Quantitative Precipitation Forecast
Issued by NWS
Issued by NWS
166 FOUS11 KWBC 080737 QPFHSD Probabilistic Heavy Snow and Icing Discussion NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD 237 AM EST Fri Nov 8 2024 Valid 12Z Fri Nov 08 2024 - 12Z Mon Nov 11 2024 ...Central/Southern Rockies and Adjacent High Plains... Days 1-2... ...Heavy snow and major impacts continue for the Southern Rockies and Interstate 25 corridor into Saturday morning... Significant winter storm will persist across eastern CO through very early Saturday morning before ending. The primary driver of this impressive system is an anomalous upper low which will be moving across New Mexico this morning before slowly ejecting to the northeast and into the Central Plains on Saturday. NAEFS height anomalies reach as low as -3 sigma, indicating the strength of this feature, and the resultant downstream height falls and divergence will combine with a modestly coupled jet structure to produce impressive large-scale ascent across the Southern/Central Rockies and High Plains. This evolution today will also drive surface low development over Texas, and this wave will lift northward into Saturday. This low will be accompanied by enhanced forcing through persistent moist isentropic lift, especially along the 295K surface where mixing ratios climb to 4-6 g/kg, lifting into a robust TROWAL pivoting over the region Friday aftn/eve. Additionally, an axis of elevated instability is likely beneath the TROWAL and collocated with an axis of deformation, which suggests intense snowfall rates within a pivoting band of snowfall. Omega maxima into the DGZ, although subjectively elevated, will support heavy snow rates which the WPC snowband tool indicates will reach 1-2"/hr. It is possible that some rates may briefly even reach 2-3"/hr as model cross-sections indicate a narrow corridor of theta-es lapse rates <0C/km collocated with EPV<0 suggesting the potential for upright convection. Regardless, a highly impactful snow is expected again Friday from far northeast NM into much of eastern CO. The heaviest accumulations are likely in the higher elevations of the Raton Mesa, Palmer Divide, and into the Sangre de Cristos/southern Front Range, but intense ascent should allow for snow significant snow accumulations even into the High Plains, at least until the more intense easterly/WAA develops warming the column. There will likely be a thermal gradient near the KS/CO border which will be the demarcation between primarily snow and primarily rain, but even all the way to the KS border periods of snow are possible during heavier snow and dynamic cooling. WPC probabilities for more than 8 inches of additional snow on D1 are above 80% across the Raton Mesa and Palmer Divide, as well as into the Sangre de Cristos and southern Front Range. Elsewhere, probabilities for more than 4 inches are high across much of eastern CO except towards the KS border and northeast corner. As the low occludes and shifts over Neb Friday night/Saturday, the moisture moisture fetch is shunted east and thermals farther east do not support snow, so the heavy snow threat generally ends in CO. Some lingering snowfall is likely, however, especially in the CO Rockies, but additional accumulations will likely be minimal. The probability of significant ice across the CONUS is less than 10 percent. Weiss ...Winter Storm Key Messages are in effect. Please see current Key Messages below... https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/key_messages/LatestKeyMessage_1.png $$