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2/25 event venting/whining/whatever thread


BullCityWx

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I think i've finally learned something now that this happened about 5 consecutive times.... when there is an 750 to 850mb warm nose projected on the models... It will ALWAYS push at least 20 to 30 miles farther north than any model shows. This happens every single time....

 

So for future reference... if we see 800mb warming close to freezing in an event, you should expect a 20 to 30 mile shift north of this line when the event actually unfolds...

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Does everybody in here remember the GFS as recently as maybe a week ago from as far back as 2 weeks ago showing a crippling ice storm from Georgia up to North Carolina, then snow above that?  The storm track was about the same as it verified last night.

 

The GFS was actually right for the most part weeks ago about the warm nose, the only difference is it didn't pick up on the first wave that moved through two days ago, which moistend up our atmostphere enough to keep temperatures from dropping further.  Temperatures were in the 30s from CHS all the way into North Carolina last night.  Had the first storm not happened, and dew points were still as low as they had been before the first storm, it could have been a massive ice storm.  Here northwest of CAE I was 34.8 almost the duration of the storm. 

 

Somebody with more knowledge tell me if my observation is right or wrong?

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I think i've finally learned something now that this happened about 5 consecutive times.... when there is an 750 to 850mb warm nose projected on the models... It will ALWAYS push at least 20 to 30 miles farther north than any model shows. This happens every single time....

 

So for future reference... if we see 800mb warming close to freezing in an event, you should expect a 20 to 30 mile shift north of this line when the event actually unfolds...

great points

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ere

The very, VERY worst part of it all is that Glenn Burns and his GD in house model showing all rain up to the mountains was right! Aargh...

Yep. Like it or not/luck or not, GBurns pretty much got it right and did much better than most. Keep in mind that I'm not a GBurns fan.

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I think the main issue was that the models treated this storm as if it was in the heart of winter.  In reality the storm happened at the tail end of winter, in the Southern US.  Common sense tells you not to expect 8 inches w/ borderline temps

...but areas in the northern Triangle did get 8 inches with borderline times.
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ere

Yep. Like it or not/luck or not, GBurns pretty much got it right and did much better than most. Keep in mind that I'm not a GBurns fan.

 

To be fair though, any ATL talking head who says "it's going to rain not snow in the metro" is going to be right 99.9 percent of the time.

 

They would rather be wrong about that one snow every 4-5 years than wrong more often than that taking a risk to say there might be snow.  People don't mind getting a surprise couple inches of snow overnight (which is when it usually happens here).  They get pissed off when you tell them there's gonna be half a foot and it busts to rain.

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I pretty much nailed the forecast. Here is just ONE of the things I posted yesterday in the discussion thread.

"In my opinion, based on model data, the cold air supply just isn't THAT strong and with this low ticking north every model run since yesterday, Wake is going to be right smack dab in the transition zone. Northern wake, lots more snow. Southern Wake near JoCO, more rain mixed in. "

I was getting a lot of heat for it. I knew how it would go. I've seen this scenario MANY times over my 31 years in Wake.

Except that you were trumpeting that it would go NW of guidance, and it did the opposite.

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To be fair though, any ATL talking head who says "it's going to rain not snow in the metro" is going to be right 99.9 percent of the time.

 

They would rather be wrong about that one snow every 4-5 years than wrong more often than that taking a risk to say there might be snow.  People don't mind getting a surprise couple inches of snow overnight (which is when it usually happens here).  They get pissed off when you tell them there's gonna be half a foot and it busts to rain.

Yes, being conservative will win most of the time based on climo. Actually, one of my favorite 2 ATL TV mets was Ken Cook. He generally was conservative though he occasionally wasn't. When he wasn't, you knew something big had a decent chance to occur.

My other favorite: Steve Browne on 11-Alive in the 1980's.

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hearing Chris Justus is getting hate mail - really like him - he reminds me of a young James Spann - needs more experience/grey hair - live by the models/die by the models

That is pretty sad that some people will stoop to this level. This area in the upstate is so hard to forecast because of the down-sloping conditions and the dreaded WAA bubble that always finds a way to back it's ugly rear right up against the mountains and screw alot of places in our area. I have lived in this area for close to 40 years and very few of the storms have actually verified the way they were modeled. I have lost count on how many times over the years I had to try to explain to the kids why we did not got anything close to what they were saying. Last febs storm the euro model had our area getting 14-16 inches of snow and other models 10+ but, we barely got 2 inches. Chris is an up and coming really good met and, I would hope most people would start acting more like adults.

