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January General Banter Thread II


Marion_NC_WX

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So it was almost the edge of actual light snow for about 5 minutes. Absolutely no accumulation and now it's done.

Yep, that's it folks. Even the dry models busted.

Models are a joke huh? When will people learn and just turn to waking up looking outside and seeing what the weather is. Be better than following the sorry models that are worse than 20 years ago

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Models are a joke huh? When will people learn and just turn to waking up looking outside and seeing what the weather is. Be better than following the sorry models that are worse than 20 years ago

I think the best thing the models can do is show that there is potential. As far as how much we get, that is pretty much in the air when it comes to snow here.

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My area busted bad also. This morning had over half and inch and now down to a trace. Only had light flurries off and on all day. models showed me getting 5 or 6 inches for the last day or so.

Now a small batch approaches and has sleet mixed in. We are changing over just as fast as the coastal plain geez.

Oh well always next storm but looks like were warming up for a while after this week.

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The max precip I've seen on any of the models this week was .5 qpf. Now that is the total for the storm. The last I checked the lp is just going across Florida and not yet in the Atlantic. There is going to be more moisture for our area but it will probably be in the ip/zr category. My point is lets wait till the storm is over before we say the models have busted because I really don't think they have done that bad of a job so far. All the models showed the dry air here and most showed lighter qpf than anywhere else. That's the reason I have not been surprised so far. My expectations were low coming into today....Now I did expect 1" of snow but oh well.

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And by the way, you can't predict snow accums around here. It's darn near impossible to nail it down exactly. Models can maybe give you a hint as to where the best precip will fall and what form it might take, but even that can be in error by more than 100 miles. I admire all the mets and other folks that try to do it. It's hard. It takes a lot of effort. But it's a fools errand. With the technology that we have in place today, it can't be done across a broad area. Sure, you might can nail down a small area pretty good, but you can't get it right for whole state or an area bigger than that.

In our region, there are just way too many things that prevent accurate snowfall forecasts. Here are some:

1) Track of the storm -- small variations can make huge differences....models don't usually have a good handle on this till 24 hrs out.

2) Strength of the storm -- again small variations can make huge differences.

3) Convection in the Gulf -- can rob or enhance moisture transport....nowcasting is all you have with this element.

4) Warm nose -- usually comes in sooner than forecast...but sometimes it doesn't. Unpredictable, unless you're forecasting very broadly.

5) Dynamics -- Higher rates can offset warming aloft...but where will the higher rates be? Will they occur? Will they be strong enough to offset the underforecast warm nose?

6) Cloud cover/insolation -- It would have been more snow and less rain if the clouds had moved in quicker and the boundary layer hadn't climbed into the mid 40s. How many times have we seen this happen?

7) Phasing -- Too early, rain. Too late, dry....how many times has that been missed?

8) Dry air -- Nobody on the planet knows how long that will take to overcome, but it's usually longer than most people think.

What else? I'm sure I'm missing something. You can't forecast snow here.

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I was just thinking about this storm and it could possiblly hit from Tx all the way to Maine and just skip Wake County up to SE Va....When you think of it that way that is pretty depressing.

I agree, tough one here, oh well, maybe next year we will be in the sweet spot for once.

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yep, we had a few dendrites at the onset, a rogue quarter here or there, but that quickly transitioned to plates (dense sn-flakes, not fluffy crystals) and sleet. Now I am 100% IP, with off and on showers. :thumbsdown:

Just the way this one has gone...BTW your measurement picture in the picture thread cracked me up...:thumbsup:

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