dendrite Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Wow cold spot you've got there... most of N NH is in the mid 40s. Berlin at 44 last update with variable winds. Whitefield at 45. Even the summit of Washington still at 31F just began to drop. Yeah....it's difficult to scour the cold out of here. The sharp gradient is north of me tonight, but often it sets up somewhere between here and CON. Keeping the temps in the 30s in otherwise torching sensible weather is what helps this area keep the snow cover so high. Down to 39.6F at Sanbornton now...here's their station obs...http://vortex.plymouth.edu/cgi-bin/gen_nh_rwis.cgi?id=656009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adk Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Well it's now or never for this upslope. we have 850's down at 0c and a solid west wind in place. Damn air is saturated if the mist and 42 degree temps in SBTV are any indication. Just wondering if we can keep this going for a long duration. On PF's maps that RH drops off pretty quick...less good for the Upslope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 this wind is ramping up quickly now... sustained 25ish, max gust 38. this looks to be a promising day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaineJayhawk Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 48F at 5am in mid-December. Careful with that axe, Eugene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderwx Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 freight train from the NW has been running since early this AM, house has been whistling nicely. temps dropped 5F in the past hour, still just 36F and wet. it poured up here yesterday. snow gone. woods look like spring, full of running water. even the highlands of holland and morgan got hosed yesterday. getting used to standing in square 1. edit: now getting graupel mixed in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Wow is it windy out there... freight train moving out of the notch across the parking lots. 29F at top with moderate snow per groomers report, 35F (1,500ft) here at the base with a mix of rain/snow/graupel. From what I can tell from the guys on the radio this morning is that the snow level is around 2,500ft which would make sense. The yellow/moderates just moved through and that was surprisingly heavy mixed precip here at the base. Hopefully something can accumulate on the top half. Winds have occassionally been gusting to near 60mph across the summit ridge and the Spruce Peak base area weather station at 1,600ft has seen max sustained winds of 40mph with gusts to 50mph so far this morning. I think we are seeing some wind acceleration from Smugglers Notch as the NW flow is ripping out from between the 2,000ft high cliffs in the notch. The parking lot is truly something special this morning as we are seeing winds similar to the summit right now. Doors keep blowing open here at mountain ops, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adk Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I can hear the winds howling down here in SBTV....and I'm below the spear st. ridge and off the water...so you know they are kicking out there. Temps holding steady a moist 42. Next 10 days seem like our shot at winter before a warm-up around 1/1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Disaster overnight. The meager snowcover (not enough to call it snowpack) that we had is completely gone. MPV was 50° at 11:00 last night. Very windy and temps are dropping but the mood was somber at the snowmobile club Christmas party last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 As of 8am we are over to all snow at the 1,500ft base area. It suddenly looks a lot nicer out there with wind whipped flakes and milky white obscuring the hills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 As of 8am we are over to all snow at the 1,500ft base area. It suddenly looks a lot nicer out there with wind whipped flakes and milky white obscuring the hills. In the middle of all this crap weather, you guys always seem to land on your feet. Wish I lived in the mtns. Having to wait weeks between snow events is terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Actually, jspin is at the bottom of the Winooski River valley where it cuts through the spine of the Green Mts. I think his elevation is 450'. The terrain rises pretty steeply north and south of him so he still gets in on the upslope events to an extent that those a few miles either side of him don't. Great microclimate. Yes, just like mreaves said, we’re near the bottom of the Winooski Valley where it cuts through the spine of the Greens – we have details about our location and its weather, as well as a link to our more in-depth information page at our website: http://jandeproductions.com/location/ Our surveyor’s map has our area with the snowboard, rain gauge, thermometers etc. at ~495’ ASL so that’s the value I use. From my estimates, the Winooski down below us (the area with the long VAST snowmobile bridge and the Bolton Falls Dam) is at ~380’, so we’re about 100’ above that – that was certainly a blessing in terms of Tropical Storm Irene. On that note, for those that frequent the West Waterbury area, the Cider