Friday, October 30, 2009

Snow Totals Through Oct. 29

The map below is courtesy of the Interactive Snow Information web page, it shows the latest snow depth information provided at 1AM this morning.  I have switched the views to a high contrast on the image to allow a little better detail, and you can see several locations of 16-20 inches and even isolated higher amounts.  Keep in mind that snow continued to fall through the night across other areas to the north and east, thus an updated map tomorrow may show accumulations in those areas.

The weather pattern seems to go quiet for a period after this system, with only a weak trough settling through the weekend across the northern plains and then a high pressure system working into the forecast for what looks to be the remainder of the week next week.  Our next big storm system appears in the GFS for the time frame of Nov. 10-12 give or take a few days dependent upon your location on the plains.  Check out the map and legend of the snowfall accumulations below:


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Oct. 28/29 Snowfall

Snow has been falling this morning in the mountain regions of the west, with upwards of 4-6" already being reported in several areas with an additional foot plus still to fall this afternoon and into tonight.  Two bloggers that may be of interest for those of you wanting to keep up with the storm in the Denver area can visit the Tornadoes Kick blog and the Carlson's Blog.  There may be some additional people, so just keep track of the links displayed in the right of the blog to watch for any mentions of snow.

In addition to the snow threat, further east onto the plains states will see the threat of severe weather!  Today's threat extends through the central plains including Oklahoma and Texas, and tomorrows threat is across the Lower Mississippi Valley regions of OK/TX/AR/LA.  Please check out the latest SPC updates and outlooks for more information on the severe weather threats across those aforementioned regions.

In the meantime, you can check out some of the model forecasted snowfall amounts through the next 72 hours across the mountainous west and the high plains of Nebraska and South Dakota.  Needless to say you can see why Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for much of those regions!

00z GFS CONUS Snowfall for 72hrs




00z NAM CONUS Snowfall for 72hrs


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Oct. 28/29 Storm System

A potent storm system will setup a closed upper-level low over the inter-mountain west during the morning hours tomorrow, that will continue to progress northeastward into the northern plains on Thursday.  This upper level low will evolve into a deep trough as the strong flow aloft pushes the closed low onto the plains.  This storm system will bring moderate to heavy snow across the mountainous west as well as the high plains of western Nebraska and South Dakota.  The system will also produce moderate and locally heavy rainfall across the rest of the central and northern Plains through Friday.  This heavy rainfall across the plains is definitely not a welcome site to most areas that continue to try to harvest crops and finish fall projects that have been hampered by intermittent rains throughout the past month.

Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories have been issued across the mountainous west and high plains as snowfall should begin as early as tonight.  Total snowfall accumulations are likely to be in the 6-12 inch range across the high plains, and even higher in the mountain regions and in localized areas.  Widespread precipitation amounts greater than .25-.50 inches are likely across the plains, with localized areas of an inch or greater across the plains through Thursday.  As the event evolves expect widespread rains to also continue across the lower Mississippi River Valley from Thursday and Friday with amounts well above an inch.  This rainfall in conjunction with a secondary low that will likely form ahead of the continued deep trough.  Severe weather is possible across the central and southern plains as early as tomorrow and continuing through Friday.  Although details are still questionable, widespread damaging winds will likely be the main event given such dynamic and strong winds aloft.  Additional details and updates are possible for portions of the plains states as this system evolves.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

New Blog

I have begun the process of switching over to a new blog, and soon a new website.  Okay, maybe I shouldn't say soon as there may be a good amount of time before a new website is really complete enough to show to the world. 

But, I have imported all of the posts from my previous blog, Iowa Chaser, so as to not lose any of my previous storm chases, meteorological thoughts, and general updates.  I will soon post an update on my previous blog to be sure to let everyone know and to get links transferred over, etc.

In the meantime, I hope to begin to posting more regularly on this blog and keep you updated not only with my current meteorological thoughts, but the on-goings of my life in general.  Here's to more updates!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Been A Long Time...

I kept telling myself that it had been a long time since I had gotten an update on the blog. And I figured as we start to see the first flurries of snow fall across northwest Iowa tonight that this is as good as time as any to give a nice little, welcome snow message.

I've been very busy as of late since my last updates... Been spending lots of time with my now nearly 5-month old son, as well as my new wife (got married last weekend). And trying to find work, applying for jobs, and actually working...

I shall try to get into a better routine now that a few things, like the whole wedding, are now crossed off the list. Hope those across the northwest half of the state can enjoy their snow flurries tonight and into tomorrow morning. Look for a few more shots of snow through the weekend before a warm-up looks to return to the state.