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NNE Winter 2012-13 Thread IV


klw

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I'll take it. Powder day.

 

Yep... we didn't get nearly as much as SB/MRG in this last two-punch event over the last 72 hours, but ended up with a surprising 4" at 3,000ft, bringing the 3-day total to 10".  So there's still some good fluff out there to ski.

 

I'll have some pics later, turned out to be a great day with much better than expected snow.

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I took a drive with a friend through the Whites this morning ... Pinkham and Crawford Notch ... lots of changeable weather with some sunny skies and then moderate to near-heavy snow squalls. I would've liked to be hiking in those conditions but my friend is not a winter hiker. Alas. Still, fun to be out in the mountains on a wintry day and a nice lunch in Conway afterwards.

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As usual, regardless of what looked like the heaviest squalls in the Sugarbush/MRG area and down in central NH, Jay Peak somehow manages another 6" ;)

 

My co-worker, who used to live and work at Jay, always jokes about it... saying they probably do get a touch more snow than elsewhere throughout the course of the season, but the locals always laughed at how "optimistic" it was most days and how they "hate to lose" in the snowfall game, lol.

 

This is my experience as well... Last time up at Jay, the mountain had ~4-6" on the Jet triple and Bonnie side, while over at the flyer it's skiing 2-8" on the trails, and maybe 8-12" in the woods.  Wind does a lot of work at Jay to move snow around... Of course, the snow report comes in saying "Over a foot of snow overnight."  Realistically, it was 4-6" at the base, and maybe ~8" up top- only the beaver pond glades and Big Jay had consistently ~1ft or more.  But most of the mountain skied signficantly less.

 

 

Like it's been observed, skiers naturally look for the deepest spots to ski and they "experience" the deeper snow and it's what they remember.  Seems Jay is the only mountain that optimistically "pads" their totals with any signficance these days with the internet makes stretching snowfall much more difficult.  Something doesn't sit right when Smuggs is reporting ~50% of what Jay is reporting.

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This is my experience as well... Last time up at Jay, the mountain had ~4-6" on the Jet triple and Bonnie side, while over at the flyer it's skiing 2-8" on the trails, and maybe 8-12" in the woods.  Wind does a lot of work at Jay to move snow around... Of course, the snow report comes in saying "Over a foot of snow overnight."  Realistically, it was 4-6" at the base, and maybe ~8" up top- only the beaver pond glades and Big Jay had consistently ~1ft or more.  But most of the mountain skied signficantly less.

 

 

Like it's been observed, skiers naturally look for the deepest spots to ski and they "experience" the deeper snow and it's what they remember.  Seems Jay is the only mountain that optimistically "pads" their totals with any signficance these days with the internet makes stretching snowfall much more difficult.  Something doesn't sit right when Smuggs is reporting ~50% of what Jay is reporting.

 

I couldn't even count the number of times I've seen that same statement on countless internet ski boards/forums, as well as random facebook posts, and the like.  It really doesn't seem to bother Jay Peak... every single storm you'll see a post somewhere saying they reported 12" but it was more like 8" over most of the mountain.  They do get more snow than elsewhere probably on a seasonal level, but not nearly as ridiculously as they seem to claim.  Just look at the seasonal snowfall totals in this area...

 

Jay Peak...292"

Smuggs...224"

Stowe...231"

Bolton Valley...205" (although shorter measuring season, so they've missed some Nov/early Dec snowfalls)

Sugarbush...236"

 

Somehow, a mountain along the same geographic Spine and one county north has received 60-70 inches more snow than the rest of the mountains.  And this hasn't been a winter that favors areas further north with tons of upslope snowfalls...in fact its the opposite with the heaviest snow usually being south and east lately.  If anything snowfall should be decreasing as we head north this season (which it sort of does from Sugarbush to Smuggs), but then there is Jay Peak that is so ridiculously higher than everywhere else.  I could buy like 250-260" or so, but 292" when everyone else is having the same season relative to normal is a little hard to believe.  Especially when the Jay Peak base area Co-Op's snow depths have been pretty closely mirroring my 1,550ft snow depths this season.

