Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,604
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    ArlyDude
    Newest Member
    ArlyDude
    Joined

January 10th-12th Winter Storm Potential


Thundersnow12
 Share

Recommended Posts

National Weather Service Grand Rapids MI
1015 AM EST Thu Jan 9 2020

MIZ037>040-043>046-050>052-056>059-064>067-071>074-092315-
/O.NEW.KGRR.WS.A.0001.200111T0300Z-200112T1500Z/
Mason-Lake-Osceola-Clare-Oceana-Newaygo-Mecosta-Isabella-Muskegon-
Montcalm-Gratiot-Ottawa-Kent-Ionia-Clinton-Allegan-Barry-Eaton-
Ingham-Van Buren-Kalamazoo-Calhoun-Jackson-
Including the cities of Ludington, Baldwin, Reed City, Clare,
Hart, Fremont, Big Rapids, Mount Pleasant, Muskegon, Greenville,
Alma, Grand Haven, Jenison, Grand Rapids, Ionia, St. Johns,
Holland, Hastings, Charlotte, Lansing, South Haven, Kalamazoo,
Battle Creek, and Jackson
1015 AM EST Thu Jan 9 2020

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH
SUNDAY MORNING...

* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Rain transitioning to
  an icy mix is possible in southern portions of Michigan. An icy
  mix transitioning to snow is possible in central portions of
  Michigan. Snow, sleet, and ice accumulations may be significant.
  Winds could gust as high as 45 mph.

* WHERE...Portions of central, south central, southwest and west
  central Michigan.

* WHEN...From Friday evening through Sunday morning.

* IMPACTS...Power outages and tree damage are likely due to the
  ice. Travel could be nearly impossible.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Two day storm total precipitation amounts,
  which includes the combination of rain and snow or ice water
  content, could approach winter season historical records in
  Southern Michigan. Prepare for the possibility of extended power
  outages and canceled travel plans.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Monitor the latest forecasts for updates on this situation.

&&

About as strongly worded a watch as GRR has ever put out. 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, A-L-E-K said:

taint getting close to madison on this run :yikes:

 

 

Gotta ride the taint to get the best accums.

Feeling good about my MBY - may have to deal with some "taint" but we should be close to some of the higher accums. 

Unfortunate how far off the GFS was with this in the 72+ range - never good when the NAM locks on to something in the long term first.

Euro retains it title and the NW trend is back.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Nelson said:

Gotta ride the taint to get the best accums.

Feeling good about my MBY - may have to deal with some "taint" but we should be close to some of the higher accums. 

Unfortunate how far off the GFS was with this in the 72+ range - never good when the NAM locks on to something in the long term first.

Euro retains it title and the NW trend is back.

 

 

GEM did pretty well too; it was a NW occupant for much of the tracking time and had a (maybe too narrow) stripe of 8-14" of snow, which now all models seem to be latching onto.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Nelson said:

Gotta ride the taint to get the best accums.

Feeling good about my MBY - may have to deal with some "taint" but we should be close to some of the higher accums. 

Unfortunate how far off the GFS was with this in the 72+ range - never good when the NAM locks on to something in the long term first.

Euro retains it title and the NW trend is back.

 

 

I'd debate a number of these assertions(prognostications) but it's really not worth the effort anymore. If your winter weather hound it's just good to have something to track.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

GFS is trying to throw 1+" of ice followed by 12" of snow for MBY. Not going to happen. 

think inch of rain...6" of clay. Anyone recall a storm system say around new years 1985...poured buckets and ended with 5-6" of heavy wet snow?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

GFS is trying to throw 1+" of ice followed by 12" of snow for MBY. Not going to happen. 

I've never seen anything like the GFS modeled in my backyard... about 4.5" qpf with well over 1" of it as freezing rain (NAM also has a band of 4"+ here).  Can't take the modeled ice at face value but just commenting on the output itself.  Crazy crazy stuff and helps to make up a bit for all the boring times. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never seen anything like the GFS modeled in my backyard... about 4.5" qpf with well over 1" of it as freezing rain (NAM also has a band of 4"+ here).  Can't take the modeled ice at face value but just commenting on the output itself.  Crazy crazy stuff and helps to make up a bit for all the boring times. 

I’m going to post the ugliest pics of my muddy backyard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

With all of that warm, humid air out ahead of this storm system, the lack of instability forecasted seems unfortunate.  I don't think it would take much CAPE at all to get severe-criteria thunderstorms from a storm system like this.  Though I wouldn't be surprised to see a line of showers with severe wind gusts anywhere from SE IL to eastern OH with several models showing a potent low-level jet.

(there wasn't a severe thread in this sub, as warm-sector severe isn't expected, so I thought it was best to put that here since it does relate to this storm)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are still significant differences in terms of the placement of the warm front in Michigan. The NAM and GFS don't have any of the 40s or 50s getting into Michigan before the main precip while the Canadian models show warm temps making it up. This is a major difference because it determines whether the ground will be warm enough to avoid ice accumulation.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

I've never seen anything like the GFS modeled in my backyard... about 4.5" qpf with well over 1" of it as freezing rain (NAM also has a band of 4"+ here).  Can't take the modeled ice at face value but just commenting on the output itself.  Crazy crazy stuff and helps to make up a bit for all the boring times. 

Don't get me wrong, it would be epic. But I don't trust the GFS at all at this point. But interesting to see what the rest of the 12z suite will show now that we have some sampling. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, josh_4184 said:

Southern Mich better gas up the ole' generators if the ice were to verify even half of what its outputting. 

Despite what the models are showing on ice... it will be marginal at best. Heavy rates (Likely end up as sleet), marginal temps (31-32°), high wind, time of day... all will make it hard accrete what is modeled. Still worth watching though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Moosey2323 said:

There are still significant differences in terms of the placement of the warm front in Michigan. The NAM and GFS don't have any of the 40s or 50s getting into Michigan before the main precip while the Canadian models show warm temps making it up. This is a major difference because it determines whether the ground will be warm enough to avoid ice accumulation.

It's been in the teens/20s lately.  I think the ground will get icy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, Harry Perry said:

Despite what the models are showing on ice... it will be marginal at best. Heavy rates (Likely end up as sleet), marginal temps (31-32°), high wind, time of day... all will make it hard accrete what is modeled. Still worth watching though.

True its a tough call, GRR seems pretty bullish on ice somewhere even mentioned thunder ice which would be pretty rare impressive to see. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but an excellent read from the LOT AFD about the ice numbers shown on model output.

Quote

While the threat for icing (again potentially significant) does
appear to be within the envelope of reasonable outcomes, it`s
important to stress a couple points about raw ice/freezing rain
output from numerical guidance. The most salient point here is that
raw freezing rain output is simply a model`s total liquid qpf (which
is deemed to be freezing rain), converted to the same amount of ice.
There are, however, several processes occurring at the sub-grid
scale that NWP guidance does not resolve, such as the effects of
latent heat release as liquid drops freeze. The heavier/steadier the
rate, the more latent heat is released, ultimately slowing the rate
of ice accretion. Some recent research performed by Sanders and
Barjenbruch (2016) show that for steadier rates, the ratio of ice to
liquid can be as low as 0.25 or even less! 6-hourly QPF from the
NAM, which continues to develop huge ice amounts into Saturday
morning, taken verbatim would indicate hourly rates around 0.15+
inch/hour, corresponding to ice:liquid ratios near or below 0.25.
This would indicate a good deal of just liquid runoff. As a result,
we continue to take these extreme values with many grains of salt at
this range.

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...