hawkeye_wx

00z Euro is still sw of the other models... really dives the energy south. It had looked like there would be nothing of interest for many of us for another 10-14 days. Now all models are suddenly on board a solid snow for some of us in only five days.

The GFS has joined the others tonight regarding the Friday/Saturday system digging out of Canada.

The Euro is now trying to spin up a better system. The GFS still only has a northern lakes clipper.

Cedar Rapids had an afternoon high of -3º (the official high was 0º at midnight). Tonight the forecast is a low of -15º, but it wouldn't surprise me if the airport fell a bit lower.

I'm sure glad I was able to cash in on the late December and NYD storms. We may not get more until late January.

Total season snowfall so far.

Snowless Sioux City hit 50º this afternoon.

For years my Ariens snowblower blew snow poorly. When it encountered deeper or dense snow the flow out the chute would quickly collapse. The last couple years it was bad and incredibly frustrating. It took forever to clear my driveway and my neighbor's. Recently I found some YouTube videos showing how adjusting the idler pulley tightens the auger/impeller belt and leads to better blowing power. The day before the New Year's Day storm I made a simple 1/4" inward adjustment to the pulley, which snugged the belt nicely. It totally solved the problem! The blower instantly went from shit to better than it was when purchased fourteen years ago. The flow out the chute remained strong no matter how much snow was being fed into the auger. Even the dense plow snow at the end of the driveway was cleared with ease. Now, instead of dreading having to clear deep or wet snow, I know it will be easy. It's a game-changer. I sure wish I had made the simple fix years ago.

The Cedar Rapids airport officially hit -12º this morning, but here in town only -3º. Most stations in the area were several degrees higher than the CR airport.

Another good band of snow dumped some large flakes that added up to another 0.6", which boosts my storm total to 6.2". My prediction was 3".

61.9"

Yes, 07-08' was the first season I began to record all measurements and it is still my snowiest season.

I measured an average of 5.6" on my snow boards. I thought we were done, but another good band is moving through now so my total will go up a bit. There is a 6.5" report from Marion (ne edge of Cedar Rapids) and a 7" report from the ne side of CR. This snow is mountain powder over here because the column was so cold. I have 12+" drifts that can be lifted with a shovel like a pile of feathers.

The temp here is 9º, so the snow is light as a feather. While there are big drifts on my driveway, the snow in the fence-enclosed backyard is surprisingly uniform and easy to measure.

I'm up to 5.1" now, with 1.1" over the last hour. A heavy band moved in before noon and hasn't moved.

We are over-performing here in Cedar Rapids. I'm up to 4". The dry models were certainly wrong. It has been snowing moderately to heavily for four hours and that should continue for another hour or two.

DVN just lowered Cedar Rapids to 2-3", but the heavy band over us has already produced 2" with several hours to go.

Our event in CR is going surprisingly well. I haven't measured, but a moderate to heavy band has been parked over us for a while.

The last couple HRRR runs have dropped our total down again, but it is too dry. It shows no accumulating snow til nearly 2pm, but the snow began at 11am.

Models are really turding out over here. On the HRRR, the Omaha to Des Moines to Cedar Rapids to Dubuque corridor has fallen off the cliff on the north edge. Cedar Rapids is down to 2" while the others are <1". With that little snow, from only 0.1" precip, it may be difficult to even measure .

The 00z NAM is quite a bit different for Iowa than the 12z... has really come back to Earth. The 3k NAM is drier for Chicagoland.

12z UK (10:1)

0.7" here today, just enough to require shoveling.

Yeah, the Canadian is very weak and south. It predicts the western energy to be flatter instead of sharp and digging, so the storm's energy is just swept eastward with little amplification.

The RDPS is well south of the NAM/Euro. The difference appears to have to do with the energy digging into the pacnw. The NAM/Euro dig the initial energy more southward and allow it to eject the Baha energy (our storm) out in front of it. The RDPS digs the initial pacnw energy more eastward so the Baha energy is held south and is unable to eject northeastward until the second piece of energy digs into the pacnw.