Some historical surprises for the Southeast????

[Stormsfury]

The GFS bring the 540 thickness line into places absolutely surprising even me ... and if this were to verify ... the potential for a few flakes of snow COULD actually be seen in LOWER SOUTH CAROLINA and into North Carolina outside of the mountainous areas as well ... WTF? ... Potent Upper low generating its own cold source ... (why we can't get these in the heart of winter with a good source of cold air is beyond me)...

Anyways, the fact remains that the NC State Single Snowstorm Records BOTH ARE NOT IN THE WINTER MONTHS...

April 2nd-5th, 1987 - A late-season snowstorm set many snow records from parts of the South to eastern Ohio. NC's state storm record of 60" was set at Newfound Gap. (Tied 5 years later on May 7th-9th, 1992 at Mt. Pisgah). Alabama records set for April: 6" at Birmingham (3rd) and Mobile's first time snow flurries (3rd).

April 16th, 1849 - A severe freeze killed cotton from Texas into Georgia. Snow covered the ground at Charleston, SC.

April 25th, 1910 - Snow has been reported only once in Florida in April. However, a few flakes which is officially a trace of snow were observed at Pensacola. This record is more amazing since the snowflakes fell near the end of the month and not the beginning.

May 8th, 1992 - A vigorous upper level low pressure system stalled out over the Carolinas for the past 3 days unloaded tremendous amounts of snow over the Western North Carolina Mountains above 4000 ft. Mt. Pisgah (elev- 5,721 ft) recorded 60 inches of snow, an all-time record for the mountain, and tying the NC state record for a single-storm. Mt. Mitchell (6,684 ft elev.) was whitened with 30 inches of snow. On the previous day, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC (Greer) NWS had snow mixed with rain, making this the latest date and the first time in May that snow had fallen at this location.

[Stormsfury]

The GFS 540 thickness scheme (supports frozen/snow) from 48hr - 72hr across the Southeast after exiting Mississippi and Alabama while of course, the ETA does not ...

Taken into account the cold bias of the GFS and the warm bias of the ETA...it's a borderline call but some areas not accustomed to seeing snow even in wintertime may see a few flakes of snow.

http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod ... p_048m.gif
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod ... p_054m.gif
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod ... p_060m.gif
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod ... p_066m.gif
http://www.nco.ncep.noaa.gov/pmb/nwprod ... p_072m.gif

[Amanzi]

WOW SF. I think if that verifies it is going to catch a LOAD of people unaware. Keep us updated.:o

[JQ Public]

dum dum dum!! getting excited hehe. maybe i'm not sick of winter

[ColdFront77]

Wow, Stormsfury! I have heard about this chilly weather continuing, even the chance of snow as far south as Georgia, as you mentioned in another post. Thank you for sharing the information.

This winter won't quit! - 39 days into "meteorological spring" and 19 days into "astronomical spring" and we can't get springtime temperatures.

[breeze]

In the mid-80's, I remember a 2-3" accumulation of snow, here.
Some friends had cleaned out their pool, the day before, and,
looked quite funny running around sunburned in the snow!

[Stormsfury]

Yep, this happens about once every 50-100 years or so the further south you go according to climatological records. But the NC Mountains single storm record of 60" both occurring outside of winter is a feat beyond me.

Amazing that for some snowlovers in the South that this setup doesn't occur in the heart of winter instead of April-May (usually during an El-Nino setup - even though this El Nino is on the wane).

[Stormsfury]

Tomorrow GFS for Thursday morning, brings the 540thickness line into SOUTHERN GA/NORTHERN FLORIDA ... with light precip ... if that verifies, this would be only the 2nd time, flurries were ever seen in Florida.

[Stormsfury]

Furthermore, historical snows for the NC Mountains above 4,000 ft IS ON

GFS 60hr PRECIP and ETA 60hr PRECIP

[PTrackerLA]

Wow that is truly incredible! And why couldn't this storm have occured 2 months ago? The cold weather today has reminded how disappointed most of us in the deep south were this winter. We sure had the cold just not the moisture!

[Stormsfury]

Yep...

PTrackerLA, these ULL's are common in El Nino type years during April/May and unfortunately - with the cold of January - can't get one of these during the winter months - otherwise, more frequent and heavy snows would occur in the Southland and Southeast. (I know I would have drooled at seeing this ULL had it happened in January 2003)