January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[Ji]

The change over was very quick.  I saw flake size and intensity increasing so I got dressed to go out and enjoy..  As soon as i opened the door I heard the pings.  A minute later it was all sleet.  Now its pouring sleet.  A kick in the nuts.

Sorry where do you live again?

[Eskimo Joe]

 

 

[EastCoast NPZ]

The irony is the sleet map is inverted from forecast.  Instead of the snow wedge in the Valley, the sleet ran ahead.  What a stupid place.

[Wintrest]

LOUD precip at East Falls, really noticeable change in the last 15 minutes. Very impressive rates.

[EastCoast NPZ]

Just now, Ji said:

Sorry where do you live again?

Stephens City.  Just south of Winchester. 

[Thewiledcard]

Wind obs. I have a decent breeze going on here in Lancaster county, Pa. Parts of my deck are blown off and drifting already. Temp obs. it’s 12 degrees here. Snow obs. I have 0 idea because I had 3 inches left on the ground from last weekend. And the clear parts of my deck are still clear because the wind is willing it around.
 

And before anyone throws stones about me posting in a MA forum, I truly have no idea where I fit into geographically and you all have the most activity on the forums. So here I am.

[MN Transplant]

3 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

NAM kicked butt on thermals for the most part as anyone should’ve reasonably expected. I don’t know if anyone modeled the I-81 corridor flipping to sleet before DC, though

NAM was shockingly low with the precip, but the thermals were good.

Still technically snow here, but it is getting louder as it is icy/rimed.

[ErinInTheSky]

Just a little hopium for my NW of DC friends.

NAM's recent run for 12zSun has the snow/sleet line significantly kept at bay compared to the "bad" runs 24 hours ago for 12zSun.

 

 

[WxUSAF]

7 minutes ago, T. August said:

Obs/measurement question: should the snow board be cleared after the transition to sleet, even if it’s before the 6 hour clearing?

I was wondering this too.  I think I'm going to clear at least half the board.  

[SomeguyfromTakomaPark]

We made it to daytime heavy snow!

[Wetbulbs88]

1 minute ago, Kmlwx said:

Seems people forget that the radar beam rises in elevation as it gets farther away from the radome. Hence the donut appearance in winter weather events - and also subsequently why low level rotation for tornadoes can get missed in radar sparse zones away from the radar. 

Are you referring to the pinger radar? If that's the case then wouldn't you need to have stations every five miles to get an accurate dpiction? 

[Paleocene]

1 minute ago, Thewiledcard said:

Wind obs. I have a decent breeze going on here in Lancaster county, Pa. Parts of my deck are blown off and drifting already. Temp obs. it’s 12 degrees here. Snow obs. I have 0 idea because I had 3 inches left on the ground from last weekend. And the clear parts of my deck are still clear because the wind is willing it around.
 

And before anyone throws stones about me posting in a MA forum, I truly have no idea where I fit into geographically and you all have the most activity on the forums. So here I am.

We have many interlopers from SE PA. You're welcome as long as you don't root against snow in the dc region :-)

[nj2va]

Just now, SomeguyfromTakomaPark said:

We made it to daytime heavy snow!

Snow is pushing back against the sleet…I’ll take every additional minute I can get.  Just gorgeous outside!

[clueless]

Heavy rates. Mostly sn with pingers. 

[Paleocene]

1 minute ago, SomeguyfromTakomaPark said:

We made it to daytime heavy snow!

You're in Petworth right? Puking to your north up GA ave in near DTSS

[Terpeast]

Heavy snow!

[DarthHokie]

1 minute ago, Kmlwx said:

Seems people forget that the radar beam rises in elevation as it gets farther away from the radome. Hence the donut appearance in winter weather events - and also subsequently why low level rotation for tornadoes can get missed in radar sparse zones away from the radar. 

Drive me nuts when people make these comments.  Radar beams do not point straight up. Always a hole and intensity drop above the location.  Its basic radio wave propagation phyics.

[mikeg0305]

Heavy rates. Mostly sn with pingers. 

Location please

[Kmlwx]

1 minute ago, Wetbulbs88 said:

Are you referring to the pinger radar? If that's the case then wouldn't you need to have stations every five miles to get an accurate dpiction? 

Just radar in general. It may very well be sleeting at those locations that show it - but it's just a word of caution that the radar beam is not moving horizontal to the ground across its entire journey. It doesn't *always* reflect ground truth. It's only one of many reasons why radar meteorology is challenging! 

[hstorm]

Pouring snow here in Great Falls. Changeover might be soon but we are certainly maximizing every minute of snow. 

[clueless]

1 minute ago, mikeg0305 said:

Location please

Leesburg. Off Evergreen Mill Rd. 

[mappy]

11 minutes ago, HighStakes said:

Haven't measured. Maybe 3.5 or so. Moderate snow and almost heavy now but picking up in intensity now. Tiny flakes and low visibility. Piling up though. Temp has been hovering around 10.

Wishing flake size would get bigger haha so tiny 

7 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

 

 

Parkton had 1.1 snow depth at midnight, so 3.1” new matches my backyard measurement 

[snowfan]

11Z HRRR is hawt if you want the post snow ice storm. Another 1.25-1.5” liquid beginning 11Z.

[Ji]

Heavy snow!

I hear pingers mixing in but snow is heavy

[bncho]

15 and heavy snow on a Sunday morning. 

[steks43]

In Manassas.  Up at 530a with a private snow plow noisily scraping what snow there is in our culdesac.  Thank you?  Checked our “board” at 7a and between 3.5” and 3.75”.  A bit of noise hinting that maybe sleet is eager to introduce itself.  Temp has been steady since 530a at 14.

[SilentTalkie]

16 minutes ago, stormtracker said:

Might be sleet.  And yeah, I almost never let my phone get that low

The circle by Charlottesville is a sleet white out. 

[Terpeast]

5” officially at 7:25 am. Ashburn. Puking 

[Wonderdog]

5 inches in Gainesville and sleeting now.

[wxdude64]

Just measured. 4.5 inches at 7 am. I measured 3.0 inches at 1 am before calling it a night and swapped gauges 0.34 in it. 1.05 inches when I measured and added together this am. Amazingly heavy sleet falling with an occasional clobbered flake mixed in. Temp is colder than 1 am, 10.6/7.9.