Saturday, January 23, 2016

Digging Out in the Northeast; Milder with Monday snow for us

 Dude, Where's My Car?
This tweet came from @IndraPetersons where it appears cars were being swallowed by snow in DC!!



Western Suburbs of DC
Thanks to my good friends' in-laws for this picture from the western suburbs of D.C.. That's a lot of snow!!



Washington D.C. Saturday Morning
This was the view from the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. from early Saturday where visibilities were hovering around 1/2 to 1/4 mile with moderate to heavy snow falling. At this point, there was already 12"+ snow around the D.C./Baltimore area.



New York City Saturday Morning
This was the view from Times Square Saturday morning as heavy snow continued to fall



More Than 1ft of Snow in NYC
Thanks to William Anderson for this picture of the Flatiron Building in NYC... VERY nice picture!



Upper West Side
Thanks to my good friend Jamie Steinert for these pictures from the Upper West Side... that's a lot of snow!!




#Blizzard2016
Here's a neat tweet from @ChrisScottWX showing a Hi-res satellite imagine from early Saturday morning. You can actually see the city lights of D.C and NYC under the clouds and heavy snow!



Rare Thundersnow From the International Space Station
Here's an incredible picture from the International Space Station showing rare thundersnow over the Eastern U.S.!! This was the METAR report from the Baltimore Airport from early Saturday morning

KBWI 230905Z 03018G28KT 1/8SM +TSSNPL BLSN FZFG OVC006CB M04/M06 A2963 RMK AO2 PK WND 03028/0904 TSB04 OCNL LTGIC OHD TS OHD MOV N P0004 T10441061 RVRNO



#Blizzard2016
This was the radar from early Saturday as the #Blizzard2016 was still underway, pumping out significant snowfall from Washington D.C. to New York City. By Saturday morning, D.C. and New York had already had double digit snowfall tallies with snowfall rates near 2" to 3" per hour in some locations


Winds Surrounding the Storm

The wind field surrounding this particular storm was quite impressive! Note the strong northeast fetch running into the NE coast! This helped to produce major and historic coastal flooding for several communities along the coast. In fact, some had worse coastal flooding with this storm than what they had with Hurricane Sandy in 2012.


Coastal Flooding

This is frightening... this was the view from Sea Isle, NJ where coastal flooding mixed with chucks of ice to create this river of flooding down several streets.


Snowfall Analysis

The 48 hour snowfall analysis ending AM Saturday showed significant snowfall from parts of Kentucky to parts of the Northeast. There was a large swath of 1ft to near 2ft tallies with additional snowfall expected in some of these areas through PM Saturday & AM Sunday.


Historic Snowfall
**As of 7pm EST Saturday**

JFK Airport: 27"
LaGuardia: 25"
Central Park: 24.1" (3rd All-Time)
Dulles: 28.3" (2nd All-Time)

Highest Snowfall Tallies by State
**As of 3pm EST Saturday**



Big League Snowfall
Here's an interesting tweet from @chrisnews from @WHAS11 in Kentucky... This is a pretty unique way of measuring the snow considering Louisville is home the the Louisville Slugger!


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Why Was 2016 "Snowzilla" So Bad? 1-2" Here Monday
By Paul Douglas


It's true that a Minnesota politician could probably run on a pro-global warming platform but here's why warming matters. The combination of El Nino-enhanced jet stream winds and Gulf Stream waters in the mid-70s offshore (7F warmer than average) provided additional water vapor; more fuel for Saturday's blizzard - amping up final amounts into the 2-3 foot range for a wide swath of the northeast.

Warm water expands; a 1 foot rise is ocean levels may have lead to the worst flooding on record for Lewes, Delaware. Parts of the New Jersey shore experienced worse flooding than during Sandy, in 2012. Weather on steroids.

We don't "believe the science". We continually test the science. The symptoms will become harder to deny over time.

There's no denying 30s will feel good today; models hint at 40F late in the week. No aneurysm-triggering storms close to home but Monday's system could squeeze out a couple inches.
I still suspect the worst of winter's chill is in our rear-view mirror. Meanwhile DC & New York are digging out from nearly a winter's worth of snow from one storm.
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Extended Forecast

SATURDAY NIGHT: Mostly cloudy and mild. Winds: SW 10-15. Low: 26.
SUNDAY: Mostly gray, risk of a thaw. Winds: W 5-10. High: 32
SUNDAY NIGHT: Cloudy, light snow develops late. Winds: ENE 5. Low: 27
MONDAY:  Light snow, 1" to 3" possible. High: 30
TUESDAY: Partly sunny, better travel weather. Wake-up: 27. High: 30
WEDNESDAY: Cloudy. flurries possible. Wake-up: 18. High: 27
THURSDAY: Mostly cloudy, thawing out. Wake-up: 23. High: 37
FRIDAY: January thaw, cloud skies. Wake-up: 32. High 41.
SATURDAY: Clouds increase, flurries late?. Wake-up: 33. High: 39.
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This Day in Weather History
January 24th

