Final call for my area and the I-78/I-80 corridor in general.
I have been riding 6-10" for the last few days. I'm a little reluctant to change it in the event the NAM is close to reality. However based on the following I am going to up it slightly:
-There is going to be 3-4 hours of rippage with snow rates over 1" per hour as best forcing and lift moves northward. The ratios with that are going to be greater than 10:1, likely 12-14:1 for a while.
-Thinking the NAM is slightly rushing the mid level warming and while I still believe sleet gets to I-80 and even north of there eventually, it may not rocket through as per the NAM.
-The 6-10" I'd been going with might still be fine but think the 6" might be a tad low for the bottom amount and the 10" might not quite be enough at the top end.
-NAM is the most dismal solution. Other shorter range models are suggesting maybe the mid level warming does not get quite to I-80 or it may drift back south once it does. Not giving high weight to that but it is possible. Think the mix eventually gets north of the NJ/NY border.
-Once the best forcing and lift passes north of the area the precipitation will be lighter and likely in the form of sleet. Going with 1 to 1.25" of liquid with about 60% of that (about .68") falling as pure snow - average ratio of 12:1 (8").
Final call: 7-11" along the I-78/I-80 corridor.
Seems like a good low to high end amount. Think the 12"+ amounts will be mainly confined to central and NW Sussex County and NW Passaic County on northward.
EWR, CP and JFK would go with 7-9".
If some of the colder and snowier model solutions verify my forecast amounts will verify low.
We're pretty much at go time so let the flakes fall where they may.
If I don't see another Kuchera map for a while I'll be happy.