I'm sure a lot of you were left wondering what happened to all the snow that was forecasted this past weekend. Well, there were a few things at play. Most areas in the Stateline picked up between 2"- 4" with higher amounts through west central Illinois and lesser amounts into southern Wisconsin. Probably one of the biggest factors was that the low stayed further to the south and had more of an easterly track rather than northeast track. If the low would have moved a little further north we may have seen higher totals. Also, the low didn't deepen as much as originally thought and was actually moving quicker than previously forecasted. Another factor was that the snow that fell was a heavier, wet snow. That did cut down on totals because as the snow fell it compacted more than if it would have been a drier snow. Finally, temperatures through the duration stayed pretty much at or a little above freezing allowing a little more of a mix in the beginning in some locations. If this would have been a storm during late December or January we could have very well been digging out more than what we were for this morning. Since we are getting later in the season these types of storms have to be watched because a lot of times they just don't pack as much power with them as "middle of winter" storms tend to do. Although there can be "late bloomers" that produce hefty totals.
It's tough to predict storm intensity and track in late winter, especially when you have temps bouncing around the freezing mark. A few miles north or south and you have such a different outcome. I don't think anyone got this one right. Thanks for the recap and analysis of what went wrong. Great info!
ReplyDeleteThat is very true. Temperatures, especially this time of year, can be very tricky to try and pin down. Although I don't mind that we didn't see as much snow! Spring can't come soon enough in my opinion!!
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