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Pattern Dazzling December

Patterns locked in! West coast trough, Seattle getting a good snow, hard to break that pattern. It’s been pretty stubborn
Especially in the La Niña background state, any episodes of suppressed storm tracks will be transient, and entirely dependent on the strength and location of the block. As it is right now, the blocking is situated quite poleward, so we ridge down here I think.
 
Watch next Friday-ish, espeacilly if you are along I40 corridor. 6z GFS is getting closer, has a messy lakes low. Euro, CAN and GFS just need a little more press wth the forming Block. See how that trends. Could sneak one in here for a few of us in 7-8 days.

prateptype_cat.us_ma.png
 
Watch next Friday-ish, espeacilly if you are along I40 corridor. 6z GFS is getting closer, has a messy lakes low. Euro, CAN and GFS just need a little more press wth the forming Block. See how that trends. Could sneak one in here for a few of us in 7-8 days.

prateptype_cat.us_ma.png
This definitely might be a time to watch for I-40 north, but more importantly I think this could be a system that helps out with getting snowpack built up in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
 
Didn’t realize the EPS last night was going for Aleutian low/+PNA/-EPOView attachment 124480
Something that I keep noticing and really like is how the deepest heights are showing up right over Baffin Bay…. that’s a prime location for blocking to do the southeast the most good
 
The models continue to build a nice snow pack to our north. Things look really nice for the SE in general as we get later into the month of December. I just hope the rug does not get pulled out from under us with all that beautiful blocking being shown over top.
I like the 17th-25th, we’re gonna progress thru a pattern where western energy gets booted each time something dives into the pacific from the NPAC ridge, KU style. 1st and second likely go to the NE/MA and perhaps climo favored areas. that then sets us up later around the 17-25th with those first storms bombing out under the block over the NE US/Atlantic and becoming our confluence so to speak shunting the track South each time. That’s how many NAOs have worked anyways around here . Step down process, need MA/NE to eat first with snow cover and there storms becoming our confluence
 
With all the talk of Dec. 2010, I decided to look back at how the month evolved day by day. Pretty interesting to see how the Christmas storm developed.

Dec_2010_H5anomalies.gif

Here is the composite anomaly for RDU big snow storms (> 6" in a single day), and how they evolved from 5 days out to the time of the event. As many have said, this certainly is our best opportunity at wintry weather around Christmas since 2010.

rduSnow.jpeg

EPS (and all the ensembles) are certainly getting there beyond D10, so it's certainly possible an RDU big snow threat could be looming as we approach the week of Christmas if things hold/improve.

eps.png
 
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I like the 17th-25th, we’re gonna progress thru a pattern where western energy gets booted each time something dives into the pacific from the NPAC ridge, KU style. 1st and second likely go to the NE/MA and perhaps climo favored areas. that then sets us up later around the 17-25th with those first storms bombing out under the block over the NE US/Atlantic and becoming our confluence so to speak shunting the track South each time. That’s how many NAOs have worked anyways around here . Step down process, need MA/NE to eat first with snow cover and there storms becoming our confluence
I agree with this. I think the block is a lock. Eyes on the Pacific evolution, as that will matter to the extent of the cold that makes it into the SE.
 
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