February Weather Discussion. Wild Winter Storms?

[BigNorthSide]

snowing pretty good here right now.........light to moderate but still 34 degrees! It would really be sticking if it were colder!!!!!

[lpweather]

Question... There is abit of green/white showing up on the radar from around I10 to about Richmond. Is this producing any snow> Will it track towards pasadena at all?

[Baseballdude2915]

Question... There is abit of green/white showing up on the radar from around I10 to about Richmond. Is this producing any snow> Will it track towards pasadena at all?

Im glued to the radar on this complex. Looks like anyone between Alvin and Humble will get something if this stuff is reaching the ground. Every frame has my attention, 36F Here.

[AggieEngr04]

Question... There is abit of green/white showing up on the radar from around I10 to about Richmond. Is this producing any snow> Will it track towards pasadena at all?

Im glued to the radar on this complex. Looks like anyone between Alvin and Humble will get something if this stuff is reaching the ground. Every frame has my attention, 36F Here.

After I saw your post, I zoomed in at the radar and noticed that I was under the lighter colored portion of map. So I went outside and felt only some very light sporadic drizzle. Therefore, it seems that most of what we are seeing on radar is very light and may not even be reaching the ground. Perhaps maybe the bright yellow portion may have some heavier drizzle.

Perhaps an expert can confirm or correct me? I been following this area as well.

[Baseballdude2915]

AggieEngr04,

I am about 20 Minutes away from hopefully being graced with a deep green cell. Thats pretty moderate. I would hope its picking up some medium flurries. I will let you know what i find.... This is a good test to see exactly which colors mean what on the radar during certain times.

EDIT: Im going to be the bullseye of whatever this blob has to bring. Shouldnt be more than 20 minutes. Horrible estimate the first go round.

[polisciaggie]

Well....I have to say I was very happy about the amount of snow CLL received yesterday. I was disappointed back in December when we didn't get anything, but my patience paid off.

[TxLady]

It continued to snow last night until around 11:00 pm. I was surprised! However, it stayed right at/just above freezing. Overall, I'd guestimate we received 3" of snow. This morning is quite stunning...bright sunshine and sparkling snow! I'm ready for spring, now...

[srainhoutx]

Me too TxLady!

[snowman65]

This must have been the biggest BUST for us in some time.......

[kayci]

This must have been the biggest BUST for us in some time.......

No complaints from me!

[C2G]

This must have been the biggest BUST for us in some time.......

Be careful or you'll get responses similar to this.
I happen to agree with you.

What's just about in The Woodlands? It has snowed in many places today. A friend of mine called me and said it was snowing on 59 sw frwy on his way home. It snowed in Conroe, The Woodlands, Spring, Humble, Kingwood, IAH, Katy, Cypress, Hooks, and many other areas. No, Galveston or Galveston County didn't get any but I'm not shedding at tear for them. They've had more snowfall in the last 6 years than anybody north of I-10 has gotten in 50.

Unbelievable that an event such as this would be considered the second official snowfall in Houston, when most of the areas reporting snowfall were located on the far west and north sides? I liken it to only the far south, west, and east sides of the viewing area reporting some snowfall and it being considered the second official snowfall for Houston. Areas such as Pearland, Friendswood, Alvin, Seabrook, Clear Lake. IAH is not, to me at least, a good official reporting site for Houston weather. Take the distance that airport is from the downtown region and go south, heck Pearland would be about the same distance as IAH is from downtown, probably further. Understand you don't want an official reporting site right in the middle of the concrete jungle, but holy smokes that's a long ways off.
Oh well it was cool watching the cold rain fall.......again.
BTW, glad you're not shedding a tear for me......that would be a little weird.

[snowman65]

I'm glad I went to bed and not waited up for something that never came. I didn't even have frost or ice on my truck at 5:00am this morning......but that was kind of nice.....

[wxman57]

You have to remember that this was never guaranteed to be a widespread snowfall accumulation across the greater Houston area. What was forecast was occasional periods of snow, probably mixed with rain. The NWS mentioned the possibility of some accumulations across the city, but that was no guarantee of such accumulations. And temperatures were forecast to remain above freezing before, during and after the event. There was snow all across the city last evening. My boss near Clear Lake even saw some. There were a few areas that didn't see the snow, but that's to be expected in such a marginal situation. When the forecast is for a 50% chance of rain and YOU don't get rain, was the forecast a big bust? Similar situation yesterday...

I do think that some local mets (TV and even possibly NWS) trusted the GFS snow accumulation maps too much the day before the event vs. looking at the actual airmass that was advecting into our area. A closer look revealed air that was a bit too warm and too moist to allow for optimum conditions for snow. This is something I brought up the day before the event (though not all wanted to hear that). For those of you in Beaumont, the event was even more questionable.

