NNE Heart of Winter

[ctsnowstorm628]

3.0" here so far. Very grainy snow now as precip has lightened up as round 3 with the ULL gets set to move in. Call of 3-5" in St. J looks safe, and 4-6" at LSC seems good as well.

[powderfreak]

Wow... what a winter wonderland.

Stowe Village (800ft)... 5.7" so far....Snow Depth...~20"

Stowe Ski Area (1,500ft)...6.5" so far....Snow Depth...41"

Stowe Ski Area (3,000ft)...8.0" so far....Snow Depth...Over 60"

[Allenson]

Just got an email from my wife at home. She estimated 5" on the snowboard, granted from looking out the window.

Anyway, if that's the case, that would put my locale at 6.5" so far. Looking forward to getting home and seeing for sure.

Probably 3-4" here in Hanover on the valley floor.

[powderfreak]

We've been getting some nice easterly flow upslope on this side of the Spine all day long... you can see it well on composite radar right now with a band of better echos along the east side here in Stowe. I live on RT 108 (the road that goes from the village center with RT 100 up towards the Spine) and its coming down right now.

[Allenson]

^ I wish my place wasn't in a radar hole.

[powderfreak]

60 inches of snowfall in the past 8 days.

Yes, that's 5 feet in 8 days. I see Smugglers Notch Resort is reporting 63" in the past 8 days, so there's some consistency there.

Snowpack is deep right now. This is from down near 1,700ft... I have 41" on the level at 1,500ft right now. Pretty decent depth for that elevation.

And this is 3,000ft...

[Hitman]

This is "meh"???

Saturday: Rain showers before 5pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers. High near 41. Strong and damaging winds, with a southwest wind 60 to 65 mph decreasing to between 30 and 35 mph. Winds could gust as high as 95 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

looks like rain and windholds. the former I can deal with. The latter, not so much.

This is the same point forecast some 3 hours later. quite the change for the better.

Saturday: Freezing rain and sleet before 9am, then rain showers. High near 41. South wind around 10 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

This I would agree is "meh"

[ctsnowstorm628]

4" now at 1,100ft in Lyndonville. Steady snow as the sun goes down...could be the last substantial one of the year I'm fine either way, really....either give me a monster dumping or 70F please!

Forecast I issued looks really good. 4" here, 6" out near PF, 8+'' up top, and 2-4" at BTV. Overall very pleased considering how challenging it was with downsloping/upsloping issues.

[eekuasepinniW]

There is a whopper of a drift blocking my path to the bird feeder and it's almost empty. (Finally got my finch flock back for anyone who's been worried sick since last September.)

[ctsnowstorm628]

There is a whopper of a drift blocking my path to the bird feeder and it's almost empty. (Finally got my finch flock back for anyone who's been worried sick since last September.)

Just saying, but I JUST realized your username is Winnipesaukee backwards!!!! LOL awesome.

[Bigbob]

At least a foot IMBY since yesterday.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 4.5” Snow/0.34” L.E.

Looking at the scene on the way through Richmond today at ~5:15 P.M., I’d say they didn’t actually get any accumulation from this storm. New snow accumulations pick up not too far east of there though, with a solid covering in Jonesville, and that continues to increase as one heads into the mountains to Bolton and then Waterbury. Accumulations definitely take a big jump as soon as you are along and east of the spine of the Greens though, and I suspect we’ll be able to see this when the accumulations are reported tomorrow morning. I didn’t find much more than a coating on the car at the Waterbury Park and Ride, but the ground had a nice accumulation so snow may have been blown off or melted. At the house I found 3.1" of new snow on the snowboard, and it’s a bit drier than the overnight accumulation, coming down to 7.1% H2O. There was a lull in snowfall for a bit there, but it’s picked back up now with some bigger flakes up in the ½-1” range, so there may be more accumulation to report from this event. The point forecast for here calls for an additional 1-2” of snow tonight.

I’ve updated the north to south listing of storm totals from the Vermont ski areas below. Most places picked up about another half foot today, with some of the Northern Vermont ski areas now approaching a foot for this event, and some of the Southern Vermont Ski Areas getting close to a foot and a half:

Jay Peak: 4”

Burke: 8”

Smuggler’s Notch: 10”

Stowe: 9”

Bolton Valley: 6”

Mad River Glen: 6”

Sugarbush: 6”

Pico: 10”

Killington: 10”

Okemo: 9”

Bromley: 12”

Magic Mountain: 18”

Stratton: 14”

Mount Snow: 16”

Some details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations are below:

New Snow: 3.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.22 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 14.1

Snow Density: 7.1% H2O

Temperature: 29.7 F

Sky: Flurries (2-3 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 14.0 inches

[ctsnowstorm628]

5" final here at 1100ft...downtown only about 3.75" though at 750ft.

