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February 16-17 Storm Threat


WxUSAF

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Considering the LWX WSWatch criteria .... http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/Defined/#Winter Storm Watch  

 

Does anyone know why (or have an opinion on) NWS might be holding off on issuing a Watch, considering what we have seen from the 12z model suite thus far (especially those counties south of DC) ?     

 

Being a FED employee myself, I get the conservative, careful, and reserved mindset... but it seems that there might be a subjective threshold regarding confidence level?   Furthermore, FED offices tend to be slow-moving monoliths, and another reason for that slow movement could be that all the Virginia NWS offices are coordinating their efforts in issuing the watches?  

 

I worked for the NWS in Blacksburg, VA so I'm not completely unfamiliar with these tactics and strategy.. 

 

I'm wondering what the collective opinion of the room is on this subject... thanks for the responses.  

For the system coming up, I would wait until three forecast periods before the impact would be felt and so that would be 4 pm this afternoon because Tuesday rush hour starting at 4 am would be the impact time.  It would be for a winter weather advisory.

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I agree with you...just thinking about the impact of a 3-5" snowstorm on the beltways around here ('high' impact).  Sorry about the banter folks... didn't mean to! :)

 

How deep into the winter season matters a lot as well.  An impactful storm just after Thanksgiving will threaten people more than a storm near the end of the winter.  Schools care because they look at how many snow days have been burned.  They don't want to burn another day and keep schools open into the third week of June for a two inch snow. The average person should know if they need new tires and know where their ice scraper/snow shovel/ice melter is ready and stored and waiting by mid-February.  If they haven't caught on by February 15, it doesn't matter what warnings and advisories are being issued.

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Thanks for the response... I almost forgot how regimented the NWS likes to be when sending out updates... and apparently they like to wait for certain "designated time slots" in the morning and afternoon to take action.  Very interesting how that operation works. 

They divide periods into 12 hour blocks and issue advisories in time for rush hour, 4 am and 2 pm.

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How deep into the winter season matters a lot as well.  An impactful storm just after Thanksgiving will threaten people more than a storm near the end of the winter.  Schools care because they look at how many snow days have been burned.  They don't want to burn another day and keep schools open into the third week of June for a two inch snow. The average person should know if they need new tires and know where their ice scraper/snow shovel/ice melter is ready and stored and waiting by mid-February.  If they haven't caught on by February 15, it doesn't matter what warnings and advisories are being issued.

Watches, warnings, and advisories trigger a number of state and local government actions, which cost a significant amount of money.  So the issuance of those watches, warnings, advisories are more important economically then you might think.

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Watches, warnings, and advisories trigger a number of state and local government actions, which cost a significant amount of money.  So the issuance of those watches, warnings, advisories are more important economically then you might think.

 

Yeah, I see and agree what you are saying.  I sense that LWX will be disciplined to make a team decision, with the input of several experienced forecasters that know the region.  We/they know the goalposts; probably 1" to 8" [more south and less north] and those goal posts will shrink each six hours with fresh model guidance and soon...observational guidance.  I betcha $21.50 (today's date in money) that LXW nails this one.

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