOING  

INTO EARLY AFTERNOON WITH AT LEAST THE THREAT OF MIXED  

PRECIP...POSSIBLY TRANSITIONING OVER TO JUST DRIZZLE/SNIZZLE AS MID  

LEVEL DRY SLOT OVERSPREADS THAT AREA REMOVING ICE NUCLEI FROM THE  

CLOUDS LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO THIS EVENING. THE WETTER SNOW SOUTH  

OF I-80 SHOULD RESULT IN LESS SEVERE AND LESS IMPACTFUL  

BLOWING/DRIFTING SNOW. GIVEN THE MARGINAL TEMPS AND POTENTIAL MIX  

PRECIP HAVE CUT BACK ON ACCUMS IN THE FAR SOUTHEAST COUNTIES OF THE  

CWA.  

 

ACCUMULATING LAKE EFFECT POTENTIAL ACTUALLY LOOKS SOMEWHAT LESS  

IMPRESSIVE THAN IT DID LAST NIGHT...AND IT WAS ALREADY LOOKING  

MARGINAL. SOME SYSTEM SNOWS SHOULD LINGER INTO THIS EVENING BUT LAKE  

CONTRIBUTIONS LOOK MINOR WITH LOW INVERSION HEIGHTS AND DECREASING  

BOUNDARY LAYER RH AS THE THERMODYNAMICS IMPROVE EVER SO SLIGHTLY.  

ANY LAKE ENHANCEMENT TO SNOW TOTALS SHOULD END UP BEING TRIVIAL.  

 

FINALLY...GOING SNOWFALL TOTALS LOOK RIGHT ON TARGET AND MADE VERY  

FEW CHANGES OTHER THAN IN SE AS NOTED ABOVE. A RESPECTABLY LARGE  

SWATH OF A FOOT OR MORE OF SNOW STILL LOOKS LIKELY AND PROBABLY  

CENTERED RELATIVELY CLOSE TO THE I-80 TO I-88/290 CORRIDORS.  

ACTUALLY THINKING THAT MAX SNOWFALL TOTALS IN THE CWA COULD END UP  

BEING ON THE HIGH END OF THE 10-14 INCH RANGE WITH LOCALIZED TOTALS  

POTENTIALLY PUSHING A FOOT AND A HALF IF THE DEFO BAND IS INDEED AS  

IMPRESSIVE AS SOME OF THE GUIDANCE WOULD SUGGEST. WHILE SNOWFALL  

TOTALS WILL BE VERY IMPRESSIVE OVER MOST OF THE CWA...IT IS  

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THE BLIZZARD WARNING IS ISSUED NOT FOR  

SNOWFALL AMOUNTS BUT RATHER FOR VISIBILITY AND WINDS. THE CRITERIA  

FOR BLIZZARD WARNING IS 3+ HOURS OF LESS THAN 1/4SM VSBY IN FALLING  

AND/OR BLOWING SNOW ALONG WITH SUSTAINED WINDS OR FREQUENT GUSTS  

OVER 35 MPH.  

 

IZZI  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Go big or go home

 

from Gino's AFD, worthy of posted twice

 

ACTUALLY THINKING THAT MAX SNOWFALL TOTALS IN THE CWA COULD END UP  
BEING ON THE HIGH END OF THE 10-14 INCH RANGE WITH LOCALIZED TOTALS  
POTENTIALLY PUSHING A FOOT AND A HALF IF THE DEFO BAND IS INDEED AS  
IMPRESSIVE AS SOME OF THE GUIDANCE WOULD SUGGEST.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have 5.2 inches as of 4:10am... averaging 0.8" per hour.  This stuff is very wet.  I had to knock some off my tree limbs so they don't break.  We are going to soar right through our 4-yr six inch barrier.

 

So far with wet snow and light wind it has been easy to measure, but I don't know what I'm going to do when the snow becomes drier and the wind howls.  My snowboards will likely become useless and I'll lose track of exactly how much snow I've received.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

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

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...