Best snow locations in SNE

[powderfreak]

this is why i could never live in nne:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93608&page=1#.UORxpayQNbw

 

 

But its the most diverse group of white people you'll ever find.

[PineHillsWx]

Pepperell, Ma

[MaineJayhawk]

I'd imagine it's wherever the -8C 850 isotherm sets up.  Hella good snows there.

[powderfreak]

I'd imagine it's wherever the -8C 850 isotherm sets up.  Hella good snows there.

 

Haha well played.

[DavisStraight]

I'm going to derail this thread to NNE for a minute... but in my opinion the most weenie spot you're going to find for both upslope/synoptic/elevation events/snow retention, etc is the community up at the base of Bolton Valley.  I know 4-5 co-workers who live up there for the snow, and commute to Stowe (about a 40 minute drive).  There's a neighborhood of homes, condos, apartments up there on Thatcher and Wentworth Roads, as well as on the Access Road, where those folks average a legit 250" of snow on their front lawns. 

 

I've been up there to their houses before when there's been like a legit 60" snow depth on their decks and front lawns.  It looks like Santa's Village up there with the snow sometimes.  Not to mention the trees are usually rimed up because the community is up in the clouds during storms. 

 

You can be in downtown Burlington in like 40 minutes or less...BTV airport in just over a half hour...Best Buy/Walmart/every chain restaurant you can think of in Williston in like 25 minutes.  Its essentially a bedroom community for BTV at 2,100ft.  I remember at UVM there were a lot of upper classmen who lived up there, grad students, etc.  They have a neat little community. 

 

Just think of the weather you could witness living above 2,000ft literally on the Green Mountain Spine.  It can snow up there in September and May pretty regularly, so you have a ridiculous snow season... and in the summer, your temps are always at least 10F colder than they are at BTV.

 

The only downfall, is your "driveway" (the Access Road) is a 2,000 vertical foot hill... does a number on your car going up and down that everyday.  But you get to drive through like three climate zones before you get home.  And you can sit on your front porch and watch the sunset over the Adirondacks, while getting some of the most intense T-storms, wind events, snowstorms (like several legit blizzard condition storms per season), upslope, synoptic, etc.

 

I highly doubt there is a place in New England with more than a couple hundred year round residents, that averages more snow than the Bolton community... legit 250" with over 300" on the 3-3.5ft elevations in the backyard to the east.

 

bolton1.jpg

 

Bolton2.jpg

I was going to take my wife to the Black Bear Inn for Valentines day, sounds like I picked a good spot, usually stay at Stowe but wanted to give this area a look.

[ChrisM]

Probably easiest to do it by state no?  CT is Norfolk, RI is probably that N. Foster area...MA is probably Florida/Savoy/Peru area

[tamarack]

30 minutes?  How about 90 to get to a place with 40,000? 

 

Burlington to the NW and Concord, NH to the SE are the two closest....and we're roughly equidistant from both.

 

It's really not that bad...in fact, I prefer it.  I grew up here, so it's what I know.  There are only 29,000 in the whole county I live in...and one stop light to boot. 

 

For the life of me, I don't understand how people can live all piled up on top of each other, but to each their own.  I'm glad they go, because otherwise, they might be out here. 

 

I'll sign all of that, though I can get to LEW (which may not be 40K any more) in an hour.  However, PWM is 1:45 away.  My county's population is a bit under 31,000 (on 1,700 sq.mi., or 18/sq.mi.) and there are six - count 'em - stoplights, though all are in Farmington and 5 are on US Rt 2, the nearest thing to an east-west highway in NNE.  Bigelow and Rangeley are an hour away, several good fishing lakes within 20 min, and I can hunt (legally) as soon as I walk off the front porch.

 

Some reasons for the NNE "whiteness" (my opinions only):

1.  Latitude.

2.  Lack of large population/industry centers.

3. (and unique to NNE)  In general, the semi-skilled industrial jobs in things like textiles and shoemaking were long since filled by immigrants from Quebec by the time Blacks came north looking for work.  If Francophones were considered a minority, NNE's diversity would look a lot different.

