That look is honestly not that far off from the January 2004 Super CAD event….that one put the CLT area below freezing for nearly 4 days. It began with several inches of snow and sleet and then the rest of that time saw periods of freezing drizzle/mist with temperatures basically holding in the low 20s for several days.
Pattern Dazzling December
- Thread starter Rain Cold
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One thing I've noticed on CFS runs with monthly temp departures is how the biggest - departures are showing up in CAD areas.
Ok, I want it too, but wishing for it is not going to make it happen.
I can see where models might be rushing things a bit, but I think the 20th might be a bit too long with what we’re seeing already. The processes that start the -NAO and strong blocking are already beginning.
Plus, it's easy to look at ENS means or upper air model plots and think oh no oranges and yellows over me warm warm warm. As noted above, low level cold via damming with high pressure to the north would be favored before the pretty upper level blue colors potentially take shape over the east coast.
L
Logan Is An Idiot 02
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This would be nice
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The building blocks to our big -NAO event is already on top of us. Not really a wish when the process is already taking shape, as in that big +SCAND. It’s very typical for southeast ridges to be in place when your building a -NAO in fact it almost always happens that way, in order to get a +SCAND or most of the time, you typically will have a wave pattern in the US with a -PNA/SER. It’s not a wish when it’s literally already taking shape right in front of our eyes.
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That’s a great point. December 1998 is a great example of that. It was so warm with temperatures for a long stretch getting into the upper 60s and 70s for much of the Carolinas. There was no reason to think there could be a major winter storm moving in just before Christmas, but a strong CAD developed and we ended up with a big ice storm that ended as a nice little Christmas morning snowfall for a lot of folks… that was a result of a very shallow cold air mass.
Who wants a dry cold pattern … because a steongly
Negative nao is going suppress the pattern like hell…if it gets that negative
Negative nao is going suppress the pattern like hell…if it gets that negative
Strongly -NAOs favor suppression/further south storm track but also favor amplification, which is the reason why the southeast has gotten some of its biggest events with a -NAO, there’s many examples, and lots of proof, that outside a +PNA (which I consider number 1) its a major key tele for SE (and especially Carolina’s). Jan 2021 had the shunted storm track but didn’t have a cold TPV like what we’re gonna see in early to mid dec. 2021s -NAO had several close calls but to much pacific polar source . Source region is different this go around
Great post!! The other thing to add about that negative NAO of late 2020 into ‘21 is that there was absolutely no cold air in Canada to work with. In fact Canada was absolutely baking with record warm temperatures and dewpoints, and with no tall Western ridge to tap into Siberian cold with a cross polar flow, the best that -NAO could produce was some very marginal close misses. This time, Canada is building up lots of cold air and a deep snow pack
06z GFS Ensemble Members Loop for Dec 8-9
06z GFS Ensemble Mean Surface High Dec 7-8
We got our ice from CAD, but this was a major icestorm west of the mountains in parts of Tenn, Miss, and LA too. Sort if the same setup that Feb 1994 had, except that one was colder back to the west. Then the big ice event that nailed even more of us just after New Years day.