House Restaurant just opened back up after 15 weeks of being closed due to Irene, so certainly pay them a visit if you are a fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 As of 8am we are over to all snow at the 1,500ft base area. It suddenly looks a lot nicer out there with wind whipped flakes and milky white obscuring the hills. I see that you’re already talking about it, but I was just about to comment – the upslope must be starting because from here at UVM I can see it starting to crash out all over the place along the spine. Clearly some of it is snow based on the look, but it also looks like in the lower elevations it’s still rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 In the middle of all this crap weather, you guys always seem to land on your feet. Wish I lived in the mtns. Having to wait weeks between snow events is terrible. True but remember I do not live up here at 1,500ft and above. I just spend 50+ hours a week up here. Its still raining at my house at 800ft I'm sure. Other employees coming into work are reporting the change over at Harlow Hill which is around 1,000-1,300ft depending on where on the hill... still raining in the village. Our main advantage is that following thaw events, you almost always get cold air advection on NW flow and that is a snow wind direction for us. We are almost always able to get at least a coating following a rain event which is the big difference between here and other areas. Growing up in the Hudson Valley it never snowed after it rains and even skiing at Gore in the Adirondacks or southern VT as a kid, I never saw it snow after a thaw event. It just ends as breezy flurries. Up here in the upslope region you can almost always bank on at least some residual moisture getting squeezed out as snow when the cold NW wind moves in. But this time accumulations are still only from 2,500ft and above at this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 49F on a 25mph NW wind. I'm sure we'll bust 50F easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 I see that you’re already talking about it, but I was just about to comment – the upslope must be starting because from here at UVM I can see it starting to crash out all over the place along the spine. Clearly some of it is snow based on the look, but it also looks like in the lower elevations it’s still rain. We ended up with a coating of snow grains and graupel. As I feared, the lift was occurring below the snow growth so we got some very high density particles that were almost perfectly round rimed snow balls. Might be more like a half inch to 3/4ths of an inch up high but not nearly enough for me to report an 1". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 12z MET has 8F for CON Sunday morning. It'll be nice to finally experience some legitimate winter temps even though it will be very short lived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adk Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 We ended up with a coating of snow grains and graupel. As I feared, the lift was occurring below the snow growth so we got some very high density particles that were almost perfectly round rimed snow balls. Might be more like a half inch to 3/4ths of an inch up high but not enough for me to report a full 1". Lift WAY below snowgrowth and the duration sucked. F this pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Lift WAY below snowgrowth and the duration sucked. F this pattern. Greg, Jake, and I had similar thoughts skiing laps this morning. I bet with proper snow growth 1-3" would've been no problem even with the short duration. I bet we got a tenth of liquid equiv or maybe 0.15" once the cold came in... we just had snow grains of like 6-8:1 ratio stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorEaster27 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 what happened to the upslope, a few days ago I would have thought the NW dacks would have seen at least a few inches... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Greg, Jake, and I had similar thoughts skiing laps this morning. I bet with proper snow growth 1-3" would've been no problem even with the short duration. I bet we got a tenth of liquid equiv or maybe 0.15" once the cold came in... we just had snow grains of like 6-8:1 ratio stuff. That was the one concern I had yesterday when I mentioned we'll be a little too warm for ideal. Models suggest all the lift was below 800 mb, while the snow growth was all above 750 mb. In addition to coming well weaker with the winds this morning too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Been going between flurries and light snow all day, one burst of near moderate snow. But it wasn't accumulating most of the morning because of 33-34F temps and the wet ground, and even now it's just put a coating on existing snow. Still 33F. Had some of that graupel PF described as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skierinvermont Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 As of 8am we are over to all snow at the 1,500ft base area. It suddenly looks a lot nicer out there with wind whipped flakes and milky white obscuring the hills. Yep I flipped from a rain/snow mix to snow at 8am too. 2" of snow left, but lots of bare spots in south facing areas and near buildings which weren't evident last night. 