Yesterday & Tomorrow

Hey...but what about today?  It is the proverbial calm before the storm...if gusts to 39 mph are "calm?"!  That's right, I had several wind gusts into the mid 30s today with my highest gust of 39 mph at just after noontime.  So even though my thermometer peaked at 41ºF, it still wasn't a pleasant day outdoors.  The huge cyclone that paid us a visit yesterday is now well off to pay the Canadian maritimes a visit.  Meanwhile the Missouri Mauler is a-comin'.  Here what all of this looks like topside...

The latest GFS shows where the path of heaviest snowfall will occur mainly pre-dawn until noon or so...

The NAM is slightly more amped...keep in mind that ratios with this event will be slightly greater than the typical 10:1 snow:liquid ratio...so some places might surprise to the upside!

Here's the official call from the NWS State College...

But whatever does fall, it will pile onto the the 38.7" that has already fallen at KMDT.  That's their "official" globally warmed measurement.  Many areas in and around the KMDT area often measure with greater precision and enthusiasm ultimately recording far better and accurate results!  Here is a link to yesterday's storm totals...

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=CTP&product=PNS&format=CI&version=1&glossary=0

If you access this link after Saturday, simply navigate back through time by going to the top of the page and clicking where it has previous version or previous numbers prior to 1.

Here's what this massive mid-latitude did over the last 2 days as seen in terms of snow accumulations!  It was a powerful work of nature!

Once the Missouri Mauler pushes through and explodes off the east coast Saturday...

...there will be some light warm air advection snows Monday night into early Tuesday.  Then the warming trend will TRY to invade our region.  But with this bulletproof snow pack, it will be difficult to attain anomalous warmth easily.  Below is the 5 day mean ending next Saturday.  Note how New England down through eastern PA struggle to get "too" warm...but the Carolinas are cookin'!

The trend is most decidedly for a thaw, albeit briefly, until another arctic air mass invades for the end of February...in the above map, the purple people eater is lurking north of MSP!  Now he invades the northern plains.....AGAIN!  This map is for the 5 days ending February!

OK...gotta run and kick-off my celebratory President's Day weekend.  The President of the United States...just think of that!  What an awesome title for some true American heroes!  Washington, Lincoln...these Patriots were just that; defenders and upholders of the Constitution of the United States!  What an incredible responsibility and yes...they rate as heroes in my book!  Hey it's difficult to find a good song about those 2 presidents together, but I thought I'd share another favorite of mine with Lincoln in the title...many of you will reminisce with this one! (plus isn't the Daytona 500 soon?)  Enjoy!

Remember, astronomical spring is only another month away!

Smitty

AA:  Another fresh coating of ~3" tonight into early Saturday.  Then another smattering Monday night.  Then the thaw!  But winter lurks for the last week of February!