January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[GATECH]

4 minutes ago, KimbMath said:

Longtime lurker and periodic poster. My location is 495/LRTurnpike. Could someone tell me what is falling out of the sky at my house? Is it frozen sleet, ice pellets, or rimed snowflakes?


.

Yes.  All of the above.

[diatae]

@Jebman I took your sage advice piled up as much snow as I could before I had to come inside and start breakfast.  

Sleetfest. 17/14, La Plata

[ravensrule]

4 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Getting bigger flake size here with about 6".  Stay all snow, stay all snow, stay all snow...

Really?, i just measured 6.8”. 

[baltosquid]

2 minutes ago, Maestrobjwa said:

What part of the city are you in?

Canton

[ErinInTheSky]

It’s a veritable sleet storm in Gaithersburg. It’s so loud.

[wxdude64]

1 minute ago, GATECH said:

The most disappointing thing about sleet is how it destroys your snow measurement.  Had 3.5” fluff at7am…down to 3” of sand now.  Couple more hours of sleetfest 2026 and hopefully I can report 5” to LwX…pouring down sleet.  Neighbor kids went out to play in it,  they lasted about 3 minutes after determining that they couldn’t make snowballs or a snowman, and the stuff hurts!  Sledding will be epic tomorrow though! Even our dog Thunder, who loves snow wanted nothing to with this crap!  Fastest trip out to pee in years.  Temp 16.

Yep. I had 3" at 1 am of all snow. At 5 when I got up it had changed and 4.5". But the 'snow' under the sleet was 2" at most. 

[87storms]

Hissing sound has begun as the inevitable flip nears.

[Roger Smith]

71/69 New Orleans and 17/10 Little Rock, 1006 mb low near Jackson MS. Coastal low looks to be in formative stages east of C Hat where it's 1019 mb and 48F. Below freezing inland as far south as central GA.

[BlizzardNole]

8 minutes ago, PrinceFrederickWx said:

Been out sledding with the kids in a 21 degree sleet bomb, this has been really fun. 

That's gotta be some fast sledding!  Hope you hold onto sleet as long as possible.

Just flipped to all sleet in Germantown

[clueless]

Heavy precip - mostly sleet. In

[nw baltimore wx]

2 minutes ago, ravensrule said:

Really?, i just measured 6.8”. 

I measured from my couch.

[Chris_B]

About 5" and sleeting in N. Arlington near Seven Corners.

It would be interesting for someone who understands this stuff to explain the source of the upper-level warm air that's giving us the sleet storm.  Something to do where the low setup or some such craziness during an 18-degree day.  

 

Of course this is sleet .

[Weather Will]

Mostly sleet in Brunswick, so NAM actuallly was pretty spot on about transition time but underdid QPF through 9am

[RevWarReenactor]

Snow picking up, flakes getting bigger. Looks like the sleet line is down by Dover 40 miles to my south. I suspect it will be here within an hour, 2 at most. Enjoying it while it lasts. We just eclipsed 5 inches. Very close to ending the 10 year drought of no 6+ inch snowfall.

[RickinBaltimore]

Definitely more sleet than snow here now, can hear it off the windows

[Paleocene]

Dumping sleet in silver spring for past 45 mins or so. This is gonna be such a mess 

[mdhokie]

18 minutes ago, Scraff said:

Love to be out there right now. The perfect fresh pow day. Might try and get there late this week. Conditions should be phenomenal. 

Was supposed to be skiing this weekend with the kids having a 3 day weekend, but the single digit temps killed that plan. Might try just myself later in the week but temps are frigid through next weekend. 

Dumping sleet in Ellicott City right now. Measured 6" prior to the flip. 

[nw baltimore wx]

@ravensrule

I didn't realize how close @Kleimax was to me.  His measurements are probably reliable too.

[Chris78]

1 minute ago, Weather Will said:

Mostly sleet in Brunswick, so NAM actuallly was pretty spot on about transition time but underdid QPF.

Oh man. Don't like hearing that.

[Chris78]

Are those yellows on rader out by Martinsburg still snow?

 

[IUsedToHateCold]

Snow/sleet mix, 16/12.5. Getting snow with the heavier rates, hopefully that keeps up

[Kmlwx]

Pinging away here in Colesville, MD

[Kleimax]

3 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

@ravensrule

I didn't realize how close @Kleimax was to me.  His measurements are probably reliable too.

Probably somewhere around 7 inches. Sleet has taken over now 

[Harv_poor]

About 7 inches in Lutherville Timonium. Big flakes now.

[Snowciopathic Snow Bro]

Gainesville: 15F air temp; dewpoint unknown as my venerable wx station gave up the ghost on that score. 3.9" of snow/sleet OTG. The changeover to sleet here seemed to occur right around 10z. 

I'm very pleased to report that there is zero snow stickage to trees.  If we get any ice accretion later today from potential ZR (current NWS forecast < 0.1" ZR), at least there's no extra weight of snow on branches that'll be a factor.  Sleet is harmless in this regard and simply bounces.  We'll be very appreciative of this come tomorrow when winds are progged to gust to 30 mph.  Anything that helps us keep the power on through this upcoming frigid week is a plus in my book.

So time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the NFL conference championship games later today.  I'll worry about shoveling this mess later.  Maybe have a nice meal today, too, as long as there's someone in the house that'll take my trident.

[Ruin]

9 minutes ago, Roger Smith said:

71/69 New Orleans and 17/10 Little Rock, 1006 mb low near Jackson MS. Coastal low looks to be in formative stages east of C Hat where it's 1019 mb and 48F. Below freezing inland as far south as central GA.

Is that earlier than forecasted and is it in the same? Area that it was forecasted, or is deviated a bit

[T. August]

Still all snow but I can feel it coming lol

[snowfan]

Sleet line moving through downtown Baltimore now

[Roger Ramjet]

Still appears to be all snow here.

[batmanbrad]

Pingers made their arrival a little after 8:30AM here on the NE side of Gaithersburg, near Laytonsville.  crude tape measurement on driveway was about 6.5 just as the changeover started.  Sleeting quite steadily now, hoping for minimal ZR later.