00z Euro looked good for NNE the next 10 days with a few chances, especially the Tuesday/Wednesday threat which has returned after being gone for a few model runs. Ensemble mean brought it back too .. 1007 tracking over Boston D6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nzucker Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Yep I flipped from a rain/snow mix to snow at 8am too. 2" of snow left, but lots of bare spots in south facing areas and near buildings which weren't evident last night. 00z Euro looked good for NNE the next 10 days with a few chances, especially the Tuesday/Wednesday threat which has returned after being gone for a few model runs. Ensemble mean brought it back too .. 1007 tracking over Boston D6. Was all rain here, had some heavy squalls around 3am that woke me up. Currently 41.5F and dropping on gusty NW winds, but it's been a very mild day with temperatures in the mid 40s earlier this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allenson Posted December 16, 2011 Author Share Posted December 16, 2011 Never got above 43F here yesterday and didn't get too much rain (0.35") but what little snow we had is basically gone now. I have about an inch left in the yard but all around is bare. I haven't been antsy yet about this pattern till now. Snow, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Kind of funny how me saying today had promise early this morning was immediately followed by a sudden drop of the wind which never recovered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Kind of funny how me saying today had promise early this morning was immediately followed by a sudden drop of the wind which never recovered. I'm chalking it up to CAA being overdone by the models, coupled with some overdone winds off the deck. We just didn't mix deeply, and didn't have as much to work with once the mixed layer began to increase. Yesterday really showed some nice profiles for 50 knot gust potential, remarkable how much they changed by the time I walked in the door this morning. Shame to see those teens lurking on the other side of the St. Lawrence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Some shots of this morning's snow.... although we really only got a coating, its still nice to have flakes in the air. But you can tell this is not like other winters. Some winters it seems every cloud the passes over the mountain finds a way to put down at least an inch or two of fluff. This winter we get a couple hours of heavy snow pellets instead of fluffy 40:1 ratio dendrites. Natural snow is toast on the lower mountain... upper mountain above 2,500ft is still hanging on to a little crusty stuff. Here's a shot of a nice snownado, haha. The 40-60mph gusts where whipping the new dusting of snow all over the place. Lastly, snow showers moving out over the valley getting backlit by sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borderwx Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 nice PF. guess the good news is the N Greens still look white a little closer look still not sure the grass should be this green or that my tulips should begin to sprout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 nice PF. guess the good news is the N Greens still look white still not sure the grass should be this green or that my tulips should begin to sprout Dude I love your view... I can see the ski trails of Stowe out my window, but I have to look through power lines and leaf-less trees. Nothing like that view! Anyway, looks very similar around here... driving around the valley is now bare and brown (actually almost seems more green than brown, ha) but the mountain is still white. It looks very promising from a distance to see all the white trails and white in the trees, until you get up there and realize its only 1-3". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1220 Posted December 16, 2011 Share Posted December 16, 2011 Some shots of this morning's snow.... although we really only got a coating, its still nice to have flakes in the air. But you can tell this is not like other winters. Some winters it seems every cloud the passes over the mountain finds a way to put down at least an inch or two of fluff. This winter we get a couple hours of heavy snow pellets instead of fluffy 40:1 ratio dendrites. Natural snow is toast on the lower mountain... upper mountain above 2,500ft is still hanging on to a little crusty stuff. Here's a shot of a nice snownado, haha. The 40-60mph gusts where whipping the new dusting of snow all over the place. Lastly, snow showers moving out over the valley getting backlit by sun. At Penn State the snow showers and squalls were some of my favorite things to watch. Often they would come in on partly cloudy skies and you could see the bright patch of white coming at you from the Allegheny Front. It would cross over you and be very wintry with heavy snow for a few minutes or so, and then move on, and then you could watch the squall head south or east as the sky went back to partly cloudy. Cool stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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