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January 10th-12th OV/MW/GL Winter Storm prospects


Harry

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I have family in Muskegon & Norton Shores and head up there at least once a month. While there has been very little snow for the area season-to-date, I beleive you have made out just fine during the past couple lake events.

Good evening! I live in Norton Shores...we have definitely made out better than Grand Rapids...and have gotten some good bursts of snow from the lake. However, the main bands for the most part have been sitting over the lake and pounding northern Indiana. It's been the same song and dance all winter...they call for large amounts of LES and then the more westerly winds just don't seem to kick in. I've been watching everything (LES and storms) move up or down along the lake and bypass us. It is indeed all relative though. Coming from Chicago, it probably seems to you like we have a lot of snow. Lake effect compacts down REALLY quickly too. I hope you enjoy your trips here.

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Have we been doing that lately? I thought we just kept them in the storm forecast thread. Don't let it stop you from making a new thread for OBS though, I'm just thinking out loud.

I say we try an obs thread. It can get a little cluttered having such a large storm thread for a region wide storm with obs as well.

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I have not had a 4" or greater event since the 07/08 winter (which was incredible with 82"...payback?). I am forecasting 4" in my backyard from this event, but optimistic that maybe a 5-6" event may occur given potential high ratios. Still liking Muncie to Lima to Cleveland for the sweetspot with low end warning amounts.

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Good evening! I live in Norton Shores...we have definitely made out better than Grand Rapids...and have gotten some good bursts of snow from the lake. However, the main bands for the most part have been sitting over the lake and pounding northern Indiana. It's been the same song and dance all winter...they call for large amounts of LES and then the more westerly winds just don't seem to kick in. I've been watching everything (LES and storms) move up or down along the lake and bypass us. It is indeed all relative though. Coming from Chicago, it probably seems to you like we have a lot of snow. Lake effect compacts down REALLY quickly too. I hope you enjoy your trips here.

We love the area and I have been visiting family there my entire life. Did you recently move to Norton Shores? The immediate area doesn't tend to do as well with LES as Grand Haven south to Benton Harbor. North of Muskegon along Scenic Drive up towards Whitehall and points north often do better as well. Muskegon gets its best LES dumps from prolonged SW-trajectory events. Those obviously aren't nearly as common as N/NW events.

However, this is all OT as we're nowcasting a synoptic system that seems to be overperforming in a few spots west of here. Here's hoping that deep DGZ and the favorable ratios everyone keeps mentioning work out for both/all of us.

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I have not had a 4" or greater event since the 07/08 winter (which was incredible with 82"...payback?). I am forecasting 4" in my backyard from this event, but optimistic that maybe a 5-6" event may occur given potential high ratios. Still liking Muncie to Lima to Cleveland for the sweetspot with low end warning amounts.

Im only about 30 or 40 miles west of Muncie! I hope my area can end up in the sweetspot for once! I think we have a good shot considering the tracks of the 8h 7h mb lows.

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It's amazing to me just how similar this winter is here as last winter...actually this year may be even worse. All these northerly lake effect events hitting Indiana combined with all the systems going west and south....it's just been so frustrating. Where do you live in Western Michigan?

I go to Calvin college, so east side of Grand Rapids. I agree, we were supposed to get upwards of 9 inches from that LES event last friday and I think we barely eeked out three.

Edit: that being said, I feel for the people in MI living outside the snow belt. I was checking daily climo records, and as of some point late last week Houghton Lake only had 3 (!) inches on the ground. For being up north and in a psuedo LES belt, that is horrible.

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How Ironic...with this storm we will be making good progress toward a top 10 snowless winter....:axe:

Muskegan is already at 28.0". Even though that is well below normal, no way do they have a top 10 snowless winter. No way in hell anyone in southern MI does. If this storm and the snowfall at the end of the week works out, Detroit will go above normal to date :weight_lift:

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Starting to get excited, I work 11-7 tomorrow so storm should be going well before I get off work. I notice every single GFS ensemble at both 12z and 18z has all of southern MI south of GRR and FNT in the 0.25"+ zone, so the OP is a definite outlier. Snow depth here is still 1.5-2", however lots of grass tips seen by busy roads, and full-out patches of grass on the freeways. Perfect time for a refresher, and dare I say with several more rounds of snow in the forecast later this week, I may be on the way to building a nice snowpack above and beyond that of December :). Dont want to jinx anything, but MAYBE this IS going to be a very white winter overall, and that 5-day bare stretch to start January was just a blip.

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Muskegan is already at 28.0". Even though that is well below normal, no way do they have a top 10 snowless winter. No way in hell anyone in southern MI does. If this storm and the snowfall at the end of the week works out, Detroit will go above normal to date :weight_lift:

I remember years ago there was a HUGE debate on Eastern about lake effect snow being "fake" and not really counting...in a way now, I kind of understand where they were coming from. How do you include lake effect in "average snowfall" when an inch of lake effect isn't really an inch. It quickly becomes a centimeter. :) But, alas, I know this isn't the thread for that discussion. Here's hoping for a decent amount of snow for you from this storm. You'll get a nice snowpack back and then you will be very positive about the winter again. :snowman:

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I remember years ago there was a HUGE debate on Eastern about lake effect snow being "fake" and not really counting...in a way now, I kind of understand where they were coming from. How do you include lake effect in "average snowfall" when an inch of lake effect isn't really an inch. It quickly becomes a centimeter. :) But, alas, I know this isn't the thread for that discussion. Here's hoping for a decent amount of snow for you from this storm. You'll get a nice snowpack back and then you will be very positive about the winter again. :snowman:

This is OT for this thread, but here goes lol.

