Dec 16-17, 2019 snow-sleet glaze OBSERVATIONS ONLY

[psv88]

Just now, bluewave said:

From my experience with icing here on Long Island. The most memorable events occur with temperatures in the 20’s. We get more rainfall runoff especially with faster rates in the low 30’s.

 

 

 

Was pretty icy here at 6 am. Lots of ice accretion 

[Tatamy]

13 minutes ago, Snow88 said:

This storm bust for alot of areas

Ant - that depends on how you define a bust.  It’s true that there was no snow in the region but anyone who followed the models knew that this was not likely to produce much if any snow anyways.  We all know that with this type of pattern the mid levels tend to torch fairly quickly and this does not appear to have been any different.  Where it overperformed was the strength of the low level cold air advection along the coast.  Freezing rain was reported at the NWS reporting stations on LI during much of the night.  This included along many parts of the south shore especially in Suffolk.  I have a station out on Fire Island and the wind direction sensor was stuck between 2am and 6 am.  If I am correct then that means that rain was freezing on some surfaces even out there during that time period.  Temperatures during that period were at or near freezing. 

[Brian5671]

1 minute ago, BxEngine said:

All the schools around here are delayed, hills and secondary roads were a mess earlier but all seem ok now. Trees are hanging lower but thankfully a certain someone managed to bust twice for one storm and my power lines are fine.

schools closed here for wet roads....

[wdrag]

Wantage NJ 8 s HP: 29.1F. icing continues but only untreated. main roads just wet in Sussex County NJ. 

[bluewave]

3 minutes ago, psv88 said:

Was pretty icy here at 6 am. Lots of ice accretion 

But nothing as significant as our big events like Jan 94 when temps were in the 20’s.

[Tatamy]

Just now, bluewave said:

But nothing as significant as our big events like Jan 94 when temps were in the 20’s.

In January of ‘78 the temperature hovered around 28 with a low level flow coming from the north.  This drained cold air down the Hudson Valley from Upstate NY.  Rainfall rates were quite heavy resulting in tremendous icing on the north shore.

[jm1220]

7 minutes ago, psv88 said:

Was pretty icy here at 6 am. Lots of ice accretion 

Same at my place-nice glaze on trees/wires and any colder surfaces. 

[bluewave]

1 minute ago, Tatamy said:

In January of ‘78 the temperature hovered around 28 with a low level flow coming from the north.  This drained cold air down the Hudson Valley from Upstate NY.  Rainfall rates were quite heavy resulting in tremendous icing on the north shore.

I remember that one. It was the most significant ice storm on Long Island until January 1994.

[wishcast_hater]

10 minutes ago, Tatamy said:

Ant - that depends on how you define a bust.  It’s true that there was no snow in the region but anyone who followed the models knew that this was not likely to produce much if any snow anyways.  We all know that with this type of pattern the mid levels tend to torch fairly quickly and this does not appear to have been any different.  Where it overperformed was the strength of the low level cold air advection along the coast.  Freezing rain was reported at the NWS reporting stations on LI during much of the night.  This included along many parts of the south shore especially in Suffolk.  I have a station out on Fire Island and the wind direction sensor was stuck between 2am and 6 am.  If I am correct then that means that rain was freezing on some surfaces even out there during that time period.  Temperatures during that period were at or near freezing. 

Bust for me. I am under a WWA for 3-6” of snow and ended up with 1/4” of snow. Just sleet here now. 

[Tatamy]

Just now, wishcast_hater said:

Bust for me. I am under a WWA for 3-6” of snow and ended up with 1/4” of snow. Just sleet here now. 

Did you get icing?

[Dark Star]

Had a slight amount of sleet mixed in with drizzle yesterday afternoon around 2 PM.  After that, it was all plain rain in central Union county NJ.

[psv88]

10 minutes ago, bluewave said:

But nothing as significant as our big events like Jan 94 when temps were in the 20’s.

Nobody is saying this was a severe ice storm. But we had some nice accretion. Even now the trees and lines are still glistening. Temp only 32.9

[BxEngine]

4 minutes ago, wishcast_hater said:

Bust for me. I am under a WWA for 3-6” of snow and ended up with 1/4” of snow. Just sleet here now. 

There was a wwa for 3-6” in southern westchester? 

