NNE Winter 2013-14 Part I

[Hitman]

I'll be glad to see the sun out tomorrow, but it would be equally as nice to see some snow on the horizon.

Here here. Any kind of dusting would be appreciated. Very gloomy looking out there.

[borderwx]

we got our christmas miracle early.  woke up to 38F and the gutters running hard.  all the ice, .7"', vapooorized, the birches are still working their way back up, but for the most part looks like nothing happened, thankful.

 

happy holidays NNE'rs.

[Maine Guide]

27 degrees with moderate FRZ and about 5/8" of ice.  It's interesting to follow the map of power outages on the CMP web site.  It may be the best indicator of local icing.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.8” Snow/1.70” L.E.

 

There was another 0.10” of liquid overnight, and it was frozen on the snowboards.  However, we’re right around the freezing mark, so there’s also melting taking place.  With the period of ice melting we got yesterday evening, I haven’t seen any new limbs come down today.  I also cored the snowpack to see where it stands, and it’s at 1.71”.  It was at 1.36” before the event, so it’s a net gain, but obviously this entire storm’s liquid didn’t get integrated into the snow.  Checking my data, the average snowpack for this date is 10.1”, so at 6”, the current snowpack is a little low with respect to depth… but it’s probably not that low in terms of liquid equivalent.

 

Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Liquid: 0.10 inches

Temperature: 33.1 F

Sky: Mist

Snow at the stake: 6.0 inches

 

The advisories map for this area has settled down a lot now, with a Winter Weather Advisory in the central Champlain Valley for up to 0.10” of ice.  As you can see, the advisories maps are still quite colorful off to the east in New Hampshire, with Winter Weather Advisories and Freezing Rain Advisories to cover the precipitation there.  Over in main there are even Ice Storm Warnings up still, for up to 0.5” of ice.

 

 

Presumably that current Winter Weather Advisory for the central Champlain Valley  is covering the same precipitation we’ve been receiving here, as we’re right on the edge of it:

 

 

It looks like the upcoming chances for snow are this afternoon into tonight with the end of this system and a passing arctic front, and then Thursday and Sunday due to Alberta Clipper systems.

 

This text from the start of the near term forecast by J.M.G. seemed to express the sentiments on this latest system:

 

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT

651 AM EST MON DEC 23 2013

 

.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 PM THIS EVENING/...

 

ARE WE READY FOR THIS PROBLEMATIC AND DIFFICULT SYSTEM TO FINALLY

EXIT AND LEAVE US BE? I SURE AM. PROBLEM IS WE STILL HAVE TO WAIT

ANOTHER 6 TO 12 HOURS BEFORE ALL IS SAID AND DONE. LATEST ANALYSIS

SHOWING ADDITIONAL WEAK FRONTAL WAVE RIDING NORTHEASTWARD ALONG

THE SEMI-STATIONARY POLAR FRONT INTO SRN NY/CENTRAL NEW ENGLAND

THIS MORNING.

[Lava Rock]

Iced up pretty good on the hill

[tamarack]

It's been fascinating to watch the anomalous temps/contrasts/yo-yo acts, but this area has been in the cold sector throughout.  My place has remained in the 20s since Thursday afternoon.   As of 7 this morning I'd measured 0.85" LE, 0.9" of white "stuff" (now resembling armorplate), and 0.2" ice accretion, since the onset late Friday.

 

Saw reports of 1.0" ice from inland Washington Cty, plus numerous 0.5" reports, mainly from CAR but a couple from GYX.  Also one report of 0.75" from "Augusta 1 SE".  If that's one mile SE of the airport, it's right at/near my office, and I don't think it's reached 0.5" here, maybe 0.4".  (Was 0.3" at 8 AM as I walked past the trees.)  If it's measured from, say, the Capitol building, then it would be south of here.  Still seems too high.

[eyewall]

BTV's temp is falling again and freezing was never cracked. Looks like this ice and snow is locked in for awhile, and it will be a white Christmas in the CPV.

[J.Spin]

holy **** J. your a machine. the tub!

 

I was patting myself on the back for running the shovel over the board.  I got a ways to go

 

LOL, you know, I was just thinking about this.  With my new elevated setup that has removable boards, I haven’t had to do anything like that, and I’ve just been able to swap out boards for this crusty event.  However, my measurement blocks for the web cam were absolutely encased in ice and are currently sitting inside thawing in a bucket.  It’s just like old times.  They’re just about ready to go now though, for whatever snow comes next.  As for the snowboard that they sit on - I was able to get enough vibration into it to crack the ice on its surface and remove that, but the board isn’t going anywhere for a while; its surface is flush with the impenetrable ice on the deck.  Actually though, we’ve currently got light rain at 33 F, so that may help to loosen it up a bit.

