414  
FXUS10 KWNH 291912  
PMDHMD  
 
MODEL DIAGNOSTIC DISCUSSION  
NWS WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER COLLEGE PARK MD  
211 PM EST FRI NOV 29 2019  
 
VALID NOV 29/1200 UTC THRU DEC 03/0000 UTC  
 
...SEE NOUS42 KWNO (ADMNFD) FOR THE STATUS OF THE UPPER AIR  
INGEST...  
 
FINAL 12Z MODEL EVALUATION WITH PREFERENCES AND CONFIDENCE  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   
..DEEP CLOSED LOW FORMING IN THE PLAINS
 
   
..HANDING OFF TO A NORTHEAST COASTAL LOW ON DAY 3
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
PREFERENCE: BLEND OF 12Z GFS / ECMWF  
CONFIDENCE: SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE  
 
A DEEP UPPER TROUGH PULLING INTO THE PLAINS WILL SPAWN  
CYCLOGENESIS, RESULTING IN A DEEP CLOSED SYSTEM THAT IS FORECAST  
TO SLIDE EASTWARD THROUGH THE SHORT RANGE PERIOD. AS HEIGHT FALLS  
CROSS THE APPALACHIANS WE SHOULD SEE A HANDOFF TO A NEWLY FORMING  
COASTAL LOW / NOR'EASTER ON DAY 3, MONDAY. IN RECENT DAYS THE  
ECMWF AND ECMWF ENSEMBLE HAVE PROVEN MORE CONSISTENT AND SERVED AS  
A BASELINE FOR THIS STORM. THE NCEP SOLUTIONS, HOWEVER, WERE  
BECOMING MORE USABLE. THE 12Z NAM AND GFS SHOW A LARGE SCALE  
EVOLUTION THAT IS VERY SIMILAR TO THE ECMWF. THE THERMAL FIELDS  
ARE OF INTEREST, GIVEN THE ANTICIPATED WINTER WEATHER IMPACTS.  
CERTAINLY BY 48 HOURS, 12Z SUNDAY, THE NAM STRONGLY INDICATES ITS  
TYPICAL COLD BIAS, WITH 850 MB COLD AIR OF GREATER MAGNITUDE AND  
MORE EXPANSIVE THAN THE OTHER MODELS. NOTING THAT THE THERMAL  
FIELDS IN THE OPERATIONAL ECMWF ARE STRONGLY SUPPORTED BY THE  
ECMWF ENSEMBLE MEAN, WE HAVE MORE TRUST IN THE EUROPEAN AS A  
BASELINE. THE GFS, THOUGH, DOES LOOK INCREASINGLY REASONABLE,  
ESPECIALLY GIVEN JUST A VERY SUBTLE WARMING IN THE 12Z ECMWF THAT  
BROUGHT THE TWO MODELS VERY MUCH INTO AGREEMENT OVERALL. THE MAIN  
QUESTION MARK IS SLIGHTLY WARMER AIR, 850-700MB, THE GFS INDICATES  
ALONG THE WARM FRONT IN THE MIDWEST AND THEN NEAR THE LOW TRACK  
THROUGHOUT ITS JOURNEY TO THE EAST COAST. IT WOULD NOT BE UNUSUAL  
FOR AIR TO VERIFY A BIT ON THE WARM SIDE OF THE SPREAD NEAR THE  
LOW TRACK. FOR NOW, BLENDING TOWARD A CONSENSUS SEEMS THE BEST  
APPROACH.  
 
   
..WESTERN U.S. AND NORTHERN ROCKIES/PLAINS
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
PREFERENCE: BLEND OF 12Z GFS / ECMWF...EMPHASIS ON THE ECMWF  
CONFIDENCE: AVERAGE  
 
ANOTHER DEEP TROUGH AND WET STORM SYSTEM WILL DIG INTO PLACE NEAR  
THE WEST COAST. THROUGH MONDAY THIS SYSTEM SITS BENEATH MEAN  
SHORTWAVE RIDGING OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, WITH NORTHERN STREAM  
SHORTWAVES AMPLIFYING DOWNSTREAM OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES AND  
NORTHERN PLAINS. LOOKING AT THE NORTHERN STREAM FLOW PATTERN  
ACROSS THE PACIFIC AND NORTH AMERICA, DESPITE A NOISY FLOW WITH  
NUMEROUS SHORTWAVES THE MODELS ARE RELATIVELY TIGHT, WITH THE ONLY  
OUTLIER BEING AN AWKWARD NAM SOLUTION OVER THE NORTHERN TIER OF  
THE U.S. BY DAYS 2-3. WITHIN THE MORE STATIONARY DEEP TROUGH ALONG  
THE WEST COAST THE 12Z NCEP MODELS BEGAN A TREND IN HOLDING ONTO  
THE DEFINITION OF A TIGHT UPPER LOW THAT RETROGRADES SOUTHWEST OUT  
OF OREGON. THE ECMWF AND UKMET SEEM TO SHOW A MORE REALISTIC  
TREND, WHILE THE GFS AND CANADIAN WERE MUCH SLOWER AND REPRESENTED  
A STARK CHANGE FROM THE PREVIOUS MODEL CYCLES. THE NAM IS ONE OF  
THE MORE REASONABLE SOLUTIONS WITHIN THE TROUGH, BUT ITS SOLUTION  
DOWNSTREAM AND IN THE NORTHERN STREAM IS SO MESSY AND UNSUPPORTED  
THAT IT IS HARD TO RECOMMEND IN OUR PREFERENCE. FORTUNATELY, THE  
NAM/GFS THERMAL FIELDS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO THE ECMWF OVER THE  
WESTERN U.S., FOR FORECASTING PRECIP TYPE. BUT FOR SHORTWAVE  
TIMING AND LARGE SCALE FORCING, WE RECOMMEND EMPHASIS ON THE ECMWF.  
 
MODEL TRENDS AT WWW.WPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/HTML/MODEL2.HTML  
500 MB FORECASTS AT WWW.WPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV/H5PREF/H5PREF.SHTML  
 
BURKE  
 

 
 
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