[ChrisM]

I'm going to derail this thread to NNE for a minute... but in my opinion the most weenie spot you're going to find for both upslope/synoptic/elevation events/snow retention, etc is the community up at the base of Bolton Valley.  I know 4-5 co-workers who live up there for the snow, and commute to Stowe (about a 40 minute drive).  There's a neighborhood of homes, condos, apartments up there on Thatcher and Wentworth Roads, as well as on the Access Road, where those folks average a legit 250" of snow on their front lawns. 

 

I've been up there to their houses before when there's been like a legit 60" snow depth on their decks and front lawns.  It looks like Santa's Village up there with the snow sometimes.  Not to mention the trees are usually rimed up because the community is up in the clouds during storms. 

 

You can be in downtown Burlington in like 40 minutes or less...BTV airport in just over a half hour...Best Buy/Walmart/every chain restaurant you can think of in Williston in like 25 minutes.  Its essentially a bedroom community for BTV at 2,100ft.  I remember at UVM there were a lot of upper classmen who lived up there, grad students, etc.  They have a neat little community. 

 

Just think of the weather you could witness living above 2,000ft literally on the Green Mountain Spine.  It can snow up there in September and May pretty regularly, so you have a ridiculous snow season... and in the summer, your temps are always at least 10F colder than they are at BTV.

 

The only downfall, is your "driveway" (the Access Road) is a 2,000 vertical foot hill... does a number on your car going up and down that everyday.  But you get to drive through like three climate zones before you get home.  And you can sit on your front porch and watch the sunset over the Adirondacks, while getting some of the most intense T-storms, wind events, snowstorms (like several legit blizzard condition storms per season), upslope, synoptic, etc.

 

I highly doubt there is a place in New England with more than a couple hundred year round residents, that averages more snow than the Bolton community... legit 250" with over 300" on the 3-3.5ft elevations in the backyard to the east.

From J Spins website...look at that snow on the roof lol

 

http://jandeproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/25FEB12Q-1024x691.jpg

[ChrisM]

 My county's population is a bit under 31,000 (on 1,700 sq.mi., or 18/sq.mi.) and there are six - count 'em - stoplights,

There is one traffic light in my town, and it blinks a lot of the time lol.

[powderfreak]

I was going to take my wife to the Black Bear Inn for Valentines day, sounds like I picked a good spot, usually stay at Stowe but wanted to give this area a look.

 

Yeah that's the snowfall jackpot as far as inhabited areas in this region.  I know where that is... never been inside but looks like a nice VT ski inn wayyyyy up there in the mountains.

[ChrisM]

What about Jericho and Underhill Scott?  They have to do pretty well I'd think especially right up against Mansfield on those 1500'-2000' ridges.

[OSUmetstud]

in my area, I'd move to Concord, NY in southern Erie just above 1600ft.  They average near 200".

 

Just a 25 minute drive to Buffalo in good conditions on NY-219.

 

I live on the lake plain just south of Buffalo so my average is about the same as the airport at 95".

 

 

[ChrisM]

Wheeler Road, Underhill VT.  Look at it on a topo map.

[powderfreak]

From J Spins website...look at that snow on the roof lol

 

http://jandeproductions.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/25FEB12Q-1024x691.jpg

 

Yeah... J's got a bunch of awesome photos from up there.

 

I remember my first year at University of Vermont, it was like the first few days of October and someone told us about this ridiculously snowy place like 25 minutes from campus... so we were bored and learning the area, took a drive up there and I'll never forget that night driving up the access road when its like in the 40s at BTV (not even close to snowing) and raining, but we hit the village up there at over 2,000ft and it is dumping heavy wet snow with like a foot on the ground.  Then you see houses, driveways, kids sledding, and you're like, holy sh*t people actually live up here?  This is nuts.

 

Their elementary school is at the bottom of the hill at like 300ft in the I-89 corridor.  One of my friends has a couple kids that age, and he's always like well there was 8" of snow last night at our house so I sent the kids with their snowsuits to school and by the time they get off the school bus 10 minutes later and 2,000ft lower, there's no snow and its raining, lol.

[klw]

An earlier discussion re: NNE

http://www.americanwx.com/bb/index.php/topic/26503-snowiest-towns-in-new-england-by-pop/

[free_man]

20-25 min to CON  MHT,  ASH.

