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@ineedsnow @dendrite Indeed it was. 2.1" in 4 hours as the band wavered over a couple of times. ea8f8912b0876f0a269062e89ecee312.mp4

1.1" so far here in Clarksburg. Meh. Two, maybe three bands of wraparound about to start moving through. Don't think I'll pull off 0.9" to get to 66% of the low end of the forecast. Yes, I am being pedantic.

574'. I am in a little NE-facing hollow at the top of Parr's Ridge that peaks at 700' around 1,000m to the NNE and rises to 650' in all other directions. So, my "climatology" is more like 630' for this area. Probably more info than you wanted but the microclimate dynamics here are interesting and I've had a long time here to see them in action.

First flakes mixing in here in Clarksburg. Temp down to 33ºF.

Nope. Working here at the house (PTT for the loss? Win?) with windows on three sides. Not one flake.

Still rain and 35ºF here in Clarksburg. Nary a flake.

Rain started around an hour ago here in Clarksburg with the temp of 34°. Rain picking up in intensity and it is now 37°F.

Aaaaaaand, my backyard weather sensors crapped the bed so I am flying blind for the storm. I guess I could find a thermometer to stick outside and check manually but, um, no. It says it's 62.9ºF / 43ºF with a wind of 0mph from the NULL. No amount of fiddling with it / changing batteries / shaking it is helping. Grrrrr..... At lease I can count on the good, old analog stuff:

It's funny to hear this over and over again. We have 8.5" in Clarksburg, less than the 33rd percentile for the area yet everyone thinks it's been a cold, snowy winter because of the days and days of snowcover. This is my favorite. I like big snows but I like deep winter cold with extended snowcover even more.

These are nice when they pop thru. Third one in the last two hours. IMG_3216.mov 0.2” on the day in Clarksburg. We’ll see where we end up.

0.4" from the Snowicane passing to the NW of Charlotte, VT.

It happened here in the Valley last week. 3" of subcritical flow fluff with the inversion below the ridgetops to the east. First time in a *VERY* long time. Just missed out yesterday as well. I got 0.5" but when I went to the gym 12 miles away, it was 4" of surprise fluff that just never shut off all day. The BTV snow machine is interesting in these NW flow regimes when there is a cutoff to the NE.

It's 25ºF here in Charlotte but the super bright/strong/blistering early January sun is melting my snow. I was surprised to hear the infernal drip-drip-dripping when I went on the porch a few minutes ago. When there is less than 0.1" water content in a 4" snowpack, what the sublimation does not kill, a 25º sunny day will.....

This is a real thing. The fire weather and mitigation process in CA, as flawed as it is, is on a periodic cycle meant to extend their limited resources. This tragedy hit at a down time meant for preparation and mitigations for the upcoming fire season. (The negative impacts of climate change, poor fire fuel management, etc... are very clear over the represented timescale but the yearly fire weather low period is very clear regardless). There is always risk, of course, but the risk is historically much lower this time of year so it is the natural time to plan and prepare. The perfect storm of increased hydroclimate volatility (perfectly at play in SoCal with two years of well above rainfall enhancing the growth of underbrush followed by anomalous dry in the 5 weeks leading up to this event): ...was a recipe for disaster. Here's a recently published paper by Swain et. al., from UCLA on the subject. SoCal is one of the study focus areas: hydroclimate volatility Swain et al.pdf California was second only to Idaho in total acres per square mile burned each year over the last 4 decades with a sharp increase in the last few years. Clearly, what they are doing is not working. ...and, that ignores the human-centered impacts with their propensity to build in places that they should not and fight fire fuel mitigation activities. Which is a whole 'nother discussion. This trend is only getting worse as time goes on: And, finally, having nothing to do with sharp increases in human population and encroachment into fire-prone areas, actual wildfire extents are increasing: ...but, as well, the intensities are increasing: Unfortunately, unless humans drastically change their short and long term behaviors, their desire to live in places that are fire prone, exacerbated by a upwards trends in the periodic cycles of climate and downstream effect on fire behavior, this will continue to be a volatile cycle of poor human and ecological outcomes.

Why wouldn’t you just use a modified version of the NESIS scale? It’s already firmly established and rooted in a codified and rigorous methodology. It would give whatever you are trying to do some credibility since it’s based on existing best practice.