NNE Winter 2013-14 Part I

[powderfreak]

I saw your comment PF, so I wasn’t even paying attention to what was going on our there, but my wife got back from picking up some pizza and said it has been snowing since before she left the house at ~6:15 PM.  Anyway, the snow started some time before that point, but as you said, it’s just been very light so far.  I’ve set up the J&E Productions Web Cam and a couple of my measurement blocks, and I’ll leave that in place for the duration of the event, so anyone that wants to get a feel for what’s going on here in the Waterbury area during the storm can use that text link above.

 

 

That is awesome.  Wow, I want a set-up like that....love the snow cams they have out west at the ski resorts and you've got the same thing set-up essentially.  Live/real-time snowfall.

[wxmanmitch]

It looks like there's a rare S to N moving band of Lake Champlain effect snow on this radar imagery. Coupled with seeder feeder from aloft, it's probably snowing pretty hard in there. Interesting stuff.

 

 

[OceanStWx]

It looks like there's a rare S to N moving band of Lake Champlain effect snow on this radar imagery. Coupled with seeder feeder from aloft, it's probably snowing pretty hard in there. Interesting stuff.

 

Maybe a little land breeze/drainage winds converging over the lake?

[Hitman]

Started snowing here around 5. Intensity picked up about 15-20 minutes ago.

[Hitman]

We have been trying some cloud seeding today at the mountain, but the inversion was stopping the vertical extent of the moisture, lol.  Snowmaking operations from mid-mountain and lower have left a day-long (the moisture pool is still building along the east slope of Mansfield) cloud bank of ice crystals and droplets.  Maybe this will lead to some seeder feeder or at least help moisten the low levels? 

 

This whole cloud is caused by snowmaking... over 7,000 gallons of water per minute (almost a half million gallons per hour) getting pumped into the atmosphere on the east side of Mansfield.  Every little bit of moisture helps, right?  lol.

 

 

 

We had they same thing. Beautiful morning. Cold but no wind.

[powderfreak]

It looks like there's a rare S to N moving band of Lake Champlain effect snow on this radar imagery. Coupled with seeder feeder from aloft, it's probably snowing pretty hard in there. Interesting stuff.

 

Yeah that's awesome... the air is so cold that even flowing south to north its creating a lake enhanced band it looks like.  It does have the curl though of some sort lake breeze.

 

[powderfreak]

I like this update from BTV, haha...

 

.NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM SUNDAY MORNING/...
AS OF 612 PM EST SATURDAY...MINOR UPDATES TO CRNT FCST TO TIME
ARRIVAL OF SNOW ACRS NORTHERN FA...INCREASE SNOW AMOUNTS SLIGHTLY
ACRS CENTRAL/NORTHERN VT MTNS AND PARTS OF THE DACKS...AND TO
MENTION SLEET ACRS EXTREME SOUTHERN RUTLAND COUNTY.

RADAR/SFC OBS SHOW LIGHT SNOW RAPIDLY DEVELOPING ACRS
CENTRAL/SOUTHERN VT AND ALL OF NORTHERN NY ATTM....WITH BTV
ALREADY DOWN TO 2SM -SN. THIS TREND WL CONTINUE THRU THE EVENING
HOURS.