Wouldn't be surprised to see Burke Mtn. come in with 10" tomorrow morning. Over acheived up top actually..thought the upper bound for Burke would be 8" but they got just enough upslope enhancement during the day to accumulate while most areas were not here in the NEK.

Good way to possibly end the 2011-2012 substantial snow season for the lower elevations, we'll see how March goes.

[j24vt]

6.0" today and still have flurries falling

[NEK_VT_Upslope_Event]

Spent until 4pm today in Peacham, VT (southern Caledonia County) @ ~1500 ft. It was snowing mod/heavy most of the day. Visual inspection showed ~8-9" at the time I left. Once driving down 91 to 93 on my way to Franconia, NH. I noticed that there was a lot of downsloping areas. Places where the intensity and depth visibly fell off. I'd say low points were St Johnsbury, Littleton and even Franconia downtown were ~3-4". From what I hear, Cannon Mtn base at ~2000 ft is around 8".

A very interesting storm, certainly shadowing/downsloping as well as elevation played a significant role around here. Lastly, what was most obvious from the days travels is the significant difference in travel safety when there has been 8" of snow that has fallen over the prior 8 hours and 3". Roads go from snow packed to basically wet, since the equipment can't stay on top of snowfall that is running ~1"/hr for that duration, even up here....

[ctsnowstorm628]

Spent until 4pm today in Peacham, VT (southern Caledonia County) @ ~1500 ft. It was snowing mod/heavy most of the day. Visual inspection showed ~8-9" at the time I left. Once driving down 91 to 93 on my way to Franconia, NH. I noticed that there was a lot of downsloping areas. Places where the intensity and depth visibly fell off. I'd say low points were St Johnsbury, Littleton and even Franconia downtown were ~3-4". From what I hear, Cannon Mtn base at ~2000 ft is around 8".

A very interesting storm, certainly shadowing/downsloping as well as elevation played a significant role around here. Lastly, what was most obvious from the days travels is the significant difference in travel safety when there has been 8" of snow that has fallen over the prior 8 hours and 3". Roads go from snow packed to basically wet, since the equipment can't stay on top of snowfall that is running ~1"/hr for that duration, even up here....

Always plays a huge role. Thats why my call was so much lower than you wanted lol... Areas west of the valley always do well in these sets ups...many probably had 6-10" out your way. funny actually got 4" at St. J and 5" at Lyndonville...right what I had lol

[ctsnowstorm628]

I just talked to my buddy working at NWS BTV and he is saying there is a lack of updated reports in the BTV area. He wants me to pass along the message that anyone in BTV's CWA should SEND REPORTS asap.

Final here: 5.0" right on the nose.

Thanks.

[NEK_VT_Upslope_Event]

Always plays a huge role. Thats why my call was so much lower than you wanted lol... Areas west of the valley always do well in these sets ups...many probably had 6-10" out your way. funny actually got 4" at St. J and 5" at Lyndonville...right what I had lol

You were extremely accurate. Great job. Yes, I'd love to get an overview on why Peacham gets dumped on and the valleys get so much less. It's so strange yet makes so much sense at the same time. Thanks.

[ctsnowstorm628]

You were extremely accurate. Great job. Yes, I'd love to get an overview on why Peacham gets dumped on and the valleys get so much less. It's so strange yet makes so much sense at the same time. Thanks.

Well, for much of this storm there was a strong SE flow out ahead of the storm. With this flow, air has to ascend the White mountains and when this happens (upslope) the SE side of the whites (near Conway, Franconia,etc) do very well as moisture is enhanced due to the compressed air. When the air descends the whites near Littleton/St J the air warms and expands and dries out, therefore QPF totals are overall much less (hence shadowing). So, in an extreme situation which this was NOT, Conway and the Lakes region of NH can get 12" and St. J can get 1-2". The strength of the down/up slope depends on the strength of the flow the surface and aloft.

Also, when the air crosses the CT river valley, it ascends and repeats the process in the ridges in western Orange and Caledonia County, so while Conway get 12" and LSC gets 5", Walden/Peacham can get some enhancement at higher elevations like we saw today. Very cool stuff!

You can also see this happen near the Greens when over near Powderfreak in Stowe can get 6" and towns on the otherside of the spine like Underhill can get 2".

Hope that helped!

[mreaves]

You were extremely accurate. Great job. Yes, I'd love to get an overview on why Peacham gets dumped on and the valleys get so much less. It's so strange yet makes so much sense at the same time. Thanks.

