Festus

So much for my "just slush on the grass" call...

7 minutes ago, Superstorm said:

Seeing some flakes staring to mix in in Lancaster.


.

Yep, mixing here.  Radar looking fairly healthy.  Maybe some grassy slush possible down this way.

SPS issued for the region stating gusts of 60 to 80 mph possible with squall line passage.

"

A line of severe thunderstorms is expected to cross Central
Pennsylvania, roughly between 5 and 10 pm. Some areas will see
damaging wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph along this line of storms.
Given how strong the winds are in the lower levels of the
atmosphere, isolated tornadoes are also a possibility.

KLNS currently showing a dewpoint of 79.  That is the highest I can ever remember.  Have we ever had an 80 handle?  And FYI, the highest ever veriified dewpoint in the United States is 88.  Sheesh, not too far off that mark.  And from the completely out of hand department, the highest ever dew point in the world was 95 in Saudi Aradia.  Coupled with an air temp of 108, the heat index was a tidy 176.  Makes our 112 not seem so bad (or not).

My point and click for Friday says - "A chance of rain showers before 8am, then a chance of rain and snow showers after noon. Some thunder is also possible. Partly sunny, with a high near 50."

Squall line potential like the other day?

8 hours ago, Festus said:

Here's one for you astronomical buffs.  Spring officially arrives Wednesday at 5:58 PM when the solar vertical ray crosses the equator.  But today, the sunrise to sunset time is 12 hours, 4 minutes.  Why is that time greater than 12 hours before the equinox?

My guess is that with the sun right on the horizon, the atmosphere bends the light a smidge making the sun appear a little sooner than it actually is.  But beats me if this is right.

Here's one for you astronomical buffs.  Spring officially arrives Wednesday at 5:58 PM when the solar vertical ray crosses the equator.  But today, the sunrise to sunset time is 12 hours, 4 minutes.  Why is that time greater than 12 hours before the equinox?

14 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

Where did this come from?!?!? Easily the worst storm here in recent memory...hail bigger than pea size along with blinding wind and rain. Literally could not see more than 50'. This was NOT forecast that I saw. Lightning and thunder but nothing super close. Winds were probably 30-40mph so sub-severe but still a very impressive event.

Edit: Picked up nearly .5" of rain in 12 minutes. 

Yep, hail here as well.  Maybe half a dozen lightning strikes.

50 minutes ago, Bubbler86 said:

Wow, so you actually had accumulating snow on a day that the forecast said Mostly Sunny. 

Definitely a dusting on top of the snow.  What hit the roads pretty much evaporated on contact.

Two pretty good rounds of snow showers here.  And a fair amount of blowing and drifting as well - far more than I would have thought given the amount of compaction the past 2 days.

And for the useless trivia fact of the day...this is only the second time in Millersville weather records dating back to 1926 that their top 2 snow events of the season occurred in both November and March.  The only other winter was '31 - '32.  Meteorological winter was relegated to 3rd place.  

32.3 here.  All surfaces now white but barely.  Maybe a school or 2 showing a delay so far.  Mostly churches, businesses and boroughs.  I think a 2 hour tomorrow is most likely.  Should have time to clean up before buses are out and given the number of snow days so far, I think they will stretch it to get the day in.

3 minutes ago, canderson said:

CTP has MDT forecast for 4-9”. Warnings probably within an hour. 

Warnings up from LWX for counties bordering the Mason Dixon.  4" - 6" there though I believe their criteria is lower for a warning.

Matt Moore (Allweather) this morning showed a southwest to northeast stripe of 3" - 7" across the LSV from Lancaster to maybe Perry county.  Then 1" - 3" northwest of that.  Pretty much in line with the latest Euro.

- High Wind Watch up for Sunday into Monday.

- Up to 11 hours now between sunrise and sunset.

- Turn clocks ahead in a little over 2 weeks.

- Yard is half snow, half grass.  Methinks snow is gone by Sunday.

Just started here...looking forward to what you guys are already experiencing.

Watch issued for the whole forum.  3-6 for Lancaster.

1 hour ago, canderson said:

I’m more surprised there isn’t a WWA for tonight.

There is one issued for the LSV.

Looking at Millersville University's official snowfall data for this winter shows the following:

November - 6.3" (all on the 15th)

December - Trace

January - 6.0" ( and a trace 3 times)

Plenty of winter to go but has it ever been the case that a) November had the largest single snow event and b) November was the snowiest month?  I think a) probably happened but b) would have to be unprecedented.

EDIT

Did a little digging -

1938 - November 24 (12 inches TIES all of January 1939 total)

1953 - November 6 (13.5 inches but January 1954 total is 13.7")

1972 - November 30 (3.1", rest of the winter was 1.0" total)

So would not be unique if November ends up the snowiest day and/or month but certainly rare.

I like February for the obvious fact of the snowiest month but also the lengthening days.  We've now gained over an hour sunrise-to-sunset time and picking up over 2 minutes a day.  It really struck me last night that I could still see discernible light at 6:00 PM.  The days of early winter darkness before 5:00 PM stinks.

27 minutes ago, canderson said:

I browsed LR threads in the other forums this morning and the consensus the past day or so seems like models say winter is nearly done.

Thankfuly LR modems blow and imo are a waste of time and energy.

Natural gas futures have tanked recently which are a decent indicator of the "smart money" thinking.  By NO MEANS do they always get it right but there's some talented Mofo's hired by those outfits to predict long range trends.   

And another from this morning just for entertainment value.

Not official by any means but screenshot of the WU station about 1/2 mile from me. 

WWA issued for the Susquehanna Valley.  2 - 4" for Lancaster.

Snowplow - 1, My mailbox - 0.  Snapped the mounting plate in half!  Dude must have been flying and that was some HEAVY paste this morning.  Went to Home Depot for a replacement and looks like I wasn't the only one.  Place was all but sold out.  I know that pales in comparison what others went through yesterday and last night but carnage nonetheless.