January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[GreyHat]

1 minute ago, Snowciopathic Snow Bro said:

Good lord that's quite the warm punch into WV.  Mountain areas are well into the warm layer aloft.  Used to seeing those thermal profiles reversed between the coastal plain and mountains.

Probably why the precip radar shows rain

[Miss Pixee]

Anyone have a clip of the radar?

[balltermen]

2 minutes ago, adelphi_sky said:

Red returns on radar blowing through DC right now. 

It's pouring sleet again after a fairly brief quasi-lull. 

[balltermen]

Just now, Miss Pixee said:

Anyone have a clip of the radar?

 

[Terpeast]

8.5” total, 5.5” pure snow plus 2 inches of snow/sleet mix, and 1” pure sleet. 

Shoveling is brutal. I didn’t finish. 

[GreyHat]

The weather people just said Greenville Airport SC has recorded 1" freezing rain. 

[GATECH]

Bad news, in this crazy band moving through noticed glazing on the car.  First time seeing this.

[snowfan]

Blackwater Falls in Davis is torching at 31. Mount Storm is at 9. Crazy gradient. 

[wxmeddler]

Dumping sleet in this band. Sounds like pouring sand out like others have reported.

[mdhokie]

5 minutes ago, RevWarReenactor said:

Yes! There is like a little chute that the sleet drops down every few minutes. Its fascinating.

I have a 4' pile of sleet on the ground under where two parts of my roof intersect. Its like a sleetvalanch coming down that corner. 

[balltermen]

6 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

8.4" official spotter report.  Cleared off the sleet board.  Still getting a lot of very small needles with the sleet.  Very cool storm unless you realize how much snow we'd be getting if this wasn't sleet...

I guess there's a reason we don't get many 18" storms.  We probably didn't apply enough climo hedging for this one. At least a few days ago.  

I know the "physics" are what they are, but it's like flopping a straight, where you have no chance of improving on the turn or river. you only have a chance of a rug pull 

[GreyHat]

8 minutes ago, Snowciopathic Snow Bro said:

Good lord that's quite the warm punch into WV.  Mountain areas are well into the warm layer aloft.  Used to seeing those thermal profiles reversed between the coastal plain and mountains.

Seeing that L off southern MD,explains why my weather system is showing the pressure dropping quick.

[EHoffman]

Just now, balltermen said:

I guess there's a reason we don't get many 18" storms.  We probably didn't apply enough climo hedging for this one. At least a few days ago.  

I know the "physics" are what they are, but it's like flopping a straight, where you have no chance of improving on the turn or river. you only have a chance of a rug pull 

Lol getting 18" here is like binking a 1 outer.

[balltermen]

2 minutes ago, mdhokie said:

I have a 4' pile of sleet on the ground under where two parts of my roof intersect. Its like a sleetvalanch coming down that corner. 

I'm going to avoid the bargaining phase of mourning our non-hecs later - "this is actually better than an 18-24 inch snowstorm!" . No it's not.

 But it's damn cool. Very few times have i experienced something like this 

[nj2va]

This sleet is crazy - dumping out there. Probably 2+” of sleet although I’d want to check nearby obs too. Jebwalk proved challenging walking through the snow/sleet.




I was just cleaning off my car and neat how you can see the layer of sleet on top.

[CAPE]

Not too thrilled about this. 3km NAM has been better with thermals all day- most other guidance has been too warm- and has pretty significant freezing rain here.

Currently 25 with light sleet and freezing rain- in a bit of a lull again.

[Solution Man]

40 minutes ago, PWC Split said:

Finished up another shovel session before the games begin with another 1.3 in the driveway. 8.1” so far with some really heavy rates that just passed through a couple of minutes ago in Haymarket.

Almost the size of frozen peas, incredible 

[balltermen]

3 minutes ago, EHoffman said:

Lol getting 18" here is like binking a 1 outer.

Maybe we'll get a stronger southern stream in Feb-March.  Wavelengths shrink, and we can get simpler storms. (feb 96 cough).  Without having a deep ULL parked over the TN valley, it's tough to get a top 10 snowstorm 

[balltermen]

13 minutes ago, diatae said:

Sleet the the size of hail is falling now. I don't know how else to describe it lol. It's huge compared to what has fallen all day. And it is absolutely pouring.

wow. i wonder if they're snow pellets?

[ravensrule]

32 minutes ago, Another Field said:

1.5" of sleet in Baltimore City since the flip.

6.1" Total on the board. 

19.9ºF

Lol, you need to learn how to measure. It’s impossible you have a 6.1” total even if you’re at the bottom of the Inner Harbor. 

[nj2va]

8 minutes ago, mdhokie said:

I have a 4' pile of sleet on the ground under where two parts of my roof intersect. Its like a sleetvalanch coming down that corner. 

I kinda think this is cool…I’ve never experienced sleet like this.

[H2O]

11 minutes ago, GATECH said:

Bad news, in this crazy band moving through noticed glazing on the car.  First time seeing this.

I haven’t had any rain yet. It’s all pellets. But when it pours IT POURS. 

I’ve had 3” sleet. Up to 8” total

[RandyHolt]

Sleet bombs? hitting the top of my car looked like rain drops hitting a deep puddle during that last surge 

[nw baltimore wx]

I’ve got over a foot of snow and sleet where the sleet is coming off the roof across my garage.

[dailylurker]

Someone is going to end up with a foot otg if this keeps up. There's sleet flying all over the place. It's pouring off my roof. My boat cover looks like a white waterfall. Just unbelievable. 

Still stuck at 21. Radar is on fire

[Snowciopathic Snow Bro]

LWX AFD just released.  

https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=LWX&issuedby=LWX&product=AFD&format=txt&version=1&glossary=1

Some of the ZR highlights:

Quote

...the sub-freezing layer underneath
the warm nose is rather substantial in size. With most areas
holding steady in the teens to low 20s, freezing rain may not
impact as many locations as initially thought.

 

Quote

Looking more closely at the freezing rain aspect of this forecast, weather spotters have noted some ice accretions over
far southern Maryland as well as across western Garrett County. With the regional radar showing activity stretching west of the
Appalachians, several more hours of wintry precipitation is likely. Thus, an additional inch or two of sleet looks possible
with up to a tenth of an inch of freezing rain (mainly southern Maryland and along/west of the Alleghenies). If the reasonable
worst case scenario unfolds, up to a quarter inch of ice could accrete across these mentioned locations.

 

[H2O]

17 minutes ago, diatae said:

Sleet the the size of hail is falling now. I don't know how else to describe it lol. It's huge compared to what has fallen all day. And it is absolutely pouring.

I’m sure it’s been the same for us both but when it pours the sleet size gets huge. During the lulls it’s more sugar size. It’s piling up so fast

[stormtracker]

Sleet is insane out here.  Just woke up and rolled right into snow walk gear 

[jayyy]

May have a foot combined at the end of this at this rate. Unreal. Mangled flakes mixing back in during heavy returns but man, this sleet is wild.

[Eskimo Joe]