Region Wide Christmas Eve Clipper Potential

[Layman]

8 minutes ago, dendrite said:

Sorta. You can magnify the crystals to see if the hexagonal crystalline structures are still in tact of if they’re broken up into pieces. Imagine the crystal formations on this site https://www.snowcrystals.com and then just seeing fractured pieces in blowing and drifting snow. There’s a reason why those drifts get dense and hard packed. 

 

3 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

So a simple way to think about it would be comparing various events that had light winds vs higher winds. Easier for me here on the coast as most storms have strong winds here. 

 

But recall those events that had light winds and good snow growth. You probably remember how it looked after the snow ended with the crystalline structure visible and a fluffy pack that felt like walking on a cloud as you stepped into it. Now think of some of the events that had wind. Sure the snow was dry, but when you step into the pack, it's noticeably denser. It's not the density of heavy wet snow, but it has a little girth to it. We have that here all the time. The wind can pack down the snow by pummeling the crystalline structures. It's rare to have a fluff bomb on light winds, but it does happen. 

Helpful and easy to understand explanations from you both.  I actually have seen that before and know what you mean.  I'm not sure if I've noticeably witnessed it in real-time but am thinking I likely have seeing flakes land on my gloved hand and breaking up before.  Please pardon my fuzzy memory, it's been a few years since we've gotten a meaningful storm here 

[dendrite]

This may be the best video I’ve seen explaining snow crystal microphysics. Good stuff.

 

[Layman]

16 minutes ago, dendrite said:

This may be the best video I’ve seen explaining snow crystal microphysics. Good stuff.

 

That was interesting - thanks for sharing.

[mreaves]

BTV has bumped us up a tad bit.

[JACKASS]

Broken Snowflakes, I like it!

[moneypitmike]

2 hours ago, ineedsnow said:

Hoping for another inch or so but still have some snow left from the other day.. either way looks like a white Christmas 

So's my wife.

[das]

1 hour ago, dendrite said:

Sorta. You can magnify the crystals to see if the hexagonal crystalline structures are still in tact of if they’re broken up into pieces. Imagine the crystal formations on this site https://www.snowcrystals.com and then just seeing fractured pieces in blowing and drifting snow. There’s a reason why those drifts get dense and hard packed. 

This conversation got me curious and looking around.  There is a ton of peer-reviewed research on the cloud physics of snowflake generation, on decent transformations like riming and even the metamorphosis of snow ice crystals in snowpack on the ground but very, very little about wind-affected transformations as it falls.  I only found one hit in the intro of one paper but it was a minimal reference:

"Snowflakes falling on the Earth's surface have a mono-crystalline, idiomorphic form (dendrite, for example) or polycrystalline elements with crystals ranging in sizes from 0.1-0.4 mm [1] at very low air temperatures (-50°C - -70°C) to several millimetres at air temperature around 0°C. Depending on the weather conditions (air temperature, moisture, wind velocity) the snowpack is formed under windless conditions from lamellar snowflakes with an initial snow density of 10-80 kgm -3 and idiomorphic contours, or from snowflake 0.2-0.3mm sized fragments formed under windy conditions with a density of about 200- 300 kgm -3."

Guseva-Lozinski, E. (1999). Transformation of the snow crystal to a particle of ice. In: Hutter, K., Wang, Y., Beer, H. (eds) Advances in Cold-Region Thermal Engineering and Sciences. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 533. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0104196

Seems like an interesting topic for an enterprising doctoral candidate.

[OceanStWx]

27 minutes ago, das said:

This conversation got me curious and looking around.  There is a ton of peer-reviewed research on the cloud physics of snowflake generation, on decent transformations like riming and even the metamorphosis of snow ice crystals in snowpack on the ground but very, very little about wind-affected transformations as it falls.  I only found one hit in the intro of one paper but it was a minimal reference:

"Snowflakes falling on the Earth's surface have a mono-crystalline, idiomorphic form (dendrite, for example) or polycrystalline elements with crystals ranging in sizes from 0.1-0.4 mm [1] at very low air temperatures (-50°C - -70°C) to several millimetres at air temperature around 0°C. Depending on the weather conditions (air temperature, moisture, wind velocity) the snowpack is formed under windless conditions from lamellar snowflakes with an initial snow density of 10-80 kgm -3 and idiomorphic contours, or from snowflake 0.2-0.3mm sized fragments formed under windy conditions with a density of about 200- 300 kgm -3."

