The January 1986 Dakotas' blizzard fizzle: Application of a checklist for Arctic outbreaks and "GALE" project data

During the 24 hours preceding 00Z January 26, 1986, the upper air pattern over western Canada featured an intensifying jet streak propagating through the top of a ridge on course toward the Dakotas. Any jet streak with these characteristics serves as a "flag" for potential blizzard conditions over the Dakotas, depending on surface and lower atmospheric conditions. This late January 1986 synoptic situation failed to produce widespread blizzard conditions over the Dakotas. The reasons will be investigated in this paper, making use of a checklist for Arctic outbreaks. What makes this case unique was the concurrent 1986 "GALE" winter season project, which provided three-hourly upper air soundings from Huron, SD. Isentropic time sections utilizing this date will help highlight the factors which led to the January 1986 Dakotas' blizzard "fizzle".