Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,606
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    ArlyDude
    Newest Member
    ArlyDude
    Joined

The Jan 9-10 Storm Part 2


MotoWeatherman

Recommended Posts

This might have been posted, But I wanted to bold and underline so stuff.

GSP AFD LR

LONG TERM /SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY/...

AS OF 255 AM FRI...THE WINTER STORM SCENARIO CONTINUES TO SEEM VERY

LIKELY SUN NIGHT INTO TUE. THE LATEST GFS HAS INITIALIZED VERY WELL

WITH THE WV UPPER LOW OFF THE SRN CA COAST...AND IT CONTINUES TO

SUPPORT THE OTHER OP MODELS WITH A SIGNIFICANT SNOW PRODUCING

MILLER/A IDEA LATE SUN INTO TUE. THE 00Z GEFS SHOWS LESS THAN A 2 DM

SPREAD IN THE UPPER S/W AND A TIGHT CLUSTERING OF CYCLOGENESIS OFF

THE TX COAST SUN AFTERNOON...THEN CONTINUED CLOSE AGREEMENT WITH THE

LOW CENTER PLACEMENT AND MAGNITUDE AS THE SYSTEM MOVES TOWARD NRN FL

THROUGH MON.

THE AIRMASS AWAITING THE SRN STREAM LOW SHOULD BE DRY AND COLD AS

GOOD NW FLOW ALIGNED WITHIN A SFC HIGH ELONGATED SHARPLY OUT OF THE

UPPER MIDWEST PERSISTS LATE SUN AND AGEO WEDGES INTO MON. MID LEVEL

PRECIP ONSET IS WELL AGREED UPON...WHICH SHOULD OCCUR SHORTLY AFT

00Z. IT LOOKS LIKE THE FIRST FEW HOURS WILL BE SPENT MOISTENING UP

SFC LAYER AND ALLOWING SFC TEMPS TO EVAPO COOL TO BELOW FREEZING

BEFORE 06Z. THE LATEST HPC WWD GRAPHICS INDICATE WARNING LEVEL SNOW

ACCUM BY 12Z ACROSS THE UPSTATE AND NE GA...AND THIS IS NOT OUT OF

THE REALM OF POSSIBILITIES CONSIDERING CONTINUITY AND THE FAVORED

PROG OF THE SYNOPTIC SETUP.

THE 295K ISENTROPIC LAYER...ON BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF...SHOWS STRONG

ADIABATIC OMEGA AND SATURATED CPD/S DEVELOPING IN EARNEST ACROSS THE

SW CWFA BEFORE 12Z. THIS ENHANCED AREA OF LIFT IS MOST LIKELY

ASSOCIATED WITH MLVL FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING AND IT WILL BE THE MAIN

PLAYER AS FAR AS POSSIBLY PRODUCING HEAVY SNOW BANDS TRAVERSING THE

CWFA THROUGHOUT THE DAY. MODEL SOUNDINGS CONTINUE TO SHOW DEEP NEAR

FREEZING ISOTHERMAL LAYERS OUTSIDE THE MTNS...ANOTHER INDICATOR OF

STRONG VERTICAL MOTION...SO THE IDEA THAT HEAVY SNOW RATES REACHING

WARNING LEVELS EARLY MON AND INTO THE THE AFTERNOON IS LOOKING

PRETTY GOOD...EVEN CONSIDERING THE EVENT IS STILL OVER 3 DAYS

AWAY. A QUICK LOOK AT THE ANALOGS SHOWS THAT BASED ON A STATISTICAL

FIT TO THE H3/H5 PATTERN...THE JAN 1988 SNOW EVENT IS THE TOP ANALOG

AND THAT STORM ACCUMULATED OVER A FOOT OF SNOW ACROSS MUCH OF THE

CWFA.

THE SNOWFALL COULD LINGER INTO TUE MORNING ACROSS THE NW PIEDMONT AS

ISEN OMEGA REMAINS STRONG AND SATURATED WITH GOOD ATL MOIST FLUX ON

THE NORTH AND EVEN BACKSIDE OF THE NE/WARD MOVING SFC LOW.

ADDITIONALLY...A PROLONGED PERIOD OF NW FLOW SNOW WILL BE QUICK TO

SETUP AFTER THE SYNOPTIC EVENT. THE LATEST GFS INDICATES THE SNOW

COULD FALL CONTINUOUSLY ACROSS THE FAVORED UPSLOPE AREAS INTO THU.

MEANWHILE...A VERY STRONG CA HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL BUILD ACROSS

THE MS VALLEY WED AND SETTLE ACROSS THE SE REGION THROUGH FRI. THIS

WILL HELP KEEP MAX AND MIN TEMPS WELL BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE

PERIOD.