OK, now that we're done with winter, lets start looking forward to those nice, sunny hot July afternoons!

[nuby3]

I work outside, and I'll take 30 degrees over 100 degrees every time, thanks. I'll never look forward to hot July afternoons.

[Ptarmigan]

You have to remember that this was never guaranteed to be a widespread snowfall accumulation across the greater Houston area. What was forecast was occasional periods of snow, probably mixed with rain. The NWS mentioned the possibility of some accumulations across the city, but that was no guarantee of such accumulations. And temperatures were forecast to remain above freezing before, during and after the event. There was snow all across the city last evening. My boss near Clear Lake even saw some. There were a few areas that didn't see the snow, but that's to be expected in such a marginal situation. When the forecast is for a 50% chance of rain and YOU don't get rain, was the forecast a big bust? Similar situation yesterday...

I do think that some local mets (TV and even possibly NWS) trusted the GFS snow accumulation maps too much the day before the event vs. looking at the actual airmass that was advecting into our area. A closer look revealed air that was a bit too warm and too moist to allow for optimum conditions for snow. This is something I brought up the day before the event (though not all wanted to hear that). For those of you in Beaumont, the event was even more questionable.

OK, now that we're done with winter, lets start looking forward to those nice, sunny hot July afternoons!

Not so fast! It can snow in March in Houston and it did once in 1932. Who knows, this could be a much cooler summer like 1976 and 1989.

[snowman65]

Well, I got my smoker all cleaned up last weekend so bring on spring and let's start cookin!!!

[biggerbyte]

It was not a bust, folks. Everything went down exactly as forecasted. If you think your area forecast busted, then you were not paying attention to the actual forecast for your area, or you were wishcasting based on
possibilities. It is a shame, and I am disappointed as well that Porter only got a rain/sleet mix, but we knew anything south
of 105 was dependant on changes in the path of the storm system, and how much cold air would penetrate. The further south you were, the less fun you had. To say this particular event was a bust is an inaccurate statement. Our dreams got busted, and that is all. Welcome to reality here in S.E. Texas.

[srainhoutx]

Some final thoughts. The long talked about blocking pattern -AO, -NAO, +PNA and MJO in phase 7-8 delivered an event that was discussed for what seems like a month. All in all the forecast was not a bust IMHO. It actually produced several events that we have not seen in many years in SE TX and points beyond our part of the world. Here are the final totals from HGX...

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
957 AM CST WED FEB 24 2010

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
950 AM CST WED FEB 24 2010

...SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FOR THE EVENT ON TUESDAY FEB 23...

AFTER THE THIRD WINTRY STORM SYSTEM TO CROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS
SEASON THE SYSTEM LEFT BEHIND A SWATH SNOW ACROSS THE NORTHERN
PORTIONS OF THE AREA AND REPORTS OF RAIN AND SLEET IN THE SOUTH.

HERE IS A TALLY OF THE SNOW REPORTS ACROSS THE AREA AND THANKS GO
OUT TO THE AREA WEATHER ENTHUSIASTS THAT REPORTED THE SNOW AND SLEET
AND TO THE COOP OBSERVERS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS...MEDIA AND COCORAHS
NETWORK OBSERVERS.

HOUSTON CO. 3-3.5" (3-5" EXTREME NORTH)
HUNTSVILLE 3" 7 AM
BRYAN 3" 4 PM
CROCKETT 3" 7 AM
MADISONVILLE 3" 7 AM
BEDIAS 3" 8 AM
MADISON CO. 2-3"
BURLESON CO. 2.5"
4 N OF BRENHAM 2.5" 7 AM
COLLEGE STATION 2" 7 AM
WASHINGTON CO. 1-2"
4 E OF LIVINGSTON 1.5" 730 AM
POLK CO. 1.5"
ROCK PRARIE 1.5" 4 PM
WALKER CO. 3"
TRINITY CO. 1"
SAN JACINTO CO. 1.5"
BRENHAM 3/4" 7 AM
GRIMES CO. DUSTING
MONTGOMERY CO. DUSTING

[srainhoutx]

Mighty big storm in the East tonight. New Orleans talking of wintry weather. Makes you think...

[Mr. T]

Well, that was not impressive.

Snow twice in one season in Houston? Yes, that was very impressive...

I have a video to upload of Candy Cane and I walking around and driving in the snow in The Woodlands area... I'll upload it later.

Definitely thought we'd see accumulations a little farther south, however, the winter storm warnings up north did verify, so kudos to the NWS for verifying quite nicely for this event. It was fun to see it snowing here in Kingwood for the third time this year! I doubt I'll see that again for a while.