Brought to you by Howard Sheckter
Mammoth Weather Outlook
Strong Cold Windy System on the Way…..Batten down the Hot Tub Covers Soon……Light Snowfall Begins after Midnight tonight with Light Snow Monday through the Night…Fair weather returns Wednesday through Sunday with Another System Worth Watching for the following Sunday………
Sunday October 27, 2013
10:20am Tuesday…
Regarding the MJO’s support for a pattern change later next week. The MJO is weak and not expected to provide modulation to the westerly’s.
However, both the ECMWF and GFS ensemble runs have a strengthening signal indicated in them. According to the CPC, this is due to other modes of tropical variability.
Longer range GFS week 2 proggs are consistent in a stormy period the 2nd half of next week while little in the way of precipitation is shown for the Sierra by the ECMWF through 360 hours.
5:45AM Tuesday Update:
Upper low over north central NV will begin to exit later today. As it does one last vort center will sweep SSW across Eastern Ca, combining with 700mb RH of 70%+ for some upslope conditions this afternoon on the eastern slopes of the sierra. So expect a few more inches of snow today….
By tonight, the system should be into Utah as 500MB heights rise over California drying us out and warming us up. Longer range models still looking very good for a series of storms with positive tilt systems entraining possibly subtropical moisture later next week. As mentioned before, the MJO is expected to become more active from it currently inactive state. NCEP Global forecast Ensembles has a strong intrusion in the phase 1 region later next week…should it more to phase 2…that would be quite favorable for storminess climo wise. Blocking over AK is still in the cards late next week. PS the ECM is not nearly as bullish….
More later…..
5:00pm:
This was a storm that exceeded everyone’s expectations. Including, The NWS, The Dweebs and all the weather weenies I know!
But who cares! The mountain picked up about a foot. Near the village, 8 to 10 inches fell and even over the lower elevations of town about 6 inches. What happened??? The Dweebs could not follow on a hour by hour bases, but this morning about 9:00am a rather intense band of precipitation developed over the central part of Mono County around Bridgeport. It slowed and it was S to S+ for about three hours. About 6 inches fell in a 6 hour period. Mother Nature can make one quite humble when she decides to. The 00z Monday ECMWF had precipitation over the Mono County Crest only up to a 1/2 inch of QPF.
Where do we go from here?
The current upper low is spinning over Central NV with the low at 700mb over northern NV. The upper jet is still off shore. No doubt more showers will continue to circulate around the upper center… Later Radar from SFO has a band that is up over Reno that will most likely slide down our way in the northerly flow. So a few more inches of snowfall is certainly possibly over night. Actually, until the upper center moves out of NV we will have the chance of showers as a lot of moisture has been brought into this system from the off shore jet that is still doing its thing! A few more inches is possible over night. All models purge the upper low out of the Great Basin by Wednesday. There after, a renewed period of fair weather is expected with a warm up into the 50s. All Hallows Eve still looks fair.
If you read my mornings discussion in the outlook, it still portrays the longer range. IE the period of the second half of next week….It looks stormy!!
Dr Howard and the Dweebs……………………….:-)
Monday Morning Update:
The past few days, the Dweebs believed that the ECMWF was over done on its precipitation for today. As of 9:00AM It looks like it is going to pan out with some 6 to 7+ inches of snow at the Plot at 9,000 ft Temperatures are in the low 20s and so SNOW TO WATER RATIOS ARE HIGH. The heaviest snowfall will be confined to the morning. So showery weather will occur this afternoon and evening with lighter accumulations.
Western Hemispheric Pattern according to the Climatic Prediction Center trends strongly toward a positive NAO and Negative PNA. This coincides with strongest storm to hit British Isles in 10 years. With a Positive NAO, lower pressures is found in the polar regions with polar jet retracting and consolidating northward into north Atlantic. This results in milder temps for east coast and stormy conditions in England.
At the sametime…..the PNA forecast is to become more negative with time with high latitude blocking in North Pacific (Alaska) and deepening troughs over Western US. Surface low deepening in Western Pacific beginning 00z 30th with amplification energy (Hovmoller) reaching west coast around 00z Nov 3rd Sat PM. There is good model consensus among medium range models and ensembles with this trough moving into Western US this weekend. However, at the moment, the deterministic runs of todays ECMWF and GFS make for a low confidence forecast precip wise….IE not enough confidence to mention precipitation for next weekend……just cooling for Sunday. However that my change…….
More importantly…..GFS through 384 hours hemispheric loop shows high latitude blocking in Northern Pacific and digging troughs (negative anomalies) over Western US. This should be reflected in a more negative PNA over the far west Week 2.
UPSHOT…..Odds increasing for a series of central west coast storms as high latitude blocking north of Alaska with time suppresses the polar Jet with a split and strong southern branch effecting mainly central and southern California with time.
MJO Tropical Forcing is expected settle into Phase spaces 1 and 2 later this week. This supports west coast storm track Week two.
More Later……………………….
Dr Howard and the Dweebs……………………….:-)
Sunday AM Updaters
No changes this morning except to tweak the timing a bit and to highlight a windier system.
The Blended QPF is still about a half-inch in the vicinity of Mammoth Mt. So 1 to 3 inches seems good for the Town of Mammoth and between 3 inches and as much as 5 or 6 inches over the crest and in the bowls. For Mammoth Mt, this is not a system that has a favorable Orographical component to it like other areas both north and south where amounts will be greater.
Snowmaking will benefit greatly from the cold air in the system with 700mb temps down to -5C by 1:00AM Monday then cooling to -8C by 8:00AM Monday. In fact the new 12z Sunday NAM has at least -7C at 700MB (10,000ft) through Tuesday at 8:00am. Clifford, you’ll really be able to spray it on the first half of the new week!! Although temperatures begin to moderate upwards on Wednesday with the 0C line back over us by Wednesday afternoon…..Snowmaking remains favorable throughout most of the day Wednesday, and of course into the night……
Timing of the system appears to be quicker now with the cold front blowing through our area before Sunrise Monday. Most of the precipitation will occur behind the front. However, most of the wind will occur before the front. So it would be very wise to tie down those hot tub covers now!
Daytime highs in Mammoth Monday will be difficult to move above freezing at elevations above 8,000ft. There appears to be a pretty strong band of precip developing behind the front. For the time being it is not expected to stay strong enough this far south to change the QPF for our area.
The outlook looks Dry Wednesday through the end of the week. High temps moving back into the 50s by Friday with flat ridging spreading over our area for All Hallows Eve so keep a candle in Jacko to keep him warm for that night.
The Weekend will be fair with seasonal temps in the 50s for the days and 20s at night.
Longer range:
There is another weather system that will affect our area possible as early as the following Monday/Ngt. The ECMWF has it coming in as a Trough from the west that would bring addition snowfall to our area. However the GFS model has it as an inside slider which is typically dry. Although the Westerly’s are gaining strength now with the jet stronger and pushing further south…….It is too soon to plan on more naturel snow. As always stay tuned…..the Dweebs have you covered………………..
Dr Howard and the Dweebs………………………:-)