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I am 50 years old and have lived in the upstate of SC all my life. I can count on one hand the number of winter storms that produced 8" or more in my area. That list would include the President's Day storm 1979 (my personal favorite with 14" IMBY, temps in mid teens and howling winds), back to back storms Jan 1982, Jan 1987 (3rd place), Jan 1988 (2nd place), and March 1993. However, there have been many more times than those events where the NWS called for 8" or more. Nevertheless, I still think the guys at GSP do a great job with winter weather and as someone else said this morning "it was fun tracking this event." We only got about 2" IMBY but I enjoyed the beautiful winter's morn......"until I noticed some jackass emptying his chemical toilet in my sewer"....oh wait, that's another story.

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I don't know why people took the snow maps at face value. They were generally based on 10:1 ratios with little mixing. We obviously weren't going to get that. Even places like where I am had mixing it. If it had been in the mid-20s and all snow, we would have had well over a foot here. Instead we got 5-6". And that's in the good zone. If people had just cut the model totals in half, they would have been a lot closer.

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It was still a decent Winter Storm. The fact that the track (in real time) did not support the totals many of us were expecting is irrelevant.

 

It sucks getting missed as a "jackpot" zone - again - but what the hell else can you say? A ULL is still a ULL. Storm totals were impressive, just not in many of the locations at which it was "supposed" to be impressive. The GSP numbers looked great on paper, however it's much more common to be in the bust zone than not. That isn't GSP's fault.

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A big part of the fun of a snowstorm is the anticipation leading up to the event. Kind of like, well, you know what I mean. In that regard, this was a fun storm. I want to thank those that put so much effort into making comments on this board. It's fun to read your posts. I hope all professional weather folks know that the general public appreciates them. There are many of you on this board. Thank you for always taking your job serious. You are appreciated. Chris Justice, don't worry about the few nuts out there. Those people need to get a life. 

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I am sated with this storm...measured anywhere from 5-7" imby. Not a major hit or anything, but satisfying. Went for a drive and indeed many branches and trees have fallen over. Didn't hear any of them. Power was seemingly out in RTP, all the traffic lights were out on TW Alexander (except the one at Alexander/Page Rd). My power didn't even flicker here...so I feel pretty lucky. 

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It was still a decent Winter Storm. The fact that the track (in real time) did not support the totals many of us were expecting is irrelevant.

 

It sucks getting missed as a "jackpot" zone - again - but what the hell else can you say? A ULL is still a ULL. Storm totals were impressive, just not in many of the locations at which it was "supposed" to be impressive. The GSP numbers looked great on paper, however it's much more common to be in the bust zone than not. That isn't GSP's fault.

It was uncanny how the major Deep South metro areas - BHM, ATL, GSP and CLT - all had almost identical experiences with a big tease in the metro and a ton of snow just to the north. That effectively PO'd about 15 million people and that's a lot of squawking to have to live with for the pros. Tough, tough storm for them.

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Final Call:

Raleigh: 5"

Greensboro: 7"

Burlington: 8"

Chapel Hill: 7"

Durham: 7"

High Point: 8"

Charlotte: 6"

Packbacker: 6"

Brick: 7"

Me: 2"

Anybody else?

So, how'd I do?

I was very close for Raleigh and for me. I never had more than an inch or so on the ground, but based on official local reports, between 1-2" fell here. I busted on Charlotte, I think, but I haven't a seen official totals yet.

Edit: I had 8" for Franklin too. How'd he do?

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So, how'd I do?

I was very close for Raleigh and for me. I never had more than an inch or so on the ground, but based on official local reports, between 1-2" fell here. I busted on Charlotte, I think, but I haven't a seen official totals yet.

you were 1" inch off for me but some of the higher elevations in my county got 10
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I am 50 years old and have lived in the upstate of SC all my life. I can count on one hand the number of winter storms that produced 8" or more in my area. That list would include the President's Day storm 1979 (my personal favorite with 14" IMBY, temps in mid teens and howling winds), back to back storms Jan 1982, Jan 1987 (3rd place), Jan 1988 (2nd place), and March 1993. However, there have been many more times than those events where the NWS called for 8" or more. Nevertheless, I still think the guys at GSP do a great job with winter weather and as someone else said this morning "it was fun tracking this event." We only got about 2" IMBY but I enjoyed the beautiful winter's morn......"until I noticed some jackass emptying his chemical toilet in my sewer"....oh wait, that's another story.

I'm 51 and have lived in the Taylors are my entire life. You are VERY close....7 times. Matter of fact, I can give you the specifics from GSP as official snowfalls since 1963:

 

Jan 1966 - 9.1

Dec 1971 - 11.4

Feb 1979 - 12.3

Mar 1983 - 9.3

Jan 1987 - 10.8

Jan 1988 - 12.0

Mar 1993 - 9.8

 

The last "big" snow was Jan 2011 - 6.5.  Jan 1996 we got 7.8

 

The 1988 storm shut the area down for a solid 3 days. I remember because my Mom was in the hospital. We got a 4 wheel drive to get us there....Wade Hampton Blvd looked like a war zone.

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