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January Medium/Long Range: A snowy January ahead?


mappy
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Just now, jgentworth said:

untrained eye, comparing to 12z, it looks like 18z heights out front are slightly steeper and the trough is slightly more neutral allowing the surface to be slightly (just a tick NW). 18z Precip shield seems a bit broader 

Your username just got a jingle stuck in my head.  I approve of your analysis though. 

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2 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Can't hate that, really!  Though I though the use of Kuchera ratios was perhaps not the best.  Still, that is a nice advisory-level event in these parts (warning level in some others).

QPF 0.3 for IAD and 0.46 for DCA. 

Apply your own snow ratios...

qpf_acc-imp.us_ma.png

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Euro made a step towards the GFS with phasing in that last piece of NS energy earlier on the 12z run, and it was closer to something decent at the surface, but discombobulated. It takes a bigger step this run I believe.

 

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Just now, CAPE said:

Euro made a step towards the GFS with phasing in that last piece of NS energy earlier on the 12z run, and it was closer to something decent at the surface, but discombobulated. It takes a bigger step this run I believe.

 

12z, right? 18z hasn't run yet

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6 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Can't hate that, really!  Though I though the use of Kuchera ratios was perhaps not the best.  Still, that is a nice advisory-level event in these parts (warning level in some others).

   Thank you.   The Kuchera drives me nuts.  It always feels like this is 10:1

image.gif.df661a220fe7b91815bd0390aee397ec.gif

 

  and this is the same case with Kuchera:

image.thumb.png.6edf9d37b9f0c700b62a270cd08b64e0.png

 

 

 

 

 

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5 minutes ago, high risk said:

   Thank you.   The Kuchera drives me nuts.  It always feels like this is 10:1

image.gif.df661a220fe7b91815bd0390aee397ec.gif

 

  and this is the same case with Kuchera:

image.thumb.png.6edf9d37b9f0c700b62a270cd08b64e0.png

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, in all seriousness, I don't even know what method is used to compute the Kuchera ratios.  Maybe it's good in some situations, but I've heard so many mixed things about it.  Seems almost better to show 10:1 and go from there, fudge as needed.

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GFS had that northern stream piece come down way more aggressively the last few runs (on the later side of the storm and not early). If only our southern stream wave wasn't sheared to shit...

The storm continued to trend further OTS here - we still held QPF-wise by faster strengthening of the surface low (~5 mb lower at hour 96 than 12z) off the coast. You realllllyyy need that SS SW to play nicer if we want to get something larger than a couple of inches. It hasn't trended the right way with that piece on the GFS on a single run since yesterday, need to reverse than going into 0Z. 

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1 minute ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Actually, in all seriousness, I don't even know what method is used to compute the Kuchera ratios.  Maybe it's good in some situations, but I've heard so many mixed things about it.  Seems almost better to show 10:1 and go from there, fudge as needed.

  It's driven by lower-atmosphere temperatures.   It's great at chopping amounts in marginal temperature environments, and the premise that SLRs will be better than 10:1 in cold environments has some truth, but it's not as simple as colder=better SLR, so it goes nuts when the air mass is cold.

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15 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Actually, in all seriousness, I don't even know what method is used to compute the Kuchera ratios.  Maybe it's good in some situations, but I've heard so many mixed things about it.  Seems almost better to show 10:1 and go from there, fudge as needed.

According to ChatGPT
 

Kuchera ratios are used in meteorology to estimate snowfall amounts based on the temperature profile in the atmosphere. They provide a more accurate prediction of snow-to-liquid ratios compared to the standard 10:1 rule, which assumes 10 inches of snow for every inch of liquid water.

Steps for Kuchera Ratio Calculations:

  1. Gather Atmospheric Data: Obtain vertical profiles of temperature and humidity from numerical weather models (e.g., GFS, ECMWF, NAM). This is often visualized in a Skew-T diagram.

  2. Identify Critical Layers:

    • Look at the temperature profile throughout the atmosphere. Snowfall efficiency depends on whether temperatures are conducive to dendritic growth, typically between -12°C and -18°C.
    • Check for layers above freezing, which could cause melting and affect snow ratios.
  3. Estimate Snow-to-Liquid Ratio:

    • The Kuchera method calculates a dynamic snow-to-liquid ratio based on the temperature and saturation levels at various atmospheric layers.
    • Ratios are higher (e.g., 15:1 or more) in colder, fluffier snow conditions and lower (e.g., 8:1 or less) in wetter snow.
  4. Calculate Liquid Precipitation Amount:

    • Determine the total precipitation amount forecasted in liquid form (usually in inches).
  5. Apply Kuchera Ratios:

    • Multiply the liquid precipitation forecast by the Kuchera snow ratio for each time or grid point to estimate total snowfall. Models often automate this step.

Example:

If a model predicts 1 inch of liquid equivalent precipitation:

  • A Kuchera ratio of 12:1 gives 12 inches of snow.
  • A ratio of 8:1 (wet snow) gives 8 inches.
  • A ratio of 15:1 (light, fluffy snow) gives 15 inches.

Kuchera ratios consider temperature dependencies, making them more reliable for variable snow conditions than static assumptions.

 

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11 minutes ago, high risk said:

  It's driven by lower-atmosphere temperatures.   It's great at chopping amounts in marginal temperature environments, and the premise that SLRs will be better than 10:1 in cold environments has some truth, but it's not as simple as colder=better SLR, so it goes nuts when the air mass is cold.

Yup...that kind of reminds me of an event in Feb. 2015.  It was extremely cold that whole month, there was an event around mid-month that everyone "assumed" would be high ratio fluff (so lots of excitement).  But it wasn't.  The growth rates and growth zone weren't ideal.  We still got a solid amount to be sure, but it was more like thin ice crystals or pixie dust, not the huge flakes like we saw last night.

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17 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Actually, in all seriousness, I don't even know what method is used to compute the Kuchera ratios.  Maybe it's good in some situations, but I've heard so many mixed things about it.  Seems almost better to show 10:1 and go from there, fudge as needed.

Kuchera is useful in some cases, but you really have to be mindful of the algo. Last storm was a case that it differed from model to model and if you didn’t account for that (Hello, it’s me), then you could be a little too high on the forecast. HRRR corrected inside 12 hrs with the last forecast and that’s why totals dropped and became more realistic. RAP and a lot of the other CAMs did not and it inflated everything. 
 

This is a 10:1 type storm with MAYBE slightly higher for areas that get banded, like the eastern shore. EVEN THEN, 10:1 might still be the preference here. This is something I will be mindful of in the future, for sure. 

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39 minutes ago, SnowenOutThere said:

I have no idea what just happened with the GFS, but it does still snow.

snku_acc-imp.us_ma.png

You need to look at more than a snow map to understand why the modeled snowfall looks this way. Plus this is a total snow map.

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