[MainePhotog]

28.8°F

 

[powderfreak]

Snowing down to 2500ft or so now.

[j24vt]

Just drove from Colchester to Stowe.  Still adding to the ice in the Champlain Valley and the ice is pretty much gone from the trees in Stowe.  The ice in Colchester is thick enough to support all 220 pounds of me.  I measured 0.3" of ice on my board in Stowe yesterday.

 

Link to some pictures I took yesterday (wish I had the camera today):

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/625rtwzkpq60ckh/OuIkSVx6tb

[eyewall]

Light snow/Graupel here now.

 

EDIT: Now just light snow.

[mreaves]

Light snow/Graupel here now.

 

EDIT: Now just light snow.

Ugh.  Wish it would hurry up and get here.

[eyewall]

I took a few pics today near St. Michael's on the Winooksi/Colchester line off 15 and the ice there was thick enough on top of the snow to fully support my weight. I will share those soon. Looks like they were closer to 0.8" of ice or so there. Either way the snow cover is fully preserved for Christmas under the ice. It is as wintry a scene as you can think of out there. My apartment did lose power in Winooski for a bit so it was a good choice going to Williston.

[CardinalWinds]

I lost most of my snowpack between the rain and the above freezing temps the last 18 hours.  Ground still solidly covered, but not by much.  Definitely need some refreshing, though there doesn't seem to be much on the horizon for the next week at least...

[ApacheTrout]

We had a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of ice in Orwell.  I took a walk through my woods and my nursery early this morning.  Here's a few photographs (white pine and northern bayberry, respectively).  The rest can be found here.

 

 

[eyewall]

I took this today near St. Micheal's College (Colchester/Winooski line on 15). I think at least 0.8" of ice accrual occurred there.

 

 

[N. OF PIKE]

Frz dz still in conway nh. Ice is nice

[grambo]

I took a few pics today near St. Michael's on the Winooksi/Colchester line off 15 and the ice there was thick enough on top of the snow to fully support my weight. I will share those soon. Looks like they were closer to 0.8" of ice or so there. Either way the snow cover is fully preserved for Christmas under the ice. It is as wintry a scene as you can think of out there. My apartment did lose power in Winooski for a bit so it was a good choice going to Williston.

 

Ya my boss was telling me about that when he drove through Winooki very early this morning. He said it was pitch black after coming from Colchester under the 89 overpass.

 

I guess one of the previous nights (they're all blending together now) someone slid in to a utility pole near the Peking Duck House off of West Canal Street and knocked out the power. Glad I don't live down there any more! I haven't had any power issues up here- luckily. But the ice looks to be sticking around, so who knows? Any wind forecasted in the near term?

 

To get a grip the manpower to clear the ice- I spent an hour this morning chipping a two foot path off a twenty foot walkway near Mallets Bay in Colchester. UGH. Prior to that, me and two other guys spent two hours on an office complex peeling up ice from a treated sidewalk for 2 hours straight. 

 

I'll be glad when the temperatures head back above freezing. Otherwise this stuff is here to stay for quite some time...

[N. OF PIKE]

Btv wrf argues for a potentially dangerous icing event for interior maine away from coast tommorrow 5am to 11am. Like north of KLEW to especially Waterville to Bangor looks like close to .75 QPF just takin a quick look at qpf and time. But temps hold in 25-29 range there. I . not sure who is furthest ne in Maine.

If CAD holds on longer more areas could be involved and vice versa.

But i havent seen this batch talk'd about. Prob will be tad too mild for most of our nh/ sw maine posters, but then again im not so sure. Solid shield suppose to move in 4-5am.

Btv wrf was Hinting at this last eve and prompt'd my post but then it backed away at 0z and i was not as sure of the situ but it sure was alot of QPF that fell in Maine.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.8” Snow/1.75” L.E.

 

We were heading out at around 2:40 P.M. today and the rain was just changing over to sleet, so that seemed like a good break point for observations.  At that point an additional 0.05” of liquid had accumulated in the rain gauge since the morning report.  Driving north, the precipitation in Waterbury was rain, but it was changing over to snow right around 3:00 P.M. when we were approaching Stowe.  We headed north to Jay Peak, and there was some steady light snow and solid accumulations on the roads in many places.  It snowed for a while at the mountain, but surprisingly changed back to some light freezing rain/drizzle later in the evening.

 

Details from the 2:40 P.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Liquid: 0.05 inches

Temperature: 33.1 F

Sky: Light Sleet

Snow at the stake: 6.0 inches

[dryslot]

Btv wrf was Hinting at this last eve and prompt'd my post but then it backed away at 0z and i was not as sure of the situ but it sure was alot of QPF that fell in Maine.

 

Yes, Additional .35" fell here to bring the total to .60".......

