Video: Snow Squall

The snow squall moved through! It has been over 12 hours now since it has passed and it was very exciting. Overall, quite a weather day in the valley.

The heaviest band came through shortly after 10 this morning and was over in about 10 to 15 minutes. During the this time, I was outside enjoying the snow and amazed at the rate it was falling. It started to turn grassy surfaces white and if this would have kept up for a few hours, we would have had some healthy snow accumulations (if the ground was also cool enough too so the snow would stick around awhile). Anyway, the snow was mixed with graupel/ice pellets at first and with a stiff north wind, the precipitation stung. It eventually changed over to all snow. I got some video and those links are below as well as the NWS State College Special Weather Statement on this band of snow

After the band moved through, I headed back to my home. I then decided to take a time lapse of the snow coming down, albeit not as great of a rate of snowfall as earlier, but still falling (in October!). That was fun just standing there watching the snow fall. There were several other little squalls that moved through State College through the afternoon. Around 4:15PM, we had a graupel storm that lasted about 5 minutes. It came down at a decent rate, but melted within a short time of coming in contact with the ground.

Otherwise, looks to be a fairly quiet week in PA as high pressure builds in from the central Plains tomorrow. A weak cold front may pass through on Saturday, but then Canadian high pressure returns for the start of next week. Overall, looks fairly dry.

Scenes from around State College (at peak snow rate)

Time lapse of snow falling (not at peak snow rate)

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STATE COLLEGE PA

929 AM EDT WED OCT 29 2008

PAZ017>019-027-291500-

CLEARFIELD PA-MIFFLIN PA-NORTHERN CENTRE PA-SOUTHERN CENTRE PA-

929 AM EDT WED OCT 29 2008

...A DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL WILL AFFECT CENTRE...NORTHEASTERN MIFFLIN

AND CENTRAL AND NORTHERN CLEARFIELD COUNTIES THROUGH 11 AM EDT...

AT 918 AM EDT...THE SOUTHERN EDGE OF A DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL WITH

NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY IN HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WAS LOCATED

ALONG A LINE FROM NEAR DUBOIS AND CLEARFIELD...TO WALLACETON...

BELLEFONTE AND MILLHEIM...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

A QUICK INCH OF SNOW WITH NEAR ZERO VISIBILITY AND WIND GUSTS TO 30

ARE LIKELY WITH THIS DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL.

THIS DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL WILL BE NEAR WOODLAND AROUND 940 AM...

GRAMPIAN AROUND 1010 AM...PHILIPSBURG AROUND 1020 AM...POTTERS MILLS

AROUND 1030 AM...STATE COLLEGE AROUND 1040 AM AND SEVEN MOUNTAINS

AROUND 1050 AM.

THIS WILL IMPACT THE FOLLOWING CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA INTERSTATES...

I-80 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 97 AND 167...I-99 NEAR MILE MARKER 65.

THIS WILL ALSO IMPACT THE FOLLOWING MAJOR ROADS...ROUTE 119...ROUTE

219...ROUTE 220...ALTERNATE ROUTE 220...ROUTE 322...STATE ROAD 26...

STATE ROAD 45...STATE ROAD 153...STATE ROAD 255...STATE ROAD 350.

USE EXTREME CAUTION IF YOU MUST TRAVEL INTO OR THROUGH THIS

POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SNOW SQUALL. CONSIDER DELAYING TRAVEL UNTIL THE

SQUALL PASSES YOUR LOCATION.

$$

FORECASTER: LAMBERT

Snow Squall

A band of snow is approaching State College as I type this at 950AM this morning. The NWS has issued a special weather statement saying this is a "dangerous snow squall," basically for the fact that it will likely drop visibility to near 0 miles and drop perhaps a quick inch of snow. Also, being the first snowfall may cause a few accidents, despite relatively warm surface temperatures. I hope to get some video shortly and post it online.

See post above for video.

Dallas: Patchy frost, high 80.

Nothing like patchy frost and 80 degrees in Dallas on Saturday!

A Fine Friday

A rare Friday off from work. Despite the morning and midday cloudiness and a cold front that has moved through the state delivering cool conditions, it's turned out to be a fine day. I really enjoy having Fridays off, especially when they are productive. The sun also came this afternoon and it should turnout to be a wonderful sunset.

Catching up...

Long time, no posts. I'm sure there are posts I could have made, but just didn't take the time to. So a brief recap...

At the end of June, I went on a day trip around some of the state parks of Pennsylvania. Ravensburg, Little Pine, and Hyner View were the three locations I visited/hiked. Ravensburg and Hyner View were the most picturesque, although Hyner View, which sits above the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, would have been the most beautiful if a front hadn't sent more stratocirrus at sunset. Still was a wonderful way to end the day.

