Monday, January 3, 2011

Class is Out of Session

"No big storms in sight" continues to be the common refrain among nearly all forecasters in the Twin Cities as of late Monday. The lone exception is Paul Douglas of the Star Tribune, who notes the potential of "significant snow" next week and goes on to write, "It's early, but guidance is pretty unanimous in printing out a 'few inches' Monday-Tuesday of next week." While other forecasters do not mention "significant"or use similar terms, they do note the possibility of snow for Monday. Perhaps it's all a matter of degree. We'll keep an eye on this to see if it's worthy of becoming a "gradable event."

In the meantime, enjoy the winter break.

4 comments:

  1. Bill.........I believe winter breaks over....sound the hypeometer...Dave Dahl(kstp) on the website last night said"all bets off after Sunday in regards to a storm,he said potential for significant snowfall with a bullseye on southern Minnesota right now,also NWS on their forecast discussion page called for light to moderate snows for an extended period Sunday into Monday with moderate accumulations...Paul Douglas isn't the only one flapping his gums!

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  2. Well, both Dave and Paul are looking at longer range computer models, which I do too. (I think most of the precip will be south of us) The models have gotten more accurate past 72 hrs, but it's still is a 'poke and a hope' past three days. The extreme negative AO we are seeing during fairly strong La Nina is unusual and creates havoc for long range forecasters. One thing I will tell you, it's gonna get real cold around here mid January.

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  3. The models are all over the place right now and it would take someone with a bold guess to say that there will be a significant snow storm in the near term.

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  4. I don't think anyone is forecasting any significant storms for the foreseeable future. There seems to be a fair consensus that it will get colder in the latter half of next week. I had the impression that there was actually good model consistency for rather predictable cold and a few clippers.

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