GREETINGS EVERYONE FROM SUNDAY RIVER, MAINE
I am taking a brief break from life in general and spending the weekend skiing with my brother, my father and friends from church. We are at Sunday River Resort where as of 8 PM, the temperature is 21 F, and the snow is absolutely pouring out of the sky in the most beautiful six-sided flakes I have ever seen. All the kudos for such great timing on this trip go to my brother Jeff, known throughout the modern world as "Footy." He did all the legwork and research to make this trip possible, and given the amazing snow we are now experiencing, it is really a nice payoff that makes all his hard work worth it.
We are the happy recipients of the latest New England snowstorm. (Seems like I’ve written about this before?). Our location is on the west central side of Maine, near the border with New Hampshire. Local forecasters were calling for 20-30” in this area earlier today, which seems a bit high but given high snow ratios and an abundant amount of moisture, that is possible. So in keeping with the tradition of posting snowfall amounts, first I give you the Foot-Krueger-Moody-Parypinski Sunday River storm grade contest:
This is for the period 5PM Friday to 8AM Sunday as measured by how much will fall on top of our Ford F-150 rental. (Now that thing is a Big Kahuna.)
Jeff Foot (Footy) = 10” (my brother)
Mr. Foot = 18”
Don Foot = 19” (my Dad)
Larry Moody = 22” (founder of Search Ministries [www.searchministries.org] and Dave’s boss)
Dave Krueger = 23” (my brother’s father-in-law, and my father's personal pastor)
Nick Parypinski = 26.45” (Larry’s son-in-law)
Josh Moody = 28” (Larry’s son)
The winner will be treated to a full roasted lobster dinner at the base lodge.
NOW ON TO THE REAL STORM FORECAST
If you’ve been following this storm, you’ve noticed it is a “triple point” of three Low pressure systems that are apparently going to converge off Cape Cod and move slowly northeast, throwing a considerable amount of moisture back over northern and central New England. I have seen a wide range of predictions for the area in which I am located, about 90 minutes north-northwest of Portland, ME. Sadly this event will or already has missed most of the Mid-Atlantic, although there was some snow in Central PA.
I would like to read about your observations, especially in Baltimore, Central NJ, New York and Boston. Josh Moody in our group is reporting that his family was out for a walk in the Baltimore area Friday afternoon, and a line of thunderstorms swept through, with a very sharp drop in temperature but no snow this time.
My original forecast for the weekend was that there would be snow flying from Central New Jersey to New England. I did not have ample time Thursday morning to go into more detail, so I figured a broad statement would cover it. A number of times this winter we’ve seen innocuous looking systems reach the waters near New England and just explode. The only concern I have with this storm is that these three systems have to combine at the right time in the right arrangement to deliver the amounts being bantyed around. Since the NAO is trending toward neutral, this would enable the storm(s) to make the turn up the coast, tap the polar vortex, and deliver another white whopper.
So, that having been said…on to the STORM GRADE SNOW AMOUNTS
MAINE: Portland…11” Augusta…14” MASSACHUSETTS: Boston…9” Woburn…10” Worcester…8”
RHODE ISLAND: Providence…7” CONNECTICUT: Hartford…4" NEW YORK CITY: 3.5” in Central Park
WHAT ABOUT THE WEATHER NEXT WEEK ?
The Final Kahuna is still on the books for last next week…in the Friday-Saturday timeframe. Due to my dialup internet connection, I have limited access to computer models. It sounds really geeky and corny, but a couple times today sitting on the ski lifts, I starting thinking about this next and likely final snowstorm. I have developed an explanation of the pattern and how I think this last storm will be the event that signs the death sentence for this late winter cold regime once and for all.
A historical note that this weekend is the 12 year anniversary of the March 1993 Superstorm. See if you can find a good link that looks back at that colossal event. Check back tomorrow for results of our storm grades and a look at next week.
