Sunday, December 06, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Snow Storm #1: Contest-worthy or What?

The winter/s first nor'easter has moved into the Canadian Maritimes but not before laying down an impressive stripe of early season snowfall across northern portions of the forecast area.

On occasion the prestorm NWP output and expert guidance suggest a snowstorm will not be contest-worthy only to turn out to have been a contender.

Did NEWxSFC miss the call on this one?

Not every snowstorm expected to affect the forecast area will trigger a contest. The criteria applied to decide whether a storm is contest-worthy are loosely defined as one expected to:

- Affect at least six to eight forecast stations ...
- Produce more than a nuisance snowfall (>= 4") ...
- Be well progged by NWP ~36 to 48 hours before snow is observed at any one station.

So ... did the weekend storm rise to the occasion or fall short as expected?

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - 20th Annual 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecasting Contest: The Forecasts!

Forecasters:  22

Forecasters also compete against the Period-of-Record-Normal (P-O-R-N) and Consensus.
Forecaster table ranked by season-total snowfall


BLUE - <= 25th percentile
RED - >= 75th percentile
ORANGE - Chief 'Season-total' Forecaster
P-O-R-N - period of record normal
CONSENSUS - median station forecasts

Some forecasts have decimal values and are recorded for verification purposes as such; however ... rounding was applied for display purposes only.

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - 20th Annual 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest: Call for Forecasts!

NEWxSFC/s Director of Season-total Snowfall Forecasting
Here comes winter with its oscillating Arctic and North Atlantic indexes ... sudden stratosphere warmings ... so-so ENSO ... and if we/re lucky .... an endless parade of 'Miller A' LOWs raking the eastern seaboard.

NE.Wx/s 20th Annual ‘Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest is the absolute best ... biggest ... and possibly ONLY chance to be recognized for your astute long-range forecasting acumen ;/

And it's s-o-o easy.
Cool prizes ... too!

All you have to do is issue the best forecast for the 'season-total' snowfall at 25 east coast stations between RDU and CAR!

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Forecast element:
season-total snowfall @ each station

Forecast period:
01-DEC-20 through 31-MAR-21

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

Verification:
NWS climate reports (CLM or CF6)

Low. Score. Wins.

Deadline for entries: MON ... 30-NOV-20 @ 11:59 PM EST (01-DEC-20 @ 4:59 UTC)

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

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

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Temperature and Precipitation Characteristics for CONUS During La Niña Winters Since 1950

No surprise ... all cool ENSO winters are not created equal.
Some are weak or moderate or strong.
Some associated with QBO-East and some with QBO-West.

During the analysis period between 1950 and 2012 ... most La Niña winters occurred with QBO-E.
Of the winters depicted below ... 15 of the 21 (~71%) were QBO-E.

QBO for winter '20 / '21 will be west.
Probably a moderate La Niña through mid-winter.

Saturday, November 21, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Season-total Snowfall Anomalies During La Nina Winters

 Taken at face value M-A snow crows suffer the most ...

The NOAA analysis of Rutgers' Global Snow Lab data does not account for the different categories of La Nina episodes (weak ... moderate ... strong) and it has an end date of 12 years ago.  Since then ... there have been three La Nina winters - '10 / '11 ... '11 / '12 ... and '17 / '18.

Relative to season-total snowfall at 28 NEWxSFC stations ...
'10 / '11 - well above average (moderate La Nina)
'11 / '12 - well  below average (weak La Nina)
'17 / '18 - above average (weak La Nina)

 Image courtesy NOAA Climate

Winter '20 / '21 - Outlooks

Thread updated periodically as new outlooks and forecasts become available from a variety of credible sources.

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CDC - NOV ...


Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI): Analog Composites of 500 mb Height and 2-meter Temperature Anomalies ... as of SEP / OCT-20

 Analogs and weights for composites:
'70 / '71 (24)
'07 / '08 (5)
'88 / '89 (1)
'95 / '96 (1)
'64 / '65 (1)


 We assess the MEI analog winters with the upcoming winter/s expected states of ENSO (moderate-to-strong La Nina) ... QBO-W ... and (cool) PDO.

Seeing how statistical and dynamic models predict a moderate La Nina this winter ... '64 / '65 and '95 / '96 don/t match the expectation which leaves '70 / '71 ... '07 / '08 ... and '88 / '89 as problem children.

