Winter Storm Tracks

As we head towards winter I wanted to give my opinion on winter stormtrack terminology. I know I used to hear someone say "its gonna be a Miller B" and I was like "WTF is that?"..lol

Anyways here goes

This is a general track of an Alberta Clipper...(AKA Saskatchewan Screamer and Manitoba Mauler)..this type of storm system usually brings light amounts of snow and colder air with it. These usually dont get started until late January or so.



Now here is a standard track of what I call an Apps Runner...these usually bring nice snows to western and middle TN and leave east TN in the warm sector resulting in rain here.




This is what I like to call a coastal runner..and this usually leaves most of the state high and dry with the exception of southern counties and extreme eastern TN (Usually just the mountains) but really dumps on the Carolinas!




Here is the imfamous "Lakes Cutter" track and this is usually the most hated storm track around here during winter because by the time the cold air gets here most of the precip has exited the region..except on the occasion of a lagging upper level low.




My personal favorite is the "Miller A" storm track due to this track usually putting eastern TN in jackpot zone...its also sometimes good to middle TN. I guess the most famous Miller A was the Superstorm of 93!




Here's the complicated one..the "Miller B" This track can vary in several different directions and combinations...but there has to be a secondary cyclogenesis near the coast of the Carolinas for a system to be called a Miller B.




Last but not least is the Loved "Southern Slider" that is usually good to the whole state. It generally keeps everyone in TN in the cold sector of the low pressure system resulting in all snow in most cases.



Now these tracks can vary left and right but that's the gist of my understsnding of surface low tracks during winter season. There are hybrids with each of these storm tracks and can sometimes be called something different in such a case.

The coastal runner can be good for the southern tier of counties in TN. The past few years there have been a couple of good examples of this with Huntsville to Lawrenceburg getting a decent thump while Nashville is left mostly high and dry.

Also the Apps Runner is kind of a misnomer. Low pressure systems usually steer west or east of the Apps.

snowdog wrote:The coastal runner can be good for the southern tier of counties in TN. The past few years there have been a couple of good examples of this with Huntsville to Lawrenceburg getting a decent thump while Nashville is left mostly high and dry.

Yes..this is very true...I forgot to mention that in the description..will edit it in!

snowdog wrote:
Also the Apps Runner is kind of a misnomer. Low pressure systems usually steer west or east of the Apps.

True also..I have never seen a low pressure system ride the spine very far at all.

snowdog wrote:The coastal runner can be good for the southern tier of counties in TN. The past few years there have been a couple of good examples of this with Huntsville to Lawrenceburg getting a decent thump while Nashville is left mostly high and dry.

Also the Apps Runner is kind of a misnomer. Low pressure systems usually steer west or east of the Apps.

Those and Southern Sliders bode the best for our area. I can't remember when it was but I remember Lawrenceburg getting thumped hard by a coastal runner one year.

Adam2014 wrote:Those and Southern Sliders bode the best for our area. I can't remember when it was but I remember Lawrenceburg getting thumped hard by a coastal runner one year.

The southern sliders are tricky and maddening here in middle TN. It all depends on where the cold air wins vs the warm air coming in from the gulf as to where the big snow gradient will set-up. It is a tricky balancing act for sure.

Good thread, thanks for posting this.