NNE Spring 2013 Thread

[eyewall]

I’ve been watching the snowfall from UVM in Burlington this afternoon.  I’m traveling toward the mountains right now on I-89, and I can see that the snow line is getting quite low in elevation at times – looks like down to around 1,000’ in some spots, but it’s hard to tell exactly where the line is between snow, mix, or rain.  Temperature at the Bolton Valley Weather Station at 2,100’ is 39.7 F with a dew point of 28.9 F, so I wouldn’t think one would need to go too much higher to see some flakes.

 

That makes a lot of sense and I am sure it gets a bit lower with higher precip rates and some evap cooling. I wouldn't be surprised if a few flakes did fly up there.

[eyewall]

Snow level got pretty low with this one. This was a nice looking snow squall/shower that headed right to Camels Hump as the sun shined through it:

 

 

[dendrite]

Interesting night in the yard last night. In a few hour span we had 2 turkeys, 2 deer, 2 opposums, and a raccoon.

Still mad about these clouds...the IR loop shows the crap uck we had overnight. Even right now I can see clear skies on the horizon in every direction around me. I didn't look for a cause, but judging by the IR loop it looked like some kind of mid level deformation axis with the way the cloud bands backed in and pivoted. Tonight will be a bit more difficult to pull off a 32F although there's an outside shot. It looks a lot more likely for CON.

[powderfreak]

Awesome shots of the showers Eyewall...so great to have another poster in the area. The CPV was always good for those wide sweeping views of showers, especially as they hit the mountains and gets backlit by the afternoon sun over New York.

And it wont be long till we are watching for flakes again....we'll get a similar set up in late September or early October usually.

Nothing really fell on Mansfield with this one...yesterday morning there was a light icy coating of like grauple and icy flakes reported on the Toll Road up high. The COOP reported a couple traces the past two days and that sounds good.

[J.Spin]

The snow levels did indeed get quite low yesterday as we were discussing; my wife said that they had snow in Morrisville, and they’re at ~650’ elevation.  There were just a few scattered drops of precipitation in our rain gauge when I checked it yesterday evening, but there was 0.04” in there this morning, and with temperatures down into the mid 30s F, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some flakes around last night.  It looks like the temperature was down to 24 F on Mt. Mansfield at 3,950’ and 30.9 F for Bolton Valley at 2,100’, so if they picked up precipitation like we did, there should be some accumulations somewhere in the higher elevations.  I can’t see anything white atop Robbins Mountain at the edge of the western slopes though, so any accumulations are likely to be above 2,000’.

[J.Spin]

And it wont be long till we are watching for flakes again....we'll get a similar set up in late September or early October usually.

 

Indeed the past couple of days have felt a lot like late September/early October; there’s that cool dry air, snow showers in the mountains, and the foliage is still only somewhat partial in the valleys and decreases as you go up in elevation.  We don’t quite have that fall coloring though.

[eyewall]

Awesome shots of the showers Eyewall...so great to have another poster in the area. The CPV was always good for those wide sweeping views of showers, especially as they hit the mountains and gets backlit by the afternoon sun over New York.

And it wont be long till we are watching for flakes again....we'll get a similar set up in late September or early October usually.

Nothing really fell on Mansfield with this one...yesterday morning there was a light icy coating of like grauple and icy flakes reported on the Toll Road up high. The COOP reported a couple traces the past two days and that sounds good.

 

Thank you! I wish I had my good camera on hand for the last one. I believe how close the snow got to the surface was largely rate dependent as well.

[eyewall]

Here are the non-instagram versions:

 

 

[eekuasepinniW]

Just noticed my solar radiation sensor scored a 1343 yesterday. 

[powderfreak]

I am confused by BTV's headlines today. Last night saw a freeze with no headlines in counties like Orange, Washington, and Lamoille...tonight is supposed to be similar but now they issue a Frost Advisory. Did the growing season start overnight? Also why no Freeze Warning?

[dendrite]

Just noticed my solar radiation sensor scored a 1343 yesterday. 

I've had occasional readings of 1300+...even up to 1500w/m^2 before. It usually only last a minute or 2. Some may say it's not possible since the solar constant is only about 1365w/m^2, and that's outside of our atmosphere, but I think it happens on variably cloudy days with cumulus around. Sometimes if you're getting direct radiation and there's enough diffuse radiation being scattered just right off of the Cu you get a brief spike above the constant. I've seen my temp respond with noticeable jumps with them too.

[Nittany88]

I am confused by BTV's headlines today. Last night saw a freeze with no headlines in counties like Orange, Washington, and Lamoille...tonight is supposed to be similar but now they issue a Frost Advisory. Did the growing season start overnight? Also why no Freeze Warning?

Growing season for central Vermont starts the 15th, so basically overnight haha.

[powderfreak]

Growing season for central Vermont starts the 15th, so basically overnight haha.

