Wednesday, February 20, 2008

"Say it ain't so...."

Sorry for the posting delay...I felt a little like Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he was assessing the latest U.S. economic indicators and realized there are more troubling signs than earlier suggested. As I got up early and started to pull weather data, I probably had that deer-in-the-headlight kind of look myself.


Well, truth be told, working a job where you get up at 1am gives you that look naturally, but I digress...

IF the models, of which the majority were close in agreement, come to pass, we'll have one massive ice storm on our hands Thursday night into Friday morning in the Triad. The ETA MOS numbers when I awoke were a low of 29 and a high of 31...with close to 1" of liquid equivalent. Not all would be ice, of course, but it would do a whammy on the region. Admittedly, that is one of myriad models, but more than half are suggestive of aggressive ice accumulation in the northern Piedmont and Foothills.

Sleet and freezing rain seem to outweigh snow simply because of the shallow depth (expected) of the cold surface layer, with warmer air aloft. High pressure in New Jersey will feed colder, drier surface air in from the east-northeast all day Thursday. Onset of precipitation will most likely be well after dark; while snow may predominate at first, a mix of sleet and freezing rain seem to ultimately rule the roost through most of Friday morning. Once the thermometer gets above freezing after lunch, it never returns to the 32-mark for several days...so all eyes will be assessing the time up until then.

Friday looks to be a fun-filled day for us 3-market meteorologists as that is our weakest staffing day with no mid-day support coming in. Heading out to get the granola bars in a few....! Wheeeeeedoggies!

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