Nice and interesting write up by Rah NWS
The next system continues to at least threaten our region with some
wintry precipitation (late in the weekend) into early Monday.
However, confidence remains low to moderate as differences continue
with the forecast storm track. The latest EC appears to be too far
west with the low track (along the Appalachians), breaking away from
the
ensemble members, keeping the storm more suppressed or close to
NC.
For a Winter Storm threat: A couple of important issues to be ironed
out include: 1). Amount and depth of cold air east of the
Appalachians (models show a bitterly cold arctic
air mass over the
Midwest - but how much of the cold will make it over the
Appalachians - without a parent high or extension of the Midwest
high that reaches NY/PA? (so that the cold air can drive down the
eastern seaboard). It is hard to get the cold air east of the
Mountains unless we have a favorable high over the Great Lakes to
New England.
Also 2), storm track. The current forecast storm track that is
favored by WPC (discarding the 00z/EC operational run), takes the
storm to near Florence SC by 12z/Monday. This would be favorable for
snow in the
NC Mountains in the NW part of the state, and in our
Piedmont (IF the cold air can drive down the eastern seaboard in
time, before the storm and
moisture depart Monday.
Sunday afternoon into Monday morning will have to be watched. But,
for now, we have a cold rain for most areas of the Piedmont damming
region, with lows in the lower 30s, and highs in the upper 30s. We
need to have increased confidence in 1 and 2 before we get
significant snow or a wintry mixture placed in the forecast.
Remember, by March 1 or so - our average high is in the upper 50s
and our average low is in the mid 30s. So, to get a day of snow - we
need a very cold
air mass to go along with the precipitation. The
air mass to our NW will continue brutally cold Sunday and Monday.
The cold is there, but can we tap into it soon enough?