Winter '16 / '17 - Rare Snow in the African Desert

" ... snow on the edge of the Sahara Desert is rare. On December 19, 2016, snow fell on the Algerian town of Ain Sefra, which is sometimes referred to as the “gateway to the desert.”

"The town of roughly 35,000 people sits between the Atlas Mountains and the northern edge of the Sahara. The last recorded snowfall in Ain Sefra occurred in February 1979.

" ...  a review of several years of satellite data suggests that snow is also unusual in this section of the Saharan Atlas range.

"The snow fell in a region where summertime temperatures average 37°Celsius (99°Fahrenheit), though wintertime temperatures have been known to get down into the single digits Celsius (30s Fahrenheit). Such moisture is as rare as the cool temperatures, given that just a few centimeters (inches) of precipitation fall here in an entire year."

Source:  NASA Earth Observatory

Winter '16 / '17 - Arctic Oscillation: NOV

Winter '16 / '17 - North Atlantic Oscillation: NOV

Winter '16 / '17 - Snow Storm #1: Near Miss

ACY Boardwalk (1928)

The season/s first snow storm out-performed not only the numerical models but the professional meteorologists responsible for issuing the official forecasts.

Heaviest significant snowfall (>= 4") at first-order reporting stations was observed along and either side of a line from CON - BOS - BDR - BDL - ORH - CON.  In addition to these five forecast points ... PWM at 3.6" and CAR at 3.5" ended up being close enough to have warranted a 'call for forecasts' and a contest-worthy snow storm had the writing been on the wall Thursday evening.  As it was ... NE snowstorm legend Paul Kocin painted a large swath of 40% probability for at least 4" on WPC/s afternoon package.

Models were late catching on to this storm/s potential.  Similar circumstances plagued last year/s contests ... as well.

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Station / snowfall (")
BDL 6.5 (daily record)
ORH 6
BDR 5.3 (daily record)
CON 4.7
BOS 4.3
PWM 3.6
CAR 3.5
BGM 3.4
BGR 3.3
PVD 3.2
BTV ... ISP 3
EWR ... JFK 3 (daily records)
HYA 2.5 (est.)
ALB 2.4
ABE ... MDT ... PHL <1
ACY ... BWI ... IAD ... DCA T

Winter '16 / '17 - Eurasia Snow Cover

Winter '16 / '17 - 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecasts by Station

Winter '16 / '17 - 16th Annual 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest - Call for Forecasts!

NE.Wx's 16th annual ‘Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest is the absolute best ... biggest ... and probably ONLY chance to be recognized for your long-range forecasting acumen ;/

And it's easy.
All you have to do is forecast the season-total snowfall at 25 stations from RDU to CAR!

Deadline: WED ... 30-NOV-16 @ 11:59 PM EST

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Visit the Contest's website to enter your forecast.
Follow the link at the top of the page to 'Enter Season-total Forecast.'

1st place prize (delivered post-paid right to your front door):
"The Snow Booklet" by Nolan J. Doesken and Arthur Judson (paperback) and "Snow in America" by Bernard Mergan (hardcover)

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As always ... NO cost ... NO fees ... NO advertising ... NO annoying requests for personal information to enter the contest.  NEWxSFC is just a fun exercise for winter wx enthusiasts to see who can make the best season-total snowfall forecast.

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Forecast element: sum-total season snowfall @ each station
Forecast period: 01-DEC-16 through 31-MAR-17
Verification: NWS preliminary climate reports (CLM or CF6)

Error statistic: total absolute error [Σ abs(forecast - observed)]

Update your forecast as often as you want prior to the deadline.
Only your last entry gets verified.

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The reigning NE.Wx ‘Season-Total’ Snowfall Forecasting Champ-een is snowman
Last year's 'Season-total' forecast summary ... verification ... and final results ==> here

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The Contest is open to amateur and professional forecasters; broadcasters with or without trained Seals; any and all weather-biz types and / or wanna-bees; wish-casters ... astrologers ... along with any other universally recognized classes of dreamers; Pollyannas or Cassandras ... registered Nostradamusts ... non-violent megalomaniacs ... woolly-bear caterpillars or their agents ... pest detectives ... NE.Wx NG veterans and lurkers; refugees from AmericanWx and/or USWeather ... including self-imposed exiles from Eastern Wx ... and of course ... meteorologists.

In honor of USENET/s ne.weather/s patron saint Mr. Joseph Bartlo's final request (RIP) ... trolls ... goats ... hat3-lsiters ... and psests need not apply.

Winter '15 / '16 Regular Season Snowfall Contest Note

Great Blizzard of 1888 - Wilmington ... DE
Market St looking N from 10th St

17th Annual 'Regular Season'
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No FINAL standings
Two contest-worthy storms were too few for a valid contest.

Under the 'two-thirds' rule;
Forecasters are included in end-of-season rankings
if they entered at least two-thirds of all storm contests.

Given only two contest-worthy storms during the season ... forecasters with one entry only would not have been eligible.

In the interest of fairness; forecasters should have at least three opportunities to enter ... so three storms seems like the bare minimum to make certain a valid contest.

Winter '16 / '17 - Outlooks

Thread updated periodically as new outlooks and forecasts are issued from a variety of credible sources.

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AER ...

IRI ...

CPC ...

 

Read more »

Winter '16 / '17 - Arctic Oscillation (AO)