'Thursday' Morning Quarterback

Yesterday I gave myself a mid day report card of a B. This morning, I'd say between a B and B-. Is it wrong that I am upset for undercutting the snow? A little humble pie? In retrospect, I did blog early this week that this track would often give us the higher end of snow, and the bulls eye was in Central MD. Also, I have been pointing to Dec 5th for about a month (well for the past few years too). However, I was afraid to pull the trigger yesterday morning for this first event. Honestly, I never would have gone higher than 4" though. Here is one of our report maps. I have another on on my Weather Graphics and Cams Page. Below you can see some Doppler Estimates. Click on each image for a full view.
What I got right: It snowed, it was worse after 3pm, and I was the first to put out accumulating amounts. What I got wrong: Morning snow - was from a second Low that developed ahead of the clipper. This gave us the added 2-3 inches. Some roads were icy during the day. that was due to temps staying 3 degrees colder, so more stickage and accumulation. Why? Well the track of a clipper in southern VA is perfect for us. I knew that, but rounding the base of the 500mb tough, and tapping into 850mb Temps of -6C to -8C allowed the support for this moisture to survive the trip over the mountains. The clipper itself would have given us 2-4 inches, but the development ahead of the main Low is what pushed some amounts over 6 inches. Thanks to all for sharing your pics... I will try to get some on the air or here later. Remember my full web site link is in the upper right corner of this blog.

DOPPLER ESTIMATED SNOWFALL
Click map for larger view