THURSDAY WEATHER BRIEFING
Good morning!
Last evening I posted a couple of "explainer" graphics that had to do with yesterday's snow. The snow "overachieved", mainly south of 224 where some places had 2-3 inches. Part of the reason for the forecast bust was the fact that the snowflakes were mainly dendrites, the fluffy, sparkly snow that makes for great pictures. It accumulates very efficiently. The snow to liquid ratios were probably 30 or 40 to 1...pretty but not good for snowballs.
Today will be an uneventful day with clouds and limited sun along with cold temperatures. There can be a passing flurry.
THE BIGGGGG STORM
The snow storm that will crush the mid-Atlantic region will be one of the biggest in history for many places. Here's the "big picture" snow forecast, made by me:
In our viewing area, there might be a little snow in the air Friday night and there might even be a coating up to around Rt 224 but the only place that can see an inch or so is in far southern Columbiana County. You won't have to travel all that far to find accumulating snow. Pittsburgh can see a couple/few inches with MUCH more south and east of there.Look at this NWS snow forecast, centered on Virginia. Wow!
This will shut down many cities for the whole weekend. Especially Washington and Baltimore.
The storm will produce problems with ice in the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Our weekend weather will be benign with some sunshine and a slow warming trend.
EARLY NEXT WEEK
The next system will drag in enough mild air that some rain will be possible Monday night into Tuesday.
A shot of somewhat cooler air will follow.
LONG RANGE
Still on track for a warm up at the start of February. These numbers are likely conservative. Could a 50+ plus day or two be in the cards? Perhaps.
Climate models still showing a mild February, in stark contrast to last February, the coldest on record.
2 DEGREE GUARANTEE
Our snow forecast wasn't great yesterday but the temperature forecast was on the money.
WEATHER FOR WEATHER GEEKS:
The Valley's most detailed weather forecast will have lots of coverage of the East Coast blizzard and much much more including a breakdown of our weather for the next week to 10 days. Weather For Weather Geeks will be on ericwfmj.com and wfmj.com/weather as well as the WFMJ app by 8:00pm.