We're watching for a potential winter storm in a January 28th through February 1st timeframe.
The above graphic shows mean sea level pressure (MSLP) contours superimposed on 500mb geopotential height values (colored shadings), valid from last Thursday morning. Last Thursday, we saw a positively-tilted trough forcing a rather strong low pressure system to form just east of Japan, dipping below the 1000 millibar mark on this image. When we apply the Typhoon Rule, which states weather phenomenon occurring in Japan is reciprocated in the US 6-10 days later, we come out with a potential winter storm in the January 28 - February 1 timeframe.
Initially, the ECMWF takes this system down through the Midwest and Ohio Valley, as the above image shows on the evening of January 29th. We see a minimum sea level pressure value of about 1008 millibars, if not a bit below that. This won't be a significant storm, per current forecasts, but could drop some wintry precipitation across the aforementioned regions.
By the evening of January 30th, the ECMWF model sees this storm transferring offshore the Mid-Atlantic, strengthening at an appreciable pace to a minimum sea level pressure value of ~997 millibars. This would likely produce accumulating snowfall for parts of the Northeast, as the GFS model is also alluding to, but again, nothing incredibly significant.
To summarize:
- A winter storm may affect the US between January 28th and February 1st.
- This storm may affect the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Northeast the most, if at all, given the relatively-weak strength of this storm.
Andrew
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To summarize:
- A winter storm may affect the US between January 28th and February 1st.
- This storm may affect the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Northeast the most, if at all, given the relatively-weak strength of this storm.
Andrew
