tamarack Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Pretty wintry for the last Saturday of March. Currently wind gusts near 30, temp about 29, mostly cloudy. The milky blue between the clouds means snow is in the air, though I've not seen any at ground level. Snow depth hanging tough at 16"; I'll take a core this aft if it softens enough to avoid damaging my gauge. I'm guessing that 16" is close to 40% water. Low was upper teens this AM, as the wind kept it from approaching yesterday's 9. If this wind quits either tonight or tomorrow night, singles are possible again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 wind is just whipping out there. went to one of the maple syrup shacks and had to chow down the pancakes extra fast just to stay warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineJayhawk Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 wind is just whipping out there. went to one of the maple syrup shacks and had to chow down the pancakes extra fast just to stay warm. True story, that wind. Just got back from shopping next to the SFM tarmac and that wind was brutal - picking up the sand that's all over the road and blasting the car as you drive. Very little melting today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Organizing Low Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 95% snowcover on the side which gets less sun....4-6 inches average i'd say. only patches though on the full sun side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I have a good friend staying up there for a week. He and friends are renting a huge house. He is a firefighter for my company, any tips? Can I send him to you? What type of skiing do they like to do? Ability level? I can point him in the right direction... I'll be up there working Monday-Thursday but not sure how much skiing I'm going to do this week. I've got patellar tendinitis in my knee that showed up over the past 24-36 hours... basically caused by too much skiing and overuse. I'm probably going to try and ski on it, but that may be difficult so I'm not sure what my plans are this week. I'm hoping the inflamed tendon is able to settle down with a few days of rest, but we'll see. Anyway, this is probably better to do via PM but I can definitely give them some areas with good skiing if I know what their ability level is and what type of skiing they like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 What type of skiing do they like to do? Ability level? I can point him in the right direction... I'll be up there working Monday-Thursday but not sure how much skiing I'm going to do this week. I've got patellar tendinitis in my knee that showed up over the past 24-36 hours... basically caused by too much skiing and overuse. I'm probably going to try and ski on it, but that may be difficult so I'm not sure what my plans are this week. I'm hoping the inflamed tendon is able to settle down with a few days of rest, but we'll see. Anyway, this is probably better to do via PM but I can definitely give them some areas with good skiing if I know what their ability level is and what type of skiing they like. Sorry to hear about the knee but I can relate, one week of daily rippin and my knees are screaming. Thanks I will ask, but I was more thinking of him just stopping by to get some tips on the mountain like you said PM stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Wow, the higher elevations of the Green Mountain Spine have picked up some surprising snowfall over the past 24 hours. We even had some moderate to heavy snow roll down the Mountain Road around noon today, reducing visibilities to 1/2-1/4 mile and quickly coating the ground. Down from 1,500ft and below, there was very little snowfall accumulation (maybe 1-2" in the 1,000ft-1,500ft elevation band on the east side of Mansfield), but in the higher elevations there was quite the burst of snowfall from last night through early afternoon. Since I wasn't skiing or working at the Mtn today, I called Ski Patrol at the top of the Gondola to get a snowfall update and they said there was 2" overnight from 3,000ft and above, and then another 4" today through around 12:30pm. Patrol reported high winds this afternoon was blowing the fluff all over the place (generally off the trails) and causing some wind-packing, but sheltered areas definitely saw the fluff pile up. Flakes were huge, fluffy dendrites (the usual upslope/lake effect type ratios) down here in town, so I can imagine how this stuff was able to stack up so easily in sheltered locations. Upslope machine has been going in some form or another with at least 1" falling on 4 of the last 5 days, and 6" or more falling on 2 of those days (18" since Monday morning on the upper mountain). It appears that Mansfield is not the only mountain in the northern Greens seeing solid snowfall...as of 7am Jay Peak had 16" since Monday morning, but based on their website that number is now over 2 feet since Monday morning... they are reporting another 10"+ from last night and today. From the Jay Peak website... March 26, 2011 @ 11:32 AM Some dusting of flurries... It has been snowing hard (really hard) since 6 AM. We've seen at least 10" of fresh fluff so far and it shows no sign of stopping. Stay tuned for final storm totals whenever it stops... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 A quick look at the Jay Peak photos from today would indicate that yes, they did get some healthy upslope fluff, haha. Sorry for the size, this is just what the URL from the website gives you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Some real house-creaking gusts between 2 and 3 PM, may have approached 40. The snow sample was 6.33" from 16" snowpack, not quite 40% water (and I made a hairline crack in the base of the gauge while forcing it thru the stuff. Doesn't leak, but some duct tape should ensure gauge integrity until I get the right kind of leak-preventer.) Still gusting 30s, temp mid 20s. The blue between clouds looks snowless now (a few flakes did survive to ground level.