phil882 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Hey guys! Some of you might know me, and some of you might not, but I thought since I'm sorta new to the region I'd make a formal introduction. I just recently moved up here from Asheville, NC for grad school in meteorology. I'm certainly not an expert of the region, and I'm sure some of locals here can inform me on what to lookout for both in regards to overall weather pattern and previous major events. I hear Albany, NY is in a bit of a rain shadow (very similar except slightly less pronounced than the Asheville, NC rain shadow). Also, are there any current or prospective students that are expecting to attend SUNY Albany this semester? I'd love to hear from you as I'm going to be a TA this semester for a couple of classes within the ATMS department. Anyway I look forward to talking to all of you. I'm also looking forward to some higher snowfall totals too -Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNYWeather Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Welcome to Upstate, NY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
West Point, NY Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Hey guys! Some of you might know me, and some of you might not, but I thought since I'm sorta new to the region I'd make a formal introduction. I just recently moved up here from Asheville, NC for grad school in meteorology. I'm certainly not an expert of the region, and I'm sure some of locals here can inform me on what to lookout for both in regards to overall weather pattern and previous major events. I hear Albany, NY is in a bit of a rain shadow (very similar except slightly less pronounced than the Asheville, NC rain shadow). Also, are there any current or prospective students that are expecting to attend SUNY Albany this semester? I'd love to hear from you as I'm going to be a TA this semester for a couple of classes within the ATMS department. Anyway I look forward to talking to all of you. I'm also looking forward to some higher snowfall totals too -Phil I don't view Albany as lacking in the rain department. You get plenty of gloomy days and T-Storms are no strangers during summer months. Wintertime I think has more precip issues with a downsloping easterly flow often eating into snow totals locally. The good thing is you don't have to go far at all in any direction to negate the effect. I have only been up here from downstate since 2005, so guys like Wx4cast (Andy) and Logan11 (Rick) who are area "old timers", can provide you with educated local weather insight. Welcome to our forum and while it is a bit dead this time of year, we are winter people by nature and are very active from the time the lakes wake up until the last flakes fall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan11 Posted August 14, 2011 Share Posted August 14, 2011 Welcome to the area! ALB can downslope sometimes on east winds yes, but we shouldn't overstate it too much. They still have done historically well with snow in many Nor'easters. There are several events where that E downslope was notorious such as December 1992. They definitely downslope on a westerly component so that means very little lake effect snow can really reach Albany/Colonie. Oh most winters there are a few D-1" deals that make it that far, but that's about it. Then in the summer that W downslope can heat it up a lot more than here in the western hills on some days. Of course one plus is that assuming you have a car, all you need do is head about 10-12 miles west/west southwest of the SUNYA Campus onto the Helderberg Escarpment and the snowfall and depth increases greatly. I need only cite the late February 2010 double event where the campus got a wet sticky foot in #1 and then a washout in #2, evnding up with several inches of slop and big puddles. I had 48" out here 18 miles to the west. You're welcome to visit on that kind of day. Oh one fun local phenomenon is the Mohawk-Hudson convergence where localized snow events can occur - often on the back end of storms. Andy could explain that technically. And we have some fun cold air drainage events where a northerly flow can siphon the low level cold air down the Champlain/Lake George/Upper Hudson corridor and get us colder than comparable latitudes to the east and west. Low level cold is hard to dislodge from ALB and ice events are frequent even while Western NY, etc. torches in a southwest flow cutter event. More often than not though it manages to flip to ice here with that kind of situation while CapeCoral in GFL gets a better front end of snow. The exception to that rule being when there is a good center jump of lowest pressure to the NY Bight or SNE Coast. That can hold in cold at upper levels and give a good dump of snow even in ALB. So we get our good snow in several ways: Noreasters (classic variety) Center jump - evolving to Noreaster later Overunning Events - unexciting, but can be prolific with snowfall. Alberta clippers/Miller B, but these usually don't exceed moderate levels here because they blow up a little too far east. Now there are some key exceptions in a really amplified flow where we got clocked. I don't view Albany as lacking in the rain department. You get plenty of gloomy days and T-Storms are no strangers during summer months. Wintertime I think has more precip issues with a downsloping easterly flow often eating into snow totals locally. The good thing is