Model guidance is beginning to pick up on the idea of a strong winter storm impacting the Plains.
The above image shows today's 06z GFS snowfall forecast from the time of posting to midnight on December 29th, 2015. We can see the large swath of snowfall extending from northern Texas through Kansas, Nebraska, and into Minnesota. The heaviest-hit region in the deep south appears to be extreme northern Texas, with amounts in the 12" to 24" range, particularly along the border with Oklahoma, as well as in a spot near New Mexico.
Portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle, as well as southwest Kansas and eastern Colorado, may be in line for up to 36" of snow, according to this forecast model. These are very extreme amounts, and although they have been showing up multiple times on previous forecast runs, extreme caution should be used with these maps, especially given the timeframe.
Amounts in excess of 24" are found in spotty areas to the north and east, particularly eastern Nebraska into southeast South Dakota, with lesser (but still significant) amounts in Minnesota.
The above image shows the 12z GFS interpretation of the coming storm, with total snowfall from posting time to 6 AM December 29th shown. Snowfall amounts are still incredibly high in northern Texas, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and much of Kansas into southeast Nebraska, but trail off from there. Amounts in the 12-16" range can still be found in Iowa and Minnesota, but these amounts are substantially lower than those in the 06z forecast. This variability, both in amounts and track (as you'll notice the heavy snow axis has shifted east) expresses the extreme uncertainty still associated with this system.
Lastly, we'll analyze today's 12z Canadian model, the GEM model. Amounts on the order of 20-24" are found in north and west Texas into the Oklahoma Panhandle, even in south-central Kansas, but overall snowfall totals are drastically less than the two GFS runs we analyzed earlier. This is a red flag that may indicate one model is either over-doing snowfall (GFS) or one model is under-doing snow (GEM). There's also a plausible chance that they're both incorrect- the point is, there's a lot of uncertainty here.
But just where is this system now?
Our system is currently traversing the Aleutian Islands, and will drop into the west coast of North America to produce a very strong trough, as per latest model guidance. It remains to be seen if this is model error, as medium and long-range guidance has a tendency to over-amplify storm systems, but for now, it's merely a system to monitor.
To Summarize:
- There is the threat of a winter storm in the Plains over the December 26-29 period.
- Model guidance is expressing high snow totals in the South Plains, but high uncertainty indicates that these models should not be taken at face value right now.
Andrew
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| WxCaster |
Portions of the Oklahoma Panhandle, as well as southwest Kansas and eastern Colorado, may be in line for up to 36" of snow, according to this forecast model. These are very extreme amounts, and although they have been showing up multiple times on previous forecast runs, extreme caution should be used with these maps, especially given the timeframe.
Amounts in excess of 24" are found in spotty areas to the north and east, particularly eastern Nebraska into southeast South Dakota, with lesser (but still significant) amounts in Minnesota.
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| WxCaster |
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| Tropical Tidbits |
But just where is this system now?
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| Tropical Tidbits |
To Summarize:
- There is the threat of a winter storm in the Plains over the December 26-29 period.
- Model guidance is expressing high snow totals in the South Plains, but high uncertainty indicates that these models should not be taken at face value right now.
Andrew
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