Sunday, January 31, 2010

Snow Recap and a Look Ahead

Welcome back to the blog for a snow recap and a look ahead at the next 5-days. I hope everyone had fun in the snow yesterday and didn't end up too cold this morning. Here's a Recap of the big snow event from the National Weather Service in Jackson:

HARLAN.......10 INCHES...16 INCHES ON BLACK MOUNTAIN
WAYNE........8 INCHES
JOHNSON......7 INCHES
FLOYD........7 INCHES
PIKE.........7 INCHES
WHITLEY......7 INCHES
MARTIN.......6 TO 8 INCHES
LETCHER......6 TO 8 INCHES
KNOTT........6 TO 8 INCHES
BELL.........6 TO 8 INCHES
LESLIE.......6 TO 7 INCHES
JACKSON......6 INCHES
LAUREL.......6 INCHES
LEE..........6 INCHES
BREATHITT....6 INCHES
ESTILL.......6 INCHES
MAGOFFIN.....6 INCHES
CLAY.........6 INCHES
ROCKCASTLE...6 INCHES
POWELL.......5 TO 7 INCHES
PULASKI......5 TO 6 INCHES
MCCREARY.....5 INCHES
KNOX.........5 INCHES
OWSLEY.......5 INCHES
PERRY........5 INCHES
WOLFE........5 INCHES
MORGAN.......4 INCHES
MENIFEE......4 INCHES
ELLIOTT......3 TO 6 INCHES
BATH.........2 INCHES
MONTGOMERY...2 INCHES
FLEMING......2 INCHES
ROWAN........1 INCH



So let's see how this compared to the final call forecast map:

And here's a look back at my first call map:

So overall I think I did a decent enough job with this storm. So let's look ahead to the next five days:

Monday: Mostly sunny, Low of 10, High of 38.

Tuesday: Chance of snow or wintry mix, otherwise M. Cloudy. Low of 27, High of 40.

Wednesday: Mostly Sunny with a Low of 25, High of 42.

Thursday: Mostly Sunny with a low of 27, High of 43

Friday: Chance of rain and or snow showers. Low of 30 High of 36 .

And now all I turns towards the end of next week and next weekend, for the possibility of another southern storm... does this one bring us snow, rain, or the stuff we don't like to talk about? Well it depends on which model you ask.

GFS:

Canadian:

Euro:
All of them want to start the event as rain on Friday, but there are some differences in how it ends. We will talk about that tomorrow, until then take care.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Snowy Saturday

Good morning everyone and welcome to your snowy Saturday morning across southeastern KY! Here's a look at the current radar.



As you can see we still have a bit of snow to go in southeastern KY, probably another 4 hours or so. So my time line is playing out fairly well although the storm is moving a bit faster than I originially anticipated so it should wrap up soon than I expected in my posts on Thursday and Yesterday.

I would love to hear how much snow you have in your yard this morning, post your totals up in the comments section!

In the mean time here's your 5-day forecast for London KY:

Saturday: Snow showers wrap up and we should see some clearing overnight. High today of 26.

Sunday: Mostly Sunny but bitter cold in the morning. Low of 6, High of 28.

Monday: Mostly sunny, Low of 7, High of 33.

Tuesday: Chance of snow or wintry mix, otherwise M. Cloudy. Low of 27, High of 36.

Wednesday: Mostly Sunny with a Low of 25, High of 37.

More updates coming up later in the day!

Friday, January 29, 2010

And Now... We Wait

Good evening everyone just stopping by with a quick update on the snow situation going across the area.


As you can see snow is spreading over southern KY as we speak. I've already heard reports of dusting to an inch in most of south eastern KY. So far my time line from yesterday looks spot on track. Here it is again in case you missed it:

Friday Early Afternoon: Snow should start in Western KY including Bowling Green early afternoon, we will likely experience a period of Virga before the snow actually starts reaching the ground as the air will be very dry as our storm moves in.

Friday Night (After 6:00PM): Snow should be going across most of southern KY by this point, once again it will take a bit for it to get going as the atmosphere will have to moisten up a bit before the snow will hit the ground.

Friday Late (Around Midnight): Heavy snow across most of Southern KY, snow going at this point near the I-64 corridor. Snow getting going at moderate rates across the coal fields of WV. Areas seeing heavy snow at this time could see near white out conditions and along the TN, KY border you could see snowfall rates of 1-2"s per hour.

Saturday Morning (Around dawn): Moderate to heavy snow wrapping up in bowling green but continuing points east to include all of southern WV at this point. Many roads will likely be covered in many areas south of I-64 at this point.

Saturday Mid-day: Heaviest snow now located in far-eastern KY and most of southern WV. Snow really lightening up west of I-65. Light to moderate snowfall continues for area west of I-75 to I-65 through the late evening.

Saturday Evening: Flurries and light snow west of I-75, east of I-75 to the KY/WV/VA border, light to moderate snow, moderate snow hanging tough in southern WV.

Sunday Morning: Snow lingers in WV mountains, while most of southern KY wakes up to clear skies and temperatures in the single digits or possibly below zero.

So time line looks to be on track, however my totals from earlier might have been too conservative. Here's a look at the latest NAM and GFS snowfall totals:

NAM:

GFS:


The NAM is the preferred model this late in the game because of it's higher resolution. Also a great model to look at is the SREF (Short Range Ensemble Forecast), Let's see what it's latest run has to see for what would normally fall as liquid.

That's showing around .75"-1.00" liquid over much of our area. The snow will likely be falling at something higher than the normal 10-1 frozen to liquid ratio... probably something between 12-1 and 15-1 because of the cold air in place. So we're talking based off the SREF parts of our area could see snowfall totals of 9-15"s! Here is my final call map:


Just some minor tweaks but nothing major as far as southern KY goes. The area to watch is the I-64 corridor in KY. There is some serious dry air in place up there and it's not budging as of now. Until the atmosphere get's moistened up the snow won't fall. 20 miles will make a difference between who get's a ton of snow, and who could see next to none, and it might be the saving grace for some Meteorologists forecasts. So that does it for now. Enjoy the snow and be careful out there, might be a good idea to enjoy just a fun day relaxing indoors tomorrow with your family or playing in the snow. I'll have more updates as needed, until then take care.

PS: Post your snowfall totals in my comments section with your name and city and I'll plot em up in Google Earth to see how my forecast pans out.