July came and was a half month for me. Central PA's 4th Fest fireworks were a bit overhyped in my opinion, but I heard that they weren't as good as other years. It was still an impressive show though. 

Around mid-July, I released several scripts to automate processes for work. They make things quite a bit easier and while it was frustrating at times, they have worked well. September 1, I declared them fully operational as no major problems had occurred since the release, just a few small bugs that were easily fixed.

Mid-July brought the start of the "Taking Back Iowa 2008 Tour". In other words, my vacation. This was my first time back home since starting my position at Penn State. It was great to see family and friends, especially through Chris Karsten's wedding. A lot of those folks I would have not seen down in the Ames area. It was also pleasant to be away from work, and literally have my first Saturday's off since the beginning of December. 

August has flown by as it is now September. August was a fairly quiet month, although I did do some more hiking. I hiked Mount Nittany. A 600 foot climb to the top. Boy was I tired after I did that, but once on top of the mountain it fairly level. There were some scenic outlooks, but nothing spectacular like I had thought. Being that it was midweek, I ran into no one else except when I hiked up and down the mountain. 

I also spent another day last week going around to a few state parks. Whipple Dam State Park, Lake Perez, and Jo Hays Vista were 3 stops. Whipple Dam, while just under 20 miles from State College, felt like you were far away from the city. A beach and a fairly sizable lake were there for all to enjoy. I did a little hiking, probably around 2 miles.

Lake Perez, which is part of Penn State, is currently closed due to repairs that have been completed on the dam at that lake. It was nice to go and see the park while fairly few people were around, but hopefully the lake will get back up to its orginal level and I'll take in a bit more.

Jo Hays Vista, which overlooks State College, is a beautiful location to see the "Happy Valley" and Bald Eagle Ridge. 

Outside of those hikes, the only other news is that State College has once again become a bustling metropolis as the students returned for fall semester. 

September has started. Yesterday, I went for about a 15 mile bike ride around State College. It was definitely a hot day (high: 89) and was quite tired afterward, but it was a pleasant ride all in all.

Tomorrow, I'm back in the saddle at work. It should be fairly interesting to see how Boston's weather pans out with the remnants of Tropical Storm Hanna. In State College, latest WRF has most of the precipitation just to our east, although we could use a good soaking as August was relatively dry.

The State College Bubble Effect

2008 June 16 Severe Weather Summary from WFO State College

The picture says it all...severe weather does not happen in State College. We are literally in the proverbial polygon doughnut hole (center of image; black dot is approximate location of the city). In all fairness, we were in a severe thunderstorm warning 20080426, but its a rare species here in Happy Valley. Perhaps some research on the State College Bubble Effect is needed...

Severe Weather Continues...

18z OAX sounding looks fairly good, if you want to see rotating storms. Nice backed low level flow on sounding and across eastern NE/western IA will support tornadoes, although there is a fair bit of cloud cover over this area. Storms have fired in central NE ahead of clearing (sun has destabilized the air mass) and are moving mainly northerly. Storm motions are quite fast (at least one storm is supposedly moving 65 mph).

Strong, damaging winds look like the main threat along with flash flooding as storms transverse the Midwest this afternoon/evening.

2034Z
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SPC has just upgraded their outlook for Thursday, June 5, to a high risk. Similar to last Thursday, this high risk is over the same region and a bit larger. All modes of severe weather are likely with the emphasis currently on damaging winds. Also, heavy rains has caused more flooding over saturated grounds and it will not take much today to cause flash flooding. More will be posted later and I'll be once again watching how things develop this afternoon and evening as I am off.

I can not recall such an active season of severe weather in at least the last 5 years. Last night, a supercell developed south of Omaha, NE and moved northeast before making a hard right turn down US Hwy 34. It was an isolated supercell, which means that it's inflow of warm, moist air into the storm was unobstructed. Hence, it sustained itself for several hours (at least 4 hours if I recall correctly). Several Iowa State students and faculty along with a few other storm chasers followed the storm as it moved due east around 15 to 20 miles per hour. Several tornadoes have been reported from last evening, but little information is known beyond that at this time.

1311Z

Moderate Risk: Southern Pennsylvania

It remained fairly quiet in State College today, but that's not to say no severe weather occurred. I did not venture out as the threat never materialized and obligations would have made for a late departure.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the northern part of the county, but from the text it sounds like the cell fell apart before it even got past the county border. Not even a rain drop fell (at least on my head or windshield) since early this morning.

In past years, May 31 has seen its fair share of significant weather in the eastern part of the US. The hype around May 31 comes from 23 years ago, when a major tornado outbreak occurred over PA, NY, OH, including Pennsylvania's only F5.

01/0321Z
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Tornado Watch has been canceled for southern Pennsylvania.
1846Z
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Not much time to post...a moderate risk was out earlier for eastern PA, but has since been shifted to the southern tier of counties. A 10% tornado probability exists over this region, but large hail and damaging winds will also be possibilities this afternoon. Currently, a band of showers and thunderstorms is moving from west to east over the southern counties, which is under a tornado watch.

