What conditions would be required to allow for a snowstorm in Dallas?
Posted by
Gianmarc on 12/10/2009, 10:39 pm
Since I moved to Dallas in May and have an incurable fascination with the possibility of dramatically unusual weather, I've been thinking lately about what atmospheric conditions would have to come into place for something that, according to the research I've done, would be so unusual as to be almost unprecedented--a genuine, accumulating snowstorm in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. They do get accumulating snows here on occasion (most recently March of last year) that will amount to a few inches, but from what I can see they have almost never gotten much more than that out of a single event in this part of Texas (someone correct me if I am wrong).
It has been brutally cold here in the Dallas area this week with morning temps in the mid 20s and wind chill values in the teens, but the rub in this area as I have observed it since weather got colder is that when it is cold enough to snow there is no moisture in the atmosphere, and when moisture does return it is accompanied by a southerly flow that brings much warmer temps. So the question is this: How do you get both sub-freezing temps as well as abundant moisture into the atmosphere down here?
Only thing I can think of is if you have a strong arctic ridge plunge down the plains and into NE Texas, and a Pacific storm coming ashore at an abnormally low latitude and sweeping across the country just to our south to keep the Dallas area in the northerly flow around the system so it pulls in cold air while dumping precipitation.
It did snow here one morning last week when we had a burst of heavy wet snow for a few hours that did not stick because the ground was still much too warm (ground temps in the 50s still). Looks like the only "snow" they ever get here rarely sticks and is almost always light.
So what do you guys think? What would it take for a significant snowfall to be possible in Dallas/Ft. Worth? |
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What conditions would be required to allow for a snowstorm in Dallas? - Gianmarc, 12/10/2009, 10:39 pm Post A Reply
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