January 24-26: Miracle or Mirage OBS Thread!

[WxUSAF]

1 minute ago, MillvilleWx said:

Yes! Best practice is measure the snow after it changes and then clear to measure the sleet. Make sure to mark the time of the transition, if possible. Still holding on up there according to CC. Hopefully it continues for another hour or two! 

Glad you said that.  I didn't mean to clean the whole snowboard at ~920am, but then I sort of leaned on it and boom, it was cleaned off.  But that was a reasonable enough time for the transition.

[ifindppl]

Now sleeting quite briskly in Olney.  

[DDweatherman]

2 minutes ago, MillvilleWx said:

Yes! Best practice is measure the snow after it changes and then clear to measure the sleet. Make sure to mark the time of the transition, if possible. Still holding on up there according to CC. Hopefully it continues for another hour or two! 

If we had good returns over us right now; we’d definitely still be getting good snow. It’s light snow mixed with pingers. 

[Eskimo Joe]

Just now, Ellinwood said:

Got 6" of snow in Germantown, MD... about 1-2" less than I wanted to see before the changeover across the region. Snowblower doesn't get used often but am glad I have it. Looking for 1-2" of sleet through this afternoon now.

Your updated map was well done. Looks to be spot on.

[yoda]

BWI and IAD report +PL for official obs at 10am

[MillvilleWx]

1 minute ago, DDweatherman said:

If we had good returns over us right now; we’d definitely still be getting good snow. It’s light snow mixed with pingers. 

Yeah, that’s us now it sounds. Mix of rimed flakes and sleet. It’s a straight winter wonderland out there 

[Brianonymous]

Just woke up to the sound of crunchies against my windows. Good morning.

 

[87storms]

Often times we’d flip back to snow as the upper level low approaches, but this one looks like it’ll just end as sleet/fzra. Hopefully next storm we can get that primary/upper level low moving under our latitude.

[PWC Split]

5 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

@high risk your 13-14z call for the mix time was spot on.  Was about 1330z for MBY.  But this mix of sleet and needles is interesting.  Visibility is way lower than normal for a predominant sleet precipitation event.  I'm curious how this will accumulate.  I think @csnavywx and @Terpeastwere suggesting we're getting snow to crystallize below the inversion to mix with the sleet that's coming from higher up?

There is definitely some snow mixing with the sleet coming from higher up. I can see that even down here in Haymarket. I hear the pingers but there is also some real small flakes falling as well. At least that is what it looks like.

[T. August]

6 minutes ago, Kay said:

Just measured 6.5" while being lashed with sleet. Keeping an eye out for @T. Augustmeasurements over on the other side of APG.

Sounds right - gotta be over 7” now. Dumping “something” lmao.

[adelphi_sky]

16F/14 Heavy sleet. 

[Roger Smith]

Would expect it to get increasingly foggy this afternoon as temperatures rise to mid-high 20s with sleet transitioning to freezing drizzle, ice accretions should be fairly minimal, then later this evening and overnight a colder trend returns and snow grains will start to fall mixed with light sleet, before snow flurries in 10-15 F temps by morning. A further inch of snow could accumulate eventually on top of a frozen slush. 

This will not apply to parts of DE and se MD where temps will rise to near 40 F and straight rain will fall for a brief interval.

[WxUSAF]

0.4" of (mostly) sleet last hour (seems like a lot!).  6.9" total snow+sleet.  

 

eta...need another 0.4" to mark my 3rd biggest snowstorm in 11 winters in this house.  Top 2 (Jan 2016 and Jan 2019) are safe.  

[IUsedToHateCold]

2 minutes ago, PWC Split said:

There is definitely some snow mixing with the sleet coming from higher up. I can see that even down here in Haymarket. I hear the pingers but there is also some real small flakes falling as well. At least that is what it looks like.