Peacham, Danville, Wolcott, Groton all get tons of snow, that area is a definite snow belt. Great area to ride snowmachines.

Back here in the lowlands, just a hair under 5". My 8 year old and I wore out my front yard with the snowmobile tonight, it looks like Island Pond on a Saturday afternoon or for our Maine guys, it looks like the Forks. Hopefully we can do a bit more than yard riding but if not, we had a blast tonight.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Peacham, Danville, Wolcott, Groton all get tons of snow, that area is a definite snow belt. Great area to ride snowmachines.

Back here in the lowlands, just a hair under 5". My 8 year old and I wore out my front yard with the snowmobile tonight, it looks like Island Pond on a Saturday afternoon or for our Maine guys, it looks like the Forks. Hopefully we can do a bit more than yard riding but if not, we had a blast tonight.

Yeah you can add walden to that list as well....2200ft ASL is awesome. So you guys over that way did just as well as we did over here. You kinda got caught in between the upslop enhancement near PF and the downslope on the back side of the western Caledonia cty ridge. If anything you were in a mesoscale downslope region as was I.

[J.Spin]

Good way to possibly end the 2011-2012 substantial snow season for the lower elevations, we'll see how March goes.

Is this an upcoming pattern thing ct? Because looking at my data, even down here at ~500’ elevation an average of roughly 30” of additional snow falls through March, April and May, with three of the past five seasons having 35-40” of snowfall in March alone. I think of that as pretty substantial. I know they joke about how March isn’t a winter month in the SNE thread, but it’s really one of the best winter months so it would be a shame to see it go to waste without any substantial snow.

[Nittany88]

Just got an email from my wife at home. She estimated 5" on the snowboard, granted from looking out the window.

Anyway, if that's the case, that would put my locale at 6.5" so far. Looking forward to getting home and seeing for sure.

Probably 3-4" here in Hanover on the valley floor.

Event totals: 4.5” Snow/0.34” L.E.

Looking at the scene on the way through Richmond today at ~5:15 P.M., I’d say they didn’t actually get any accumulation from this storm. New snow accumulations pick up not too far east of there though, with a solid covering in Jonesville, and that continues to increase as one heads into the mountains to Bolton and then Waterbury. Accumulations definitely take a big jump as soon as you are along and east of the spine of the Greens though, and I suspect we’ll be able to see this when the accumulations are reported tomorrow morning. I didn’t find much more than a coating on the car at the Waterbury Park and Ride, but the ground had a nice accumulation so snow may have been blown off or melted. At the house I found 3.1" of new snow on the snowboard, and it’s a bit drier than the overnight accumulation, coming down to 7.1% H2O. There was a lull in snowfall for a bit there, but it’s picked back up now with some bigger flakes up in the ½-1” range, so there may be more accumulation to report from this event. The point forecast for here calls for an additional 1-2” of snow tonight.

I’ve updated the north to south listing of storm totals from the Vermont ski areas below. Most places picked up about another half foot today, with some of the Northern Vermont ski areas now approaching a foot for this event, and some of the Southern Vermont Ski Areas getting close to a foot and a half:

Jay Peak: 4”

Burke: 8”

Smuggler’s Notch: 10”

Stowe: 9”

Bolton Valley: 6”

Mad River Glen: 6”

Sugarbush: 6”

Pico: 10”

Killington: 10”

Okemo: 9”

Bromley: 12”

Magic Mountain: 18”

Stratton: 14”

Mount Snow: 16”

Some details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations are below:

New Snow: 3.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.22 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 14.1

Snow Density: 7.1% H2O

Temperature: 29.7 F

Sky: Flurries (2-3 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 14.0 inches

6.0" today and still have flurries falling

Spent until 4pm today in Peacham, VT (southern Caledonia County) @ ~1500 ft. It was snowing mod/heavy most of the day. Visual inspection showed ~8-9" at the time I left. Once driving down 91 to 93 on my way to Franconia, NH. I noticed that there was a lot of downsloping areas. Places where the intensity and depth visibly fell off. I'd say low points were St Johnsbury, Littleton and even Franconia downtown were ~3-4". From what I hear, Cannon Mtn base at ~2000 ft is around 8".

A very interesting storm, certainly shadowing/downsloping as well as elevation played a significant role around here. Lastly, what was most obvious from the days travels is the significant difference in travel safety when there has been 8" of snow that has fallen over the prior 8 hours and 3". Roads go from snow packed to basically wet, since the equipment can't stay on top of snowfall that is running ~1"/hr for that duration, even up here....