The whole fake snow argument is kind of weird. Because snow is snow. Some call it "fake" because its fluffy and yeah it settles alot, and especially the deeper it is the more it settles. I had 3.8" of this "fake" snow on the 6/7th and now have 1.5-2" on the ground, with the warmest temp since then being 29F. So yes it settles, but it sure looks like snow lol. Ironically, as I recall it was a lot of the midatlantic crew who were most adament about LES being fake, well...hmmm...should we call their usual cement snow "fake" snow since it melts even faster than LES settles? :lol:

Anyway, thats why climate sites do snowfall and snow depth, to account for different rates of melting/settling. As an example lets compare CLE and DTW in December. Cleveland had 3.4" MORE snow than Detroit, but Detroits depth was way higher. CLE had almost all LES, DTW mostly all synoptic. Still, its ALL snow.

CLEVELAND, almost all LES

[size="3"]STATION:   CLEVELAND OH
                                         MONTH: 	DECEMBER
                                         YEAR:      2010
                                         LATITUDE:   41 24 N
                                         LONGITUDE:  81 51 W

 TEMPERATURE IN F:   	:PCPN:    SNOW:  WIND      :SUNSHINE: SKY 	:PK WND
================================================================================
1   2   3   4   5  6A  6B    7    8   9   10  11  12  13   14  15   16   17  18
                                	12Z  AVG MX 2MIN
DY MAX MIN AVG DEP HDD CDD  WTR  SNW DPTH SPD SPD DIR MIN PSBL S-S WX    SPD DR
================================================================================

1  35  26  31  -5  34   0 0.02  0.1    0 17.2 28 250   M    M  10 1      36 230
2  29  26  28  -8  37   0    T    T    T 10.4 16 250   M    M  10        24 230
3  30  25  28  -8  37   0 0.05  0.6    T  7.9 14 250   M    M   9 1      29 190
4  33  20  27  -9  38   0 0.01  0.1    1  7.8 22 360   M    M   7        28 360
5  31  26  29  -6  36   0 0.04  0.4    T 16.2 24 300   M    M  10        36 290
6  29  25  27  -7  38   0 0.10  1.0    1 16.3 25 300   M    M  10 19 	36 300
7  26  21  24 -10  41   0 0.09  1.5    2 14.8 23 300   M    M  10 1      30 300
8  26  19  23 -10  42   0 0.17  3.0    1 12.3 21 250   M    M  10 1      25 300
9  28  16  22 -11  43   0 0.01  0.2    3  6.9 16 180   M    M   9 1      22 160
10  38  27  33   0  32   0 0.04  0.5    2 11.2 18 170   M    M   7 1      23 190
11  44  27  36   4  29   0 0.01  0.0    1  9.0 17 140   M    M   5 18 	24 140
12  39  23  31  -1  34   0 0.60  1.8    0 13.9 28 240   M    M  10 1      33 230
13  23  15  19 -13  46   0 0.12  2.7    4 21.7 31 310   M    M  10 129    39 310
14  23  15  19 -12  46   0    T    T    2 18.4 26 320   M    M   9        37 320
15  23  15  19 -12  46   0    T    T    2 12.7 21 290   M    M  10        29 300
16  23  12  18 -13  47   0    T    T    2  4.3  8 220   M    M   8 8      10 230
17  27  17  22  -9  43   0 0.01  0.1    1 10.0 20 250   M    M   7 8      24 220
18  26  14  20 -10  45   0 0.00  0.0    1 10.5 18 240   M    M   2        26 220
19  24  14  19 -11  46   0    T    T    1  8.0 14 260   M    M   6 18 	18 240
20  27  20  24  -6  41   0 0.01  0.1    1  7.2 13 240   M    M   9 18 	15 270
21  31  20  26  -3  39   0 0.00  0.0    1  3.9  8  30   M    M  10 18 	12 240
22  31  28  30   1  35   0 0.03  0.5    1  9.1 24 330   M    M  10 1      30 320
23  32  27  30   1  35   0    T    T    1 14.6 24 340   M    M  10        31 340
24  29  27  28  -1  37   0    T    T    2  7.6 14 340   M    M   9        17 340
25  29  25  27  -1  38   0    T    T    1  9.9 16  10   M    M  10 8      20  10
26  27  22  25  -3  40   0 0.01  0.1    1 16.6 31  10   M    M   9 1      38  10
27  26  17  22  -6  43   0    T    T    1 13.8 26 350   M    M   9 19 	35 340
28  29  14  22  -5  43   0 0.00  0.0    1 12.2 22 240   M    M   5 18 	26 240
29  36  21  29   2  36   0 0.00  0.0    1  7.2 12 230   M    M   6 18 	14 230
30  44  30  37  10  28   0 0.02  0.0    1 11.5 17 180   M    M   9 1      23 240
31  58  44  51  24  14   0    T  0.0    0 13.8 21 200   M    M   8        29 190
================================================================================
SM  956  678      1189   0  1.34    12.7 356.9          M      263