 

Heck, it drifts around at Stowe, too, but that's why I have a sheltered snow measuring spot... which leads to the discussion of people skiing/riding in the deepest snow they can find and then remembering that.  Today I had a lot of folks telling me I was under-reporting with 2-4" (3,000ft board had 3.75/3.8"), and if you look at the pictures, it looks deeper than 2-4"... but that's because we aren't skiing on the scoured areas.  Yes, a lot of the snow in areas also blows into the trees, so sure you ski boot deep powder in spots in the glades but that doesn't mean 8" of snow fell last night.  We've also had 10" on the upper half of the mountain in the past 3 days...and it skied like 10 inches in a lot of glades.  But again, I was telling folks that doesn't mean it all fell last night.  It just means no one has skied this stuff in a few days, haha.

 

This was a 2-4 inch day. 

 

64762_10151290642702382_1259400188_n.jpg

 

Skiing deep drifts doesn't mean it snowed a ton.  It just means the wind blew.

 

45716_10151290642122382_428503938_n.jpg

 

577153_10151290642647382_1260324236_n.jp

 

530353_10151290642977382_1950008398_n.jp

 

735233_10151290642447382_321371774_n.jpg

 

575947_10151290643047382_1018852113_n.jp

 

390457_10101526695541760_759145827_n.jpg

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I couldn't even count the number of times I've seen that same statement on countless internet ski boards/forums, as well as random facebook posts, and the like.  It really doesn't seem to bother Jay Peak... every single storm you'll see a post somewhere saying they reported 12" but it was more like 8" over most of the mountain.  They do get more snow than elsewhere probably on a seasonal level, but not nearly as ridiculously as they seem to claim.  Just look at the seasonal snowfall totals in this area...

 

Jay Peak...292"

Smuggs...224"

Stowe...231"

Bolton Valley...205" (although shorter measuring season, so they've missed some Nov/early Dec snowfalls)

Sugarbush...236"

 

Somehow, a mountain along the same geographic Spine and one county north has received 60-70 inches more snow than the rest of the mountains.  And this hasn't been a winter that favors areas further north with tons of upslope snowfalls...in fact its the opposite with the heaviest snow usually being south and east lately.  If anything snowfall should be decreasing as we head north this season (which it sort of does from Sugarbush to Smuggs), but then there is Jay Peak that is so ridiculously higher than everywhere else.  I could buy like 250-260" or so, but 292" when everyone else is having the same season relative to normal is a little hard to believe.  Especially when the Jay Peak base area Co-Op's snow depths have been pretty closely mirroring my 1,550ft snow depths this season.

 

Heck, it drifts around at Stowe, too, but that's why I have a sheltered snow measuring spot... which leads to the discussion of people skiing/riding in the deepest snow they can find and then remembering that.  Today I had a lot of folks telling me I was under-reporting with 2-4" (3,000ft board had 3.75/3.8"), and if you look at the pictures, it looks deeper than 2-4"... but that's because we aren't skiing on the scoured areas.  Yes, a lot of the snow in areas also blows into the trees, so sure you ski boot deep powder in spots in the glades but that doesn't mean 8" of snow fell last night.  We've also had 10" on the upper half of the mountain in the past 3 days...and it skied like 10 inches in a lot of glades.  But again, I was telling folks that doesn't mean it all fell last night.  It just means no one has skied this stuff in a few days, haha.

 

This was a 2-4 inch day. 

 

64762_10151290642702382_1259400188_n.jpg

 

Skiing deep drifts doesn't mean it snowed a ton.  It just means the wind blew.

 

45716_10151290642122382_428503938_n.jpg

 

577153_10151290642647382_1260324236_n.jp

 

530353_10151290642977382_1950008398_n.jp

 

735233_10151290642447382_321371774_n.jpg

 

575947_10151290643047382_1018852113_n.jp

 

390457_10101526695541760_759145827_n.jpg

There were a few events where Jay blew everyone out of the water...most noted that event in February where they got like 26" while most others got like 15", from what I remember. They probably have gotten the most snow, but I agree that 292" is obnoxious...maybe 260" tops.

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There were a few events where Jay blew everyone out of the water...most noted that event in February where they got like 26" while most others got like 15", from what I remember. They probably have gotten the most snow, but I agree that 292" is obnoxious...maybe 260" tops.

 

Oh they definitely get more snow on an annual average basis.  Snowfall averages increase as you head north up the Spine.

