Winter '21 / '22 - 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest: FEB Snowfall Totals

Somerset County ... PA-Turnpike (c.1940)

FEB-22 snowfall summary by forecast station.

Rank ordered descending by percent of monthly period-of-record-normal (P-O-R-N).

Green ==> 4th quartile
White ==> less than 4h and greater than 1st quartile (inter-quartile range)
Red ==> 1st quartile

Obs reported as 0.05" denote a Trace (observed but not measurable)

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FEB Forecast Station Highlights
5 stations at or above normal monthly snowfall.

Biggest Losers
12 stations with less then half their monthly normal snowfall.
DCA ... RIC ... and ORF snow observed but not measured (trace)
RDU got skunked.

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Season-Total-to-Date

FEB  P-O-R-N contributes 262" (28%) toward the season-total snowfall (D-J-F-M) of 929".
FEB-22 observed snowfall:  185" (71% of monthly P-O-R-N; 20% of season-total snowfall)

Image courtesy NOHRSC @ http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/

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Teleconnections

AO / NAO / PNA data

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DEC snowfall totals:
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/01/winter-21-22-season-total-snowfall.html

JAN snowfall totals:
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/02/winter-21-22-season-total-snowfall.html

Winter '21 / '22 - Regular Season: Interim Standings #3

New Hartford ... CT
14-Feb-1899

After 5 contest-worthy snow storms ... under the ‘two-thirds’ rule  … forecasters who have entered at least 4 forecasts are included in Interim Standings #3.

Complete interim statistics table and chart at the Contest/s web site (direct link)
Forecaster statistics for Winter '21 / '22 contest snow storms (direct link)

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SUMSQ errors for each contest snow storm are normalized (i.e., standardized) with a 'Z-score' ... then averaged and ranked to compute the standings. If a forecaster has issued forecasts for more than two-thirds of all snow storm contests ... then Z-scores from their 'best two-thirds' forecasts are used to calculate the Interim and Final standings.

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Interim Standings #1
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/02/winter-21-22-regular-season-interim.html

Interim Standings #2
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/02/winter-21-22-regular-season-interim2.html

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NOTE:  MitchelVolk's 'Previous Rank(s)' should read '2,2 '

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #5: FINAL Results and Storm Summary

Complete forecaster verification table and the FINAL Results / Storm Summary available at NEWxSFC/s home page.

SUMSQ:  sum of square error (")
SUMSQ Z:  Z-score
STP:  storm total precipitation error (")
TAE:  total absolute error (")
AAE:  average absolute error (")
(#):  category rank

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Forecast by Observed Snowfall Scatterplots for Top 4 Forecasts
Forecast/s dotted blue line below (above) the Observed snowfall/s solid red line ==> under (over) forecast bias.

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Comparison of Top 4 Forecasts and Observed Snowfall by Station

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Forecast Skill Score measured against NWS ER WFOs
Positive skill values indicate a forecast/s improvement over the NWS forecasts.
Bias is the arithmetic difference between the average Forecast snowfall and the average Observed snowfall.

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #5: Preliminary STP Verification

Preliminary verification of storm-total snowfalls for FRI and SAT from CDUS41 (CLI) ... CXUS51 (CF6) ... METARs ... and PNS bulletins.  Excellent coverage and reporting.

HYA
STP estimated from PNSBOX reports using inverse distance weighting of vicinity reports within 5 miles of the station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverse_distance_weighting

Trace amounts for SAT derived from METARs.

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Snow-to-liquid ratio (SLR) not reported for some stations with measurable snowfall b/c significant liquid and / or freezing precipitation also occurred during the verification period.

Read more »

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #5: The Forecasts!

26-FEB-1965

Rookie      1
Intern      1
Journey      -
Senior      9
GOVT      1
PWSP      -
TOT      12

Forecaster table ranked ascending by storm-total precipitation (STP)

BLUE ==> 1st quartile
RED ==> 4th quartile
WHITE and GREY STP cells range between the 1st and 4th quartile

Heaviest snowfall (+8") consensus along and to the right of BTV ... CON ... BOS ... ORH ... ALB ... BTV.  Lollypop expected at ALB.

Teleconnections

Everyone/s station-by-station forecast at the Contest/s web site.
Direct link to the forecast table
http://www.newx-forecasts.com/NEWxSFC_23/storms/storm5_forecasts_25FEB22.htm

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #5: RAW Forecasts

BOS
26-FEB-69

 
Click through on Read more ...

