I did some checking and the -AO during the historic arctic outbreak in 1985 was around -6 on 1/19/85. Two days later many places in the south were below zero and set several records. One would have to think with our recent low AO numbers that it could up the snow chances in places that haven't seen snow in a while. I for one hope the whole board can cash in and take advantage of this rare occurrence.18z GEFS Mean AO gets down to -4.6
That right there, is your classic SE pattern (Miller A) look View attachment 126366View attachment 126367View attachment 126368View attachment 126369
That looks really good. I might be wrong on this, but for SE snowstorms, I seem to remember an old post that Allan made one time that showed that it is ideal to have the negative anomaly center over TN. Regardless, the image above looks quite chilly!
I did some checking and the -AO during the historic arctic outbreak in 1985 was around -6 on 1/19/85. Two days later many places in the south were below zero and set several records. One would have to think with our recent low AO numbers that it could up the snow chances in places that haven't seen snow in a while. I for one hope the whole board can cash in and take advantage of this rare occurrence.
Per NWS on the historic January 1985 cold.
https://www.weather.gov/ilm/January1985cold
Arctic air was pushed southward into the northern Plains and Great Lakes on January 18th by a building ridge of high pressure over northern Canada. The upper level high became unusually strong over Canada, diverting the jet stream on a looping path southward across the United States. The polar vortex dropped into the Great Lakes region on January 19th; this helped accelerate the movement of intensely cold air southward. The arctic cold front reached the Carolinas during the morning of January 20th and by that evening had pushed through all of Florida and into Cuba. Across North and South Carolina the coldest morning of the event was January 21, 1985, a date which shows up in most city's record books for the lowest temperatures ever observed.
Remember it well. That was the ultimate pipe buster. My dad took the dog for a walk after his morning shower and his hair froze! ?I did some checking and the -AO during the historic arctic outbreak in 1985 was around -6 on 1/19/85. Two days later many places in the south were below zero and set several records. One would have to think with our recent low AO numbers that it could up the snow chances in places that haven't seen snow in a while. I for one hope the whole board can cash in and take advantage of this rare occurrence.
Per NWS on the historic January 1985 cold.
https://www.weather.gov/ilm/January1985cold
Arctic air was pushed southward into the northern Plains and Great Lakes on January 18th by a building ridge of high pressure over northern Canada. The upper level high became unusually strong over Canada, diverting the jet stream on a looping path southward across the United States. The polar vortex dropped into the Great Lakes region on January 19th; this helped accelerate the movement of intensely cold air southward. The arctic cold front reached the Carolinas during the morning of January 20th and by that evening had pushed through all of Florida and into Cuba. Across North and South Carolina the coldest morning of the event was January 21, 1985, a date which shows up in most city's record books for the lowest temperatures ever observed.
Is that a cold look??View attachment 126397Interestingly, MMFS at hr 144 looks quite a bit different synoptically than other models.
There was actually a period of light snow that accompanied that cold front as it came through. It was a Sunday morning. It only added up to around an inch but it was a very dry snow that really didn’t really didn’t stick to the roads because it was so dry that it would just blow around. I remember my Dad driving us home from church in it… when we went into church that morning temperatures were still around 30… when we left a couple hours later it had dropped to 11 in Charlotte and it was in the single digits most of the afternoon.I did some checking and the -AO during the historic arctic outbreak in 1985 was around -6 on 1/19/85. Two days later many places in the south were below zero and set several records. One would have to think with our recent low AO numbers that it could up the snow chances in places that haven't seen snow in a while. I for one hope the whole board can cash in and take advantage of this rare occurrence.
Per NWS on the historic January 1985 cold.
https://www.weather.gov/ilm/January1985cold
Arctic air was pushed southward into the northern Plains and Great Lakes on January 18th by a building ridge of high pressure over northern Canada. The upper level high became unusually strong over Canada, diverting the jet stream on a looping path southward across the United States. The polar vortex dropped into the Great Lakes region on January 19th; this helped accelerate the movement of intensely cold air southward. The arctic cold front reached the Carolinas during the morning of January 20th and by that evening had pushed through all of Florida and into Cuba. Across North and South Carolina the coldest morning of the event was January 21, 1985, a date which shows up in most city's record books for the lowest temperatures ever observed.
Seems like most of the times we start seeing those weird streamers in these setups they end up being more robust than modeled.The 18Z NAM took a step back for the 18th. The 18Z ICON however has trended better the past three runs and is now very close to some light wintry precip for portions on N. Ala and N. Ga. One more tick west with the vortex over the Great Lakes should do it.
Still not there, but I'm interested anyway.
EDIT: The 18Z RGEM is trying too.
Yep.Seems like most of the times we start seeing those weird streamers in these setups they end up being more robust than modeled.