Snow Stays South and BYOCA

It's always concerning when a storm that is expected to drop up to a half-foot of snow is this close to Region 8. I never get a good night's sleep in this type of situation. I went to bed late and was up at 5:00 am. Now that the storm is unfolding, it appears that most (if not all) of the storm will miss Region 8. We still have a Winter Weather Advisory in effect for our southern most counties of Region 8, just in case. Here are the bullet points:

• Travel through a large part of Central and Southern Arkansas will be bad this afternoon.
• Travel through northern Mississippi will be bad later today.
• Travel through northern Alabama will be bad later today.
• Region 8 will only see flurries or sprinkles it appears.
• Some of Region 8 may even go into the 40s.
• It will be colder near the snowfall due to dynamic cooling of the storm itself. In simple terms, the storm is bringing it's own cold air to the party from aloft and transporting it to the surface.

Here's what we are expecting at Noon:

Here's what we are expecting when the kids get out of school:

Here's what we are expecting at 6:00 PM:

Once this storm is done, the total snowfall accumulation could look something like this:

For someone that is not a big fan of winter, I like this. In addition to missing the snow completely, I mentioned that we could be in the 40s today. Near the storm, the changes in pressure vertically will help transport colder air to the surface. We call this dynamic cooling. I like to say that this is a storm that is "bringing it's own cold air" to the party or BYOCA. :) Because of this, it sometimes looks like a "hole" of cold air on a temperature map. Short-term high resolution model data suggest we could get well into the 40s today, with low to mid 30s in the snow. Can you spot the storm?

Have a great day and enjoy missing the snow!
Ryan