Noting the same here. I've had my eyes out the window constantly for the past half hour and during heavier bursts it switches to mostly snow briefly before going back to sleet. There is a fair amount of snow when you put it all together, going to be interesting to measure later

[WeatherQ]

Morning friends! 
6.5“ 

Heavy fluffy SN (no pingers) 

17F/10F

87% RH

30.64 in Pressure 

1/4 mi visibility 

Extreme NE MD (MD/PA/DE line) 

[Terpeast]

Heavy sleet, 15.  Still piling up. 7” total

[aldie 22]

Ive had to shovel 3 times today first time was all snow the last two were sleet accumulations. Don't know how much sleet but its enough both times to add to the piles

[wxmeddler]

20 minutes ago, TSG said:

Anyone with the knowledge want to chime in on SLEET ratios? I've seen 2-4:1 listed all over, not a large range, I don't have a clue what influences that like I do snow. Are there specific "growth" conditions for less dense ice? Or is the upper end of the range the result of only partially melted snow?

If the warm layer is thick enough to melt the entire snowflake then they’ll all be about the same size. Sleet doesn’t “grow”, so really no wiggle room from that 3:1 area.

[Kay]

5 minutes ago, T. August said:

Sounds right - gotta be over 7” now. Dumping “something” lmao.

It's loud!

Haven't given a river ob here for a while, unsurprisingly it is frozen over, with a blanket of white on top 

[arlwx12]

Visibility back to about 1/4 mile in Arlington VA.

Looks like sleet (bouncing off tree twigs).

[IronTy]

7F right now and seems like it's mostly flipped over to sleet.  Hard to tell, very windy.   I was out snowblowing around the cabin and it seems like maybe 10-12" of snow?  Very hard to tell because there's a ton of drifting up here and almost nowhere that's good to measure on.  We're gonna eat breakfast and then go 4WD'ing in the snow!

[clueless]

Heavy stuff here. Mostly sleet. 

[TSSN+]

5 minutes ago, Terpeast said:

Heavy sleet, 15.  Still piling up. 7” total

Might get as much sleet as did snow lol 

[T. August]

4 minutes ago, Kay said:

It's loud!

Haven't given a river ob here for a while, unsurprisingly it is frozen over, with a blanket of white on top 

10:30 measurement of 7.2”. Pick up another half inch of snow somehow after my last ob - the rest is sleet.

[wxmeddler]

7 minutes ago, Roger Smith said:

Would expect it to get increasingly foggy this afternoon as temperatures rise to mid-high 20s with sleet transitioning to freezing drizzle, ice accretions should be fairly minimal, then later this evening and overnight a colder trend returns and snow grains will start to fall mixed with light sleet, before snow flurries in 10-15 F temps by morning. A further inch of snow could accumulate eventually on top of a frozen slush. 

This will not apply to parts of DE and se MD where temps will rise to near 40 F and straight rain will fall for a brief interval.

To this point. Freezing Drizzle is a real concern of mine even after we get dry slotted. There is enough atmosphere above freezing but below the dry slot to develop drizzle which would then fall as FZDZ.  Good Summary / Post

[peribonca]

Pretty crazy seeing the peaks of the smokies with temps in the 50s while Charlotte is in the teens

[GATECH]

Cool watching the sleet just pour/roll down from the roof across the gutter guard and onto the ground.  Getting a nice berm surrounding the house…I know where I will be measuring for now on!  12”-14” in the bag if I measure there!  Screw the snowboard!

[wxdude64]

1 minute ago, wxmeddler said:

To this point. Freezing Drizzle is a real concern of mine even after we get dry slotted. There is enough atmosphere above freezing but below the dry slot to develop drizzle which would then fall as FZDZ.  Good Summary / Post

And looks like I'm headed for that dry slot in about 45 minutes or so. If it hits I'll measure. Currently 12.0/9.0 with sleet still falling.

[csnavywx]

Pounding sleet and needles still. Some of the highest rates of sleet I've seen. Vis about half a mile.

[RandyHolt]

I am surprised how heavy the snow was on my first pass at shoveling.