NNE Winter 2015-16 Part 1

[adk]

Yes. And west flow loads the east side. Radar overnight had the best echoes over the Spine, with downwind drift that radar was a classic east side high elevation dump.

-10C at ridge top gets us the ratios and fluff.

Looks like you enjoyed your run this morning, adk. It was going off. Tons of face shots.

From FamousInternetSkiers:

 

Certainly some of the more interesting skiing I've done.  Really in few places can you get that pure fluff over top of absolute frozen ice like you can in VT.  

 

Last night was bascially what has been missing all year...cold air with moderate moisture on W/NW winds. That combination can't help but fart out 4-6" along the spine. Last year we went six straight weeks with that pattern refreshing every three days. This year. We're seeing every three weeks. 

[zeepowderhunter]

    :lmao:    nice work! 

[powderfreak]

Certainly some of the more interesting skiing I've done.  Really in few places can you get that pure fluff over top of absolute frozen ice like you can in VT.  

 

Last night was bascially what has been missing all year...cold air with moderate moisture on W/NW winds. That combination can't help but fart out 4-6" along the spine. Last year we went six straight weeks with that pattern refreshing every three days. This year. We're seeing every three weeks. 

 

Yeah you can't even get that in other areas of the Northeast, because most of the snowfall elsewhere is synoptic which tends to run denser.  It takes a certain type of skiing to do this right...you can't turn too hard because its slick under-foot, meanwhile you're getting blasted in the face by powder and just praying to hold on.

 

Its like face shots galore, you just gotta turn your skis (or even look at the snow wrong and it blasts up into your face)...but you need to ski it just right to keep it fluid with the under-surface.

 

Grooming will help a lot tonight to try and mix out some of that under-surface.

[Hitman]

Their snowfall makes absolutely no sense.  I get it, its windy, but c'mon.  Do you know how confusing that is to the casual observer to have 4" at the base, 3" at mid-mountain, and 9" at the summit? 

 

Its windy here too and I've got around 5" now at 1,550ft and 7.5" at 3,000ft. 

hasnt been right since atkinson stopped doing it.

[Hitman]

Certainly some of the more interesting skiing I've done.  Really in few places can you get that pure fluff over top of absolute frozen ice like you can in VT.  

 

Last night was bascially what has been missing all year...cold air with moderate moisture on W/NW winds. That combination can't help but fart out 4-6" along the spine. Last year we went six straight weeks with that pattern refreshing every three days. This year. We're seeing every three weeks. 

sweet.  certainly beats being in the office.

[adk]

sweet.  certainly beats being in the office.

 

Well, it did. But I got in at 9:30 and will likely be here awhile. You Vermonters are a litigious lot. 

[Hitman]

Well, it did. But I got in at 9:30 and will likely be here awhile. You Vermonters are a litigious lot.

I was in court at 9 and opening to the jury at 9:30. Interesting though, one of my jurors was a singer with metropolitan opera. Judge had her sing from Carmen and it was unbelievable. She could really belt it out. Gotta love the Bronx. And the case settled so I can ski this weekend.

[eekuasepinniW]

this wind is wicked.  

 

not very gusty, just a steady 25-35mph.

[wxeyeNH]

Weekend storm is not looking good this afternoon.  I have not even paid attention to the next one in line for early next week.  I heard Waterville Valley is cutting way back on employee hours.  

[eyewall]

BTV says punt the Miller B here but watch the second system as when the s/w is finally sampled the models could bring it in closer. I believe that will be sampled on Friday.

[J.Spin]

The north to south listing of available snowfall totals from the Vermont ski areas for yesterday’s storm is below.  Aside from Burke, which is off the spine, totals in the northern half of the state were about double what they were in the southern half of the state, with a notable drop-off somewhere south of Sugarbush:

 

Jay Peak: 11”

Burke: 3”

Smuggler’s Notch: 6”

Stowe: 8”

Bolton Valley: 7”

Mad River Glen: 8”

Sugarbush: 9”

Middlebury: 4”

Suicide Six: 3”

Pico: 4”

Killington: 4”

Okemo: 4”

Bromley: 6”

Stratton: 5”

Mount Snow: 3”

[powderfreak]

The north to south listing of available snowfall totals from the Vermont ski areas for yesterday’s storm is below.  Aside from Burke, which is off the spine, totals in the northern half of the state were about double what they were in the southern half of the state, with a notable drop-off somewhere south of Sugarbush:

 

Jay Peak: 11”

Burke: 3”

Smuggler’s Notch: 6”

Stowe: 8”

Bolton Valley: 7”

Mad River Glen: 8”

Sugarbush: 9”

Middlebury: 4”

Suicide Six: 3”

Pico: 4”

Killington: 4”

Okemo: 4”

Bromley: 6”

Stratton: 5”

Mount Snow: 3”

 

That just shows the power of the Spine.  I remember ADK and I were musing about how this wouldn't be that good for the northern Spine, and the jackpot would be somewhere in the southern Greens up through eastern VT and possibly Burke.  Turns out what happened was the exact opposite, lol.  Humbling science sometimes.

