jculligan

About 1" down here in Jackson. Snow growth was better just before sunset, but now we're getting small flakes. It always looked to me like 7-10pm would be the window for the best snow here, so we'll see if it picks up again. We have officially surpassed last year's paltry seasonal total.

At one point we did try taking the skis off and booting up to the ridge, but I couldn't get any purchase and was just wallowing in snow. It wasn't happening. So we threw the skins back on and tried a different line, and somehow through the sheer force of will we made it. I've broken trail in deep snow many times, but never in such steep and thick terrain. That was definitely a one and done!

Skied the steep trees in the east basin of Big Jay yesterday. Wow. Even in a lean year like this, that zone still delivered! Absolutely the best powder I have skied all winter. I skinned up from 242 rather than approaching from the Jay Peak tram. If you're looking for a real "adventure" involving steep trail-breaking through thick vegetation, I would suggest repeating my route...but it was truly a battle to the summit lol. Next time I think I'll take the more traditional approach by traversing over from the tram. But hey, a little adventure ski feeds the soul every now and then!! Looking forward to see what today's system can dish out. I'm feeling good for at least a couple inches in my location.

Round two moving through now. 15F and snowing quite heavily, but straight down this time. The wind has abated.

Squall just blew through here and put down a very quick 0.5" but it was very short-lived. Still snowing a bit and blowing around a lot, but I think we'll fall short of an inch here. Still a fun few minutes at its height. I think we have a long way to go in terms of educating the public on snow squalls. I was in the grocery store when everyone's phone blew up with the snow squall warning, and people seemed confused more than anything else. I heard someone say, "What does that mean?" Where I grew up in Buffalo, snow squalls were a part of everyone's daily vocabulary in the winter season...but certainly not here.

I'm psyched to hear that the Greens are cashing in today. I'm off from work tomorrow and planning a tour up Big Jay with my buddy. It's a bit of a drive from here to say the least, but our trees just aren't skiing right now in the Whites. I've never been disappointed with the snowpack up near Jay Peak, and I would imagine they are experiencing something similar to you right now.

Couple of lightning strikes noted with those squalls in southern Canada. Looking forward to watching this evolve. Almost has the feel of a severe wx event in the summertime haha.

Looks like another great setup for squalls later today. I managed 2.5" from the last WINDEX event, so hoping I'll get lucky again this time around. The timeframe in the White Mountains looks to be from 3pm-7pm (northwest to southeast). If the meso models are correct, the squalls should sweep through central and southern parts of the state as well. Last year at this time I was at 67.6" compared to this year's 67.4" total. Incredible that we are pretty much lock step with last season. Hopefully more snow this March compared to the 1.1" total I mustered last year.

Just about done here I think. We'll end up a little shy of 9" by the time all is said and done. So many of our storms this season have featured dense low ratio snow, it was nice to have a low density event for a change. Easiest shoveling of the winter. Depth is back up to 17 inches.

8.5" in Jackson NH with steady light snow continuing. Most of our storms this winter have featured very dense snow, but this was by far the easiest to shovel. Very high ratios up here.

3" in the last two hours in Jackson, NH. 8" storm total so far. 15F with steady snow continuing.

Another 1.5" in the last hour. 3" in the last two hours. 8" on the day.

1.5" in the last hour. Total accumulation of 6.5" on the day.

Went down the road for a few laps at Black Mountain and it snowed another 2" while I was gone. We're up to 5" total with excellent flake size right now. This might actually be the best combination of snowfall intensity and flake size of the entire winter so far. Up to 16F.

3" down so far. Looks like we're entering a bit of a lull now, so hopefully the convective snowfall referenced by BTV pans out this afternoon. Looking at the meso models, I think that would potentially work its way into my area after 1pm. I'm feeling an underachiever but we'll see...QPF doesn't totally shut off until this evening so we've got a ways to go.

8F and 2.4" down so far.

9 degrees and 1.5" down so far. Finally broke 60" on the season and we should come within striking distance of last year's seasonal total today. My course with the Mount Washington Backcountry Ski Festival was called off due to the low tide conditions right now, so I'll be lapping groomers instead. Hard to call that a bad day.

I'm registered for two days of touring with the Mount Washington Backcountry Ski Festival tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow I'm registered for the "White Mountain Exploration" course and Sunday I'm registered for a "Ski Mountaineering" course. Based on this morning's avalanche advisory, conditions sound absolutely atrocious with a multitude of hazards. Many of the ravines in New Hampshire are watershed drainages, and with the volume of meltwater and rainwater that was funneling underneath the snowpack this week...a lot of very significant undermining has occurred. Apparently a large chunk of Hillman's Highway has washed away, according to this morning's avalanche report. Undermined snow, ice dams, moats and glide cracks - these are hazards that don't typically emerge until late spring. For backcountry enthusiasts in the White Mountains, this is a bottom tier winter. I have a call with my guide this evening, and I have a feeling our list of potential objectives will be quite short...

My blocked anemometer just hit 40 mph which is the peak gust of the year so far. There's a private wx station on Thorn Hill Road which is only 100' higher than my location, and that site has apparently clocked a 63 mph gust so far this evening. Hoping to keep onto the power here at this point.

Very impressive temperature drop. From 55F at 2:30pm to 23F now. The wind is roaring. Welcome back winter.

Also, my records indicate that my snow depth peaked on this date last year when we had 23" OTG. So we're much worse off than we were last year at this time, which is pretty discouraging to think about. Hoping for a miracle March.

The valley is almost completely melted out, but I think we're going to make it through with a solid pack still in place here. Roughly 8-10" OTG right now. That's way down from our seasonal peak of 33" back on 2/8, but hey...no grass showing here which is a win in this pattern. Made it up to 59F today but back down to 55F with a noticeable uptick in the wind last hour. Ready for winter to come roaring back in.

2.4" total in Jackson NH today

Ended up with 2.4" between the synoptic snow and the squalls that followed. Very pleased with this outcome! I hiked to Ripley Falls in Crawford Notch early this afternoon, and estimated at least 3.5" to 4" of snow there...and that was even prior to the squalls blasting through. Wintry appeal has been restored to the New Hampshire mountains.

I think it's a combination of factors. It's somewhat against climatological norms to have a storm track that particular way in the month of February, but even more unusual to have two within a single week. Add a below average snowpack into the mix, and we don't have the normal insurance policy to protect us from snowpack decimation that we normally would. All that being said, I have a suspicion that next week's event will not feature 24+ hours of 40F+ temps in the White Mountains. There are some better indications for low level CAD that were missing in this most recent event. I'm hoping we rot at 32/33F for hours followed by the more typical spike that often accompanies the frontal passage, rather than having an all out torch that lasts for more than a day.