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Winter Storm Feb 25 and 26


nrgjeff

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What is everyone's opinion on these Rap/HRRR simulations that show us getting screwed down here?

Haven't seen the HRRR but the last RAP I saw looked ok here. Not crazy like the NAM, but in line with the forecasts from the local guys. Rap and HRRR are not notoriously accurate outside of a few hours.
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Haven't seen the HRRR but the last RAP I saw looked ok here. Not crazy like the NAM, but in line with the forecasts from the local guys. Rap and HRRR are not notoriously accurate outside of a few hours.

Yeah I looked at both a couple hours ago, and they looked fine in terms of composite reflectivity.  I wouldn't rely on them like dwagner says until this evening.  Not to mention that even last weeks cutter the HRRR and RAP were not very accurate even in that 3 hour or so window.

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What is everyone's opinion on these Rap/HRRR simulations that show us getting screwed down here?

I have a low opinion of the RAP...Seems like it always playing catch-up in the northern Valley. The NAM has been good. Looks for trends more than anything. Look like a growth in the precip shield is happening on most models. Bout as good a look as Chatt can get IMHO. If anything, I would worry about mixing. But looks to me like you all are good.

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And yes RAP/HRRR have to be taken with a huge grain of salt.  They have been pretty bad on temps, p-type-, and qpf on a couple of the recent storms.  Just have to watch radar and compare to see if they look reasonable.  For the last storm I was switching between radar and rap/hrrr laughing my arse off because it was pouring snow outside and the models were initializing dry.

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This post is a little "imby" but I've noticed how Greenville to Johnson City seems to be caught in screw zones for coastal lows.  Maybe this has always been the case but I haven't noticed this trend before the last big coastal storm. 

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This post is a little "imby" but I've noticed how Greenville to Johnson City seems to be caught in screw zones for coastal lows. Maybe this has always been the case but I haven't noticed this trend before the last big coastal storm.

Downsloping is always an issue. However, if this grows into a large storm as I think it will...my only concern is that we don't get too far west. Large storms can overcome downsloping. But yes, it has to be always watched.
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This post is a little "imby" but I've noticed how Greenville to Johnson City seems to be caught in screw zones for coastal lows.  Maybe this has always been the case but I haven't noticed this trend before the last big coastal storm. 

 

There is typically a snow shadow *somewhere* in the northern valley, but the models never seem to hammer it down properly. Downsloping will eat at totals in the Greene, Unicoi, Carter, and Johnson valleys, but rarely is it so strong that it affects JC (obvious counter-example being Saturday's storm). The direction from which the precip is moving makes all the difference. Case in point: no real shadow existed yesterday as the precip moved east. The differences in snow totals were relative to banding than to any sort of downsloping or shadow.

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Might not be historic for everyone in E TN...but Chatt may make a run at this. The latest short range models are going crazy over the Carolinas. That is why precip is getting thrown back in large chunks over the mtns. RAP is putting 2.5" liquid equivalent over the Carolinas. Latest had an 1" liquid equivalent over Chatt. Prob some mixing, mostly snow. Boom?

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MRX:

 

 

000
FXUS64 KMRX 251534 AAA
AFDMRX

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MORRISTOWN TN
1034 AM EST WED FEB 25 2015

.DISCUSSION...
THE FORECAST APPEARS ON TRACK...WITH NO INDICATIONS OF MAJOR
CHANGES BASED ON THE LATEST OBSERVED AND MODEL DATA. THE HRRR SEEMS
TO BE DOING WELL IN DEPICTING THE PRECIP OVER AL AND MS. SOME
EVAPORATION INTO A LOW LEVEL DRY LAYER WILL DELAY PRECIP AT THE
GROUND...WITH THE CHA AREA EXPECTED TO SEE SNOW BEGIN IN THE 20-22Z
WINDOW. STRONG VERTICAL ASCENT ASSOCIATED WITH AGEOSTROPHIC FORCING
COULD BRING A PERIOD OF HEAVY SNOW IN SOUTHERN AREAS AROUND 00Z.
EXPECT THAT TIMING AROUND KNOXVILLE AND OAK RIDGE WILL BE
22-00Z...WITH TRI-CITIES AND SW VA APPROXIMATELY BETWEEN 00Z-02Z.
THE WINDOW FOR HEAVY SNOW IS NOT OPEN FOR LONG...AS MIDLEVEL
MOISTURE IN THE DENDRITE GROWTH ZONE BEGINS TO DISAPPEAR IN THE
04-08Z TIME FRAME.

FORECAST SNOW AMOUNTS ARE IN LINE WITH THE LATEST SREF...BUT A
LITTLE LOW IN SOME SPOTS COMPARED TO THE LATEST NAM...WHICH SPREADS
3+ INCH AMOUNTS ALL THE WAY INTO THE PLATEAU. THE HRRR IS ON THE
OTHER END OF THE SPECTRUM...SHOWING VERY LITTLE SNOW WEST OF OAK
RIDGE. THE NAM IS AN OUTLIER...BUT IT IS NOTABLE THAT THERE IS A
CLUSTER OF SREF MEMBERS THAT SHOW SNOW ACCUMULATION SEVERAL INCHES
ABOVE THE SREF MEAN.

WILL KEEP SNOW AMOUNTS AND THE WARNING/ADVISORY AREAS UNCHANGED
FOR THE UPDATE. TEMPERATURES WILL NEED SOME DOWNWARD ADJUSTMENTS
AS OBS ARE RUNNING LOWER THAN FORECAST IN SEVERAL SPOTS.

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Bout as conservative as it gets. The latest models have trended with much bigger amounts in the Valley. The NAM is not an outlier either as it has support from the RAP.

Edit: short range model. Latest GFS still looks out to lunch in the Carolinas alone. They may get much more than the GFS predicts.

Yeah there is a good chance I think of a bust high here, and they oddly enough elude to it while being conservative.  I guess that isn't a bad move, on one hand.  They mention the higher totals of the NAM, say its an outlier, but then say that the SREF has a lot of members that are several inches higher than the mean.  Why say all that other than to maintain flexibility in future updates.

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