 

Total was 7.5" at 3,015ft although it was pure fluff.  Had to be 25:1 ratios.  Probably very similar to what you saw J.Spin as far as liquid equiv.  You could tell even this afternoon the fluff had settled some.  This morning it was still ripping at 6am so had a good chance to measure right when it shut off.

[powderfreak]

this wind is wicked.  

 

not very gusty, just a steady 25-35mph.

 

One of the more windy days at the mountain today.  We were seeing even over 50mph in the parking lot based on the Over Easy Gondola wind speeds at times.  Short bursts of gusts but man they were rocking when it mixed down.  Like car shaking stuff.

[powderfreak]

CoCoRAHS shows the J.Spin difference along the Spine.  Pretty much 200% of anyone else except there was a similar report down in Warren.  But the QPF matches.  Everyone pretty much saw 20-25:1.

 

 

Liquid.

 

 

I will note that I had 3.4" in Stowe, while the CoCoRAHS observer about 1.5 miles away recorded 2.0".  I had 2.0" from 9pm until 5am, following 1.4" before that.  The local CoCoRAHS guy had 2"/0.16", which is one of the lowest ratios around.  If he followed the trend of 20:1 it would've been over 3", so I'm curious about the timing of his measurements.  I bet my liquid was pretty close, maybe a hundredth or two more, but even removing the board clearing, there was 3" in the driveway this morning (a difference of roughly a half inch from the board clearings). 

 

 

[Ginx snewx]

CoCoRAHS shows the J.Spin difference along the Spine.  Pretty much 200% of anyone else except there was a similar report down in Warren.  But the QPF matches.  Everyone pretty much saw 20-25:1.

 

January_13_Cocorahs_snow.gif

 

Liquid.

 

January_13_Cocorahs_liquid.gif

 

I will note that I had 3.4" in Stowe, while the CoCoRAHS observer about 1.5 miles away recorded 2.0".  I had 2.0" from 9pm until 5am, following 1.4" before that.  The local CoCoRAHS guy had 2"/0.16", which is one of the lowest ratios around.  If he followed the trend of 20:1 it would've been over 3", so I'm curious about the timing of his measurements.  I bet my liquid was pretty close, maybe a hundredth or two more, but even removing the board clearing, there was 3" in the driveway this morning (a difference of roughly a half inch from the board clearings). 

you really should join Cocorahs, they need dedicated observers like you in critical water spots.

[MBRI]

Oakfield ME 

 

[Ginx snewx]

Oakfield ME

depth or new?

[MBRI]

depth or new?

New

[Ginx snewx]

New

nice

[Lava Rock]

New

Nice. Patten got 18".

[MBRI]

nicer

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Sugarloaf reported 12"+ overnight.

[Ginx snewx]

Sugarloaf reported 12"+ overnight.

pow wow

[powderfreak]

you really should join Cocorahs, they need dedicated observers like you in critical water spots.

 

I usually don't melt my snow every time.  I'll do it once in a while if I'm curious about something, but the other guy is only 1.5 miles away.  Our water is generally fairly close, but of course there are t-storms and localized stuff where it can vary a bit.  But overall his water numbers seem fine.  I just think he's not a board-clearer and pretty much a once-a-day depth measure based on the snowfall numbers.  The snow depth is usually within an inch too.

 

I could definitely do it for rain events no problem.  The winter is a little harder up here to do that in the morning before leaving for work at 4:30am or whatever.  And given the number of days you can be required to report up here (I mean you could have 0.01"-0.1" like 5 days in a row) just because of how often it precipitates at least lightly, its a little more difficult.  I'd definitely do it if it was just melting a synoptic snowfall once every 7-10 days or something (which is why I will often melt those because they are not as frequent and I'm curious). 

 

But it takes dedication like J.Spin to constantly melt every 0.1-3.0" snowfall that happens all winter.

