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1/14 - 15 Minor Snow and Ice Threat


Bob Chill

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40 minutes ago, BristowWx said:

NAM looks cold to me but I'm driving in and have a tiny phone

So you feel a computer model weather forecast for 3 days in the future is a good reason to drive and try to read a phone screen at the same time?

You sure you've thought that one through?

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14 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

So you feel a computer model weather forecast for 3 days in the future is a good reason to drive and try to read a phone screen at the same time?

You sure you've thought that one through?

I'm gonna go with no...but my addiction has rendered me powerless.  I was at a train stop waiting for the train to pass.  And fixing a drink of course.

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1 minute ago, BristowWx said:

I'm gonna go with no...but my addiction has rendered me powerless.  I was at a train stop waiting for the train to pass.  And fixing a drink of course.

You have to be/act smart to be here. :nerdsmiley:

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1 hour ago, BTRWx said:

Seeing the 4km run colder than 12km is a good sign.

This should come as no surprise given the NAM's superiority over the other models in terms of vertical resolution.  In these highly stratified CAD setups, like with the other freezing rain event last month, the lowest 100 feet can have a strong temperature inversion the global models just do not have a handle on.  If the precip stops, and the sun can break through, great, you start mixing, and it's not a problem getting over 32.  However if you've got a layer of snow/sleet/ice on the ground, and if it's still precipitating, I'm going to lean on the meso model that has the most vertical levels in the PBL (which I think is the NAM, but am not sure compared to the ARW, NMMB, or NSSL WRF). 

Just in the last event, I couldn't get over the fact that for over 2 hours the tops of some pretty tall trees in my neighborhood were swaying, yet at the surface we were dead calm with ice everywhere an stuck at 32F.  The fact that the tops of the trees were moving was indicative of how close the mixing/warmer air was...so close and yet so far, as we didn't get above freezing until long after the FZRA quit (it took breaks in the cloud cover to do so).

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39 minutes ago, WxMan1 said:

This should come as no surprise given the NAM's superiority over the other models in terms of vertical resolution.  In these highly stratified CAD setups, like with the other freezing rain event last month, the lowest 100 feet can have a strong temperature inversion the global models just do not have a handle on.  If the precip stops, and the sun can break through, great, you start mixing, and it's not a problem getting over 32.  However if you've got a layer of snow/sleet/ice on the ground, and if it's still precipitating, I'm going to lean on the meso model that has the most vertical levels in the PBL (which I think is the NAM, but am not sure compared to the ARW, NMMB, or NSSL WRF). 

Just in the last event, I couldn't get over the fact that for over 2 hours the tops of some pretty tall trees in my neighborhood were swaying, yet at the surface we were dead calm with ice everywhere an stuck at 32F.  The fact that the tops of the trees were moving was indicative of how close the mixing/warmer air was...so close and yet so far, as we didn't get above freezing until long after the FZRA quit (it took breaks in the cloud cover to do so).

Interesting.  So do the mesoscale models take this into account in advance?  I mean in their numerical solution, is the fact of accumulated frozen precip weighted into the solutions they put out every six hours and then refined as the event gets closer? 

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44 minutes ago, BristowWx said:

Interesting.  So do the mesoscale models take this into account in advance?  I mean in their numerical solution, is the fact of accumulated frozen precip weighted into the solutions they put out every six hours and then refined as the event gets closer? 

I believe so.  Sometimes, the CAD can be overdone, as in the case last month over the NC Piedmont during the same freezing rain event we had. The NAM 3km took too long to scour out the surface cold air in that case.  The likely culprit?  They did not get the precip the NAM was progging, thus the breaks in the overcast and the surface mixing arrived sooner.  As you know, precip helps to cool the surface layer through the latent effects of evaporation and (when applicable) melting.  As you alluded to, I think if the model senses snow/sleet/ice cover, then there's probably an added diabatic (cooling) component fed back into the calculation of surface temp.  And in the absence of warm advection (which is pretty hard to get stuck in a CAD wedge with little if any surface wind), any bit of latent cooling from evaporation and/or melting can most certainly keep surface temps down.

It's all about the precip though.  It's much easier to hold the temps in check while maintaining precipitation, even if only drizzle.  

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12 minutes ago, WxMan1 said:

I believe so.  Sometimes, the CAD can be overdone, as in the case last month over the NC Piedmont during the same freezing rain event we had. The NAM 3km took too long to scour out the surface cold air in that case.  The likely culprit?  They did not get the precip the NAM was progging, thus the breaks in the overcast and the surface mixing arrived sooner.  As you know, precip helps to cool the surface layer through the latent effects of evaporation and (when applicable) melting.  As you alluded to, I think if the model senses snow/sleet/ice cover, then there's probably an added diabatic (cooling) component fed back into the calculation of surface temp.  And in the absence of warm advection (which is pretty hard to get stuck in a CAD wedge with little if any surface wind), any bit of latent cooling from evaporation and/or melting can most certainly keep surface temps down.

It's all about the precip though.  It's much easier to hold the temps in check while maintaining precipitation, even if only drizzle.  

Thank you.  I admire the work you guys do.  you are living the dream...weather every day for a job.   Must be awesome.

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8 minutes ago, BristowWx said:

I know right.  Getting an answer to a weather question from someone a senior forecaster at NCEP is like having Mick Jagger explain the finer points of rock and roll.

 

14 minutes ago, BTRWx said:

Double thanks! He just blew my mind. :)

Thanks guys!!  Like you, I have a passion for winter weather! :)

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