Read more »

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #5: Call for Forecasts!

Mount Washington ... NH
02-25-53

Rich plume of moisture streaming NE from the Gulf of Mexico forecast to engage with strong arctic HIGH anchored over SE Canada through the forecast period offering up a decent end-of-winter contest-worthy snow storm.

 - Enter your forecast at the NEWxSFC/s home page at http://www.newx-forecasts.com/

- Follow the top-of-page link from 'Enter Snow Storm Forecast'

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Forecast element: each station/s storm-total snowfall

Deadline for entries: 10:00 PM EST ... THU ... 24-FEB-22

Verification begins: 12:01 AM EST ... FRI ... 25-FEB-22
Verification ends: 11:59 PM EST on the day when flakes stop accumulating.

You also get the chance to see how well your forecast stacks up against NWS Eastern Region Weather Forecast Offices. Turns out they/ve been fairly easy to beat!

Who Can Enter
Amateur and professional forecasters; broadcasters with or without trained Seals; any and all other weather-biz types and / or wanna-bees; wish-casters ... astrologers ... along with any other universally recognized class of dreamers; Pollyannas or Cassandras ... registered Nostradamuses ... non-violent megalomaniacs ... woolly-bear caterpillars or their Agents ... pest detectives ... ne.wx NG survivors; riders on the StormVista ... refugees from AmericanWx and/or USWeather free agents ... including self-imposed exiles from Eastern Wx ... and of course ... meteorologists.

Read more »

Winter '21 / '22 - Regular Season Interim Standings #2

Dock Square
Kennebunkport ... ME (c.1900)

After 4 contest-worthy snow storms ... under the ‘two-thirds’ rule  … forecasters who have entered at least 3 forecasts are included in Interim Standings #2.

Complete interim statistics table and chart at the Contest/s web site (direct link)
Forecaster statistics for Winter '21 / '22 contest snow storms (direct link)

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SUMSQ errors for each contest snow storm are normalized (i.e., standardized) with a 'Z-score' ... then averaged to compute the standings. If a forecaster has issued forecasts for more than two-thirds of all snow storm contests ... then Z-scores from their 'best two-thirds' forecasts are used to calculate the Interim and Final standings.

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Interim Standings #1
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/02/winter-21-22-regular-season-interim.html

Winter '21 / '22 - 'Season-total' Snowfall Forecast Contest: JAN Snowfall Totals

'53 Chevy
Deep Pt. Pleasant ... NJ (JAN-64)

JAN-22 snowfall summary by forecast station.
Rank ordered descending by percent of monthly period-of-record-normal (P-O-R-N).

Green ==> 4th quartile
White ==> less than 4h and greater than 1st quartile (inter-quartile range)
Red ==> 1st quartile

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JAN Forecast Station Highlights
20 stations at or above normal monthly snowfall.

Biggest Loser - ALB with 51% of its monthly normal snowfall.

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Season-Total-to-Date

JAN P-O-R-N contributes 279" (30%) toward the season-total snowfall (D-J-F-M) of 929".
JAN-22 observed snowfall:  439" (142% of monthly P-O-R-N; 46% of season-total snowfall)

Image courtesy NOHRSC @ http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/

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Teleconnections
AO / NAO / PNA data

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DEC snowfall totals:
https://newxsfc.blogspot.com/2022/01/winter-21-22-season-total-snowfall.html

Winter '21 / '22 - Snow Storm #4: FINAL Results and Storm Summary

Complete forecaster verification table and the FINAL Results / Storm Summary available at NEWxSFC/s home page.

SUMSQ:  sum of square error (")
SUMSQ Z:  Z-score
STP:  storm total precipitation error (")
TAE:  total absolute error (")
AAE:  average absolute error (")
(#):  category rank

Forecast by Observed Snowfall Scatterplots for Top 4 Forecasts
Forecast/s dotted blue line below (above) the Observed snowfall/s solid red line ==> under (over) forecast bias.

Station by Station Comparison of Top 4 Forecasts

Forecast Skill Score measured against NWS ER WFOs
A positive skill value indicates the forecast/s improvement over the NWS forecasts.
Bias is the arithmetic difference between the average Forecast snowfall and the average Observed snowfall.