January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[eyewall]

8 hours ago, Jebman said:

I am very happy you are okay. You'll get the windshield fixed, but the most important thing is you are okay.

Thank you and yep about to go to the dealer for when they open.

[MN Transplant]

12 hours ago, Roger Smith said:

DCA reported 1.99" liquid and 6.9" snow. If I'm generous and say .09" of that was freezing drizzle (probably an overestimate) then their snow report equals real snow plus sleet at some possible-to-calculate ratio after an assumption is made on the snowfall to liquid conversion. I will assume 10:1 in my calculation that follows.

So let's say 5" real snow, then we have

5.0 + 1.40*(ratio/10) = 6.9

That reduces to 1.40*(ratio/10) = 1.9

and makes ratio/10 = .21, in other words a 2.1 :  1.0  ratio. Sleet ratios are often quoted at 3:1. 

For 3:1 to be correct, then snow at 10:1 is 2.7" .. that is clearly a low estimate based on regional reports.

So either this was very watery sleet or very underestimated sleet. I would guess what really happened is that 3" of sleet pounded 6" of snow down to 4 inches and sat on top giving 7 inches.  

Roger - my sleet was 2:1

[MN Transplant]

13 hours ago, WEATHER53 said:

I can’t answer for right there at their  thermometer because the problem is likely right there.  The parkway  runs close  by with lots of trees so nit heavily industrialized in any manner 8.5” more like it .  How much do you think they got and how do think they  do with temps  and snow? 
it also appears the 6.9 they reported is snow only when looking at the color coding accumulation maps you provided?

 

I think they got about 7" like what was reported.  I got 8.5" and they had less precipitation than I did, which was particularly important in the snow period before the sleet.

12 hours ago, WEATHER53 said:

So the bottom panel snow only?  Nothing additional including  sleet? 
some stations have two different colored values, is that snow first and sleet and snow second 

The colors don't mean anything other than more or less snow/sleet.

[wxdude64]

12 hours ago, Roger Smith said:

DCA reported 1.99" liquid and 6.9" snow. If I'm generous and say .09" of that was freezing drizzle (probably an overestimate) then their snow report equals real snow plus sleet at some possible-to-calculate ratio after an assumption is made on the snowfall to liquid conversion. I will assume 10:1 in my calculation that follows.

So let's say 5" real snow, then we have

5.0 + 1.40*(ratio/10) = 6.9

That reduces to 1.40*(ratio/10) = 1.9

and makes ratio/10 = .21, in other words a 2.1 :  1.0  ratio. Sleet ratios are often quoted at 3:1. 

For 3:1 to be correct, then snow at 10:1 is 2.7" .. that is clearly a low estimate based on regional reports.

So either this was very watery sleet or very underestimated sleet. I would guess what really happened is that 3" of sleet pounded 6" of snow down to 4 inches and sat on top giving 7 inches.  

Yep, that is what happens 95% of the time. Sleet doesn't 'add' to OTG for a good while, it relentlessly beats whatever newly fallen snow to a pulp, reducing it by up to half depending on how fluffy (dry) or hard (wet) it was prior to the flip, and how hard/fast/heavy the sleet is falling. Once it reaches a compacted consistency, THEN sleet starts to add to the OTG totals. 

[mattie g]

2 hours ago, eyewall said:

Thank you and yep about to go to the dealer for when they open.

Not sure where you were when this happened, but someone on Reddit posted that they got the details of a car on 495 that hadn't been cleaned and ice flew off the roof and smashed another car's windshield.

[eyewall]

3 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Not sure where you were when this happened, but someone on Reddit posted that they got the details of a car on 495 that hadn't been cleaned and ice flew off the roof and smashed another car's windshield.

This was on I-95 so that was another incident for sure.

[H2O]

People that don't clear their ENTIRE car/truck/SUV are just lazy assholes.  Clean the fucking roof.  

[eyewall]

Just now, H2O said:

People that don't clear their ENTIRE car/truck/SUV are just lazy assholes.  Clean the fucking roof.  

I was told at the shop there is no law in VA to clear your car but yeah everyone should do it anyway.