 

Really that one event stands out... but I mean to be *that* much different than everyone else, especially in a winter where being further north hasn't really meant all that much aside from one or two events.  The ones that get me are when a coastal storm or SNE/CNE storm brings like 12" to Killington, 8" to Sugarbush, 6" to Stowe/Smuggs (in a consistent south to north gradient) and then Jay shows 12" just like the jackpot zone in central/southern VT, lol.  Meteorologically, the storm trends up and down the spine usually make sense depending on where the best forcing is, storm tracks, vort max passages, etc but Jay usually bucks that haha.

 

Anyway, it is well noted by many (like ono's post), including folks who used to live/work there, that the reported snowfall is almost always "optimistic."  You add up a bunch of optimistic observations and you end up with 60-70" more snowfall than the same mountain chain one county south.  It just makes you wonder when every other northern VT ski area is within like 10" of each other and Jay like 30% higher than everyone else, especially in a winter when the primary gradient is not latitudinal in nature.

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Thanks, Jeff. Went with my initials for 3 years and figured it was time for a change. Thought I would use a name that reflects my livelihood.

Seems like a logical move.

Did you have the snow events listed before?  I recall the total but not the "itemized" version.  In looking at it, I can see it's been a Bath winter in Maine.  From 12/27 forward, you've gotten more snowfall than my place in every event except 2/27, a near-32 snowfall where being inland helped (as it did in the mid-December storms.) 

From this distance, looks like Tuesday's system may dump on both of us. 

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Nice snow. Thought id be confined to the groomers but the woods were good. Thin in spots. Friend i was skiing with hit a ditch getting back onto a trial and snapped both his ankles. Puts a damper on things.

How we looking for tuesday? I gotta figure out a criteria for deciding whether to come back up midweek since i have to be in ny monday and friday.

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Nice snow. Thought id be confined to the groomers but the woods were good. Thin in spots. Friend i was skiing with hit a ditch getting back onto a trial and snapped both his ankles. Puts a damper on things.

How we looking for tuesday? I gotta figure out a criteria for deciding whether to come back up midweek since i have to be in ny monday and friday.

NVT is looking good no matter which model you look at. BTV afternoon AFD mentioned potential for widespread 12+ just from the synoptic snows, then the upslope machine kicks in through late week. Sorry to hear about your friend's injury.
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I think there’s been enough new snow from these past two events to warrant a trip up to the mountain though, so hopefully we’ll get up and I’ll be able to make some measurements myself as well.

 

We were up at Bolton for turns from late morning into the afternoon, and I can pass along some snow observations.  I did numerous checks up in the 3,000’ range today and was getting depths from 6 to 9 inches in areas that didn’t have drifting.  That’s after some settling over the past couple of days, but the 7 inches reported for the past two events certainly seems to be in the ballpark.  Naturally the powder skiing naturally wasn’t bottomless everywhere, but you could definitely get a good percentage of bottomless turns on appropriate terrain, and bringing that fat skis helped with that.  There were plenty of good turns out there though:

 

16MAR13A.jpg

 

 

NVT is looking good no matter which model you look at. BTV afternoon AFD mentioned potential for widespread 12+ just from the synoptic snows, then the upslope machine kicks in through late week.

 

 

I saw that:

 

STILL A LITTLE FAR OUT IN TIME TO HASH OUT ALL THE FINER MESOSCALE DETAILS OF THE STORM IN REGARDS TO QPF/SNOW AND EAST/SOUTHEAST UPSLOPE/DOWNSLOPE POTENTIAL ALONG THE GREEN MOUNTAIN SPINE AND WHITE MOUNTAINS...BUT EARLY INDICATIONS ARE THAT THE NORTH COUNTRY WILL SEE A SIGNIFICANT LATE SEASON STORM WITH UPWARDS OF A FOOT OR MORE OF SNOW POSSIBLE THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. STAY TUNED.

 

Let’s hope that potential persists.

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Nice snow. Thought id be confined to the groomers but the woods were good. Thin in spots. Friend i was skiing with hit a ditch getting back onto a trial and snapped both his ankles. Puts a damper on things.

How we looking for tuesday? I gotta figure out a criteria for deciding whether to come back up midweek since i have to be in ny monday and friday.

Jesus...snapped both ankles?! That's some serious stuff. Hopefully no long term damage.

