I mentioned in a blog a week ago that Chief Meteorologist Kerrin Jeromin and I would be going to a winter weather workshop at the National Weather Service in Burlington. We did go and now it's time for me to report back to you!
First a history lesson. The NWS-BTV hosts this workshop every year. The team of meteorologists also provide a summer workshop. Both take place prior, or at the beginning, to the upcoming winter/summer season. It's a helpful and informative session for meteorologists and broadcasters to get together, chat about expectations in the upcoming season, discuss past storms and what happened, and improvements to the future. This year's session was nothing short of that.
I did miss a bit of the agenda that day, as I had to finish my daytime job on television! However when I arrived I caught several presentations. They were about:
- Freezing rain events in the St. Lawrence Valley between Montreal and Quebec City, duration, and forecasting tools
- Snow squalls in Vermont/New York/New Hampshire
- The 2011-2012 winter season
- Flooding events of Spring 2011
- Climatology of wind gusts in Burlington
You can see the talks here, but just for a short time. I'm sorry if the link doesn't work because it will only be available for a 'short time.'
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/soo/2012winterwkshp/
Again I didn't stay for all of them, but got a majority listed there. Here are the summaries for each of those topics:
- 30 years of freezing rain events in the St. Lawrence River Valley were studied in an effort to predict the onset of future events. Most freezing rain events took place with surface temperatures around -4C or 25F and temperatures aloft (about 1 mile up) at +1C or 34 F. Longer duration events happened when a high pressure center was stronger (and located northeast of the valley). The study finished with a couple equations that may be used to predict how long freezing rain events in the future will last and the probability of getting freezing rain.
- Snow squalls were studied, a total of 36 events in northern New England. The events were usually short-lived. Visibilities 1/4 mile or less lasted an average of 17 minutes, while visibilities 1/2 mile or less lasted an average of 26 minutes. They generally don't produce much liquid precip, an average of around 0.05" but can have moderate snow ratios. The average snow ratio studied here was 21:1 Factors that help snow squalls are instability, lift, and higher moisture content.
- The 2011-2012 winter was lackluster by many stats. There were no winter storm warnings issued for the Champlain Valley. The highest snow total Burlington had was less than five inches! However there were some other events, like late February, that produced up to two to three feet of snow in an orographic event. There were a total of "10 winter storms" 6/10 had an "eastern track" with the low to our south/east and 4/10 western. The mean snow ratio was 20:1 and mountains averaged 38:1 for upslope snow events.
- Spring 2011 was a remarkable season for flooding. The soil was very dense with water content, after a near-record winter snowfall and record April and May rains. The meteorologists discussed different maps to look at preceding rainfall events to see soil moisture content and what the ground can handle, plus the additional forecast rain.
- Burlington's wind data is more sparatic than I thought! The wind has been observed in several locations around Burlington in the last 100 years. However the top wind gusts in Burlington were observed in 1950, a SE wind at 72 mph considered the Great Appalachian Storm, SE gust to 70 mph from Hurricane Hazel to our south, and 63 mph from a severe thunderstorm this year, July! Most of the strong wind gusts were from south channeling up the Champlain Valley.
Another highlight of my day was getting a sticker! Yes, I was presented a sticker for the BTV Snack Shop. Never heard of that? Well it's the snack shop at the weather service office which offers a great array of sodas, waters, and treats. However you must pay your fair share for the item. I got the sticker because I mentioned the BTV Snack Shop in a previous blog when writing about the forecast contest. A friendly contest every summer/winter between meteorologists awards the winners with a free treat from the snack shop. I sure hope I can win one of the categories this winter...
-Meteorologist Steve Glazier
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