[H2O]

Just now, eyewall said:

I was told at the shop there is no law in VA to clear your car but yeah everyone should do it anyway.

Windshields only.  But it's common decency to keep stuff like this from happening.  Sadly we all know how badly people care about others these days.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

8 minutes ago, H2O said:

People that don't clear their ENTIRE car/truck/SUV are just lazy assholes.  Clean the fucking roof.  

Yeah I've run into that a couple of times, where the car in front of you still has a big layer of snow on the roof.  It leaves you in a localized mini-blizzard on the highway because the snow on their car blows backward onto you.  Real pain.

[nw baltimore wx]

17 minutes ago, eyewall said:

I was told at the shop there is no law in VA to clear your car but yeah everyone should do it anyway.

That’s ridiculous, but we shouldn’t need laws to do things like return your shopping cart and clean your car of dangerous debris.

[87storms]

My lower back def feels that shoveling from yesterday lol. Different muscle groups used for that exercise.

[nw baltimore wx]

2 minutes ago, 87storms said:

My lower back def feels that shoveling from yesterday lol. Different muscle groups used for that exercise.

Same! 
 

Pretty stiff and sharp’ish pain on one side, but doing some sit-ups and planks helps loosen mine up.

[87storms]

8 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Same! 
 

Pretty stiff and sharp’ish pain on one side, but doing some sit-ups and planks helps loosen mine up.

Lol yea mine isn’t sharp, but def stiff. Think a lunchtime stretch is incoming.

[mattie g]

Finished up the driveway and sidewalk yesterday. It was pretty easy since I had shoveled a couple times during the storm and set down some salt in preparation for getting that last inch for concrete up. I just used a spade to lift it - easy as could be.

I'm going out today to dig out a space on the street and also clear out a spot by our mailbox. We had moved both cars into our driveway before the storm so the plows could do their thing, so now it's time to make some room to get one car onto the street and make room for our mail lady to do her job more easily (even if she isn't most personable individual lol).

[wxdude64]

36 minutes ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

Yeah I've run into that a couple of times, where the car in front of you still has a big layer of snow on the roof.  It leaves you in a localized mini-blizzard on the highway because the snow on their car blows backward onto you.  Real pain.

The mini blizzard doesn't worry me as much as the ice chunks flying off. That depends on the consistency of the snow. Fresh dry/fluff will blow off. Crusty or old snow will break off in chunks and becomes incoming projectiles! 

[nw baltimore wx]

I did a core sample with the large CoCoRaHS tube and came up with 1.87” total.

[wxdude64]

3 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I did a core sample with the large CoCoRaHS tube and came up with 1.87” total.

I had 1.85" yesterday and 1.82" this morning. Heavy stuff! Best part is unless forecast and trend changes fast it will do a S L O W trickle into the ground instead of running off in one day into the rivers and out to sea.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

14 minutes ago, wxdude64 said:

The mini blizzard doesn't worry me as much as the ice chunks flying off. That depends on the consistency of the snow. Fresh dry/fluff will blow off. Crusty or old snow will break off in chunks and becomes incoming projectiles! 

Very true, and I've seen ice chunks come off people's vehicles before as well.

[WEATHER53]

15 hours ago, snowfan said:

I don’t recall ever being this sore after shoveling. Also, secondary roads are shit. 

2.5 hours on what is usually  45-60 minutes 

[EHoffman]

5 hours ago, MN Transplant said:

Roger - my sleet was 2:1

That's interesting.  One thing I noticed about this sleet was that the pellets were particularly huge...probably the biggest sleet pellets I can remember.  I wonder if this contributed to the "low" ratio in this storm.

[Ajb]

WSSC advisory:

https://www.wsscwater.com/news/2026/january/urgent-essential-water-use-only-request-issued-all-wssc-water-customers-due

Still haven’t been plowed. This is going well. 

[WxUSAF]

Hoco closed again tomorrow 

[adelphi_sky]

Prince George's is closed until Friday. 

[The Dude]

MoCo closed tomorrow and Thursday.

[H2O]

Fairfax Co closed. And thur/fri are teacher work days so kids get a week off