1968: A rare severe thunderstorm hits the Twin Cities and leaves a coating of ice an inch thick. 10 thousand homes were without power.
1950: An ice storm develops over southwest Minnesota. Ice on telephone wires from 1/3 to 1.5 inches. Bismarck, North Dakota had 17 inches of snow. A Northern Pacific passenger train derailed at Detroit Lakes with no injuries.
1925: A solar eclipse is seen across northern Minnesota during the morning. The Duluth Herald reported that chickens were 'puzzled by the dark morning' and didn't leave their roosts.
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Average High/Low for Minneapolis
January 24th

Average High: 24F (Record: 57F set in 1981)
Average Low: 7F (Recordd: -33F set in 1904)
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Sunrise/Sunset Times for Minneapolis
January 24th

Sunrise: 7:41am
Sunset: 5:09pm

*Daylight gained since yesterday: ~2mins & 14secs
*Daylight gained since Winter Solstice: ~41mins
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Moon Phase for January 24th at Midnight
1.2 Days After Full Moon



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Minneapolis Temperature Trend
The extended forecast for Minneapolis shows warmer temperatures continuing through much of the rest of the month. In fact, highs may even sneak up into the lower 30s. However, the long range forecast suggests slightly cooler temperatures into early February.


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6 to 10 Day Temperature Outlook
According to NOAA's CPC, the 6 to 10 day temperature outlook suggests warmer than average conditions through the end of the month. This will feel incredibly warm compared to the frigid weather we endured over the last couple of weekends.


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Sunday Weather Outlook
High temperatures on Sunday will warm into the 20s and 30s across the region, which will be quite a bit above average for most locations.



Sunday Weather Outlook
Winds look to be fairly light on Sunday, but they will pick up later in the day as our next weak system moves in for Monday.



Sunday Weather Outlook
It'll be another mostly gray day across the region with a few peeks of sun possible here and there.



Simulated Radar
A weak clipper will move through far northern Minnesota late Saturday night - AM Sunday and bring light snow to those areas, but another system will move through the Upper Midwest with some minor snowfall accumulations on Monday.



Snowfall Potential
Our next weak weather event slides in early next week with fairly minor snowfall accumulations through 6pm Monday. However, a 1" to 3" snow band could set up across the southern half of the state, which could make travel a little tricky on Monday.



Minneapolis Snowfall Potential
Here's a look at the snowfall potential over the next several days. Note our first shot of snow on Monday, which could bring around 1" to 2" to Minneapolis with another potential event moving in later this week. Stay tuned.


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National Weather Outlook
The weather loop below shows the historic winter storm exiting the Eastern U.S. through the rest of the weekend, while another, weaker system, moves across the western half of the country through early next week. This next system will spread more wintry weather across the Western U.S. and parts of the Midwest, while rain and thunder looks to move through southern half of the country by early next week.



5 Day Precipitation Forecast
According to NOAA's WPC, the 5 day precipitation forecast suggests heavy moisture continuing in the Pacific Northwest with a few areas in the Central U.S. getting a little more appreciative moisture through the week.



Snowfall Outlook
The snowfall potential across the nation looks a little quieter now compared to what the major winter storm brought across parts of the Eastern U.S.. There will be more significant amounts in the higher elevations out west. There appears to be a fairly decent band of light shoveable



6 to 10 day Temperature Outlook
According to NOAA's CPC, the 6 to 10 day temperature outlook suggests warmer than average temperatures continuing for much of the country and Alaska by the end of the month.



Visible Satellite of Great Lakes
WOW! Here's an incredible satellite image from @UWCIMSS over the Great Lakes early Saturday morning!!

via & moonlight. Note NE winds over Lakes , & and SW winds over ." 


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Why Are Government Forecasts So Shouty?
If you're familiar with any National Weather Service text products, you'll know that much of the information is disseminated with text in all caps form. Here's an article from TheAtlantic.com that explains more:

"The all-caps style originated from teletype machines, which were essentially typewriters controlled by telephone lines. For most of the 20th century, “the news wire” came in by teletype. Newspapers and radio stations got their AP stories, weather bulletins, and sports scores live—and loudly, what with all the clacking—via teletype. (Early in his career, Ronald Reagan did radio play-by-plays of Chicago Cubs games without seeing them: The game’s action came in through the wire.) When the government started requesting forecast discussions, they weren’t for public consumption. Rather, they were an internal communication tool between weather bureaus. Twice a day, along with the standard temperature and wind speed and pressure readings, meteorologists would add their professional annotation of the forecast."

See more from TheAtlantic.com HERE:
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Thanks for checking in and have a great rest of your weekend! Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @TNelsonWX

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