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1/14 - 15 Minor Snow and Ice Threat


Bob Chill

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1 minute ago, clskinsfan said:

Thanks Yoda! Just ignore me the rest of the night. I clearly dont know what the hell I'm talking about.

No, that's not correct.  You do.

My stance is that we will have a snow window of a few hours.  You're correct.  We are going to change at some point.

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this isnt the typical type of overunning mix event in that we dont have a big spun up low that drives warm layer north at light speed - we have very light winds and if we set up initially with a good column it will likely take a while for any changeover.


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3 minutes ago, clskinsfan said:

Thanks Yoda! Just ignore me the rest of the night. I clearly dont know what the hell I'm talking about.

I would never do that... you post excellent stuff and you always know what you are talking about... I think we just crossed lines... I apologize if I stepped too far

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2 minutes ago, kurtstack said:

this isnt the typical type of overunning mix event in that we dont have a big spun up low that drives warm layer north at light speed - we have very light winds and if we set up initially with a good column it will likely take a while for any changeover.


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This is a great point!

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Looking at the GFS sounding from 18z, the column will be cold enough for snow for the first part of the storm. The layers in question lie between 850-700mb where the temperatures are fairly close to freezing with a smidge above freezing at times, but that would ultimately just affect the composition of the flakes. These certainly will not be aggregates, but I know everyone knows that by now. 

Hour 42

DCA GFS Sounding.PNG

Hour 45

DCA GFS sounding 2.PNG

Notice the temperature profile on the left hand side. At hour 45, there's a better signal for heavier precip, leading to a touch more evaporative cooling allowing the entire profile to go below freezing. The thin white line on the sounding is the forecasted omega and the best forcing looks to be around hour 45 compared to the hour 42 before. Grant it, it's not off the charts by any means, but certainly enough to provide a moderate snow for the District. 

Hour 48

DCA GFS sounding 3.PNG

 

This is where the model shows a precip change due to the increased warm layer between the 850-700mb region aloft. If the precip is heavy enough, there could easily be snow flakes mixing in with how close the the mid levels are with temps, but I would suspect this is when the best forcing is pushed east and the system is winding down, so makes sense to see the change there. Further north could be a different story and could stay cooler longer, but the difference will not be extreme in this type of event due to strength of the energy and no real formidable area of low pressure. Personally, with the way the winter has gone so far and how close the event is to what the models are currently showing, I could see a slight shift north in the models, especially high res guidance tomorrow. The reasoning for my thinking is just climo and the trends so far all year; slight adjustments north, boundary a little further north at final observation ending up with better axis of precip closer to the MD line. I hope I'm wrong in some ways because I live in Germantown and would love what the GFS and NAM is showing, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The best would be for the axis of precip to be more robust and everyone cashes in. We shall see. Been an interesting winter nonetheless. 

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2 minutes ago, WVclimo said:

OTOH... Not sure what algorithm is being used here, but these maps would support clskinsfan's original contention.  From the 18Z GFS:

Snow accumulation: 

IMG_0659.GIF

Sleet accumulation:

IMG_0658.GIF

Freezing rain:

IMG_0657.GIF

Yeah, and I was looking st the rgem snow maps and it shows NONE here.  It's going to be so close that any of us could be right.

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Interesting how dry the layer looks just above the surface soon before the column saturates on the NAM.  This scenario could help our temperatures fall.  Am I correct in saying that this bufkit profile implies evaporative cooling?

 

bufkit screenshot nam 8z 18 run.jpg

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Interesting snippet from Mount Holly AFD, and it makes some sense-

Precipitation type as has been all winter gets a little more
complicated. Typical model bias at this range is for the data to be
cold in the mid-levels and too warm at the surface. Overall, these
biases lead to higher prospects of ice as we get closer to an event.
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prolonged sleet storms are mighty rare but they do happen and i wouldnt be surprised if some locations turn in 6-7 hours of sleet - which personally i find pretty cool too


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and given the density of sleet roads deteriorate quite quickly regardless of the initial road temp


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Just now, WVclimo said:

I see that also, Yoda.  RaleighWX built so much into his model site, you can really play with a lot of things.  The maps I posted are in a section entitled Snow and Ice: **Attempt to separate Snow/Sleet/Frz Rain**

Ah I see that now... I will take a gander at that for the 00z NAM and 00z GFS

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Just now, BTRWx said:

Interesting how dry the layer looks just above the surface soon before the column saturates.  This scenario could help our temperatures fall.  Am I correct in saying that this bufkit profile implies evaporative cooling?

 

bufkit screenshot nam 8z 18 run.jpg

Yes, the profile temps should drop as the column saturates. The process is called wet bulbing. You can check that temperature clicking the wet bulb option in the list of overlay options on the left hand side. 

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3 minutes ago, MillvilleWx said:

Yes, the profile temps should drop as the column saturates. The process is called wet bulbing. You can check that temperature clicking the wet bulb option in the list of overlay options on the left hand side. 

oops, thanks

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