Sleet Storm Postmortem

Who would have imagined who this massive winter storm would have turned out the way it did for Kokomo? 

It was a sleet storm of epic proportions.  I am recording 1 inch of snow and 3 inches of sleet.  That is a composite measurement from the various measurements taken by volunteer and official NWS observers. Honestly, I have no idea how they arrived at those measurements between the wind blowing it everywhere and compaction of sleet.  It was also a huge problem for anyone trying to remove the cement sleet.  Also driving on it was like driving on the beach.  It was not easy.

Some melt their precipitation to determine the water content.  About an inch and a quarter of water content was in that mess.  Using the 1:10 ratio, this would have translated into 12 inches of snow, probably more with higher ratios.  Those models I posted earlier in the week showing 20 inches would have came close to verifying is we remained all snow.

It was amazing to watch the models the week before.  All seemed pretty amazing with their predictions.  In the end, most did really well with a couple of exceptions.  There was a large dry slot which affected many.  That was not shown well.  They also did over do the amount of moisture and how much snow would be produced.

My amateurish guess would be the models saw the huge snow growth zone in the atmosphere and overdid the ratios.  It was still pretty impressive.  Too bad we didn't cash in.

The first wave was a bit weaker than expected too.  

There have been some amazing stories of those who got heavy snow.  Also those who got ice south of us didn't fare to badly all things considered.  It could have been much worse.

Looking ahead, we have some really cold days to finish the week.  An arctic high will clear out the storm remnants allowing radiational cooling.  Some weekend snow is possible but amounts look to be small and just enough to freshen things up.  Of course it will make for slippery roads and walkways.  Take your time.

Another possible storm for next week but I'll give it another day or two before I get on board.

Quick thanks to the Kokomo Perspective which had me participate in their live blog of Snopocalyspe and LookOutKokomo asking me to be a guest writer about the storm.  I enjoyed both.

Welcome!

I want to welcome my many new readers.  Thank you for finding your way here.  I hope you will come back often.  This blog is devoted to writing about the weather for Kokomo and Howard County.  While there are not entries everyday, we never miss writing about important weather including winter and severe weather.

Snow is a passion here so I ride the highs and lows of the snow forecasts.

I also take severe weather seriously and always am on the lookout for weather that can produce thunderstorms and tornadoes.  All of the possibilities are mentioned.

Discussions are always understandable and never too technical.. Usually a bit more than the TV forecast and always focused locally. I also do snow day predictions for are the county schools.  (I didn't this week since it was rather obvious and too easy.)  

There are also other parts of the Kokomo-Weather websites.

You can always find current weather conditions for Kokomo here - http://www.kokomo-weather.com   There also is a mobile version for those with mobile phones and Internet access here - http://www.kokomo-weather.com/wx.htm

There is a Kokomo-Weather Facebook Group where I post thoughts which might not be worthy of a full blog discussion.  Also quicker many times and especially useful in severe weather season or during model runs right before an approaching winter storm.

Last is the Kokomo-Weather twitter account where I post quickie ideas.  It is the way I can communicate easily when I am out and about storm spotting.  I also share conversation with followers and other weather enthusiasts and meteorologists. 

Finally, while not directly related to Kokomo-Weather, there is ScanKokomo where you can listen to a live stream of public safety (Police/Fire/EMA) in Kokomo and Howard County.

I look forward to sharing my weather passion with you.