Two concerns about the utility of winters '70 / '71 ... '07 / '08 ... and '88 / '89 ...
Two analogs depict a late winter La Nina intensification (vice expected fade) ... all three had QBO - E contrary to this winter's QBO-W ... and sadly no composites nor forecast guidance. 

MEI analog data table (unranked)
Analog statistic (not shown):  sum of squared errors

The MEI is based on five variables:
Sea level pressure (SLP)
Sea surface temperature (SST)
Surface zonal winds (U)
Surface meridional winds (V)
Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR)

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO): Analog Composites of 500 mb Height and 2-meter Temperature Anomalies ... as of OCT-20

Analogs and weights for composites:
'61 / '62 (2)
'91 / '92 (0)
'95 / '96 (0)
'99 / '00 (1)
'03 / '04 (0).

Two analogs averaged < 0 over D-J-F
Three analogs averaged > 0 over D-J-F
Little in the way of consensus which isn/t especially unusual for analogs.

We assess NAO/s analog winters with the upcoming winter/s expected states of ENSO (moderate-to-strong La Nina) ... QBO-W ... and (cool) PDO.

Recall ... '95 / '96 of 'Storm of the Century' fame was one of the better winter/s evah; however ... despite its weak La Nina profile ... its QBO-E and warm PDO eliminates the strongest calculated match for Winter '20 / '21 from the running.  Analog weight:  0

'91 / '92 drops out as well b/c its winter had a strong a El Niño ... QBO-E ... and a warm PDO.  The '03/'04 La Nada winter doesn't make the cut either.  Analog weights:  0

The two remaining winters '61 / '62 and '99 / '00 are strong analogs for Winter '20 / '21.  Both were moderate La Nina (per MEI) ... QBO-W < 10 ... and a cool PDO.  '61 / '62 set snowfall records in more than a few stations. Analog weight: 2

Season-total snowfall for '99 / '00 was above average for southern mid-Atlantic stations and generally below average elsewhere.  Analog weight:  1

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The 500 mb and 2m T weighted analyses below are based on the winters of '61 / '62 and '99 / '00.

North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) analog composites of 500 mb (5H) geopotential height anomalies (GPHa) and 2-meter air temperature anomalies (2m Ta) for Winter '20 / '21.

5H GPHa weighted-composite

Main features:
La Nina ridge over SE CONUS
-PNA
Positive geopotential height anomaly south of Greenland ==> -NAO (??? lo-lat action center)
Storm track across northern CONUS

2m Ta weighted-composite

Main features:
Above normal temperature across the Deep South and SE CONUS
Cold AK ==> warm East


NAO analog data table (unranked)
Analog statistic (not shown):  sum of squared errors


Monday, November 09, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Arctic Oscillation (AO): Analog Composites of 500 mb Height and 2-meter Temperature Anomalies ... as of OCT-20

 Analog years and weights for composites:
'89 / '90 (3) ... '90 / '91 (2) ... '97 / '98 (2) ... '02 / '03 (1) ... and '15 / '16 (1).

Sadly ... all analog years were +ENSO winters; not something expected this season so they're of limited utility.

Arctic Oscillation (AO) analog composites of 500 mb (5H) geopotential height anomalies (GPHa) and 2-meter air temperature anomalies (2m Ta) for Winter '20 / '21.

5H GPHa weighted-composite

2m Ta weighted-composite

AO analog data table (unranked)
Analog statistic (not shown):  sum of squared errors


Tuesday, November 03, 2020

Winter '20 / '21 - Eurasia Snow Cover: OCT

~ 11,000,000 SQ-KM

 

Under-performing all year ... 

6% above P-O-RN (~10,320,000 SQ-KM)
9% above median (~10,080,000 SQ-KM)
Period-of-Record:  53 years
Rank: 19th

2nd lowest past 10 years
16 of past 20 years above P-O-R-N

OCT-19:  ~12,700,000 SQ-KM
OCT-20:  14% less than last year

Eurasia snow analog years offer little if any guidance given this winter should have cool ENSO / PDO and QBO-W.

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P-O-RN ==> period-of-record normal

Data courtesy Rutgers University Global Snow Lab
http://climate.rutgers.edu/snowcover/index.php