Wednesday, January 18, 2012

January 19-22 Potentially Significant Snow Event

We are predicting a potentially significant snowstorm to take place for the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley and Northeast. Right now, is is possible that 6-10 inches of snow may fall in the Lower Great Lakes as well as the Northeast. The big snows will be falling from the Dakota into the Lower Great Lakes, as well as the Eastern Lakes and the Northeast.
There is also a concern for icing, where up to 0.10 inches of ice may fall in the Ohio Valley and parts of the nation's Midsection. These ice amounts may rise going into tomorrow.

We have seen forecasts from 2 inches to 10 inches. These heavily depend on snow ratios, which could be as high as 20:1 (very fluffy snow).
The ECMWF keeps the snow farther north than what is shown here, but we are going to stick with the GFS and other models.