Category Archives: GFS

Next Week’s Spring Tease Is Just That, A “Tease…”

There’s no doubt we’re looking at a brief pattern change next week that will result in air temperatures that will have many of you craving spring.  That said, the key word in that sentence is “brief” and a colder, more wintry pattern looks to return to wrap up February and head into March.

Before we discuss the return of the cold and potentially wintry regime for late month, let’s focus on the milder conditions.  Data suggests we may be looking at highs zooming all the way into the lower to middle 60s towards the 20th-23rd time period.  The spring tease is likely to come at a cost as the milder southerly breezes likely result in lots of dense fog and areas of drizzle as a deep snowpack remains locked in place.  Flooding concerns may also become a concern next week, especially if we inject moderate to heavy rain into the region.  10-day rainfall numbers do have to make us a little nervous as a blend of model data suggests 1″-1.5″ down between now and the 22nd.  We’ll continue to monitor things.

Finally, it should be noted that while a brief “relaxation” of the seemingly unending winter is on the way, the long term pattern continues to suggest a cold and wintry time of things continues overall.  Next week appears to be an “island of warmth in a sea of cold” type pattern.  Latest ensemble data continues to back this idea up.  That’s not saying we’re going to deal with the type of severe cold we’ve seen over the past several weeks, but instead means we’re going to go back below normal as we get set to wrap up February and head into March.

The latest GFS ensembles show the evolution of things well.  The “double secret probation” European model also shows something similar.

gefs_z500anom_nh_33gefs_z500anom_nh_49gefs_z500anom_nh_65

Note the ridge and associated spring “tease” is replaced with a cold and more wintry looking eastern trough rather quickly.  Circle the 24th on your calendar for the potential of a widespread storm system.  Far too early for details or questions, but the pattern looks to produce some busy times around this point.  Before that we have plenty of weather in front of us to deal with… weekend snow opportunities, foggy/ drizzly weather to accompany the initial surge of milder air next week, and a spring tease by late next week!

Arctic Cold, Flooding, Fog, Forecast Discussion, GFS, Heavy Rain, Long Range Discussion, Monthly Outlook, Rain, snow, Spring Tease, Unseasonably Cool Weather, Unseasonably Warm

Watching The Pattern Turn Active Yet Again…

After a dry period through early to mid week, our weather pattern will begin to turn active yet again as we head into late week and this weekend.  Three of our more trusted mid range computer models handle the individual impulses of energy differently and the snow potential ranges anywhere from nothing more than 1″ to as much as 10″ in the Friday-Tuesday period.  Most likely, we’re looking at something somewhere in the middle.

Our first chance of accumulating snow arrives Friday.  Both the European forecast model and Canadian forecast model agree on this, while the latest GFS takes the same energy through the Great Lakes, missing our region entirely.  We feel the GFS may be in error mode here.  While it’s possible the GFS may lead the way (anything is possible this far off), we feel the EC and Canadian have a better handle on things and we’ve based our forecast (post below) off a blend of these two models for Friday, including accumulating snow.

00_054_G1_north@america@zoomout_I_4PAN_CLASSIC@012_108f96

Our next shot of accumulating snow blows in Saturday.  All three models agree on this, but handle the track of the low, another clipper system, differently.  The Canadian tracks the low south of IND, strengthens it on it’s journey east and results in a full blown snow storm here Saturday.  The GFS and EC remain weaker and track the low across central or northern parts of the state, with much lighter snow amounts here.

00_054_G1_north@america@zoomout_I_4PAN_CLASSIC@012_120f120 gfs_namer_135_500_vort_ht_s

You can find your completed 7-Day forecast in the post below this one.  Finally, there are some signs the pattern may begin to relax and allow a milder brand of air into the region around the 20th.  We caution though that this won’t be a “suddenly it’s spring” pattern, but rather a tease of sorts as longer term signals suggest a wintry regime returns late February into March…

Canadian Model, European Model, Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, GFS, snow

More Thoughts On Our Next Winter Storm…

As we continue to draw ever closer to our next significant winter storm, we wanted to provide some of our latest thoughts.  This isn’t a post that will hash out snowfall accumulation ideas or precipitation types, but instead will provide details on our expected track and potential liquid equivalent precipitation amounts.  With so much hype and hoopla around this storm for the past couple weeks, lets just sit back and look at the “bigger” picture, as opposed to trying to sort out details that, quite frankly, are still too early to lay out with any certainty as I write this late Friday night

Here’s our (IndyWx.com) expected track of the low Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon.  We used a blend of the GFS, European, and Canadian operational model data, as well as the GFS and European ensemble data sets.  We think surface low pressure tracks out of northeastern Mississippi (Tuesday evening) through north-central Kentucky (Wednesday morning), and into Pennsylvania (Wednesday night) before a secondary low forms off the northeast coastline.

TueWedStormTrack

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an ideal track for a winter storm across central Indiana, but specifics such as strength and depth of the cold air, potential southern convection, and forward motion of the storm will have to be sorted out over the next day, or so.  Early indications are that while this storm will take a “good” track for winter weather lovers here across central Indiana, the speed in which the system will be moving may reduce snow and ice accumulations from what they otherwise could be.  That said…early raw numbers suggest .50″ to .80″ amounts (liquid equivalent) could fall in the Tuesday-Wednesday time frame which is significant.  Case in point, a standard 10:1 ratio that would suggest 5 to 8 inches of snow- assuming the form of precipitation fell as snow through the entire duration.  Again, that is far from a certainty at this point.