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineJayhawk Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Just checked the SFM obs for the time I was next door ... 34F and winds at 20 gusting to 30. And to think I almost left the house with just a vest on because my secluded hideout is immune to wind. Ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattlacroix4 Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Wanted to show a picture of the deep snow on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, White Mountains, NH. What a day above tree line..wow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Event totals: 2.8” Snow/0.06” L.E. After that quick inch of snow we picked up yesterday, that was it for snowfall down here at the house as far as I can tell. We were back up at Bolton for some more turns starting around midday, and it was snowing pretty hard for the first part of the afternoon. Friends that we met up there said that it had snowed like that all morning. It’s nice to see what’s going on up at Jay, because they were a bit left out of the pattern earlier in the season with so much activity focused to the south. I’ve added the 7-day and seasonal snowfall totals for some of the VT resorts below: Jay Peak: 30” (359”) Stowe: 18” (311”) Bolton Valley: 14” (316”) Killington: 4” (251”) Right now the snowpack is 98 inches at the Mt. Mansfield stake, and if one looks at the SkiVT-L plot for the snow depths, this is right around the date for the typical maximum. The historical data suggests a small dip after the end of March, but the snowpack really seems to hang around at this level until roughly mid April before it actually starts to fall off., so I could see the peak snowpack depth being anywhere in that range, especially with the current weather pattern. I added in one shot from Bolton yesterday: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Wanted to show a picture of the deep snow on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, White Mountains, NH. What a day above tree line..wow Nice! Looks very similar in the Greens right now... unbelievable end to March in NNE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Jay Peak: 30” (359”) Stowe: 18” (311”) Bolton Valley: 14” (316”) Killington: 4” (251”) Right now the snowpack is 98 inches at the Mt. Mansfield stake, and if one looks at the SkiVT-L plot for the snow depths, this is right around the date for the typical maximum. The historical data suggests a small dip after the end of March, but the snowpack really seems to hang around at this level until roughly mid April before it actually starts to fall off., so I could see the peak snowpack depth being anywhere in that range, especially with the current weather pattern. Sweet pow shot, J. This has definitely been a snowy week for the mountains... what I'm most amazed at is that its the last week of March and there's still snow on the trees in places from the Monday-Tuesday snowfall that left 3-4" of caking snow. You know its been cold this late in the season when snow doesn't shake off trees and bushes 6 days later. And the mountain has gotten lit up by the NW-flow this week... classic north-to-south gradient with the upslope snowfall. The pics from Jay definitely looked like they got that amount. Nothing like a week of powder skiing going into April... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Oh yeah, and its cold right now. Dew points near 0F, very brisk NW winds (FourRunner Quad and Gondola are on wind hold at Stowe). Wind chills on the mountain are running well below zero. 17F at 800ft 15F at 1.500ft 7F at 3,900ft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Wanted to show a picture of the deep snow on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, White Mountains, NH. What a day above tree line..wow so, you get blown away yesterday? was skiing at sunday river today and more than half the mtn was on lift hold. Still decent skiing though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Wind is still ripping at Mansfield this morning... wow we are getting some building creaking gusts out of the Notch. Unfortunately the NOAA weather station on the Nose of Mansfield is down, and for whatever reason I'm having trouble accessing our internal weather stations, but I'd guess we are sustained in the 20-30mph range, gusting to near 40... which feels pretty darn chilly given that its 15 degrees outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenson Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Wanted to show a picture of the deep snow on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, White Mountains, NH. What a day above tree line..wow Great shot! Hiking? Snowshoeing? Skiing? Beautiful, regadless. Quiet here this morning--clear, calm, 15F. Howlin' north-northwesterlies yesterday though and even into last night. I've been out in the wind, sun & snow for several days running and I'm feeling a little crispy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Some photos from yesterday... Snow at the front entrance of the Mt Mansfield summer-time visitors center... not getting in that door anytime soon. 98" of snow on the ground at 3,700ft. I think this next photo is awesome... what you are looking at is the large, flat area on the top of the Mansfield ridge at 4,000ft. Where I am standing, is wind-swept down to bare rock because there are no trees to collect the snow. However, straight in front of me is where the forest starts again and there's about 8 feet of snow on the ground. The terrain does not slope upwards in front of me, that is all snow and shows the snow depth difference between an area without trees and an area with trees (that actually capture the snow). Another shot showing snow depth... this 2-story building housing electronics for the tower, is buried up to the top of the first-story. It was 10F with a -10F wind chill at the time of this photo... with a mid-September sun angle. 