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Son of Sandy Observations/ Nowcast Nov 6/7


Baroclinic Zone

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It's amazing that Smugglers Notch has such great terrain but get's shafted in the snowfall department compared to Bolton and Stowe.

They don't get shafted! They average about the same as Stowe and the two resorts are very similar at the end of the year. We had like 3 years in a row recently where the two resorts were within like a foot of each other at the end of the season, and that's not much margin of error if its like 337" and 325".

Smuggs and Bolton get the same type of events (low inversion west slope snows) whereas Mansfield gets much more on east flow events...we all get about the same snowfall during upslope events when the inversion is higher than the ridgeline, because moisture gets more evenly spread from east slope and west slope.

If anything Smuggs may average a few inches more in the long haul... snowfall here increases as you head north along the Spine. It increases about 30% from each region... Killington is like 200-230", Sugarbush/MRG is like 260", Bolton/Stowe/Smuggs 300-330", and Jay Peak 350".

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They don't get shafted! They average about the same as Stowe and the two resorts are very similar at the end of the year. We had like 3 years in a row recently where the two resorts were within like a foot of each other at the end of the season, and that's not much margin of error if its like 337" and 325".

Smuggs and Bolton get the same type of events (low inversion west slope snows) whereas Mansfield gets much more on east flow events...we all get about the same snowfall during upslope events when the inversion is higher than the ridgeline, because moisture gets more evenly spread from east slope and west slope.

That's interesting because I skied at Smugglers Notch in January of 2010 and they had alot less snow in the woods/glades than Stowe did. We finished off at Burke which really had less snow.

Bolton gets those huge dumps but the terrain is kind of meh.

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lol, Kevin said that somebody had gone to his (house) to measure, bit of a different story then being in the same town on your way home.

That's not my style and I would not seek out some members house without permission. I know where the highest point is in Tolland and drove though there on the way back home from running an errand to look for deeper snow as I love snow and was curious.

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Going out on a limb to say, I doubt that anyone here who really appreciates winter weather doesn't/ wouldn't take a drive (if it were within their means to do so) to see some awesome snow if they had the chance.

That's a pretty strong limb to go out on... I've probably spent 100s of dollars in gas over the year driving to mountains, nearby towns, higher elevations, etc during storms. I like to see how events play out around the local area wherever I'm living.

When I grew up in Albany (200ft) and was in high school, I'd always drive up to Thatcher State Park at 1,200ft in Knox, NY to see the snow. It was about 15 minutes away and the same town that Rick/Logan11 lives in, but I doubt he thought I was stalking him.

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In the last few years I really can't complain. Living on the immediate shoreline my entire life I am used to being all rain while watching inland and Litchfield get pounded. This past storm and rocktober I wasn't expected to get much of anything with no advisories, rocktober I got the winter storm warning late in the day and received 4 or 5 inches, this past storm made it to just advisory level and received 10 inches. Been a great few years, havent had a snow storm bust in many years it feels like. Nothing like in the 90s when I was a young kid, watch the 11pm news forecast that said snow and wake up to heavy rain, 45 degrees and school not being cancelled.

what about 95-96 and 92-93 and 93-94? werent those good region wide? even at the coast?

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That's a pretty strong limb to go out on... I've probably spent 100s of dollars in gas over the year driving to mountains, nearby towns, higher elevations, etc during storms. I like to see how events play out around the local area wherever I'm living.

When I grew up in Albany (200ft) and was in high school, I'd always drive up to Thatcher State Park at 1,200ft in Knox, NY to see the snow. It was about 15 minutes away and the same town that Rick/Logan11 lives in, but I doubt he thought I was stalking him.

I wish that I could get back just a small portion of the money that I have spent in the last 30 years of skiing and chasing snow including skiing lift serviced terrain in North America 12 months out of the year, glacier skiing, heli skiing and summer snowmobiling.

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That's interesting because I skied at Smugglers Notch in January of 2010 and they had alot less snow in the woods/glades than Stowe did. We finished off at Burke which really had less snow.

Bolton gets those huge dumps but the terrain is kind of meh.

Ahhh, yeah Mansfield has significantly better snow preservation on the east side...the snowpack is usually deeper on Mansfield's trails (east/north facing). Stowe's terrain at Spruce Peak faces southeast and snow preservation is horrific there (not called Sunny Spruce for nothing) but Mansfield's terrain (the expert stuff and tree skiing) has a near perfect aspect. That's why I can ski the trees up there in May a lot of years. Plus the west side is prone to warm air from the Champlain Valley. Same idea why the east slope of the Berks holds snow better than the west side. Also with the west slope snowfall being a lot more of the fluffy upslope variety (so is Mansfield's, but sometimes we don't do nearly as well as Bolton/Smuggs like 4" vs 10"), but during the wetter east/southeast flows off the Atlantic, east side of the Spine will do much better.

Also consider spots like Bolton and Smuggs which do face west and northwest, so there is decent preservation, but they get the afternoon sun from facing west...that makes a huge difference in the springtime. March at 50F is one thing, but March at 50F in full sunlight is another. Mansfield can be depressing in how quickly it goes into the shadows but it does preserve snow very well. Every mountain has their pluses and minuses. Ask the locals at each hill and we'll all tell you ours is the best wink.png

Last year's Thanksgiving storm was a perfect example of a wet, SE flow downsloping the west slope. 8"-9" in Stowe Village on the east slope, while Underhill had 1" on the west slope of Mansfield.

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When I grew up in Albany (200ft) and was in high school, I'd always drive up to Thatcher State Park at 1,200ft in Knox, NY to see the snow. It was about 15 minutes away and the same town that Rick/Logan11 lives in, but I doubt he thought I was stalking him.

Born in Troy, and grew up just south of Albany about 25 miles. Family was all around the Albany area at the time. Used to play Voorhesville at Football back in the day.

I know it's not Albany, but we still have a family house in the Adirondacks. Snow averages 200-300 inches per year there. Place isn't winterized but my cousin's is. Crazy place to be when the lake effect machine is doing its thing.

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I'm not sure why they just don't call it Athena. They said they would go with TWC names.

I think we need to evolve uniform standards for storms qualifying for "naming". For better or worse a tropical storm starts at 39 mph sustained winds and a hurricane at 74 mph. Do we name winter storms based on Kocin standards? Or some other standards?

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I think we need to evolve uniform standards for storms qualifying for "naming". For better or worse a tropical storm starts at 39 mph sustained winds and a hurricane at 74 mph. Do we name winter storms based on Kocin standards? Or some other standards?

KFS standards... but he gets to name them

Almostbaldiegeddon

Chipmunkdrowner

PukedownExplorergeddon

Snowbankpiler

Weeniegeddon

etc

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Born in Troy, and grew up just south of Albany about 25 miles. Family was all around the Albany area at the time. Used to play Voorhesville at Football back in the day.

Nice. I great up in Delmar, just SW of Albany...Bethlehem School district next to Voorhesville. Went to Voorhesville High for driver's education lol.

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