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February 5-8, 2024 | NE / Mid-Atlantic Winter Storm Speculation


Penn State

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On Friday, the temperature soared to a record 80° in Washington D.C. in what was the pinnacle of our January Thaw. One can almost sense the cherry blossoms awakening from their winter slumber. 🌸 However, Ol’ Man Winter may have one.. er.. several last laughs in the coming month or so. ☃️ There are indications of a pattern change over the next few weeks.. Isn’t there always? lol.. The month of February has been touted as “one to watch”.. especially mid-to-late month. As a matter of fact, the 500mb anomaly looks quite intriguing around Valentine’s Day.. but that’s another story for another thread!

The story of this speculative storm threat begins in February of 1969. Yes.. late February of 1969 is the #1 analog for this time period according to the CPC’s 8-14 day forecast. So what? ..You may ask. Well, it so happens to be the 55th anniversary of the infamous “100 hour storm” that impacted parts of New England including Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The storm ranks 11th on the NESIS scale.. but only because of the relative localized impacts. The storm had a large surface area of amounts greater than 30” due to its duration of nearly four days! Mt. Washington recorded 98” of snow.. and nearby Pinkham Notch recorded 77”. 👀.. Now, that’s not to say that this storm will replicate those results.. but a retrograde has been modeled, so who knows? At any rate.. you can read more about this infamous 100 hour storm here.

Regardless of analog.. it is clear that a strong storm signal has emerged during the first week of February. Teleconnections are briefly favorable, with both the GFS and ECMWF showing the potential for a -AO, -NAO, and +PNA. The ECMWF shows a negative EPO as well. Ensemble guidance also indicates a strong storm signal; however, individual members have a wide envelope.. and to be honest.. many members are well south and east, OTS. Considering an organic forecasting approach.. there’s signal on the BSR as well, though it is also solidly OTS. Operational model guidance is also mixed.. as is to be expected at this range. The ECMWF is currently the only model guidance that indicates potential widespread impacts in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. There’s also been quite a bit of buzz on social media.. but that’s largely neither her nor there. 

In my honest opinion.. the middle to latter part of the month holds the greatest potential; however.. I’m always happy to have something to track! Don’t sleep on this threat though.. there is some promise here. Anyways, additional details and data are in the spoiler. Stay tuned… and as always, Happy Tracking 🤓

Inspiration | 00z ECMWF 

floop-ecmwf_full-2024012700.prateptype_cat_ecmwf-imp.conus.gif.dadda59ca6cf96ab16e02c0d799e8493.gif

00z Ensembles | Hour 240 

EPS

IMG_0916.thumb.png.cb8808cdf350b56ac3508d235819c135.png

GEFS

IMG_0918.thumb.png.7af63af5844e5b7fbb1d7416af154bb9.png

CMCE

IMG_0917.thumb.png.67558b3daa3de1347eed1d28b04a0456.png
 

Spoiler

Ensemble Guidance | 500 MB Anomaly @ Hour 240

EPS

IMG_0927.thumb.png.06ea00160e3e7bf161afd08577e97daa.png

GEFS

IMG_0928.thumb.png.a65aac04d10e64f4f691bf836d871778.png

CMCE

IMG_0929.thumb.png.7837493acb1958c719b4012020febf76.png

Operational Guidance | Surface + 500 MB @ Hours 192-240

ECMWF

floop-ecmwf_full-2024012700.prateptype_cat_ecmwf-imp.conus.gif.dadda59ca6cf96ab16e02c0d799e8493.gif

floop-ecmwf_full-2024012700.500hv.conus.gif.381529b356a9f92e68baaa665ed85844.gif

GFS

floop-gfs-2024012700.prateptype_cat-imp.conus2.gif.955557ebc38ffbd413f3f1f331efd919.gif
floop-gfs-2024012700.500hv.conus.gif.fc153d203b6542e262154d3a4cb024f5.gif

GDPS

floop-gdps-2024012700.prateptype-imp.conus.gif.7b9757bc14dafe8ce77166e223dfc277.gif

floop-gdps-2024012700.500hv.conus.gif.084b967f737774bca8dd7ac2ce044aed.gif

Teleconnections | ECMWF + GFS

AO

IMG_0919.thumb.png.bb9660e11db1d7191076fea54437c675.png

IMG_0923.thumb.png.45d43f95460811b4bc4d1048406d8e68.png
NAO

IMG_0921.thumb.png.4f075bc13913f57695df972cd9e69b44.png

IMG_0925.thumb.png.e1eb5191a8d62339bfba10069a9c1a7a.png
PNA

IMG_0922.thumb.png.8ee7eab65695294f0e916340a3d5cb98.png

IMG_0926.thumb.png.8436034466d0bc4c2e8021834d963a40.png
EPO

IMG_0920.thumb.png.b9600ae9efb872c1e85037f64821291e.png

IMG_0924.thumb.png.ad2b152a1fa77033e9ad6335711fd119.png
Organic Forecasting | BSR

IMG_0932.gif.1d4e75fba5cf2ea0d2052b68771b08ae.gif

Analogs | CPC 8-14 Day Forecast 

IMG_0930.thumb.gif.abb895ee2bee107be8bfad0fa0cce0c0.gif

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Great early look. In the words of the great Snobal, I am liking this timeframe. GFS saw this storm on 6z as well but had an OTS solution. Cold air was in same place

Edited by Squepp
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7 minutes ago, Penn State said:

962! Wow.. Certainly fits with that BSR retrograde stuff. 
floop-ecmwf_full-2024012712.prateptype_cat_ecmwf-imp.conus.gif.3bffb52799faf5b87a8abbf92c1d0fc3.gif

Does it happen over the Eastern CONUS or Western Atlantic is the question.

ezgif-7-f59009a470.thumb.gif.57a909d02da89c724e892bc0f79cc5c5.gif

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2 minutes ago, MaineJay said:

Does it happen over the Eastern CONUS or Western Atlantic is the question.

ezgif-7-f59009a470.thumb.gif.57a909d02da89c724e892bc0f79cc5c5.gif

Probably the Atlantic lol.. But, I’m gonna keep my dreams alive for the moment.

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4 minutes ago, MaineJay said:

Does it happen over the Eastern CONUS or Western Atlantic is the question.

ezgif-7-f59009a470.thumb.gif.57a909d02da89c724e892bc0f79cc5c5.gif

 

IIRC - the correlation is, most often, NW of the depiction within the BSR images

Of course, temperature impacts, as indicated by this run, and implications are vital.  It's so strong it floods 850 with warmth - the W edge of that, where it clashes with dynamically cooled column - certainly can get crushed. 

Edited by Undertakerson2.0
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