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Western PA/Pittsburgh Winter 2021/22 Discussion


meatwad
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6 minutes ago, north pgh said:

Canadian still has it but losing it south. Almost on the same track as today's storm. I'm sure it will fluctuate over the next couple days but if the others move south then it doesn't fare well at all for us. 

As Bernie Rayno says this could be the windshield wiper effect. I never bet against last minute NW shifts either.

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1 minute ago, Ahoff said:

The models always seem to lose the storm around this time, and pick it back up.  If it were inside two days it be more of a worry.  Hopefully, just the normal shifts.  It couldn't stay perfect for us for 5 consecutive days.

Yes. Definitely not worried yet. Euro coming in now. Interesting to see if it shifts like the Ukie

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There are locations in Northern Alabama that now have more snow on the season than PIT.  (Not) fun fact!

GFS still says "what?" as to the Friday event.  The difference that I notice between it and the CMC, for example, appears to be that the GFS really pulls most of the energy into the preceding system.  The one on Thursday that cuts through Southern Ontario.  That system could end up as a helpful mechanism for the Friday storm by swirling in the 50/50 region and pumping the heights out ahead, thus altering the depth of the trough.  Of course, there's no blocking otherwise with a +NAO and the overall flow supports fast-moving shortwaves.

We do have a nice ridge out West.  The models differ on the axis of that ridge with the GFS pulling it further to the East, which also contributes to the storm riding the trough ejecting.  Essentially, I think the biggest differences are illustrated here (captions below images):

jQp4Qqf.png

1: First, we see the Canadian separate these pieces of energy at 500H.  It leaves behind a rather healthy chunk of energy and starts digging the trough earlier.

 

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2: In contrast, the GFS at the same time wants to pull all the energy together and move it along the same boundary.

 

1yPAdAD.png

3: A couple steps ahead on the CMC and you can see how that separation has manifested.  A lot of energy left behind starts digging deeper into the Smoky Mountains region.

 

Vp3Z3vF.png

4: Meanwhile, the GFS does the opposite and maintains a non split-flow with a solid line of energy, all moving at once and quickly.  At the surface, we can see the differences even more clearly.

 

GbQLcBj.png

5: This is the Canadian at the surface, and you can see how that digging energy translates into early low formation over the southern states.  It is reminiscent of what just happened today with a few more details altered.  There's also a loose "banana" high helping develop the baroclinic zone and maybe helping to separate those pieces of energy from each other.

 

0rqsMD9.png

6: On the opposite end of the spectrum, the GFS is strung-out and less cohesive with the southern energy.  It pops a low too late and farther off the coast, which essentially turns it into a fish storm, although there are some minor accumulations.  Mostly in areas that already won today.

These are the two scenarios we're faced with for now.  The Euro is closer to the Canadian, as it has been, but it did move toward the GFS today.  Personally, I'm 50/50 on how to feel about it.  I want to say the GFS solution is more plausible in this particular winter, but the development we saw today would lend credence to the idea of a more robust system.

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Don't even care about snow anymore, giving up on it, I simply want it to be cold for a while and not rain.  I have had moths and gnats around my porch lights multiple evenings in December.  Got some bushes out front that started budding too.  I'm darn near ready to put down grass seed and say screw it because La Nina during climate change means much more warmth than the "traditional" La Nina.  And, really, winter is much more enjoyable when there is early snow, this late winter cold means delayed planting, sloppy snowstorms, and 30F->75~80F temp jumps instead of a pleasantly gradual spring.  An El Nino wouldn't be much different, those typically mean more warmth than a La Nina, so it's hard to win like we did last year.

Shower thought from this morning had me wondering if we had more hurricanes to knock down on the heat fueling the SE ridge, water and land, then maybe it wouldn't dominate the eastern half of the US during winter.

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Good and bad news tonight.

The good: The GFS actually started picking up on something. 

The bad: The Euro is a little weaker and undergoes an east coast transfer sooner that the 12z run. 

 

Still early but the models seem to be honing in. Hoping to see the westward trek at some point. 

Time for sleep...:sleepy:

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6 hours ago, MikeB_01 said:

Good and bad news tonight.

The good: The GFS actually started picking up on something. 

The bad: The Euro is a little weaker and undergoes an east coast transfer sooner that the 12z run. 

 

Still early but the models seem to be honing in. Hoping to see the westward trek at some point. 

Time for sleep...:sleepy:

The NAM has the northwest trend. Now we need the others to follow suit. 

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