SnowGoose69

PHL over to SNPL. EWR on their SPECI just now has had .09 liquid this hour already so maybe 2-3 inches again

EWR 2/5 now .09 last hour...JFK reported .06 but no snow remark total for the hour. NYC had .13 liquid

Looking outside I swear 2 inches has fallen in past 30 minutes

The ratios will begin to fall to like 8 or 9:1 by 18Z probably but you'd think there will be amounts now of 10-12 in some spots before it changes

LGA and NYC had .12 and .10 liquid past hour. LGA now reporting 3 on the ground 2 last hour

I think there will be many 7s-8s-9s but getting over that unless rates go to 2-3 inches an hour after 15Z will be hard

I think they may get saved a bit by sleet but I’m not highly optimistic

Does now look like NE side of ATL metro will get hit hard. Didn’t think they’d do it a few hours ago but even think down to the airport now makes 31-32 by 4-5am but those areas may benefit from the dryslot more once they are under the threshold

Looks like across Maryland and south snow began when cloud decks reached around 7,000 ft. Across PA it’s been 4,000ft. Up here it may take til they get down to 2500-3000ft. I’d say it could begin as early as 10Z but meaningful accumulations won’t be til 12-13Z. In these setups too the immediate NYC area as well as western LI always pulls down more dry air from the Connecticut river valley and can take longer to saturate than NW NJ and central and eastern LI

This looks pretty close. 7-9 or 8-10 for LI/NYC area unless little mixing happens https://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/href/?model=href&product=snowfall_024h_mean&sector=ne

I prefer the high to be situated a bit more SE and the approach of the storm to be more due south than it is in this case but both are close. I’ve mentioned before the center of the high over or slightly east of PWM and the core of the system approaching from along the VA/NC coast due north vs more from the SW is ideal. January 87 2014 and November 2018 are examples of that. It tends to result in more severe lifting and crazy snow rates but can also slow the changeover

I’d be more worried honestly this comes pretty far back north. The trof while deep in the east it’s not an exceptionally cold air mass anymore by late week and it’s not like January 20 last year screaming suppression to me. I’m not saying it’s a Tennessee snow event but it may be the classic north of a Montgomery Macon Charleston line event where Birmingham to Atlanta and on east gets the snow

The one reason I can argue the NAM may be wrong is almost every other model shows insane snow rates ahead of the changeover line. If that happens it’s likely the NAM is too fast on the changeover to sleet

The oddest thing about the NAM to me is it does not even have crazy rates ahead of the changeover line. The frontogenesis is semi dislodged from the area where that would occur which may be why. But every other model shows insane rates 2-3 hours before that change occurs...so if the NAM is wrong on that idea the changeover may be delayed

The 3KM NAM does bear some similarities to the RAP as far as precip but the RAP seems to not even see the wedge. At least the 3km NAM has the wedge back well south and west of ATL 10-15Z tomorrow. The scary thing for the ATL metro is how far back the NAM has wanted to push the wedge as far as lateness into Sunday, if that verifies and IF significant ZR happens there will be way less time or chance to melt things off before winds pick up. But the fact now it has things so mild til 10Z is concerning on the bust end. I am not confident at all in any forecast I have out, even NYC it may be mainly sleet after 20Z tomorrow

I'm taking alot of abuse this morning lol, "you have been very accurate this winter but these last two storms you've been awful on your predictions". I'd be wary of the NAM given its been solid on these ideas this season thus far. Right now I'd be nervous about the 6 plus forecast for the coast for sure though it may be 6 plus with sleet included since official climo counts that.

I think they too may see more sleet than FZRA though they're on the border I think of where things setup on the FZRA/sleet line

We need to see what the 3km NAM does as we get closer in but the 12km at 12Z fits my idea that the sleet line makes it to the S shore of LI or just south and then collapses.

I'm wary of the NAM dryness in GA since it did this last year on 1/10 too...that said that was not the same setup, this is more of a case where I can somewhat buy the idea though the RGEM not showing it is a major concern and the 3km NAM seemingly bringing the wedge back to almost CTJ or the Bama border is a concern. I think in the end the risk of the metro seeing ice storm warning criteria is higher than some think while places like GVL E-NE may see more sleet.

Its wild how many Mets are going to miss this event because they'll be in Houston for AMS

Right now I lean towards a 2/11/94 type result. I think the sleet may make it to SI/S Bklyn and Queens at times and S shore of LI but I'd go with a forecast of all snow probably north of those areas.

ATL metro it all comes down to the surface feature and how strong it is/how far north it gets. If its as shown on the 18Z Euro I don't think they end up in too bad a place because they'd have a 6 hour window 06-12Z to really drop a ton of FZRA and thats just typically hard to do. If you rain at .15 an hour most runs off, if you rain at .07 an hour you may get a 1/2 inch of ice but if it goes to 48 degrees by 18z you melt it all off and limit the damage of future wind/time of it on trees and powerlines. They need to basically be frozen all event. Areas well NE of the metro that may occur but I am suspect on the metro itself doing that.

Yeah it was heavily downplayed near the coast but just inland a bit they were going big, I think for Philly and BWI the forecast was pretty big, the big issues with people being surprised were centered around NYC metro.

39 years ago today.... https://www.meteo.psu.edu/ewall/NARR/1987/us0122.php One of many terrible forecasts back in the 80s, especially the 87-89 period. 1-2 inches changing to rain I believe was the forecast the night before. As we began seeing during the 80s, models did sometimes begin catching on at the last second so I think they did upgrade to a heavy snow warning at like 4-5am for at least NYC on N and W but they did not for LI/Queens/Brooklyn so many people went to work and even some in NYC/NJ did because with no social media back then if you did not turn on the TV if you woke up at 5-6am you did not realize the forecast changed. My aunt made it home that day thanks to her 76 or 77 VW Rabbit which had FW drive, she said she was only car actually able to drive through the streets while everyone she navigated around was stuck. The Devils played a game that night with only like 300 fans showing and some players not even making it to the game.

If the trends hold I am less worried about ATL. I'd expect the GFS eventually goes way warmer there. Ultimately may only see a brief 8-10 hour period of FZRA there 03-12Z or so Sun AM but we have a ways to go