As RAH discussed below, our one big issue is no big high pressure to the north. So again, I think we really need to keep hoping for the flatter/weaker miller A storm.
.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
As of 425 AM Monday...
* Cold temperatures dominate the forecast through midweek with
attention turning to our next potential winter system Friday into
Saturday.
A reinforcing shot of Arctic high pressure is expected to progress
across the area Wed night into Thurs as the center of high pressure
over the southern Plains shifts eastward and into the Ohio Valley by
Thurs morning. Although the weather will be particularly quiet from
a precipitation perspective, the cold and dry Arctic airmass
deposited over our area and the northerly winds traversing the
expected
snowpack over VA will combine to result in well below
normal temperatures Wed into Fri. Highs in the 30s to around 40
degrees and lows in the teens to low 20s will be common areawide.
This cold and dry air will set the stage for our next system Fri
into
Sat.
A complicated system pattern will be driving this next system as
several shortwaves interact with an anchored parent low over
Newfoundland as well as northern-stream
closed low near the Baja
Peninsula to start the period.
Ensemble guidance suggest generally a
positive
tilt trough axis to develop as the low over the Baja merges
with several waves and migrates eastward, extending from the Great
Lakes through the Ohio Valley and into the southern Plains by 12z
Sat.
Ensemble member
MSLP pressure centers from the GEFS, EPS, GEPS,
generally show a single low developing over the northern GOM states
and lifting ENE in a
classic Miller A track through the Southeast
and off the Carolina coast through 00z Sun. This configuration would
favor a more rain/snow event with a relatively narrow transition
zone, but with a very large question remaining on where that is
expected to set up. The
important missing ingredient from this
pattern is a dominant Arctic high positioned over the Northeast to
lock in the cold/dry air ahead of this system, which will have to
rely on locking in an insitu
CAD regime as precipitation begins to
diabatically cool the dry preceding airmass.
Current
forecast guidance suggests a chance for initially snow late
Fri into early
Sat with the rain/snow line shifting northward
towards the climatologically favored I-85 corridor by
Sat morning
with precipitation coming to an end through the afternoon hours.
Timing and amounts will
likely change as models narrow in on how
important synoptic features develop and interact with one another.
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