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/btv/html/storm_report.shtml

[ctsnowstorm628]

Is this an upcoming pattern thing ct? Because looking at my data, even down here at ~500’ elevation an average of roughly 30” of additional snow falls through March, April and May, with three of the past five seasons having 35-40” of snowfall in March alone. I think of that as pretty substantial. I know they joke about how March isn’t a winter month in the SNE thread, but it’s really one of the best winter months so it would be a shame to see it go to waste without any substantial snow.

Yeah the pattern is looking mighty warm come late week next week and beyond. I agree that March has been pretty good up this way the last few years, but at least out through mid month, it looks as if southern new England torches and even most of NNE probably gets into the 50s at base elevations and upper 30s/low 40s up top some days.

With that said, that doesn't mean could wipe the valley floors clean of snow by mid to late March and then get a late season dump. Its obviously shaky this far out, but the signs aren't great. For example, 2 weeks ago i was keying on last week and beyond as a stormy period for the Eastern CONUS, and didn't have many details obviously, but some things just stick out to you in the pattern and most, if not all guidance shows warmth in the longest range.

I love snow and winter storms, but my gut tells me that this could get pretty tough by mid month, with warm temps, higher sun angle, and just climo starting to work against us by late month...especially at BTV and areas west of the greens. I could see St. J stuck at 42F and mansfield at 38F while BTV soars to 60F mid month. Happened last year quite a few times in March/April.

Hopefully model guidance backs off on the warmth at least to a degree, and we can salvage at least some winter before it comes screeching to a hault. Hope that helped!

[ctsnowstorm628]

http://www.erh.noaa....rm_report.shtml

Good call I appreciate it!

[powderfreak]

I just talked to my buddy working at NWS BTV and he is saying there is a lack of updated reports in the BTV area. He wants me to pass along the message that anyone in BTV's CWA should SEND REPORTS asap.

Final here: 5.0" right on the nose.

Thanks.

LOL those folks at BTV know my reports quite well by this time.

[Allenson]

Also, when the air crosses the CT river valley, it ascends and repeats the process in the ridges in western Orange and Caledonia County, so while Conway get 12" and LSC gets 5", Walden/Peacham can get some enhancement at higher elevations like we saw today. Very cool stuff!

Some enhancement here with the sort of set-up we just saw, indeed. Nice forecasting, btw.

Finished up with 7" on the nose here at 1200' on the east slope. Our hills keep rising to the west of here to a little over 2000' and while I haven't been up there the past few days, I'll bet our neighbors just a few miles away but several hundred feet higher, facing east, picked up 8-10". Just a guess, but a reasonable one.

Snow stake in the yard now showing 18". Deepest of the season.

I have to say, that was a pretty cool event--long durarion very nice snow quality here (pow-pow). Seriously tempted to call into work well today and spend the day on a mountain somewhere...

[powderfreak]

Final Snowfall will be 7.2" at 1,500ft, and judging by what happened at the base and adding the same difference to what I cleared at the summit yesterday, a little over 9" at 3,000ft. Good old 7-9 spread.

61" in 9 days.

[klw]

Well I ended up with 5.6 inches in my part of Peacham. 1.8 overnight wed into Thurs, 3.2 during work Thurs, 0.6 last night. I think there are other spots of Peacham are higher up and get more than me. I am at 1290' with the 2250' Mack Mountain behind me. I have always heard that Peacham gets alot of snow but this is only our third winter here. We seem to be great with moderate and small events but have underperformed on the bigger events. (It does seem to snow most nights in January each year.) I will need to see if this is a consistent issue or just a fluke. I wonder if where I measure is shadowed by buildings but it doesn't seem dramatically different from other parts of the property. Both of the previous years we have had our biggest single storms in April.

66.9 inches on the season. Clearly leaving CTSnowstorm and his devilish total in the diamond dust.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Some enhancement here with the sort of set-up we just saw, indeed. Nice forecasting, btw.

Finished up with 7" on the nose here at 1200' on the east slope. Our hills keep rising to the west of here to a little over 2000' and while I haven't been up there the past few days, I'll bet our neighbors just a few miles away but several hundred feet higher, facing east, picked up 8-10". Just a guess, but a reasonable one.

Snow stake in the yard now showing 18". Deepest of the season.

I have to say, that was a pretty cool event--long durarion very nice snow quality here (pow-pow). Seriously tempted to call into work well today and spend the day on a mountain somewhere...

Thanks! Yeah we ended with 5" here with the snow stake reading 12"...which may be conservative because parts of the area probably have 14-15" in the shade. Good stuff!