Guseva-Lozinski, E. (1999). Transformation of the snow crystal to a particle of ice. In: Hutter, K., Wang, Y., Beer, H. (eds) Advances in Cold-Region Thermal Engineering and Sciences. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 533. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0104196

Seems like an interesting topic for an enterprising doctoral candidate.

I've also always tended to think about it in terms of aggregates. It's pretty rare to have pure dendrites falling without some clumping, sticking, interlocking, etc. The wind breaks those aggregates apart. But the aggregates are forming down here, not up in the DGZ.

[tamarack]

The 2 big storms of December 2003 had very different characteristics here, and I think that dendrite growth might've been why.  Neither storm had any mixing.

12/6   20    5   0.43    6.0
12/7   22   18   1.20   18.0   Total:  1.63"  24.0"  Ratio 14.7
Very windy (est 25G40), massive drifting

12/14   15  -15   0.02    0.2
12/15   22   11    1.53   13.0   Total:  1.55"   13.2"  Ratio  8.5
Breezy (est 15-25), little drifting

[mreaves]

@powderfreakhas been bumped up to a Winter Storm Warning

[moneypitmike]

Reads like GYX will be hoisting advisories.

 

Advisory type snows are expected with this system with an area of 3-
5 inches of snow over northern and eastern portions of our forecast
area. Would go slightly higher in some areas however the track of
the H8 and H7 low to our north is not favorable at this time.

[powderfreak]

42 minutes ago, mreaves said:

@powderfreakhas been bumped up to a Winter Storm Warning

 

I can feel people’s excitement lol.

I like 4-8” personally.

[dryslot]

GYX with a bump up for Mtns and Midcoast especially DE ME, Congrats Eastport.

[moneypitmike]

4 minutes ago, dryslot said:

GYX with a bump up for Mtns and Midcoast especially DE ME, Congrats Eastport.

Here's the GYX update.  Pit2 with the 4-6.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

I can feel people’s excitement lol.

I like 4-8” personally.

BTV agrees.

[ineedsnow]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

I can feel people’s excitement lol.

I like 4-8” personally.

 

[OceanStWx]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

I can feel people’s excitement lol.

I like 4-8” personally.

Scooter is sitting down with his kids tonight and explaining that there are snow starved children in northern New England that need the snow more than they do.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, dryslot said:

GYX with a bump up for Mtns and Midcoast especially DE ME, Congrats Eastport.

Two days ago, the Rt 2 corridor was looking at 2-3"; now that's doubled.  4-5" of 15-20 to 1 fluff would be very nice, just right to pack into the remaining ruts from the 2" RA on 12/11-12.

[OceanStWx]

1 minute ago, tamarack said:

Two days ago, the Rt 2 corridor was looking at 2-3"; now that's doubled.  4-5" of 15-20 to 1 fluff would be very nice, just right to pack into the remaining ruts from the 2" RA on 12/11-12.

I wouldn't call the lift strong be any means, but the DGZ or near-DGZ is deep (which helps because the core of the DGZ is quite high in the atmosphere despite the surface air mass).

[HoarfrostHubb]

54 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Two days ago, the Rt 2 corridor was looking at 2-3"; now that's doubled.  4-5" of 15-20 to 1 fluff would be very nice, just right to pack into the remaining ruts from the 2" RA on 12/11-12.

I wish the other Rte 2 corridor was getting some.  Enjoy it!

[Chrisrotary12]

On 12/20/2024 at 9:54 PM, 512high said:

Yes! (3)

Maybe we can get to 2” on the year tomorrow.