December 6, 2005
Storm #2 came and went through out the night and left us with a minimal amount of snowfall, most of that which was on the sidewalk and street has already melted. Some totals from throughout the region are as follows:
Chester County:
West Chester - 2"
Valley Forge - 1.5"
Exton - 1"
Delaware County:
Chadds Ford - 3"
Secane - 2.5"
Bucks County:
Doylestown - 1.2"
Warrington - 1.6"
We ended up slightly over our max forecast of 2" here, but in all, I think the overall idea panned out. The main points with this storm were that it was moving quickly out to sea and that we would generally have lighter accumulations than some other media outlets were calling for. If it wasn't for a heavier band of snow that stalled over Delco at 1AM, we would have ended up around an inch and a half, but the deformation band of snow dropped another inch on our area to bring us to 2.5" for the storm. Overall, not a bad system, it didn't play too many tricks on us.
Next order of business is a VERY potent shortwave of energy that will be tracking across the country around the middle of the week. This is storm #3 in our series of early December storms that we have been keying in on for well over a week now. Generally, in a pattern where energy emerges in 3 separate pieces, the 3rd in the series is usually the most intense, and per model guidance, this will also be the case here.
At the surface, an area of low pressure will be taking a classic "Miller A" track across the Gulf States and will emerge out of the Southeast and near Cape Hatteras sometime during the afternoon on Thursday. Some light snow and snow showers will likely spread into the region from this storm, but there is some uncertainty at this hour in regards to exact track, positioning, and potential strength of this system. Please note that this storm system later in the week has increasing amount of potential with it in regards to heavy snowfall in and around the region.
A few things to note with the upcoming system is that is appears every so slightly warmer than the last system did when it made it's approach. This could be reflective of how the model is generalizing the strength of the storm to be as well as the track. Also note that the Gulf of Mexico will be "open for business", so-to-speak, which means this storm system will have plenty of juice and an inflow of moisture from the Gulf Northward will even extend into the Northern Plains and the Upper Ohio Valley all the way from the Gulf Coast as this storm heads in our direction.
So, while I am not completely sold on a major hit for our area later in the week, the pattern IS favorable for development out of the Gulf, though the nature of the flow across North America still seems rather progressive or quick-moving (La Nina?). We will have to keep a close watch on the potential impacts of this late week system and we will keep you up-to-date in the next few days as to how exactly things will unfold. Take care!
S.B.