In northern and western PA, cumulus clouds have billowed as sunshine was able to break through the cloud deck earlier this morning. Showers have just begun to erupt east of Bradford, PA. This looks to be the line one line that has a chance at State College.

Farther west in southern Ontario, Canada, Ohio and Michigan, a broken line of storms (most are in southern Ontario about to cross Lake Erie) will push their way into PA late this afternoon and evening. The storms will diminish as they cross the cool waters of Erie, but reintensify over land as they march towards Penn State.

Likely will be a no-go for chasing as I have obligations until 6ish, but may try to find a spot to observe the storms. We'll see.

May 29, 2008 High Risk - Eastern Nebraska/Western Iowa

The high risk has been downgraded to a moderate risk this evening. While the potential for tornadoes and hail still exist, the primary threat will be damaging wind in extreme eastern Nebraska, many parts of Iowa, northern Missouri and northeastern Kansas.

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A High Risk of severe weather is expected across portions of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa including (but not limited to) the cities of...Storm Lake...Milford...Spirit Lake...Estherville...Omaha...Lincoln...Sioux City. The threat for large hail, damaging winds, and potentially long-tracked tornadoes exists for Thursday, May 29. The above image highlights those areas...red indicates a 30% chance of tornadoes, blue, 15%, brown 10%, light brown 5% and green 2%.

I'll be monitoring the situation from Pennsylvania and provide updates as is warranted.

Last night's discussion...
As [Jayson] Prentice noted [on ISU forums], and WRF/AVN cloud products/MOS station plots indicate, could be quite a bit of cloud cover over Iowa and even eastern NE. It will be interesting to see how well things recover in temperatures and dewpoints department after tonight's convection.

WRF/GFS say Td's will recover to near 70 in parts of SE NE...I find that hard to believe considering they are in the low/mid-50s, but I know that there will be good low-level jet tonight.

Anyway, Norfolk-Randloph-Neligh triangle would be fine I think. The flow looks southerly here, but could be locally backed. South of I80, I think it will be more SWerly (as WRF depicts (GFS is sourtherly)).

This triangle target is northeast of the CAPE max on a gradient and also on a CIN gradient (WRF at 18Z has CIN ~100/GFS is 150ish). Where the WRF/GFS places the CAPE, 700mb temps are around 12C...which is on the fence for breaking/not breaking the cap.

GFS pops convection west of there (triangle target) around 21z...WRF is hard to figure out what's going on, but it appears like the WRF kicks something up around 21z as well because of differential heating boundary from tonight's storms/tomorrow's clouds...then bounces back to better forcing near front/dryline.

Deju Vu x3? Update

Evening Update

Yes, I know it's after midnight so it's technically not evening. Anyway, thunder and lightning (big deal here in State College) occurred this evening between 8:00 and 8:30. The power even flickered on and off once (glad I have a UPS) and there was at least one lightning strike that was fairly close! Okay, yes, pathetic by Midwest standards, but just incredible for Pennsylvania.

Here are a few screen grabs from this evening (with storm tracks!)
Cell near State College that brought a couple of heavy downpours to my roof and some "decent" thunder and lightning.

Tornado warning in upstate New York heading toward Utica. A trained spotter viewed a wall cloud and a funnel lowering near Sylvan Beach; however, at this time it is not included in SPC's storm reports. Velocity data didn't look overly impressive so perhaps a gustnado/sheriffnado/landspout or a funnel that never reached the ground.

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I'm currently at work and just sent the NY City Early and IHT pages off...boy that sounds familiar (last Saturday). However, it is true. The sun this day, though, has been only been out for a little bit compared to last week, so instability will be low to nil. Hence, "See Text" outlook with 5% hail and wind threats. Grams (ISU M.S. 2005) did today's outlook. I believe this is his 2nd time soloing the outlook, and I'm glad it involves PA! Just wished he could have worked in some rotating storms...

17z mesoanalysis shows no CAPE of any type in Pennsylvania. The closest, and weak at 250-500J/kg, is located in southern Ontario on the north side of Lake Erie and in eastern Michigan. Hope for more sunshine seems dim as latest satellite image shows a rather extensive patch of clouds, with some breaks, that will likely be over us the rest of the day. So unlikely we'll see much in the way of instability here.

12z PIT sounding has winds at the surface out of the southwest, and then from 900mb-100mb west or west-northwest winds. In other words, linear flow means no rotating storms, although with cold air aloft, places that do see sun and get some instability will have a chance at some strong winds as winds mix down.

While there is a "risk" of severe weather today, I didn't even contemplate a chase, although I did bring my charged camera to work in case something worthwhile did go, I could at least get some pictures from work.