The UND and DOW radars have been operating for the past several hours scanning the snowband in the Red River Valley. During the passage of the band, the DOW reported low visibilities with moderate to heavy snowfall.
- The DOW team
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
DOW radar animations from deployments #1 and #2
DOW radar animations from the first two deployments have been posted to youtube. Make sure to check them out in HD so you can see all of the fine-scale features!
Deployment #1 (Nov. 20-21, 2010)
Deployment #2 (Nov. 22-23, 2010)
Deployment #1 (Nov. 20-21, 2010)
Deployment #2 (Nov. 22-23, 2010)
Wedneday - Thursday Forecast
***Another prolonged snow event to impact the the region today and Thursday***
Cyclogenesis will continue to slowly occur over the high plains of Nebraska. The sub-tropical jet, oriented from Arizona to Maine, will force the weak area of low pressure into the Northern Plains during the day today. But, the low pressure system will be lacking the divergence needed in the jet, either from being located in the right entrance or left exit regions, to allow for deep cyclogenesis. The 500 mb trough will be in phase with the surface low, trailing approx 9 hours behind. As the 500 mb trough tracks eastward during the day, the gradient aloft will tighten, and thus increasing the amount of vorticity present from speed and curvature. This, combined with warm-air advection at 850 mb, will provide for wide spread snow across the domain. But, with a lack of an abundant moisture source, it appears the heaviest snow rates will stay to the east and a prolonged period of light snow will persist through the day in the forecast domain. Activity will begin to taper off Thursday morning as the low pressure center begins to move into SW Ontario, but wrap around snow showers will likely be seen through out the day on Thursday. When everything is said and done, new snow accumulations of 2-4 inches, with locally higher amounts, can be expected through out the SNOwD UNDER domain. The biggest difference between this storm and first storm, will be the winds at the surface. Winds on Wednesday are expected to be around 10-20 kts with gusts near 30 kts. As the low pulls away, sustained winds are forecast to be 20-30 kts, with higher gusts. Thus, visibilities will be reduce to 1/4 or less at times creating periodic Blizzard conditions.
***There will not be a forecast briefing Thursday morning.***
Cyclogenesis will continue to slowly occur over the high plains of Nebraska. The sub-tropical jet, oriented from Arizona to Maine, will force the weak area of low pressure into the Northern Plains during the day today. But, the low pressure system will be lacking the divergence needed in the jet, either from being located in the right entrance or left exit regions, to allow for deep cyclogenesis. The 500 mb trough will be in phase with the surface low, trailing approx 9 hours behind. As the 500 mb trough tracks eastward during the day, the gradient aloft will tighten, and thus increasing the amount of vorticity present from speed and curvature. This, combined with warm-air advection at 850 mb, will provide for wide spread snow across the domain. But, with a lack of an abundant moisture source, it appears the heaviest snow rates will stay to the east and a prolonged period of light snow will persist through the day in the forecast domain. Activity will begin to taper off Thursday morning as the low pressure center begins to move into SW Ontario, but wrap around snow showers will likely be seen through out the day on Thursday. When everything is said and done, new snow accumulations of 2-4 inches, with locally higher amounts, can be expected through out the SNOwD UNDER domain. The biggest difference between this storm and first storm, will be the winds at the surface. Winds on Wednesday are expected to be around 10-20 kts with gusts near 30 kts. As the low pulls away, sustained winds are forecast to be 20-30 kts, with higher gusts. Thus, visibilities will be reduce to 1/4 or less at times creating periodic Blizzard conditions.
***There will not be a forecast briefing Thursday morning.***
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Forecast Briefings 11/23/2010
To help prepare for tomorrow's snow event, there will be an additional forecast briefing today at 4 pm in RWIC.
Deployment #2 in the books, preparations for #3 underway
Deployment #2 wrapped up yesterday evening after a day of successful data collection. More photos from Deployments #1 and 2 are available on our Facebook page.
Planning is underway for our next deployment for Wednesday and possibly into Thursday. You can read the project forecast discussion at http://stwrc.und.edu/snowdundr/fcsts/dailyfcst.html.
-DOW team.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Deployment #2, early afternoon update
Deployment #2 continues. Visibilities at the DOW site are still in the 1/4 to 1/2 mile range. Winds seem to have increased, too, now 15 to 20 mph. Data collection is proceeding well with the DOW and UND's NorthPol radar collecting volume scans and RHIs. All three radars, including NWS's Mayville radar, are completing scans every ten minutes.
This afternoon's deployment is expected to continue for several more hours and a new crew is expected at the radar site later this afternoon. Having numerous teams of students operate the radar is an important education goal for the project and rotating the crews helps achieve this objective.
The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday still points toward another possible deployment for a significant storm moving in mid-week. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to check our daily forecasts at http://stwrc.und.edu/snowdundr/fcsts/dailyfcst.html.
-DOW team.
This afternoon's deployment is expected to continue for several more hours and a new crew is expected at the radar site later this afternoon. Having numerous teams of students operate the radar is an important education goal for the project and rotating the crews helps achieve this objective.
The forecast for Wednesday and Thursday still points toward another possible deployment for a significant storm moving in mid-week. Stay tuned for more details, and be sure to check our daily forecasts at http://stwrc.und.edu/snowdundr/fcsts/dailyfcst.html.
-DOW team.
Deployment #2 continues
Snow has increased significantly at the DOW site with visibilities 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Winds have diminished and aggregate snow seems to be the dominant type. NorthPol operations have begun after a hardware replacement this morning, with a PPI volume scanning strategy planned for the now.
Keith, one of our DOW crew members this morning, took a photo of the DOW in the snow for your viewing pleasure. Thanks, Keith!
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