&&

New Raleigh and GSP AFD's, GSP said major changes

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Now all we need for us eastern NC folks is for the cold to override the warm nose. :whistle:

Morning folks,,, been out yesterday & today, and "catching up"....

Guess if I want oysters, I'd better get them today...

KLIM Local AFD Valid 701 am EST Friday Jan 7 2011

Synopsis...

a strong cold front will move across the area later today.

Cold...blustery and dry conditions will prevail through Sunday. A

significant winter storm is looking more like a possibility Monday

and early Tuesday followed by cold and dry conditions once again.

&&

Near term /through tonight/...

as of 2:50 am Friday...a powerful upper level low over the Great Lakes

controls the weather over the eastern half of the nation. Cyclonic

flow is directing a series of strong upper disturbances from the

upper plains across the Carolinas. One disturbance is pushing across

the area now and will be offshore by sunrise...leaving partly cloudy

skies this morning. Clouds will increase through the afternoon as

the the next much-stronger disturbance dives into the area

tonight. The low and middle level flow should remain west to northwest

through the event...leaving Gulf and Atlantic moisture out of the

picture entirely. Precipitable water should only rise to around half

an inch.

What this system lacks in moisture it will make up for with very

strong dynamics aloft. A zone of enhanced mesoscale-scale lift should

develop in the NC/Tennessee mountains this afternoon and will streak east

this evening...likely just scraping by the northern edge of our

forecast area before midnight. Tight latitudinal thermal gradients

should keep precipitation all rain across our forecast area...but

you won't have to move too far north into North Carolina to see a

transition to snow... and accumulating snow at that. We are expecting

rain to begin across the Bennettsville-Dillon-Lumberton area around

sunset...streaking across southeast North Carolina and then ending around

midnight. Rain chances are not even in the forecast south of Marion

and Myrtle Beach with the 700/850 mb layers expected to remain too

dry.

The surface low is expected to track from upstate South Carolina

around sunset across Charlotte...Fayetteville...and then offshore

around Cape Lookout by midnight. South of this low a jet of strong

winds will bring relatively warm air into the area with temperatures

likely not falling too much after sunset. Once the surface low

pushes offshore and advection turns strongly cold...temperatures

will plunge as northwest winds bring colder air in from the west and

northwest. During the strongest period of winds this evening gusts

could reach 35 miles per hour near the beaches.

Highs today should range from around 50 across southeast North Carolina...

to as high as the middle 50s in the Georgetown and Kingstree vicinity.

Lows tonight should range from 30-35...warmest at the NC beaches.

&&

Short term /Saturday through Sunday night/...

as of 2:50 am Friday...potent northwest flow will continue at least through

Saturday at the middle levels with one last vorticity moving across Saturday

afternoon albeit displaced a bit to the north. With the placement of

this feature any sprinkles or virga should be well to the north.

Surface high pressure moves in for Sunday. Mav continues to

advertise very low mins for Sunday with the met somewhat warmer. Via

the packing of the isobars...I cant see the boundary layer fully

decoupling so I opted for the warmer met numbers. Other periods are

in good agreement. Also expect some gusty conditions Saturday via

deep mixing/momentum Transfer.

&&

Long term /Monday through Thursday/...

as of 2:50 am Friday...main focus remains on the southern stream system to

affect the area late Sunday through early Tuesday. The 0000 UTC GFS

remains consistent with its solution and the NAM...now within the

time domain has generally the same idea...at least through 1200 UTC

Monday. Miller A low pressure will slowly move across the northern

Gulf and off of the South Carolina coast by early Tuesday morning.

Thermal profiles are to say the least...ominous for a significant

winter storm for all areas. Isentropic lift in the 285-295k level

begins in force by Monday morning. With deep Omega in the dendritic

growth zone...several hours of snow are likely. A warm nose in the

925-850mb layer advects in from about 1500 UTC Onward...however

surface temperatures remain below freezing inland. This could lead

to a few hours of sleet and or freezing rain. Terrestrial

temperatures should be well conditioned with a cold morning Sunday

while we remain just a couple of weeks away from the winter

solstice. The disclaimer to all of this of course continues to be

that the system remains offshore of California and has yet to enter

the upper air network. However model consensus at this point cannot

be ignored. For the forecast...I have trended p-type from all snow

to a mix to all rain by the evening Monday. Will include significant

wording in the severe weather potential statement. The remainder of the extended remains relatively

unchanged...cold with a drying trend.