[Hitman]

I usually don't melt my snow every time.  I'll do it once in a while if I'm curious about something, but the other guy is only 1.5 miles away.  Our water is generally fairly close, but of course there are t-storms and localized stuff where it can vary a bit.  But overall his water numbers seem fine.  I just think he's not a board-clearer and pretty much a once-a-day depth measure based on the snowfall numbers.  The snow depth is usually within an inch too.

 

I could definitely do it for rain events no problem.  The winter is a little harder up here to do that in the morning before leaving for work at 4:30am or whatever.  And given the number of days you can be required to report up here (I mean you could have 0.01"-0.1" like 5 days in a row) just because of how often it precipitates at least lightly, its a little more difficult.  I'd definitely do it if it was just melting a synoptic snowfall once every 7-10 days or something (which is why I will often melt those because they are not as frequent and I'm curious). 

 

But it takes dedication like J.Spin to constantly melt every 0.1-3.0" snowfall that happens all winter.

think he's not a board-clearer and pretty much a once-a-day depth measure based on the snowfall numbers

This is funny.

[powderfreak]

think he's not a board-clearer and pretty much a once-a-day depth measure based on the snowfall numbers

This is funny.

 

He may also have a Bernese Mountain Dog and like skim milk in his coffee.... its all speculation though, haha.

[Ginx snewx]

I usually don't melt my snow every time.  I'll do it once in a while if I'm curious about something, but the other guy is only 1.5 miles away.  Our water is generally fairly close, but of course there are t-storms and localized stuff where it can vary a bit.  But overall his water numbers seem fine.  I just think he's not a board-clearer and pretty much a once-a-day depth measure based on the snowfall numbers.  The snow depth is usually within an inch too.

 

I could definitely do it for rain events no problem.  The winter is a little harder up here to do that in the morning before leaving for work at 4:30am or whatever.  And given the number of days you can be required to report up here (I mean you could have 0.01"-0.1" like 5 days in a row) just because of how often it precipitates at least lightly, its a little more difficult.  I'd definitely do it if it was just melting a synoptic snowfall once every 7-10 days or something (which is why I will often melt those because they are not as frequent and I'm curious). 

 

But it takes dedication like J.Spin to constantly melt every 0.1-3.0" snowfall that happens all winter.

You can multi day precip and melt when needed, take cores when needed as long as you check your board. You could also just do it at home when you get home once a day like the Stowe guy does. 

[powderfreak]

You can multi day precip and melt when needed, take cores when needed as long as you check your board. You could also just do it at home when you get home once a day like the Stowe guy does. 

 

Ahh not a bad idea with the mult-day precip.  Just leave the Stratus Gauge out there to collect all those little snowfalls.  Could certainly also report at 2pm...though it seems more like a 6-8am type of thing for CoCoRAHS (I know Brian as talked about not wanting to change reporting time).

 

I definitely have been thinking about it.

[Ginx snewx]

Ahh not a bad idea with the mult-day precip.  Just leave the Stratus Gauge out there to collect all those little snowfalls.  Could certainly also report at 2pm...though it seems more like a 6-8am type of thing for CoCoRAHS (I know Brian as talked about not wanting to change reporting time).

 

I definitely have been thinking about it.

You set the obs time, its fun and its surprising who uses the data, also a fantastic way to keep your data searchable, organized and forever on the cloud. It was because of the Cocorahs observers it was recently discovered how bad some Automated sensors were in recording precip in CT and how that effected the drought reporting. Although seemingly a simple data entry its used a lot. Go to the Cocorahs page and check it out. 

[powderfreak]

Wow I was just looking at ski area snowfall in Vermont out of curiosity, and the seasonal totals are pretty depressing.  But Killington stands out to me as probably the roughest relative to normal.

 

Seasonal Snowfall to-date:

 

Jay Peak...66"

Smuggs...46"

Stowe...49"

Bolton...39"

MRG...29"

Sugarbush...56"

Killington...18"

Mount Snow...15"

 

Southern VT has to be one of the lower relative to normal?  Hard to believe at mountains of 2000-4000ft elevation like Killington down to Mount Snow has failed to even see 20" cumulative through mid-January.  This is worse than even 2011-2012 when Killington barely hit 100" for the season. 

 

Also, I guess I shouldn't think too much about the difference between here and Jay Peak (one county difference), as Sugarbush is less than one full county north of Killington and the difference is 56" vs. 18" and both of those starting counting snow in October.