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Phenomenal discussion this morning from Taber at BTV... as he says below, the key to this storm is the strength of the secondary low.  GFS/UK/ECM all were around 996mb at hour 72 over SNE.  Solid hits.  The GGEM was 988mb in the same position, and because of the strength, it was a huge hit.  NAM and all the meso-scale models are significantly weaker... like 1004mb weak wave moving off the SNE coast...and are pretty much only an advisory level snow event because of it.

 

 

.SHORT TERM /MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...

-- Changed Discussion --

AS OF 410 AM EDT SUNDAY...A MAJOR LATE SEASON SNOWSTORM IS

EXPECTED TO IMPACT THE NORTH COUNTRY MONDAY NIGHT AND

TUESDAY...WITH SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATION LIKELY. A WET/HIGH

DENSITY SNOW IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE VALLEYS WITH A FEW POWER

OUTAGES AND SOME TREE DAMAGE POSSIBLE. WINTER STORM WATCHES WILL

LIKELY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY...AS EVENT BECMS CLOSER. EARLY SNOW

TOTALS ARE 6 TO 12" VALLEYS AND 12 TO 20" IN THE MTNS BY WEDS

AFTN.

 

FIRST ON MONDAY...SFC HIGH PRES AND MAINLY CLR SKIES IN THE MORNING

WITH MID/UPPER LVL CLOUDS ARRIVING AHEAD OF SNOWSTORM DURING THE

AFTERNOON HRS. TEMPS WL WARM INTO THE 20S MTNS TO 30S IN THE WARMER

VALLEYS.

 

MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY...

WATER VAPOR SHOWS POTENT 5H ENERGY ACRS THE NW CONUS...ALONG WITH A

VERY STRONG 25H JET. THIS ENERGY WL QUICKLY MOVE ACRS THE NORTHERN

ROCKIES TODAY AND INTO THE GREAT LAKES BY MONDAY. MEANWHILE A

SECONDARY PIECE OF ENERGY ROTATES AROUND DEVELOPING DEEP NEGATIVELY

TILTED TROF OVER THE GREAT LAKES AND DEVELOPS SFC LOW PRES NEAR

DELMARVA BY 12Z TUESDAY. THE MAGNITUDE OF MID/UPPER LVL TROF AND

TRACK/INTERACTION OF THIS S/W FEATURE...IS CRITICAL FOR WHEN SFC LOW

PRES DEVELOPS ALONG THE COAST AND POTENTIAL IMPACTS. GFS/ECMWF AND

GEM SHOW MUCH DEEPER MID/UPPER LVL TROF ACRS THE CENTRAL GREAT LAKES

AND ASSOCIATED COASTAL LOW PRES DEVELOPMENT...WHILE NAM12 IS MUCH

WEAKER. WL USE THE GFS/ECMWF AND GEM BLEND...FOR THIS PACKAGE AND

CONT WITH PREVIOUS COUPLE OF DAYS FCST WITH 100 PERCENT POPS AND

GREATER QPF/SNOWFALL MONDAY NIGHT/TUESDAY.

 

FEEL MOISTURE/QPF WL COME IN TWO SURGES FROM MONDAY NIGHT THRU

TUESDAY...ASSOCIATED WITH TWO DIFFERENT FORCING FEATURES. FIRST

FEATURE ARRIVES ON MONDAY NIGHT...ASSOCIATED WITH STRONG LOW TO MID

LVL WAA AND GOOD 850 TO 500MB RH. IN ADDITION...FALLING HEIGHTS

ASSOCIATED WITH DEEPENING TROF AND GOOD ULVL DIVERGENCE SIGNATURE

WITH 25H JET WL PROMOTE DEEP LAYER LIFT. I WOULD EXPECT A BAND OF

MODERATE SNOW TO LIFT FROM SW TO NE ACRS OUR FA ON MONDAY

NIGHT...WITH ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 6 INCHES LIKELY. ADDITIONAL HEAVY

SNOW ACCUMULATION WL BE LIKELY LATE TUES AFTN INTO WEDS WITH 2ND

FEATURE...AS COASTAL LOW TAKES OVER.

 

SOME SE SHADOWING WL BE POSSIBLE ACRS THE WESTERN SLOPES/NEK AND

PARTS OF THE WESTERN DACKS...AS SOUNDINGS SHOW 2500 FEET JET OF 45

TO 55 KNOTS...WITH INITIAL BAND OF WAA SNOW MONDAY NIGHT. GUSTY SE

WINDS TO 40 MPH WL BE POSSIBLE WESTERN SLOPES. THIS WL HELP TO

ENHANCE LIFT/QPF ON SE UPSLOPE REGIONS OF THE GREENS/DACKS.