&&

current Obs:

33.5 °F ClearWindchill:29 °F Humidity:100%Dew Point:

34 °F

Wind:

6.2 mph from the WNW window.wind_animate['CONDBOXWIND']=new WindRotate("condboxArrowDiv",14,284); Wind Gust:10.4 mph Pressure:29.60 in (Steady)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm starting to thing it's going to be difficult if not impossible to avoid mixing issues in E. Central/Eastern NC with this one. The first system weakens as it begins to spread precip into the area. We hope it will be energized by the second system. But if that occurs, it seems likely that it will cause enough warming aloft to allow for a change to sleet or even some freezing rain.

Is it possible for the second system to phase in with the first one in such a way that these zones can remain all snow? I wouldn't worry if it was just the one system, but with this other one coming in, that throws a lot of doubt in about a purely snow event.

From everything I am seeing this morning, yes, we are going to have some serious p-type issues to contend with, which could be made even worse by meager QPF amounts, on the order of <0.5". The double barrel idea of a piece of energy working through E TN, while the primary comes up the coast is starting to gain some traction and that would yield waa for us. The strength of this secondary feature is going to go along way in determining how much we warm, a weaker, or almost non-existent impulse through the TN Valley would be a best case scenario. If the 850 takes that track, forget about it, ZR and IP at best. 0z ECMWF is trending in this direction, although it does pop a 140dm closed 850 off NE NC at 120hrs, and deepens it off the VA Capes moving NE. This indicates the model is seeing something traversing the state in the mid-levels, but still struggling with where to place the enhancement in a broad and open area aloft prior to that.

As far as the phasing is concerned, both of these parcels are still in data sparse areas, so who knows, maybe like the Christmas storm where a piece of northern stream energy was missed at this range, there could be something there not shown atm which would give us a more favorable solution. The gap between the dampening southern energy and northern stream indicates not enough enhancement would take place to benefit central and eastern NC, however, any closing of that gap, i.e. slower southern and-or faster northern, would help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At 84 (yea I know its a long way out) WNC basically gets buried in a foot of snow.

And at that point we are only half way thru the event, As the nam ends at 84. Would be another 12 hours of snow after that. I just hope to see the nam continue this run at 12z. Although its hard to see the 12z coming in any better after the 6z set the bar so high.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From everything I am seeing this morning, yes, we are going to have some serious p-type issues to contend with, which could be made even worse by meager QPF amounts, on the order of <0.5". The double barrel idea of a piece of energy working through E TN, while the primary comes up the coast is starting to gain some traction and that would yield waa for us. The strength of this secondary feature is going to go along way in determining how much we warm, a weaker, or almost non-existent impulse through the TN Valley would be a best case scenario. If the 850 takes that track, forget about it, ZR and IP at best. 0z ECMWF is trending in this direction, although it does pop a 140dm closed 850 off NE NC at 120hrs, and deepens it off the VA Capes moving NE. This indicates the model is seeing something traversing the state in the mid-levels, but still struggling with where to place the enhancement in a broad and open area aloft prior to that.

As far as the phasing is concerned, both of these parcels are still in data sparse areas, so who knows, maybe like the Christmas storm where a piece of northern stream energy was missed at this range, there could be something there not shown atm which would give us a more favorable solution. The gap between the dampening southern energy and northern stream indicates not enough enhancement would take place to benefit central and eastern NC, however, any closing of that gap, i.e. slower southern and-or faster northern, would help.

Thanks man. I was hoping I was not seeing things correctly, but it sounds like unfortunately I was. I also thing that second piece needs to come farther south as well. Still plenty of time for us though. Not liking the trends at this point however. Thanks for the good comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great discussion from gsp....

I think folks in NC might want to check out the latest QPF from the 06z nam Snowman.gif

It looks more reasonable keeping the 5H together into the lower Miss. Valley before allowing it to become sheared out somewhat, and then tilting east to west on the nw Comma head, where its really going to snow hard.Atleast synoptically thats been how I envsion this, as the incoming Rockies system connects with the remnants of lift stretching from suthern Mo. across Tenn to NC and offshore, but we're talking later on Monday for that, maybe even Tuesday, by then most of the Carolinas and GA and been clocked, so I still think this could be a multi-punch system.

Hopefully those runs weren't a hiccup, I normally don't give much credence to 6z, but since data may just be getting in good, it looked reasonable.

Like you said, the Carolinas wan't the ULL to hold together for longer and take the right track to deliver this once in a 20 year potential snowfall to the Southeast.

post-38-0-18683500-1294407504.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It looks more reasonable keeping the 5H together into the lower Miss. Valley before allowing it to become sheared out somewhat, and then tilting east to west on the nw Comma head, where its really going to snow hard.Atleast synoptically thats been how I envsion this, as the incoming Rockies system connects with the remnants of lift stretching from suthern Mo. across Tenn to NC and offshore, but we're talking later on Monday for that, maybe even Tuesday, by then most of the Carolinas and GA and been clocked, so I still think this could be a multi-punch system.