 

[wxjim207]

Central Maine Power looks to not get a break in the weather department. I am expecting a NW wind to kick up between 5-15mph in the next 1-3 hours depending where you are.

 

CMP outage report as of 9:49pm: 79,824 customers in the dark

 

Number continues to climb. Any wind will create a large spike in outages. 

[wxjim207]

Yes, Additional .35" fell here to bring the total to .60".......

 

Ice 2013.jpg

 

0.64" of liquid here in Brunswick thats even with a large dry slot time period.

[Allenson]

Well, I'm glad that's over.  Around here, the whole thing was really rather uninspiring:  four days of murk, gloom, drizzle, fog and temps in the mid thirties. 

 

The main slug of precip came through here Saturday night/Sunday morning with just shy of 0.60" but otherwise we were nickeled and dimed.  I suppose that was the saving grace for what we have left of snowcover here.

 

Other than a slight glaze on Friday night, we had no ice to speak of but instead, just an insidious drip-drip-drip.  Never got higher than 38 nor lower than 33 (till this morning, that is).

 

Started with around a foot of snow on the ground and now down to 4".  The ground out here is still completely covered though.

[Lava Rock]

From the homestead

 

[mreaves]

Well, I'm glad that's over.  Around here, the whole thing was really rather uninspiring:  four days of murk, gloom, drizzle, fog and temps in the mid thirties. 

 

The main slug of precip came through here Saturday night/Sunday morning with just shy of 0.60" but otherwise we were nickeled and dimed.  I suppose that was the saving grace for what we have left of snowcover here.

 

Other than a slight glaze on Friday night, we had no ice to speak of but instead, just an insidious drip-drip-drip.  Never got higher than 38 nor lower than 33 (till this morning, that is).

 

Started with around a foot of snow on the ground and now down to 4".  The ground out here is still completely covered though.

The only glazing we got over here was Saturday night/Sunday morning.  Nothing major though.  Temps were similar but we shot up to 46° Saturday morning and I feared the worse.  Must not have stayed at that tem very long though becauses it was back down to 34° when I returned home from Christmas shopping a few hours later.  I was amazed at the resiliance of the snowpack though.  Like you, we went from about a foot to about 4" but the foot was nearly all powder and I figured it would vaporize quickly.

[wxeyeNH]

No one is really taking about it but perhaps a sneaky 2-4" snowfall coming up for Thursdayish.  Trend seems to be to increase QPF for this system.  I need some powder to cover up my 6" glacier.

[Lava Rock]

No one is really taking about it but perhaps a sneaky 2-4" snowfall coming up for Thursdayish.  Trend seems to be to increase QPF for this system.  I need some powder to cover up my 6" glacier.

Yeah, local met calling for up to 1". Anything to whiten up the pack and start covering the glacier would be welcome.

[MaineJayhawk]

I was curious what the ice storm had done to the White Mountain trails. Pickles was reporting hvy hvy meh around Bartlett and Glen, so I went a bit further north ... Tuckerman Ravine. As I approached the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, I noticed roadside trees bending under weight of ice, which excited me about the prospect of dramatic pics of ice-laden trees. I arrived at the trailhead at 6:35am with a temp of 20F.

A small amount of snow had fallen overnight, perhaps a couple of tenths. Though the trail was icy, I decided to bareboot it and save the spikes for when things got out of control. To my dismay, the trees really had little in the way of ice - just a light glaze with that new-fallen dusting on top. The trail, on the other hand, was an utter disaster. Temps in recent days had clearly been above freezing and the resulting boot depressions in slush had now hardened into a minefield of ankle-twisting potholes. There was also plenty of ice floes to navigate (I stubbornly refused to put on the spikes).

I was surprised and pleased to notice that there was very little in the way of wind - I had seen winds forecast to over 30 the night before. The calm conditions persisted until I was just shy of the caretaker's cabin near the ravine floor, at which point I enjoyed a brisk headwind. On went the balaclava.

I went by Hermit Lake and started the climb to the ravine floor. Lots of ice, so I caved and put on the spikes. Traction is a wonderful thing! I attacked the ice floes with reckless abandon and made great time to the floor. It was quite windy there - I measured the wind gusts at 20mph with a temp of 13F. The lowest wind chill I measured was -8F.

I had no intentions of reaching the top of the headwall, but I started climbing it anyway. At this point the trail was nowhere to be seen ... just a snowfield and boulders adjacent. I climbed a bit then sat for a break. Mistake! Body parts chilled. I contemplated climbing further - it was a fantastic day - but there is a danger involved in going off trail in Tucks. I took some pics and decided to head back.

To this point I had seen nobody, but met probably 15 peeps on their way up. I wished them happy holidays and a joyful day and enjoyed an uneventful but pleasant walk back to the trailhead. Good to get back on the trail