[bluewave]

6 minutes ago, psv88 said:

Nobody is saying this was a severe ice storm. But we had some nice accretion. Even now the trees and lines are still glistening. Temp only 32.9

That’s all you need for minor ice accretion. My last significant events were Valentine’s Day 07 and 2-2-11. But Jan 94 and 78 are  still the benchmark ice storms for me.

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

12 minutes ago, psv88 said:

Nobody is saying this was a severe ice storm. But we had some nice accretion. Even now the trees and lines are still glistening. Temp only 32.9

Had the same thing in wantagh surprisingly. Temp held at 31.8 for hours. Even cars were completely iced over. Makes sense for you up there but it was completely unexpected on the south shore  

[psv88]

This goes down as a nice icing event 

[psv88]

1 minute ago, LongBeachSurfFreak said:

Had the same thing in wantagh surprisingly. Temp held at 31.8 for hours. Even cars were completely iced over. Makes sense for you up there but it was completely unexpected on the south shore  

All of the models had ZR for the island, nobody believed them, myself and the NWS included.

[NJwx85]

Short term model bust here. Usually things trend colder as the event is unfolding but the opposite occurred. I knew we were in trouble last night when things started off as a sleet/snow mix rather that just snow. Within an hour I was completely over to sleet. Ice accretion here was around 0.10" on normal surfaces and about 2-3 times that amount on cold surfaces such as cars and railings. Luckily we seem to have avoided a much bigger problem as temperatures were a couple of degrees warmer than forecasted.

[purduewx80]

4 hours ago, weathermedic said:

WWA expanded to include Long Island and southern Queens. JFK temp is 32.

This one is definitely going in the UHI folder.

[psv88]

11 minutes ago, NJwx85 said:

Short term model bust here. Usually things trend colder as the event is unfolding but the opposite occurred. I knew we were in trouble last night when things started off as a sleet/snow mix rather that just snow. Within an hour I was completely over to sleet. Ice accretion here was around 0.10" on normal surfaces and about 2-3 times that amount on cold surfaces such as cars and railings. Luckily we seem to have avoided a much bigger problem as temperatures were a couple of degrees warmer than forecasted.

Interesting that temps busted high for you, and low out here. Would love to better understand how that occurred 

[donsutherland1]

Bronx, NY: 32° with freezing rain

[wishcast_hater]

42 minutes ago, BxEngine said:

There was a wwa for 3-6” in southern westchester? 

Sorry - I live in Dutchess now. We got a little icing but mostly sleet.  

[NycStormChaser]

Pouring in Mt olive Township. Freezing rain at 29 degrees.

Sent from my Samsung Note 8

[bluewave]

9 minutes ago, WestBabylonWeather said:

I don’t think I ever hit freezing. I think we got to 33 

 

most icing was on north shore? 

Some portions of the South Shore got into the icing. Looks like the winds verified a bit more NE than forecast. Most models yesterday had more ENE.

 

[bluewave]

Just now, WestBabylonWeather said:

I see

 

we had moderate sleet and a coating for some time in babylon

Yeah, we were right on the line between 32 and 33 degrees here. Less than a degree made the difference between some icing and none. 

[lee59]

1 hour ago, Tatamy said:

Ant - that depends on how you define a bust.  It’s true that there was no snow in the region but anyone who followed the models knew that this was not likely to produce much if any snow anyways.  We all know that with this type of pattern the mid levels tend to torch fairly quickly and this does not appear to have been any different.  Where it overperformed was the strength of the low level cold air advection along the coast.  Freezing rain was reported at the NWS reporting stations on LI during much of the night.  This included along many parts of the south shore especially in Suffolk.  I have a station out on Fire Island and the wind direction sensor was stuck between 2am and 6 am.  If I am correct then that means that rain was freezing on some surfaces even out there during that time period.  Temperatures during that period were at or near freezing. 

The anemometer on my weather station just thawed out and started working. It was the last thing to thaw out, trees lost their ice about an hour or two ago.