INTERESTING TO SEE THE DOWNSLOPE WARMING SIGNATURE ON THE 1000MB

TEMPS ACRS THE NEK/WESTERN DACKS...WHERE VALUES REACH 2.5C ON

TUESDAY...BEFORE COOLING AS COASTAL LOW TAKES OVER. THIS BL

WARMING AND SE DOWNSLOPE FLW...WL LIMIT QPF/SNOWFALL ACRS THESE

REGIONS ON MONDAY NIGHT/TUES. HOWEVER...AS DEEP CYCLOGENESIS

OCCURS FROM S/W ENERGY ROUNDING THE TROF BASE AND DUAL 25H JET

COUPLET...EXPECT AREAL COVERAGE/INTENSITY OF PRECIP TO INCREASE

AGAIN AFT 18Z TUES. THE PROGGED SFC LOW PRES TRACK FROM CAPE COD

CANAL TO THE GULF OF MAINE IS VERY FAVORABLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT

SNOWFALL ACRS MOST OF THE FA...INCLUDING THE NEK...WITH TOTALS

APPROACHING 10 INCHES BY WEDS ACRS THE CPV/NEK AND 18 INCHES IN

THE MTNS...LESSER AMOUNTS FOR THE SLV/WESTERN DACKS. SNOW RATIOS

WL BE HIGHER AT NIGHT 15 TO 1...AND LESS DURING THE DAY...DUE TO

BL WARMING FROM MARCH SUN ANGLE. SOUNDINGS SHOW WARM LAYER AROUND

5KFT ACRS SOUTHERN VT WITH TEMPS APPROACHING 0C...WOULD NOT BE

SURPRISED IF SOME SLEET/EVEN RAIN MIXED IN NEAR RUTLAND/VSF AND

ACRS THE WESTERN DACKS FROM GOUVERNEUR TO POTSDAM.

 

FOR THE 2ND PART OF THE STORM...THE FCST KEY WL BE HOW QUICKLY AND

WHERE SECONDARY SFC CYCLOGENESIS OCCURS ALONG THE COAST...AND HOW

QUICKLY THE SYSTEM DEVELOPS A CLOSED 5H/7H CIRCULATION TO ADVECT

DEEP ATLANTIC MOISTURE BACK INTO OUR CWA. GEM SHOWS 984MB LOW PRES

NEAR WORCESTER MA AT 00Z WEDS...WITH A NEGATIVELY TILTED MID/UPPER

LVL TROF AXIS...WITH THE GFS SHOWING 993MB...AND NAM12 ONLY A 1000MB

WITH MUCH LESS LIFT/QPF ACRS OUR CWA. THE ECMWF/GFS/GEM SHOW RAPID

REDEVELOPMENT OF DEEP LAYER MOISTURE ACRS OUR CWA ON TUES

AFTN/EVENING...ASSOCIATED WITH STRONG UVVS. SHOULD BE INTERESTING TO

WATCH THE RADAR FILL IN AND IR SATELLITE WITH COOLING CLOUD

TOPS...AS SYSTEM RAPIDLY INTENSIFIES...AS PROGGED BY THESE MODELS.

STAY TUNED. TEMPS WL BE MAINLY IN THE 20S MTNS TO L30S

VALLEYS...MAYBE M30S SE DOWNSLOPE AREAS ON TUESDAY.

-- End Changed Discussion --

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^ Yeah, the NAM is quite a bit weaker but still a decent hit--particularly central/southern VT/NH.  Either way, it looks pretty good for a nice late season event which should really help prolong the snowpack/ski season around here.

 

Just when I was personally starting to turn the corner, the Old Man reels me back in.  ;)

 

Cold one this morning--down to 6F.

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NVT is looking good no matter which model you look at. BTV afternoon AFD mentioned potential for widespread 12+ just from the synoptic snows, then the upslope machine kicks in through late week. Sorry to hear about your friend's injury.

Thanks.

Interestingly, the injuries, in and of themselves, are not too bad, but having them on both legs at the same time is seriously incapacitating.

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