Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Historic, Never-Before-Seen Snowstorm Could be on the Way

The weather world was taken by storm, literally, overnight when the Worlds best computer model (the ECMWF) continued onward with its generation of a once in a lifetime snowstorm across most of Georgia and the Carolinas , starting bright and early Christmas morning. Folks, this is one you'll be telling your grandkids about one day if this model verifies.  There's still time for things to change but this model again has the absolute best track record  and has been steadfast in showing an unbelievable setup for a rare snowstorm and even BLIZZARD that would make New England proud in it's best Winters. But, this is the south. We're not supposed to get over 1 foot of snow in places like Macon Georgia and Columbia and Spartanburg and Charlotte , or almost 2 feet in Raleigh and Fayetteville and Richmond.  Even Atlanta would have a hum-dinger of a White Christmas with this one.  
The reason?  There are several unique and extremely rare things going on in the atmosphere that usually do not happen. Its a culmination of the perfect set of events. First, the negative Arctic Oscillation. Its off the charts and has been for a while.  This is just a fancy number that meteorologists give to a blocking High Pressure over Greenland and Canada.  Its the reason the Southeast has been so cold lately. We're pushing toward the coldest December on record, and now I think we will hit that in NC, SC and GA. Whats more, its been going on a couple weeks now, and combined with another historic low, the Arctic Oscillation, and you can finally combine that with one more rarity:  Split Flow! Its how the southern states get its snow in the first place. We have all these factors, plus some, and the ECMWF model (commonly called the European Model) is well known for handling extreme situations very well. But still, even after all these consistent runs we can't say for certain such an extreme event will truly happen.  The odds are though, that some place , somewhere in the Southeast, is in for a very wild ride.  If this storm does happen, then the region will come to a standstill for days on end.  Its an epic storm like I've never seen progged before, and I've looked at countless past snowstorms in the area. This one could top them all.

3 comments:

  1. Dang Robert I like snow but not sure I want to get stuck at home for days on end!! howerver I would love to see a white Christmas

    ReplyDelete
  2. Im dreaming of a white Christmas bring it on. Keeping doing want you do best Robert. Sleigh bells ring are you listening and the snow will be glistening.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Im dreaming of a white Christmas bring it on. Keeping doing want you do best Robert. Sleigh bells ring are you listening and the snow will be glistening.

    ReplyDelete