[powderfreak]

What about Jericho and Underhill Scott?  They have to do pretty well I'd think especially right up against Mansfield on those 1500'-2000' ridges.

 

Yeah they do... but their elevation just isn't like Bolton's village.  Most folks in those towns live at like 700-1,200ft.  Which is nice, but to me there's like a line that's crossed at 2,000ft.  Above 2,000ft here in the Greens is sort of the line where weather gets taken to a new level.  Like 40-60mph winds vs 20-40mph at 1,000ft... 18" vs 12"...snowpack retention is great even though you're technically on the west side, etc.

 

Even run of the mill winter rainstorms can turn into big icestorms at 2,000ft+ as it almost always seems to be cold in that 2-3K band.

 

Weather is definitely a whole other ball game above 2,000ft.  Even in the summer, thunderstorms always seem much more impressive at over 2,000ft than under 1,000ft. 

 

The only issue with Jericho and Underhill, is they don't retain the cold as well and can have snowpack issues in the rollarcoaster winters.  If its snowing and then raining and then snowing and then thawing, they'll never really build it up like the east side will.  I've looked through the CoCoRAHS records and here in Stowe we tend to have much more consistent snow cover than them, but they'll get more inches of snow through the season.

 

Like in a season like last year, when it was up and down, here to the east we retained snowpack pretty much throughout the season and in a much more consistent manner.  Underhill got more snowfall though, but when there are numerous thaws, they just can't keep it on the ground.  Look at this CoCoRAHS comparison during our deepest snowpack time of last winter.  Of course, in a sustained cold type of winter, they can do fine with snowpack, but their snow is a lot of fluff (much more than even here), so you can see a lot of settling on their snow depth numbers.

 

 

That's the Underhill station that recorded 220" of snow in 2010-2011, so they get a lot of snow.  Its just the usual west side vs. east side thing with regards to preservation.

[Allenson]

this is why i could never live in nne:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93608&page=1#.UORxpayQNbw

 

 

Just drove through NJ over the holidays,  I can see why someone would want to stay right there.

[Allenson]

Well when I lived in RI I had a 13 mile commute to get to Providence.  It sometimes took over an hour.  Up here I will typically cover 60 miles in the first hour away from the house and my 13 mile commute takes 20- 22 minutes everyday (unless I get stuck behind that Honda which likes to do 35 in a 50, in which case it takes 25 but is far more annoying.)

 

It's usually a Prius in my case, chugging up Rt. 5 at 35-40 mph. 

 

They must have loads of leisure time. 

[OKpowdah]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="klw" data-cid="1977407" data-time="1357148374"><p>

I can't see how Jaffrey and a number of the places being discussed fall into the definition of Southern New England unless we are looking at only a North/ South split and not a N/C/S NE split.</p></blockquote>

whatever. SW NH is in the Taunton CWA. And it gets some of the most snow in that area.

[TalcottWx]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="klw" data-cid="1977407" data-time="1357148374"><p>

I can't see how Jaffrey and a number of the places being discussed fall into the definition of Southern New England unless we are looking at only a North/ South split and not a N/C/S NE split.</p></blockquote>

whatever. SW NH is in the Taunton CWA. And it gets some of the most snow in that area.

Not sne

[ORH_wxman]

Not sne

 

 

It might as well be. You can go 4 miles down the road and be in MA and average the same snow in a place like Ashburnham.

[klw]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="klw" data-cid="1977407" data-time="1357148374"><p>

I can't see how Jaffrey and a number of the places being discussed fall into the definition of Southern New England unless we are looking at only a North/ South split and not a N/C/S NE split.</p></blockquote>

whatever. SW NH is in the Taunton CWA. And it gets some of the most snow in that area.

 

Sorry if my post came across as snarky at all.  I went back and saw that the OP included SNH and the Berkshires in his post so you were correct in throwing out Jaffrey.  I guess he was viewing it a a SNE/ NNE split.

 

We probably should do a thread just on where the NE zones fall as so many threads have derailed on the subject over the years.

[powderfreak]

It might as well be. You can go 4 miles down the road and be in MA and average the same snow in a place like Ashburnham.

