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Super Snow Sunday 2/15-Party Like it's 1717


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Translation?

 

We know that air parcels like to follow lines of constant potential temp. If those lines of potential temp are widely spaced we can infer potential instability. Lines of potential temp slope towards the cold air and won't "cross over" each other (think if you were looking straight up over your head). If you introduce diabatic processes (latent heat release) you can get air parcels to leave their original potential temp line. This is accounted for in equivalent potential temp (theta-e). Theta-e lines can cross over each other, and when that happens you have an area of potential instability.

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How can you not see that, while the tick isn't considered extreme, it is still a tick to the south.  Look at the difference in the QPF fields between the 18z run and the 00z run GFS.  It is amazing.

QPF is the least telling and least reliable parameter.  And yet it has been, along with the other parameters, very consistent for the past 3 GFS runs.  The orientation of the height fields were slightly changed this run, but overall the runs were about as close as could ever be expected for a highly anomalous setup.  This is not the usual open wave development scenario where trends east and west are easy to diagnose.  We have an extremely deep and sharp ULL dropping SE.  When the GFS starts swinging the ULL through PA I'll acknowledge a south trend.

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We know that air parcels like to follow lines of constant potential temp. If those lines of potential temp are widely spaced we can infer potential instability. Lines of potential temp slope towards the cold air and won't "cross over" each other (think if you were looking straight up over your head). If you introduce diabatic processes (latent heat release) you can get air parcels to leave their original potential temp line. This is accounted for in equivalent potential temp (theta-e). Theta-e lines can cross over each other, and when that happens you have an area of potential instability.

 

Awesome explanation, I learned about the adiabatic processes and air parcels in my intro to meteorology class back in 2009, but that is as far as I got with my met knowledge, most of the things I know is from personal experiences.

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Yeah Ray, it's technical, but to really dumb it down..a nice stable atmosphere is not supposed to have these theta-e surfaces fold back as you move up in the atmosphere...even if there is some weak instability it won't. When they do fold back...it means you basically have the potential for convection.

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Eduggs, I think you saw the QPF fields, they acknowledge where the model seems the precip falling the heaviest, its a good indicator for the amount of precip to fall and where the heaviest precip does fall.  While the fine details are not exact, its a good outline.

QPF is one of, if not the worst, modeled parameter.
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So Scott, potential instability could mean the potential for extreme lift and convection over eastern MA during this storm?  Could we actually see insane snowfall rates mature over our heads?  GFS shows extreme lift in the 700mb level.

 

Well maybe..I wouldn't get excited over it right now. 

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That inv trough look on the GGEM is fugly

Yeah that run screams one or two posters are thrilled and everyone else is calling bust lol. Would much rather take the GFS look over that as everyone would see at least a few inches on the GFS whereas on the GGEM if you weren't in the IVT I'd have a hard time envisioning much QPF. 

 

Euro solution is far superior to both however...

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