Hopefully those runs weren't a hiccup, I normally don't give much credence to 6z, but since data may just be getting in good, it looked reasonable.

Like you said, the Carolinas wan't the ULL to hold together for longer and take the right track to deliver this once in a 20 year potential snowfall to the Southeast.

I know the Euro was a bit of a kick in the nuts but this morning even before seeing the NAM, I was thinking about how almost every met says to trust the pattern and not worry so much about the details a map puts out. I think you hit on the head a few days ago and yesterday afternoon when talking to Wow, we need to see this pattern for what it is, which is a great setup with tons of potential. I'm still very much of the thinking we score big.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Updated map from the CPC. :thumbsup:

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/predictions/threats/threats.gif

Edit to add a small portion of their summary:

THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM THAT IS EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN CONUS IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE GULF COAST BY SUNDAY. SHOWERS AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS ARE LIKELY TO DEVELOP ALONG THE IMMEDIATE GULF COAST AND INTO NORTHERN FLORIDA SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. DEPENDING ON HOW FAR TO THE SOUTH THE STORM TRACKS, WINTRY PRECIPITATION MAY BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NORTHERN TEXAS, THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI AND TENNESSEE VALLEYS AND ACROSS NORTHERN PARTS OF ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI. TOO MUCH MODEL VARIABILITY EXISTS IN THESE AREAS TO DENOTE SPECIFIC WINTRY WEATHER HAZARDS AT THIS TIME. HOWEVER, IT APPEARS THAT AN APPRECIABLE HEAVY SNOW EVENT IS MORE LIKELY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS AND THE CAROLINA PIEDMONT MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know the Euro was a bit of a kick in the nuts but this morning even before seeing the NAM, I was thinking about how almost every met says to trust the pattern and not worry so much about the details a map puts out. I think you hit on the head a few days ago and yesterday afternoon when talking to Wow, we need to see this pattern for what it is, which is a great setup with tons of potential. I'm still very much of the thinking we score big.

exactly. I caugt my ownself getting weary last night, but I had a great sleep and ready to take it on LOL. This pattern is a once in 20 year event potential really for the Dallas Mem BHM ATL CLT corridor, and happened a couple times in the 80's, but almost none since. The cold air in place is nice to see. And we' are really heading down there on temps this weekend. HIghs in the upper 20's to low 30s in the piedmont of NC for a couple days. This should help with accumulations nicely, and you have to love the NAM's overall look of not weakening it now so quickly so maybe its catching on to what I thought would happen, but we really have to just see if the 12z continues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

exactly. I caugt my ownself getting weary last night, but I had a great sleep and ready to take it on LOL. This pattern is a once in 20 year event potential really for the Dallas Mem BHM ATL CLT corridor, and happened a couple times in the 80's, but almost none since. The cold air in place is nice to see. And we' are really heading down there on temps this weekend. HIghs in the upper 20's to low 30s in the piedmont of NC for a couple days. This should help with accumulations nicely, and you have to love the NAM's overall look of not weakening it now so quickly so maybe its catching on to what I thought would happen, but we really have to just see if the 12z continues.

Good Morning Robert!

The Euro really got to me last night, but after Checking out the 6z runs of the NAM and GFS, it may be turning the corner. The s/w has trended stronger.

The 12z NAM is currently coming out now and looks even stronger than the 6z at 36 hrs so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good Morning Robert!

The Euro really got to me last night, but after Checking out the 6z runs of the NAM and GFS, it may be turning the corner. The s/w has trended stronger.

The 12z NAM is currently coming out now and looks even stronger than the 6z at 36 hrs so far.

You beat me to it Wow.... 12z NAM, at least so far, is stronger. I purposely did not stay up for the late night runs because I feared they would go through their usual hiccup which they did. Now we start to see things really ramp up. I have a really good feeling this is going to turn out to be storm we all remember for a long time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although the setup is totally different, this is quite reminiscent of the Christmas storm in that the Euro was bonkers in its sweet spot (4-6 days), then it backed off, and then in the last 48-60 hours, the models just kept strengthening and strengthening the shortwave. Of course, we don't know if that last part will come to fruition, but it's easier to not cliff dive when it looks like history repeats and history had a happy ending.

Keep in mind that the s/w has yet to reach land. This could be one of those times when the s/w will trend stronger as it comes more into "view" of the models.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...