Rain Friday PM; flakes lurk
It looks like mostly rain tomorow. But forecasters still can't get the whisper of frozen precipitation out of their forecast discussion for late-Friday/early Saturday. I'll let you read it and draw your own conclusions. Text in parentheses is my translation of meteorologist-speak:
" HAVE NOT TOTALLY RULED OUT SNOW MIXING IN (ESPECIALLY GIVEN FORECASTS OF FREEZING TEMPERATURES ALOFT) ... BELIEVE RAIN WILL BE THE PRIMARY P-TYPE UNTIL (MIDNIGHT)...EXCEPT FOR
ELEVATIONS (AT OR ABOVE) 1500 FT WHERE SNOW WILL MIX WITH THE RAIN. AFTER
(MIDNIGHT)...BELIEVE RAIN CAN MIX WITH SNOW FURTHER EAST...INCLUDING THE
NORTH AND WEST SUBURBS OF BALTIMORE AND WASHINGTON WITH RAIN
REMAINING THE P-TYPE RIGHT ALONG AND EAST OF INTERSTATE 95. FOR MOST
AREAS...EVEN IF SOME WET SNOW FLAKES MIX IN...NO ACCUMULATION IS
EXPECTED AT THIS TIME GIVEN RELATIVELY WARM GROUND TEMPERATURES AND
PROJECTED FALL RATES. THE EXCEPTION WILL BE OVER/WEST OF THE MTNS
WHERE MINOR ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE."
Comments
My conclusion about LWX/s AFD is B.F.D. 'Snow' was never really much of a possibility given the consistent forecast for warm boundary layer temperatures.
More importantly, what difference does it make whether a few snow flakes mix in with the rain and why is the NWS devoting so much time to such a non-event?
Posted by: TQ | November 8, 2007 11:47 PM
Yep. They were right...We have some fat snowflakes out here in Parkton this morning. Not many, to be sure, and not sticking, but unmistakeably the white stuff.
Posted by: M. Ward | November 9, 2007 9:59 AM
TQ: They make a big deal of a few flakes a) because (in case you haven't noticed) the people in this region do NOT suffer snow and ice calmly and rationally like normal people in Buffalo and Chicago; b) snow and ice can pose threats to life and property, which is what the NWS was established to protect, and they don't want to be caught with their pants down; and c) news media like snow and ice forecasts because of "a" (see above) and because talk of such things, in these parts, gets the public's attention and boosts ratings and Web traffic.
Posted by: frank roylance | November 9, 2007 10:36 AM