Tuesday, March 09, 2004
The "Winter of Near-Misses"??
Josh Larson @ 9:56 PM
Alas, the Winter of 2003-2004 in Washington, DC may go down, at least in the world of weather colloquialisms, as the "Winter of Near-Misses." Yet another coastal low will develop over the next 12 hours just a little too far south and east to bring any precipitation to the Washington, DC area. In fact, it appears this time that ALL precipitation will remain over the ocean. There have been at least three or four systems in the past eight weeks that have brought snow to within 50 miles of Washington, DC, leaving the immediate metro area high and dry. Several systems over the past month have brought some snow to the lower Delmarva, south and eastern Virginia, and parts of North Carolina, but developed just a bit too far to the south or east to bring any snow to Washington, DC.
Indeed, it seems as if the atmospheric and jet dynamics have been actively conspiring against snow in the Nation's Capital: for most of February there was not enough curvature in the jet (and as a result no phasing occured between the southern and northern branches of the jet stream) to force storms to "turn" up the Eastern Seaboard; instead, several storms simply slid out to sea to our south. This time around there is a slightly different conspiracy afoot; this storm will not turn up the Eastern Seaboard because another potent upper air low (upstream) will dive south and push the impeding coastal low out to sea before it can turn up the coast.
Watch the NATIONAL RADAR LOOP or WATER VAPOR SATELLITE LOOP to see for yourself...
Indeed, it seems as if the atmospheric and jet dynamics have been actively conspiring against snow in the Nation's Capital: for most of February there was not enough curvature in the jet (and as a result no phasing occured between the southern and northern branches of the jet stream) to force storms to "turn" up the Eastern Seaboard; instead, several storms simply slid out to sea to our south. This time around there is a slightly different conspiracy afoot; this storm will not turn up the Eastern Seaboard because another potent upper air low (upstream) will dive south and push the impeding coastal low out to sea before it can turn up the coast.
Watch the NATIONAL RADAR LOOP or WATER VAPOR SATELLITE LOOP to see for yourself...
Comments are closed for this archived entry | Link | 
Email this post
Email this post