 

Yeah its a tough call though... would you consider Mt Snow and Wilmington/Dover, VT or Woodford part of SNE?  I have friends that grew up in Wilmington and Halifax, VT (elevations generally 1,500-2,000ft) and went to school at the Deerfield Academy in Mass because it was close.

 

It seems a lot of SNE posters consider southern NH as part of SNE but not southern VT.  Probably has to do with the CWA break-ups (NWS) more than geography.

[powderfreak]

Sorry if my post came across as snarky at all.  I went back and saw that the OP included SNH and the Berkshires in his post so you were correct in throwing out Jaffrey.  I guess he was viewing it a a SNE/ NNE split.

 

We probably should do a thread just on where the NE zones fall as so many threads have derailed on the subject over the years.

 

I think in the most basic sense, that NNE is VT/NH/ME...and SNE is MA/CT/RI.  However, a lot of folks think of where they are based on the NWS office that covers them.  Ie. that's why Wxwatcher always lumps himself in with the SNE crowd rather than NNE...because BOX has that area. 

 

Of course there are always going to be gray areas in the lines...as I would say that north of I-90 up to the Lakes Region over to Rutland, VT is CNE... in a pure latitude type of gradient.

 

I'd bet most folks think if they are covered by BOX/OKX they are SNE, while GYX/BTV/CAR covers NNE.  And the ALB zones might as well be eastern NY, lol.

[tamarack]

Just drove through NJ over the holidays,  I can see why someone would want to stay right there.

 

Hey! I resemble that remark.  I have fond memories of growing up in a NNJ lake community, about 5 miles west of I-287 (which didn't exist in NJ when I lived there) in the Jersey Highlands.  Houses were too close together, most on 1/4 acre lots, but in general the residents let most of the trees stay.  Also, our place bordered on undeveloped watershed land.  However, way too many cars on the roads and way too little snow; avg is 35-40" and it generally melts between snowstorms.

[klw]

Yeah its a tough call though... would you consider Mt Snow and Wilmington/Dover, VT or Woodford part of SNE?  I have friends that grew up in Wilmington and Halifax, VT (elevations generally 1,500-2,000ft) and went to school at the Deerfield Academy in Mass because it was close.

 

It seems a lot of SNE posters consider southern NH as part of SNE but not southern VT.  Probably has to do with the CWA break-ups (NWS) more than geography.

 

If I split it up I would say South of the Mass Pike is SNE, CNE is the Pike to Route 4 in VT/NH across to Portland, NNE is north of that.  But that's just me, I could be wrong.

[Allenson]

Hey! I resemble that remark.  I have fond memories of growing up in a NNJ lake community, about 5 miles west of I-287 (which didn't exist in NJ when I lived there) in the Jersey Highlands.  Houses were too close together, most on 1/4 acre lots, but in general the residents let most of the trees stay.  Also, our place bordered on undeveloped watershed land.  However, way too many cars on the roads and way too little snow; avg is 35-40" and it generally melts between snowstorms.

 

LOL, sorry man.  Couldn't resist.

 

We went to my wife's grandmother's on the western shore of Maryland for Christmas....so, we had to blast through NJ to get there and went down 287 from the NY Thruway.  We stopped at Ramapo and up Skyline Drive to give us and the dog a walk in the woods.  The hills there were interesting--they reminded me some of the hills in western CT where my wife grew up and inlaws still live.  Rocky & oaky.  We had some nice views to the NW from there and it looked quite hilly & rugged.

[tamarack]

LOL, sorry man.  Couldn't resist.

 

We went to my wife's grandmother's on the western shore of Maryland for Christmas....so, we had to blast through NJ to get there and went down 287 from the NY Thruway.  We stopped at Ramapo and up Skyline Drive to give us and the dog a walk in the woods.  The hills there were interesting--they reminded me some of the hills in western CT where my wife grew up and inlaws still live.  Rocky & oaky.  We had some nice views to the NW from there and it looked quite hilly & rugged.

 

No harm, no foul.  I tell people that New Jersey is a good place to be from - hundreds of miles from.

[N. OF PIKE]

Lol@ last comment. I'd say somewhere in the elevated interior is a good spot in sne for snow, if its n of pike, even better. Many more frz events in marginal airmasses, hold cad well, etc.