Chinook

I just as I posted the SPC mesoscale discussion graphic, and now... the big snowflakes are here. There are aggregate snowflakes or whatever the term is, snowflakes sticking to snowflakes. It's going to be accumulating 1" per hour for a couple of hours at least.

At my place, snow is covering the grass, mainly. Below: this SPC mesoscale discussion for snow is probably the only time I'm going to get a mesoscale discussion at my location for quite some time.

some spotter reports

This is my favorite post ever.

individual snowflakes

when have they not been in D2-D3 drought?

This was a snow storm for Colorado, just not where any of us live (or lived, in my case.)

This minor storm is centered around KC and the ongoing KC vs Jacksonville game, but not much to speak of at the stadium, and rain for you guys that are the main people in this thread.

I didn't think this one would have much, but maybe I can take some nice pictures of snowflakes and snow cover. I didn't really take a picture of the outside with the Dec 23-24 ground blizzard, as there was some grass showing, and it was a wind chill of -29 and stuff like that. HREF says 4-6" in coming! ha ha ha. That's the max value of the CAM models, so yeah, it's too high. Honestly I think observations might be 1.5" or 2.0" by tomorrow night or Monday.

I saw lightning at Toledo at 5:30PM, and it was not far away, as the thunder was quite soon. I really and truly haven't had a +RA in January since before I moved to the Western US. It's just so strange.

These images are from somewhat earlier. There have not been a lot of new storm reports

snapshot of higher winds that lasted for about 1 hour

a lot more windy at DIA right now with wind gusts to 34kt (39mph), with almost all other airports less windy though.

They've got 7" in Loveland and 7-8" around DIA right now. Maybe other spotters will measure 7" soon.

radar is a solid area

snow bands getting going around Denver

I feel like this is a WetNina rather than a WhiteNina.

The GFS has 15-20 knot easterly winds at 700mb during the height of the storm with -8C up there and maybe 30F at the surface, which is strangely warm. That's always a sign of a heavy snow band at the foothills. (see attached image) as QPF is quite high for just 6 hours there. The 18z GFS and 00z GFS have some different areas that have 11" of snow in 12 hours! Not exactly the highest confidence on that, but hey, it's a lot of snow. As mentioned, the 18z NAM had kind of a weird forecast. It has kind of been that way for years. When this model switched its name from the Eta to the NAM in 2007 or 2008. Then around 2008, they replaced the core of the model with the WRF software. It was, and is, considered the premier mesoscale model for the USA, but the snow forecasts for the Front Range have been kind of wonky for a long time. Check NWS Boulder for official snow forecast and Winter Storm Warning details.

Is this a warm seclusion?

On Tuesday to Wednesday, it seems like this could be a longer-lasting storm with several inches of snow. The GFS, Canadian and UKMET have pretty decent QPF of over 0.6" for metro areas, and the 00z ECMWF has lower values. Edit: 12z ECMWF is pretty snowy.

Today's models have some agreement for Colorado on Wednesday (96 hours). They have a 500mb closed low and surface upslope winds and snow.

Measured precipitation for past 3 weeks. San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Bishop CA, Elko NV, and Ogden UT had the #1 highest precipitation compared to the historical record (considering the same calendar days)

we are hearing this was a hit in the center of town

update: possible large tornadoes have occurred today in Alabama, Jan 12th, with this, minutes ago in the city of Selma Alabama. Up to now, there have been 13 preliminary tornado reports in Alabama.

The GEFS members have temps above freezing for much of this time frame