11/23 Forecast and Similarities to Jan 1999 Midwest Blizzard

[kevinj]

John,

Your forecast text got me intrigued, especially when I read the potential for the big storm. What caught my eye was the origination point and the NNE track. I immediately thought back to the Jan 2-4, 1999 blizzard that dropped over a foot in Milwaukee and almost twice that in Chicago. Any similarities? I realize the track of that storm was a bit further east. Anywhere to go for a radar loop of that storm and/or a good write up of what happened from the science side of things?

Thanks in advance. Sorry, I am a weather geek. Almost went to Purdue for Meteorology.

Kevin

 

[Admin]

Hi Kevin

I was living in Chicago during that storm. Saw is coming around a week in advance. Lived just south of the "Loop" in Chicago and remember walking to the lake shore to watch the huge waves. We picked up around 22" where I lived, about the most of anywhere out of that one.

Anyway, as far as the similarities to it and the one that was in one of the models yesterday (not today), there really were not too many. The one in 1999 was a classic phasing of the sub-tropical jet and the polar jet, with the arctic jet joining in at the end and producing some LES of of Lake MI. The one in the model yesterday was more a feature of a weak polar jet, with the energy becoming mostly cut off from the main flow. The snow totals would not have come anywhere close to the 1999 storm in most cases, with only the LES belts of the UP possibly seeing 12-18"+.

If you google the blizzard of 99, you will get quite a few links to follow.

-John

 

[kevinj]

Thanks John.

In all of my googliness, I cannot find a time lapse radar of the event, only water vapor imagery. No big deal.

Thanks again. On another note, a December of 2000 with 50" of snow in Milwaukee wouldn't be a bad thing this year. And then continued snow and cold through March at least.