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January 6-8 2014 arctic attack obs thread...


Marion_NC_WX

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:lol: I have a bit of a warm bias in days 5-7 (probably the Florida boy in me... lol!). Like I said, Friday's cold is going to give us a good bead on whether the models are handling the Arctic cold in our backyard correctly or not. 

 

However, the 0Z GFS would certainly cause me to go lower with my forecast temps in the Mon/Tue time period... A 1038 mb high in NW Alabama... Calm winds... =  :shiver: You're more than likely correct with the 30/15 call, but I'd just like to see how Friday plays out before going all-in.

 

BTW, in case people are wondering, Columbus, GA hasn't seen a low below 15 (which is certainly possible based on the 0Z GFS for Tuesday morning) since Jan 24, 2003 when we hit 12 degrees. The last time we saw single digits for a low was all the way back on Dec. 24, 1989 (I was almost 2... :lol:) when we hit 9 degrees. 

A favor please, where did you get your climate data like that.  I can't find that much stuff from FFC page.  Thank You!!

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I am just as impressed by low temps, even without snow, when they occur in the south. Of course I don't wish for busted pipes on no one but we have no control over that no more than damage we see in storms. If it is anomalous, my interest goes very high.

 

Also, with air this cold, any moisture in the atmosphere gets wrung out and we usually have a couple of episodes of microflakes. (The kind they have to turn the radar to high sensitivity mode to see). That beats nothing!

Same here. I'm a lover of extremes, no matter what they are...that sounds crazy but it's what got me into weather. The fact that we aren't seeing snow when we're getting incredible cold is a downer, yeah, but the cold is an impressive event in itself and we'll remember this longer than we will 2" on the ground that melts the next day.

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I don't see it getting that cold unless we get some snow cover during the passage of the arctic front.

I remember January 21, 1985 in Atlanta we had 0 snow cover and it was -8 at KATL and I had -12 where I lived.  I am 58 years old...It was amazing when the arctic front went through, it was about 8 in the morning the wind was blowing at about 45 knots and we had blowing snow that was so dry it looked like a lonely road in ND.  The Temp feel all day.  The snow was just part of the front, but I remember the wind chill reached an insane -55 before they redid the wind chill value chart. 

 

Here is a great clip from the Christmas outbreak of 1983, remember it very well.  The lights on my outdoor tree exploded...

 

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very true. 1985 had snow cover upstream. Despite the lack of snow cover in the southeast, temperatures in the southeast plummeted to all time record lows including KCLT down to -5, KCHS 6, KJAX 7 without snow cover and without radiational cooling either as the parent high did not weaken much entering the US. A by-product of dumping the PV into the New England states.

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:lol: I have a bit of a warm bias in days 5-7 (probably the Florida boy in me... lol!). Like I said, Friday's cold is going to give us a good bead on whether the models are handling the Arctic cold in our backyard correctly or not. 

 

However, the 0Z GFS would certainly cause me to go lower with my forecast temps in the Mon/Tue time period... A 1038 mb high in NW Alabama... Calm winds... =  :shiver: You're more than likely correct with the 30/15 call, but I'd just like to see how Friday plays out before going all-in.

 

BTW, in case people are wondering, Columbus, GA hasn't seen a low below 15 (which is certainly possible based on the 0Z GFS for Tuesday morning) since Jan 24, 2003 when we hit 12 degrees. The last time we saw single digits for a low was all the way back on Dec. 24, 1989 (I was almost 2... :lol:) when we hit 9 degrees. 

00z GFS looks like it might hit 9 in Columbus...It'll be close!

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I remember January 21, 1985 in Atlanta we had 0 snow cover and it was -8 at KATL and I had -12 where I lived. I am 58 years old...

Wow I thought you were down here with me.

That run of the GFS was definitely much colder. Other runs barely brought the 0c line 850mb down into S GA. Now this run bring it into N FL and -10c near S GA. Also it looks like there may be some snow as the Arctic front passes looking at the GFS unless it's just cold chasing moisture.

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I remember January 21, 1985 in Atlanta we had 0 snow cover and it was -8 at KATL and I had -12 where I lived.  I am 58 years old...

 

Yeah, we had sub-zero readings here with no snow cover as did most all of NC, but that air mass was much colder than this one. 850's don't get below -20C with this one. 1985 saw 850's below -20C over a good chunk of our area.

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Yeah, we had sub-zero readings here with no snow cover as did most all of NC, but that air mass was much colder than this one. 850's don't get below -20C with this one. 1985 saw 850's below -20C over a good chunk of our area.

 

True... but has a similar look

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/mhx/EventReviews/19850121/19850121_files/image006.jpg

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00z GFS looks like it might hit 9 in Columbus...It'll be close!