18" in the past week from 3,000ft and up. This photo is taken from around 4,000ft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattlacroix4 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Great shot! Hiking? Snowshoeing? Skiing? Beautiful, regadless. Quiet here this morning--clear, calm, 15F. Howlin' north-northwesterlies yesterday though and even into last night. I've been out in the wind, sun & snow for several days running and I'm feeling a little crispy.... We were hiking with skiies our back. Yeah, it was beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattlacroix4 Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 so, you get blown away yesterday? was skiing at sunday river today and more than half the mtn was on lift hold. Still decent skiing though. Yeah, we turned around at 5000 feet, it was brutal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Still breezy here and temps are struggling to rise, despite a higher launchpad - 20s IMBY compared to 13/14 Sat/Sun - and bright sun after the mostly cloudy night combined with wind to hold the temps from dropping. Had highs of 30/31 over the weekend, not earth-shattering but two straight sub-32 maxima aren't all that common this late in the season. Snow depth remains 16" - unless the mid-range forecast changes back to the 50s it showed a few days back, I think my snowcover lasts to April 8-10, a couple days beyond the avg. Following the tulip trouncer thread(s) with some mild interest. 06z gfs clown map had MBY with 4-5" thru 06z Sat, all in the final 12 hr, no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryslot Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Still breezy here and temps are struggling to rise, despite a higher launchpad - 20s IMBY compared to 13/14 Sat/Sun - and bright sun after the mostly cloudy night combined with wind to hold the temps from dropping. Had highs of 30/31 over the weekend, not earth-shattering but two straight sub-32 maxima aren't all that common this late in the season. Snow depth remains 16" - unless the mid-range forecast changes back to the 50s it showed a few days back, I think my snowcover lasts to April 8-10, a couple days beyond the avg. Following the tulip trouncer thread(s) with some mild interest. 06z gfs clown map had MBY with 4-5" thru 06z Sat, all in the final 12 hr, no doubt. The 12z is going to at least double that......lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenson Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Skied Burke yesterday afternoon. Hardly a cloud to be seen but man was the wind screaming. The top of the main chairlift at Burke doesn't quite reach the summit but a short and easy walk will bring one up to the very top. There's a big ol' TV/radio tower up there and a fire tower right next to it. No one was around up there, so I said what the hell?! I'm climbing that fire tower! The climb was a litle tricky with the strong wind and in ski boots, but not too bad. Managed to squeeze off a couple shots. Not a bad look at the Presidentials from up there: And, the ever dramatic Lake Willoughby gap: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryslot Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Skied Burke yesterday afternoon. Hardly a cloud to be seen but man was the wind screaming. The top of the main chairlift at Burke doesn't quite reach the summit but a short and easy walk will bring one up to the very top. There's a big ol' TV/radio tower up there and a fire tower right next to it. No one was around up there, so I said what the hell?! I'm climbing that fire tower! The climb was a litle tricky with the strong wind and in ski boots, but not too bad. Managed top squeeze off a couple shots. Not a bad look at the Presidentials from up there: And, the ever dramatic Lake Willoughby gap: Wow, Nice view, Was the tower moving around in the wind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderwx Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Skied Burke yesterday afternoon. Hardly a cloud to be seen but man was the wind screaming. The top of the main chairlift at Burke doesn't quite reach the summit but a short and easy walk will bring one up to the very top. There's a big ol' TV/radio tower up there and a fire tower right next to it. No one was around up there, so I said what the hell?! I'm climbing that fire tower! The climb was a litle tricky with the strong wind and in ski boots, but not too bad. Managed top squeeze off a couple shots. Not a bad look at the Presidentials from up there: And, the ever dramatic Lake Willoughby gap: Nice! Wish I had known you were there. Coulda showed you those great trees. If the sun didn't feel so strong out of the wind I could've sworn it was Jan all over again. Certainly not much sap running these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 The 12z is going to at least double that......lol Had you already seen it? Because that's just what it did. Bad time to be bullseyed. Allenson: Beautiful pics, from the firetower. The Presidentials one would gladden the heart of NH chamber of commerce types. I'm sure the boots added much to the tower climb effort, but at least you had steps rather than the inside-corner iron rungs that challenge climbers of some towers in northern Maine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineJayhawk Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Beautiful pics, Allenson! I rate the one of the Presidentials 5 stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApacheTrout Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Great photos. The Lake Willoughby gap resembles a baby Yosemite Valley. Way to be ballsy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SP Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Those are some great photos!! I really like the tower shots!! If anyone has any suggestions on Cannon Mt in NH please pass them along. My kids qualified for the Dew at Mt Snow but decided to do BodeFest instead. Never been to Cannon but we are staying with a good friend who has a place in the area, but they do not arrive until late Friday and we are heading up Thursday. My 6 year old son LOVES the trees at Burke pics!! He is a terrain junky.....where his sisters are racers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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