Alert archive / Maine / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 2243

December 27, 2012Aroostook County, Penobscot County, Piscataquis County, Maine

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Dec 27, 2012, 12:43 PM EST for Aroostook County, Penobscot County, Piscataquis County, Maine. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Dec 27, 2012, 12:43 PM EST (17:43 UTC)
Expired: Dec 27, 2012, 6:45 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Aroostook County, ME, Penobscot County, ME, Piscataquis County, ME

The radar

The Caribou radar (KCBW), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:44 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Caribou, ME (KCAR), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 90 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 698 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

261 
ACUS11 KWNS 271744
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 271743
MEZ000-272345-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 2243
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1143 AM CST THU DEC 27 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...NRN MAINE

CONCERNING...HEAVY SNOW

VALID 271743Z - 272345Z

SUMMARY...PERIODS OF HEAVY SNOW /RATES BETWEEN 1 AND 2 INCHES PER
HOUR/ WILL CONTINUE OVER CENTRAL MAINE AND SPREAD INTO NORTHERN
MAINE THROUGHOUT THE DAY.  WITH NNELY SURFACE WIND SPEEDS INCREASING
THROUGHOUT THE DAY...BLOWING/DRIFTING SNOW AND REDUCED VISIBILITY
WILL BE LIKELY.

DISCUSSION...AS A NEGATIVELY TILTED MID/UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH MOVES UP
THE NEW ENGLAND COAST...AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE LOW WILL SIMILARLY
TRACK NNEWD NEAR THE COAST.  STRONG WARM CONVEYOR-BELT FLOW /AOA 50
KT AT 850 MB/ NORTH OF THE LOW WILL SUPPORT HEAVY SNOWFALL OVER
CENTRAL AND NORTHERN MAINE THROUGHOUT THE DAY.  HIGH-RESOLUTION
ENSEMBLES /SSEO AND AFWA/ INDICATE THAT SNOW RATES WILL DECREASE
FROM SOUTH TO NORTH BY LATE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING WITH RATES OF 1
INCH PER HOUR LIKELY ENDING IN FAR NORTHERN MAINE AROUND 02Z.

..JIRAK.. 12/27/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...CAR...GYX...

LAT...LON   46037028 46107025 46257022 46427001 46686999 47456921
            47436907 47266905 47186887 47276856 47266837 47346827
            47306813 47156794 47056782 45876776 45766782 45656770
            45596750 45496745 45366744 45276754 45246780 45256820
            45316861 45436905 45616961 45787001 45907025 46037028

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Dec 27, 3:52 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Kennebec, Oxford and 4 more	6 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Maine, 2012 Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.