TWC Today Forums
Weather Discussion => General Weather Chat => Topic started by: Ice Man on January 26, 2013, 02:41:38 AM
-
Picture being in the tri-state area and watching the local radar. You see a snow storm coming from the S, SW, or W. At around the point where the snowfall reaches New Jersey, the moisture vanishes. With storms coming from the west, sometimes it continues to spread to the north or south of northern Jersey, but that one area will remain dry.
Way back in the day we joked someone was using a force-field to block snow. Often the snow would eventually 'break through' after 1 or 2 hours, but there have been numerous times that even powerful storms became "the great blizzard that never was" for that region.
I am guessing this has something to do with the mountains to the west. On numerous occasions I've seen severe thunderstorms stall out in the Kittatinny mountains. But when it comes to snowstorms, this can even happen when the snow is coming from the South, underneath the Kittatinnies. Additionally, though there are equally tall mountains in southern New York and Eastern Pennsylvania, this phenomenon seems to be limited to northern NJ. Additionally, though I've seen this happen pretty consistently for over 2 decades, it appears that it still hasn't been factored into computer models for predicting weather.
Has anyone else from the tri-state area noticed this before and wondered about it? Or does anyone know what is so unique about the geography there that causes this?
-
I've noticed this too, but it's not limited to New Jersey. The computer models can actually pick this phenomena up well. It's called downsloping. When air travels down a mountain, it warms, dries, and compresses, limiting the amount of precip. This can be see well in areas out west. Look at Seattle, WA average precip and compare it to Spokane, WA's average precip. Spokane comes in much lower because of this same phenomena.
-
And, question solved. Thanks! B)