[Brasiluvsnow]

1 hour ago, Snow88 said:

This storm bust for alot of areas

88 chin up we will get em next time winter is just beginning. This storm defiantly impacted areas but I agree it was not as bad as advertised for some including my area in New City but thats a good thing as IMO we dodged a bullet and I will take it. My yard and my grass is all white and very glazed over my cars in the driveway were in ice cocoons and the driveway itself was an ice skating rink, kids had 2 hour delays so they were loving that. I love snow but hate ice so I will take this one and be happy that we did not lose power or have bad issues, its a long winter buddy hang in there we will get ours its only a matter of time we are just getting started .

[purduewx80]

I was surprised to see JFK hang onto freezing rain longer than LGA and EWR. I think the high may have been placed just right to drain cold air down the island. Most of the UHI had a wind off the relatively warmer sound. Subtle trajectory differences and terrain obviously played a factor, too.

SPECI KJFK 170943Z 04010KT 7SM -RA BKN009 OVC023 01/00 A3000 RMK RAB42FZRAE42 P0004 T00060000

METAR KJFK 170851Z 05010KT 7SM -FZRA BKN009 OVC023 00/00 A3003 RMK SLP169 P0005 60023 T00000000 56031

SPECI KJFK 170843Z 06009KT 7SM -FZRA BKN009 OVC025 00/00 A3004 RMK P0005 T00000000

KJFK 170751Z 06013KT 7SM -FZRA FEW005 OVC019 00/M01 A3005 RMK SLP174 P0011 T00001006

KJFK 170651Z COR 06011KT 6SM -FZRA BR FEW006 BKN025 OVC075 00/M01 A3010 RMK RAE30FZRAB30 SLP191 P0007 T00001006

SPECI KJFK 170630Z 07008KT 6SM -FZRA BR FEW006 OVC022 00/M01 A3012 RMK RAE30FZRAB30 P0003 T00001006

METAR KJFK 170551Z 06006KT 6SM -RA BR FEW006 BKN023 OVC035 01/00 A3012 RMK RAE11B49FZRAB11E49 SLP200 931000 P0008 60030 T00060000 10022 20000 58024

SPECI KJFK 170511Z 04005KT 6SM -FZRA BR FEW006 OVC024 00/M01 A3015 RMK RAE11FZRAB11 P0001 T00001006

METAR KJFK 170451Z 06006KT 6SM RA BR FEW009 OVC026 01/M01 A3015 RMK RAB36FZRAE36PLE50 SLP210 P0011 T00061011 401220000

SPECI KJFK 170437Z 07005KT 6SM RAPL BR FEW009 OVC028 01/M01 A3016 RMK RAB36FZRAE36 P0007 T00061011

METAR KJFK 170430Z AUTO 08005KT 8SM -FZRA -PL OVC036 01/M01 A3017 RMK P0006

METAR KJFK 170425Z AUTO 07005KT 8SM -FZRA -PL OVC036 01/M01 A3017 RMK P0005

METAR KJFK 170351Z 07004KT 9SM -FZRAPL OVC034 01/M01 A3018 RMK AO2 RAE51FZRAB51 SLP219 P0004 T00061011

METAR KJFK 170350Z AUTO 07004KT 9SM -RA -PL OVC034 01/M01 A3018 RMK P0004

[NJwx85]

33 minutes ago, psv88 said:

Interesting that temps busted high for you, and low out here. Would love to better understand how that occurred 

Surface temps busted by 2-3 degrees. Was expecting 20's overnight and instead we stayed right around 30-31. We warmed aloft quicker than I anticipated. Thought for sure we would have a solid few hours of moderate snow last night before any changeover. I have some elevation so I am actually closer to the mid-level warming if you think about it.

[NJwx85]

4 minutes ago, Brasiluvsnow said:

88 chin up we will get em next time winter is just beginning. This storm defiantly impacted areas but I agree it was not as bad as advertised for some including my area in New City but thats a good thing as IMO we dodged a bullet and I will take it. My yard and my grass is all white and very glazed over my cars in the driveway were in ice cocoons and the driveway itself was an ice skating rink, kids had 2 hour delays so they were loving that. I love snow but hate ice so I will take this one and be happy that we did not lose power or have bad issues, its a long winter buddy hang in there we will get ours its only a matter of time we are just getting started .

56 days until pitchers and catchers report. 62 days until Presidents Day which I mark as the unofficial end to the heart of Winter/Snow season. With that being said, the last two Winters have been very back loaded.