Extended Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
1223 AM EST Mon Feb 03 2020
Valid 12Z Thu Feb 06 2020 - 12Z Mon Feb 10 2020
...Excessive rainfall threat for the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic...
...Heavy snow risk across the Northeast...
...Weather/Hazard Highlight and Guidance/Predictability
Assessment...
Amplified upper troughing with northern and dynamic southern
stream energies will work from the Central Plains on Thursday and
then cross the eastern U.S. on Friday as reinforcing impulses run
over top then dig downstream of a building upper ridge over the
West. These impulses and onshore flow will favor a renewed wet
pattern from the Pacific Northwest to the Great Basin/Rockies
where the threat of heavy snows will again focus into favored
terrain/mountains. A feed of mid-higher level eastern tropical
Pacific moisture and increasingly deep layered Gulf of Mexico
inflow ahead of the approaching upper trough and favorable jet
support/instability will fuel an expanding heavy rainfall and
local runoff threat from the Southeast to the
Appalachians/Mid-Atlantic. SPC also still shows a severe weather
risk across the Southeast on Thursday. Cold post-frontal high
pressure will dig through the Midwest as lead high pressure dams
ahead of the system into the Northeast. Wrap back flow on the
northwest periphery of the precipitation shield and theta-e
advection into the receding cold air over the northern
Mid-Atlantic/Northeast will favor a heavy snow/ice swath threat.
Activity will be enhanced by deepening frontal waves lifting from
the Gulf Coast to the Appalachians and Northeast Thur-Fri prior to
frontal exit into the western Atlantic. With the exception of the
CMC (which is much slower than the consensus), models and
ensembles have converged more upon a better clustered forecast
with this overall scenario, at least at moderate to larger scales,
bolstering forecast confidence. WPC favored a blend of the latest
GFS/ECMWF with smaller amounts from the ensemble means to smooth
out the details. This maintains good continuity with the previous
shift.
The next system/shortwave enters the Pacific Northwest next
weekend, and models indicate this could drop down the West coast
resulting in a possible closed low over central California by day
6. This should pull precip from the Pacific Northwest southward
into California and the central Great Basin days 6 into 7, with
snowfall likely in the higher terrain. The models show better
consensus on this feature at least compared to previous days, but
the details still need to be worked out. A 50/50 ensemble means
with the GFS/ECMWF blend approach is preferred given the lingering
uncertainty.
Santorelli/Schichtel
Additional 3-7 Day Hazards information can be found on the WPC
medium range hazards chart at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/threats/threats.php
WPC medium range 500mb heights, surface systems, weather grids,
quantitative precipitation, winter weather outlook probabilities
and heat indices are at:
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst500_wbg.gif
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/medr/5dayfcst_wbg_conus.gif
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/5km_grids/5km_gridsbody.html
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/day4-7.shtml
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/wwd/pwpf_d47/pwpf_medr.php?day=4
https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heat_index.shtml