Haha I was wondering if that was how it worked...if its an arbitrary date or done on a year by year basis (ie. Any future cold snaps after this one would get an advisory this year). It just surprised me to see the additional counties added to the advisory area halfway through a 2-3 day cool spell.

[OceanStWx]

Haha I was wondering if that was how it worked...if its an arbitrary date or done on a year by year basis (ie. Any future cold snaps after this one would get an advisory this year). It just surprised me to see the additional counties added to the advisory area halfway through a 2-3 day cool spell.

 

It's based somewhat on climo, but mostly it's a cluster. At GYX we go by 5/10 on the coast, 5/20 outside of the mountains, and 5/30 for the rest. So any frost/freeze after those dates would get a headline. CAR apparently started the interior almost to Millinocket last week, which to me seems awfully early that far north. 

[CoastalWx]

It's based somewhat on climo, but mostly it's a cluster. At GYX we go by 5/10 on the coast, 5/20 outside of the mountains, and 5/30 for the rest. So any frost/freeze after those dates would get a headline. CAR apparently started the interior almost to Millinocket last week, which to me seems awfully early that far north. 

 

Oh that's good....I thought it was strictly on climo. That makes sense because lets face it....during warm Springs, things grow earlier and people tend to plant earlier...even though they shouldn't. 

[dendrite]

Had a visitor this evening...

 

[dendrite]

One more...

 

[eyewall]

One more...

 

 

Awesome!

[mreaves]

One more...

Uh-oh, wait to WXHype sees that yard. He'll call in an emergency Lesco air drop and commando mowing.

[dendrite]

Uh-oh, wait to WXHype sees that yard. He'll call in an emergency Lesco air drop and commando mowing.

I should've shown him the dandelions the other day!

31.0F here with a freeze. BML is down to a chilly 24F, but SLK has the lol with 20F...good chance they come in with teens in mid May.

[powderfreak]

Hit 32F at the 11:54pm obs and have been below freezing ever since. 27/24 at MVL and it looks frosty out there. Rare for us to not fog out here between the mountains, but impressive dry/cold airmass with low dews.

Surprised we didn't get a freeze warning if the growing season started yesterday... Though honestly most folks seemed well aware that it would get cold at night and really no one has anything important planted. Ive just never seen the growing season begin half-way through a cold snap, though understand the program and needing some headline to cover below freezing temps past date X.

[powderfreak]

I should've shown him the dandelions the other day!

31.0F here with a freeze. BML is down to a chilly 24F, but SLK has the lol with 20F...good chance they come in with teens in mid May.

Awesome bear and looked like your ground was white with frost away from that tree in the web cam. Sweet cam! I want one now.

[powderfreak]

BTV posted 5am temps to FB....SLK takes it home with 20F.

[dendrite]

Awesome bear and looked like your ground was white with frost away from that tree in the web cam. Sweet cam! I want one now.

The pic quality sorta stinks right now, but it's my own doing. I have it facing due west so the exposure is all messed up with my settings. I need to get it facing due north somehow without restricting the viewing of the yard critters. I keep the iris open a little more than I should for the nighttime IR too.

Min was 30.1F thanks to a near sunrise spike down. There's light frost on that cam pic...you can see the darker, warmer grass underneath the pear trees in the foreground.

[Allenson]

30 yesterday morning and 27 this morning for lows--both frosty.

 

Cool bear vids, Dendrite!

[mreaves]

28° today after 30° yesterday morning. 

[eekuasepinniW]

Dangerous low of 33.7

 

Just .7 degrees away from having my VP2 call me to tell me to go cover up the windmill palm which had its winter housing removed on April 26th.

[tamarack]

27 or 28 this morning, had 56/26 yesterday. No sub-25s so no leaf/bud damage (I think.) I've recorded 9 mornings at 32 or colder this month, tying 2007 for 2nd most in May since we moved here in 1998. Tops is 2002 with 11, avg is just under 6 and the 2 in 2011 is lowest. I'd guess it's at least 50/50 that we'll have another day or three of </= 32 this spring. Thru 5/14, the month is avg +2.2, with 69/39; never had a month with avg 30F diurnal range, though 2001 (29.87 on 69.03/39.16) was close.

[eyewall]

It looks like it could get a little gusty here in the CPV but below advisory criteria for now. With that said I have seen some strange winds here on random occasions. I am guessing that might be terrain driven at times.

[Nittany88]

Hit 32F at the 11:54pm obs and have been below freezing ever since. 27/24 at MVL and it looks frosty out there. Rare for us to not fog out here between the mountains, but impressive dry/cold airmass with low dews.

Surprised we didn't get a freeze warning if the growing season started yesterday... Though honestly most folks seemed well aware that it would get cold at night and really no one has anything important planted. Ive just never seen the growing season begin half-way through a cold snap, though understand the program and needing some headline to cover below freezing temps past date X.

Yeah its pretty much an arbitrary date based on Climo. There have been special occasions, such as in 2012, where the date has been changed. It was moved up last year because of the ridiculously warm March that started the growing season so early.