Ignoring items such as model snowfall forecasts and precipitation types, just looking at the expected track would suggest central Indiana is very much in the game for a potentially significant and disruptive winter storm Tuesday into Wednesday.  We’ll have to fine tune precise amounts and precipitation types in the next day or two.  Additionally, much colder air (below zero once again at night) may blow into the state behind this storm for mid and late week before we gear up for yet another winter weather maker heading into next weekend.  We still have a long way to go in this pattern…

Arctic Cold, Canadian Model, European Model, Forecast, Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, Freezing Rain, GFS, snow

Wintry Mix Issues Late Week/ Weekend

We’re going to enjoy another day of sunshine, but moderating temperatures (finally) will help being outdoors become a little more tolerable (we think we “warm” into the middle 20s today).  That said, another winter weather maker is brewing and will result in an active Friday-Sunday ahead.

A cold front will sink south Thursday night and could result in a little light snow (not a big deal).  As we move into Friday and Saturday, model data handles our sensible weather differently.  Precipitation type will be highly dependent upon exactly where the cold front stalls.  We want to show you the GFS as it depicts the variety of precipitation types. It should be important to note that the GFS, European, and Canadian, though different in their respected solutions this weekend, are close enough to go with a “blend” of all three models for our official forecast.

We think snow overspreads the region Friday morning and could deposit a quick couple inches across the metro area Friday. It’s as we get into Friday night and Saturday that we’ll note another (stronger) wave moving along the front. In response to this wave of low pressure, warmer air (both at the surface and aloft) will push north.  Exactly how far north is still up for debate as a battle will be established with push back being provided from an area of high pressure across the upper Mississippi River Valley. We feel as if south-central Indiana will get in on some mixing issues with sleet and perhaps a cold rain Friday night into Saturday.  Depending on how strong the wave of low pressure is will determine exactly how far north the rain line makes it.  For now, we think Indianapolis and northern suburbs remain in a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and possible freezing rain through the majority of the day Saturday.  That said, we do note this will warrant tight focus in the days ahead as any deviation from the track of the low or strength of the cold high to our north could greatly impact our weekend weather.1

 

 

 

 

 

23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, precipitation will begin to taper late Saturday night as the cold high to our north eventually wins out. It’s possible all of central Indiana deals with a quick pop of accumulating snow as precipitation ends Saturday night/ wee morning hours Sunday.

4

 

 

 

 

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stress that this is still a highly changing weather situation and most likely will require some “fine tuning” as we move forward.  This morning we think heaviest snow (potentially approaching half a foot) falls across north-central Indiana, including Kokomo, Marion, and Lafayette.  A wintry mix of all precipitation types will fall south of there, including the Indianapolis metro.  South of I-70, we think rain will be the predominant precipitation type, with only a light accumulation of snow as precipitation ends.

As stated above, stay tuned…

Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, Freezing Rain, GFS, snow

Big Fight Late Week Into The Weekend….

A major battle is taking shape between two of the more respected mid range forecast models for the late week period, including Super Bowl weekend.  The differences range from yet another wintry weekend, with a couple shots of accumulating snow to one that’s much milder and includes some rain.  Operational guidance today has remained consistent with what each particular model has been saying for the past 24-48 hours, adding further complexity to the upcoming late week period.  Usually we’d give a slight nudge towards the European output (warmer solution), but here in a bit we’ll tell you why we’re really not ready to hedge more towards one particular model over the other at this time frame.  Instead, we want to give it a couple more days and see which model “gives in” to the other.

Let’s dive into the European output first.

We note both models in relative good agreement on Thursday night into Friday as light snow overspreads the region (not a huge deal, but potentially enough to make for a slippery Friday morning commute).

As we move into Saturday the European tracks a developing surface low much further north than the GFS, resulting in a milder solution across central Indiana and a forecast that would produce a rain to snow solution Saturday as cold air quickly pours back into our region, with enough snow, perhaps, to produce a light accumulation Saturday night. However, it’s important to note, most European ensemble members are colder than the operational run and this is something we’ll need to continue to monitor.

As we head into early early next week, the European forecast model remains bullish on a potential major winter storm, with a favorable storm track for heavy amounts of wintry precipitation across central Indiana.  The time we’re eyeing for this next storm falls in the Monday night-Tuesday time period so we have plenty of time to monitor things and iron out the details…

Now, as we look at the GFS forecast model, we note a colder solution from start to finish.  We have to raise an eye brow here as the track record of the GFS in the mid range is one that has been known to be biased too “flat” and too cold in handling similar patterns.  Is that saying the GFS is wrong here?  Absolutely not…nobody knows that at this juncture.  It is saying we have to rely on experience and remember similar patterns of the past, including the way the model “corrected” itself with time as we drew closer to the particular event in most cases…

Nonetheless, similar to the European, the GFS delivers a round of accumulating snow Friday morning, but is flatter (colder) with the initial wave and also leads to quite the overrunning event through the Ohio Valley.  As a matter of fact, we deal with two rounds of accumulating snow…Friday morning into the early afternoon and again Saturday morning, associated with yet another wave of low pressure.

1011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of interest, the GFS also sees the potential strong winter storm that could impact our neck of the woods early next week.  Needless to say, the surface map next Tuesday morning would have snow lovers smiling in a big way should this come to fruition…

12

 

 

 

 

 

 

While we have many details to iron out late week and on into early next week, the overall weather pattern is one that we remain confident on and the results are cold and stormy (i.e. snowy) over the upcoming 10-14 day period.  As a matter of fact, long range teleconnections suggest we remain colder than normal and stormy through the majority of February. In short, there’s really no let up in sight from the overall cold and wintry time of things Hoosiers have grown oh so accustomed to this winter…

7-Day Outlook, Arctic Cold, European Model, Forecast Discussion, Forecast Models, GFS, Rain, snow