[/size]

DETROIT mostly synoptic

[size="3"]STATION:   DETROIT MI
                                         MONTH:     DECEMBER
                                         YEAR:      2010
                                         LATITUDE:   42 13 N
                                         LONGITUDE:  83 20 W

 TEMPERATURE IN F:       :PCPN:    SNOW:  WIND      :SUNSHINE: SKY     :PK WND
================================================================================
1   2   3   4   5  6A  6B    7    8   9   10  11  12  13   14  15   16   17  18
                                    12Z  AVG MX 2MIN
DY MAX MIN AVG DEP HDD CDD  WTR  SNW DPTH SPD SPD DIR MIN PSBL S-S WX    SPD DR
================================================================================

1  34  26  30  -5  35   0    T  0.1    0 16.7 23 240   M    M  10 1      29 240
2  29  25  27  -7  38   0 0.01  0.2    T 12.6 22 220   M    M  10 1      26 220
3  36  27  32  -2  33   0 0.01  0.1    T  6.4 14 310   M    M   9 1      18 310
4  35  26  31  -2  34   0    T    T    0  7.4 18 330   M    M  10        25 330
5  30  23  27  -6  38   0    T    T    0 13.2 25 340   M    M   9        33 310
6  29  23  26  -7  39   0 0.01  0.3    T 14.0 23 330   M    M  10        39 290
7  29  20  25  -7  40   0    T    T    T 14.2 25 330   M    M   8        36 330
8  30  19  25  -7  40   0    T    T    T  8.6 15 270   M    M   9        18 290
9  29  15  22 -10  43   0 0.00  0.0    T  6.1 16 180   M    M   6        21 190
10  39  26  33   2  32   0 0.07  0.9    1 13.0 22 230   M    M   7 18     26 220
11  41  22  32   1  33   0 0.08  0.0    T  5.8 13 120   M    M   8 18     18 110
12  38  16  27  -3  38   0 0.94  6.3    T 11.2 23 340   M    M  10 129    35 350
13  16   9  13 -17  52   0    T    T    6 17.7 26 330   M    M   6 9      38 320
14  21   9  15 -15  50   0 0.00  0.0    6 13.6 22 320   M    M   3 8      33 320
15  25  13  19 -11  46   0 0.00  0.0    6  4.7 14 270   M    M   5 18     17 260
16  26   6  16 -13  49   0    T    T    5  5.3 10 270   M    M   8 1      14 300
17  28  15  22  -7  43   0    T    T    5 10.9 20 240   M    M   8 1      25 250
18  21  10  16 -13  49   0    T    T    5 11.5 18 200   M    M   8 18     21 200
19  25  18  22  -6  43   0 0.01  0.2    5  7.0 12 230   M    M  10 18     15 240
20  31  22  27  -1  38   0 0.00  0.0    5  4.9 10 310   M    M   9 1      13 300
21  30  22  26  -2  39   0 0.00  0.0    5  3.5  8 110   M    M  10 18     12 240
22  33  25  29   1  36   0 0.06  1.0    6  7.0 16 340   M    M   9 18     22 330
23  32  29  31   4  34   0    T    T    5  9.2 20 340   M    M  10        26 350
24  29  25  27   0  38   0 0.00  0.0    5  5.8 12  10   M    M  10        15  30
25  30  24  27   0  38   0    T    T    5  8.0 20  20   M    M  10 18     23  30
26  28  23  26  -1  39   0 0.01  0.2    5 15.3 24  30   M    M  10 1      33  20
27  24  21  23  -4  42   0    T    T    5  9.6 18  10   M    M   7        26  20
28  29  15  22  -4  43   0 0.00  0.0    5 12.2 22 260   M    M   5 18     26 240
29  30  19  25  -1  40   0 0.00  0.0    5  6.4  9 170   M    M   7 18     13 170
30  40  30  35   9  30   0 0.03  0.0    5  7.5 13 160   M    M  10 168    17 180
31  52  38  45  19  20   0 0.05  0.0    2  8.5 15 190   M    M   9 1      20 190
================================================================================

SM 949 641 1212 0 1.28 9.3 297.8 M 260

[/size]

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<br /><br />

<br />

Im only about 30 or 40 miles west of Muncie! I hope my area can end up in the sweetspot for once! I think we have a good shot considering the tracks of the 8h 7h mb lows.<br />

Do you remember the fiasco on SR 37 last year? 100+ cars stuck on the Hamilton / Madison line? That was only a 5-7" snow if I remember right. Night of 2/5-6.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

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As you were saying earlier, if you were just looking at the 700mb maps, you'd think I-70 would be the jackpot area, but somehow areas from IND to TOL are.

not according to the 00z nam anymore....looks like it best goes south of toledo

edit: or I should say Toledo is the northern edge of the best stuff...which extends down thru cmh

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