you don't have to go far at all in any direction to negate the effect. I have only been up here from downstate since 2005, so guys like Wx4cast (Andy) and Logan11 (Rick) who are area "old timers", can provide you with educated local weather insight. Welcome to our forum and while it is a bit dead this time of year, we are winter people by nature and are very active from the time the lakes wake up until the last flakes fall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil882 Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 Thanks for the warm welcome and some history... this is exactly what I wanted to hear! I'm normally not too active during the late summer and fall but as soon as the winter season heats up, you bet I'll be posting my thoughts and observations throughout the winter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Windcredible! Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks for the warm welcome and some history... this is exactly what I wanted to hear! I'm normally not too active during the late summer and fall but as soon as the winter season heats up, you bet I'll be posting my thoughts and observations throughout the winter. Welcome aboard! I'm a bit of a newbie to the region as well...having just moved up from coastal CT. Despite my tag, technical discussions really aren't my forte...but I try to add some input here in there...especially during nowcast type situations. Yes, Albany is a bit of a local snowhole...but I'm anxious for the upcoming winter as it still averages the most snowfall of anywhere I've lived. And FWIW...the heaviest snow I've ever seen was in Albany. I was visiting the SUNY campus back in January (I think) '04...when a strong arctic front came through with a brief but very intense squall. Dropped about 1" in about 10 minutes or so. How much snow does Ashville average? Are you from that area originally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJay Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Hey guys! Some of you might know me, and some of you might not, but I thought since I'm sorta new to the region I'd make a formal introduction. I just recently moved up here from Asheville, NC for grad school in meteorology. I'm certainly not an expert of the region, and I'm sure some of locals here can inform me on what to lookout for both in regards to overall weather pattern and previous major events. I hear Albany, NY is in a bit of a rain shadow (very similar except slightly less pronounced than the Asheville, NC rain shadow). Also, are there any current or prospective students that are expecting to attend SUNY Albany this semester? I'd love to hear from you as I'm going to be a TA this semester for a couple of classes within the ATMS department. Anyway I look forward to talking to all of you. I'm also looking forward to some higher snowfall totals too -Phil Welcome to NY Phil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organizing Low Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 welcome to the area Phil! i follow your tropical posts closely. get ready for snow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sub_Zero Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 welcome to the area Phil! i follow your tropical posts closely. get ready for snow! Now there's an ugly avatar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil882 Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 Welcome aboard! I'm a bit of a newbie to the region as well...having just moved up from coastal CT. Despite my tag, technical discussions really aren't my forte...but I try to add some input here in there...especially during nowcast type situations. Yes, Albany is a bit of a local snowhole...but I'm anxious for the upcoming winter as it still averages the most snowfall of anywhere I've lived. And FWIW...the heaviest snow I've ever seen was in Albany. I was visiting the SUNY campus back in January (I think) '04...when a strong arctic front came through with a brief but very intense squall. Dropped about 1" in about 10 minutes or so. How much snow does Ashville average? Are you from that area originally? We traditionally averaged only around 10" in a season thanks to the rain shadow effect leaving us out of most of the NW flow snowfall events... although my last two years in Asheville were extremely above normal (39.2" for the 09-10 season and 20.2" for the 10-11 season) Welcome to NY Phil. Thanks! welcome to the area Phil! i follow your tropical posts closely. get ready for snow! Oh don't worry... I'm ready! First we gotta take care of this little inland flooding event from Irene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organizing Low Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Now there's an ugly avatar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottawa Blizzard Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that I have recently moved to Toronto from Ottawa for school. I will continue to post in the upstate forums this fall/winter, however, given this is the region I am used to. I notice that people from Buffalo post in the upstate forum, so for me, it makes sense to post here, despite the fact that most other Toronto posters post in the central forum. It is my hope that organzing low will post his snow projections for east end Toronto this winter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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