Wednesday, January 31, 2007
WAVE # 1 tapering off & Why we're getting FREEZING RAIN!
WAVE # 1 tapering off...
Snow is still coming down across NW AR and into the River Valley though we’re seeing a clearing line off to the west. We’ve received many reports of 1 to 2” on the ground with a higher totals coming in from the Pea Ridge area of Benton County where three inches plus have been reported and it is still snowing.
This first batch of snow will slowly transition to flurries and freezing rain which will be off and on through the overnight period. WAVE # 2 will likely move into our area by tomorrow morning. Interestingly, model initialization has been slow with the precipitation. In fact, there was a good lag of some four hours with the on set of today’s snow, so with that being said, we’re looking for an earlier start than the noontime which the latest model data supports.
WAVE # 2 looks to be light, but the inch to two additional inches of snow that we are expecting will still likely plague traveling and cause road issues once again. We’re still looking to have plenty of cold air in place so what does fall will stick and last for awhile. Another shot of brutally cold air is still slated to move through the area late Friday and into Saturday. It is likely that during the day on Friday we will have some light Flurries as we’re still situated within the mean trough of Low pressure to our west. Temperatures at 850mb by Sunday night are near -18C. If that air gets mixed out under calm conditions and clear skies, we could be looking at surface temps by Sunday morning in the low single digits… OUCH!
We’ve been receiving reports of some freezing drizzle in the Roland, OK area and into Fort Smith and the River Valley. It’s likely that in-between waves tonight, as precipitation is light and predominantly in lower layers of the atmosphere, from the ground up to about 10,000 feet or so (700mb), we will experience periods of troublesome freezing drizzle.
Snow flake formation and growth typically occurs between 18,000 feet and 10,000 feet (500mb to 700mb). Within this layer that has a typical temperature range of -5 to -15C air, the largest concentrations of CCN’s (Cloud Condensation Nuclei) exist. This region also is where dendritic growth and snowflake formation occur. Right now our wave is drying up in this region and there is a lack of moisture that is being transported in, but at the surface to the aforementioned 700mb level, we still have a feed from the south south west of moisture laden air. This moisture is basically shut off from snowflake formation processes and the water droplets remain in liquid state. Formally stated, they are “supercooled”. Upon reaching the ground they freeze as glaze or freezing rain even though the whole column above the surface is frozen.
Summed up… The roads will continue to be hazardous!
Thanks for all of the reports!
Snow is still coming down across NW AR and into the River Valley though we’re seeing a clearing line off to the west. We’ve received many reports of 1 to 2” on the ground with a higher totals coming in from the Pea Ridge area of Benton County where three inches plus have been reported and it is still snowing.
This first batch of snow will slowly transition to flurries and freezing rain which will be off and on through the overnight period. WAVE # 2 will likely move into our area by tomorrow morning. Interestingly, model initialization has been slow with the precipitation. In fact, there was a good lag of some four hours with the on set of today’s snow, so with that being said, we’re looking for an earlier start than the noontime which the latest model data supports.
WAVE # 2 looks to be light, but the inch to two additional inches of snow that we are expecting will still likely plague traveling and cause road issues once again. We’re still looking to have plenty of cold air in place so what does fall will stick and last for awhile. Another shot of brutally cold air is still slated to move through the area late Friday and into Saturday. It is likely that during the day on Friday we will have some light Flurries as we’re still situated within the mean trough of Low pressure to our west. Temperatures at 850mb by Sunday night are near -18C. If that air gets mixed out under calm conditions and clear skies, we could be looking at surface temps by Sunday morning in the low single digits… OUCH!
We’ve been receiving reports of some freezing drizzle in the Roland, OK area and into Fort Smith and the River Valley. It’s likely that in-between waves tonight, as precipitation is light and predominantly in lower layers of the atmosphere, from the ground up to about 10,000 feet or so (700mb), we will experience periods of troublesome freezing drizzle.
Snow flake formation and growth typically occurs between 18,000 feet and 10,000 feet (500mb to 700mb). Within this layer that has a typical temperature range of -5 to -15C air, the largest concentrations of CCN’s (Cloud Condensation Nuclei) exist. This region also is where dendritic growth and snowflake formation occur. Right now our wave is drying up in this region and there is a lack of moisture that is being transported in, but at the surface to the aforementioned 700mb level, we still have a feed from the south south west of moisture laden air. This moisture is basically shut off from snowflake formation processes and the water droplets remain in liquid state. Formally stated, they are “supercooled”. Upon reaching the ground they freeze as glaze or freezing rain even though the whole column above the surface is frozen.
Summed up… The roads will continue to be hazardous!
Thanks for all of the reports!
Posted by Ted Zarras at 6:05 PM
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