True story! I might just make that trip down to Tallahassee to see the BCS Championship Game so I can escape the cold! The funny thing is, Tallahassee might record temperatures just as cold because of where the thermometer is located (the airport) for the official obs. The airport used to be a swamp and they brought in sand, which doesn't hold heat as well as regular dirt, to fill it in. That's why it usually runs quite a bit cooler than other spots around the city. 

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I have no data to support this - only memory. After the surge in 1985, wasn't the rest of the deep/mid SE winter rather banal?

 

It's great to see an historic event possibly unfolding, but practically speaking, wouldn't it be better in the long run to have the PV hang in and drop pieces in over  a few weeks rather than do a Sherman's March?

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Widespread -20 dewpoints across North Carolina next Tuesday afternoon on the GFS...local fire departments are gonna be hating that, their hoses maybe not freeze up but will come close fighting fires. Then if you have to work a fire, you'll be spraying a layer of ice with that kind of airmass.

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True story! I might just make that trip down to Tallahassee to see the BCS Championship Game so I can escape the cold! The funny thing is, Tallahassee might record temperatures just as cold because of where the thermometer is located (the airport) for the official obs. The airport used to be a swamp and they brought in sand, which doesn't hold heat as well as regular dirt, to fill it in. That's why it usually runs quite a bit cooler than other spots around the city. 

Yeah unlike KATL where they have the thermometer in the middle of a runway at the busiest airport in the world, but when we have a arctic front of great magnitude it is pretty uniform around the Metro.

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Can't wait to see what dew point and humidity levels are for Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

You can check out this site to give you an idea! Just change the site code on the right hand side of the screen to a location close to you. 

 

http://www.meteor.iastate.edu/~ckarsten/bufkit/image_loader.phtml?site=kcsg

 

The funny thing about the 0Z GFS is that, at least according to the info from the site above, the feels-like temp will be below 0 in Columbus. :lol: Looks like I won't be blowing out my birthday candles Monday night because I'll need them to keep warm! haha! 

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Widespread -20 dewpoints across North Carolina next Tuesday afternoon on the GFS...local fire departments are gonna be hating that, their hoses maybe not freeze up but will come close fighting fires. Then if you have to work a fire, you'll be spraying a layer of ice with that kind of airmass.

That's what happened in Minnesota with the explosion with temps in the negatives today.
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To be completely honest... I've been a bit gun-shy about next week's cold (low 40s for next Tuesday is what I had this morning...Although I can't deviate too much from the previous met's thoughts for consistency sake). Yes, I know the high is super strong and moves in fast, but how many times this winter have we seen the cold stop just short of our area (talking central AL/GA and southward...). Some of the cold the models are printing out would be the coldest Columbus, GA & surrounding areas have seen in 17 years (Feb. 4, 1996 was the last time we saw a high below freezing at 27 degrees).

 

FWIW, I've had low-mid 40s in the forecast for highs on Friday for the past few mornings I've worked and lows in the mid 20s (low 20s for outlying locations), so this 00Z GFS run of "colder" air isn't all that surprising. However, it'll be interesting to see how cold a lot of locations actually get Friday as that will tell how well the models are handling the cold air masses heading south. If it's as cold as advertised on Friday, then I will definitely drop the hammer on Tuesday (likely our coldest day here) when I work again this weekend. 

 

Also, my "gut" is telling me that Columbus & surrounding areas won't be SUPER cold (highs in the mid 30s or lower) and that most of it will likely stay to our north in Tennessee and northern AL/GA. 

Cman, can't remember if you were up here in late Jan/early Feb 3 years back, but I stayed under freezing for about a week if I remember correctly.  It was pretty impressive.  Don't remember a spell that long.  T

 

Edit: Must be one of my fever dreams...I can't find it now.  The best I can locate is early Jan 2010, for a stretch where the Experiment Station had highs in the low 30's.  That may have been it for a 5 day stretch, then a 43 and back to the low 30's again.  My stations were giving me right at freezing, or below, for that whole week as I remember it.  But, hey,  I thought it was Feb. so who knows where my head was at, lol.  Anyway, it can and will get daytime cold down this way.  I know I was repairing pipes during that run, and I'd been heating the house well, and running the water in pencil streams...but I needed to be running the hot just about wide open, lol.  T

 

Edit 2:  The lows during that run were 23,18,17,17,18,21,17,12,17,16,26,17,23, then the heat started at 26.  Not a bad run at all :)The next day it was in the 40's and we got 1.5.  The twist of the dagger!

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Friday, the temperatures sure do look cold for this time of year...

 

This is the 18z GFS Model run for high temperatures Friday:

January32013hightemperatures.gif

Ya like some have said Friday is nothing to sneeze about especially in the mountains. I would not be surprised if they issued a wind chill advisory for Thursday night into Friday. Some dangerous cold to be out in. I would say some if the higher elevations could dip below zero especially if we have snow on the ground. Also the next arctic front here in the mountains and surrounding areas look very very cold especially with the 00z GFS. May 5-10 degrees below zero. Some dangerous cold coming our way.

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