CRNT WATER VAPOR SHOWS POTENT S/W ENERGY RACING ACRS THE OHIO
VALLEY INTO CENTRAL PA ATTM...WITH WELL DEFINE DRY SLOT DEVELOPING
FROM KY TO SOUTHERN PA. MEANWHILE...SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS A CLASSIC
COLD AIR DAMMING SIGNATURE WITH HIGH PRES OVER NORTHERN MAINE AND
A DUAL AREA OF LOW PRES FROM CENTRAL OHIO INTO EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA. AS S/W ENERGY ACRS OHIO INTERACTS WITH DEVELOPING LOW
PRES ON THE LEE SIDE OF THE APPALACHIAN MTNS...EXPECT COASTAL LOW
PRES TO QUICKLY DEVELOP AND RACE NORTHEAST OVERNIGHT. LATEST 3HR
PRES TRENDS SHOWS 3 TO 5 MB FALLS ACRS THE EASTERN MID ATLANTIC
STATES ATTM. LATEST TRENDS HAVE BEEN FOR COASTAL SFC LOW PRES TO
TRACK SLIGHTLY FURTHER NORTH...FROM EASTERN DELAWARE BY 03Z TO NYC
BY 06Z...AND ACRS THE CAPE COD CANAL BY 12Z AND INTO THE GULF OF
MAINE BY 15Z SUNDAY.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT SFC LOW TRACK FOR A MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW
EVENT ACRS OUR CWA. GIVEN SFC TRACK SLIGHTLY FURTHER NORTH...I
INCREASED SNOW AMOUNTS SLIGHTLY ACRS CENTRAL/NORTHERN VT...AND
MENTIONED JUST A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SLEET IN SOUTHERN RUTLAND
COUNTY. LATEST 18Z NAM AND RAP SHOW WARMING BTWN 4000 FT AND 5000
FT ASSOCIATED WITH POTENT 925MB TO 850MB JET OF 50 TO 70 KNOTS.
BOTH MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW TEMPS IN WARM LAYER REACHING >0C.
OTHERWISE...NOSE OF STRONG LLVL JET WL HELP ADVECT DEEP LAYER
ATLANTIC MOISTURE INTO OUR REGION AHEAD OF DEVELOPING COASTAL LOW
PRES. IN ADDITION...RAP13 AND LATEST NAM/WRF SHOW A BAND OF VERY
STRONG 850 TO 700MB FGEN FORCING AND DEEP LAYER UVVS LIFTING FROM
SOUTH TO NORTH ACRS OUR CWA BTWN 06Z-15Z SUNDAY. THIS WL RESULT IN
A BAND OF VERY HEAVY SNOWFALL WITH HRLY SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2
INCHES PER HOUR LIKELY. THIS BAND WL CONT TO MOVE...BEFORE GOING
STATIONARY ACRS OUR NORTHERN CWA NEAR THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER BY
EARLY SUNDAY MORNING...THEN SWING BACK TO THE SOUTHEAST AS SFC LOW
PRES RACES NE INTO THE CANADIAN MARITIMES. INTERESTING THE SREF
SNOWFALL RATE SHOWS 70 TO 90% OF SNOWFALL RATES OF 1" AND 20 TO
30% OF SNOWFALL RATES AS HIGH AS 2 INCHES PER HOUR TONIGHT.
RAP/NAM AND GFS SHOW MID/UPPER LVL DRY SLOT IMPACTING SOUTHERN NEW
ENGLAND...WHILE MOST OF OUR CWA STAYS IN THE FAVORABLE 850 TO
500MB MOISTURE FIELDS THRU 15Z SUNDAY. THIS QUICKLY SHIFTS EAST OF
OUR CWA BY 18Z...AND LOOK FOR A RAPID DECREASE IN SNOWFALL ACRS
OUR CWA.

EXPECT TRRN/ELEVATION TO PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN STORM TOTAL
SNOWFALL...WITH A GENERAL 8 TO 12 INCHES LIKELY. THINKING AMOUNTS
WL BE NEAR 15 INCHES FROM KILLINGTON/LUDLOW TO
STOWE/MPV/BROOKFIELD TO WALDEN/JAY PEAK...WITH ONLY 4 TO 8 INCHES
IN THE DOWNSLOPE/SHADOWING REGIONS OF THE NEK AND PARTS OF
RUTLAND/ADDISON COUNTIES. IN ADDITION...EXPECT SOME WIND GUSTS
BTWN 30 AND 40 MPH ALONG THE IMMEDIATE WESTERN SLOPES FROM RUTLAND
TO JERICHO.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Nobody has really commented on start time, but we saturated just fine here. Started at 730. SN- 6/1 at my house.

[MainePhotog]

Light snow just beginning. Roads are lightly dusted. 10.3°F

[powderfreak]

Nobody has really commented on start time, but we saturated just fine here. Started at 730. SN- 6/1 at my house.

Started around 6:30 back this way. Somewhere between 0.5-1" by the looks of it at almost 9pm. Not coming in hard, haha. Still started earlier than I thought.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Started around 6:30 back this way. Somewhere between 0.5-1" by the looks of it at almost 9pm. Not coming in hard, haha. Still started earlier than I thought.

Yeah, we saturated quick, but its light. 

 

Heavier stuff wants supposed to start until after 6z anyway.

[ono]

yeah... missing out down in Mass... well, sort of. it's cranking right now 1"/hr and <1/4 vis.  ~3" and rapidly accumulating on its way north.

 

Turning out to be a nice start to the season here.

 

edit: got home 20 minutes ago, and the car already has 1" on it.  So it's really cranking out there.  get ready folks!

[OceanStWx]

Wetbulbing here at the office. Down to 6.6 from a "high" this evening of 8.9 F.

[Lava Rock]

Just ripped it up with some more wood on the bon fire. Life is good

Sent from my LG-E980 using Tapatalk

[ctsnowstorm628]

BTV going all in.

 

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

[dendrite]

Looks like the heavies are about to arrive.

[weatherMA]

1.0" 10/7

Here it comes.

[eyewall]

Got an inch or so here so far. Very powdery and dry, but watch out for those uphills in a car. Some people are getting stuck near I-89 on E. Allen St in Winooski.

[ctsnowstorm628]

1.0" 6/2

[J.Spin]

BTV going all in.

 

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

 

LOL, nice cts, thanks for pointing out that update – just solid vertical stripes for the accumulations bands:

 

[Hitman]

2-3" so far.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Very grainy snow here in Lyndonville. KCDA reporting between 1-1.75SM snow, but nothing impressive. I'd like to see this pick up to really get excited.

[weatherMA]

1SM -SN

1.4" as of 11:15. Hope to be at 3" by 12:15

[dendrite]

For those about to rock, we salute you.

 

[weatherMA]

Up to mod snow now. About to rock. Up to 11F.

[weatherMA]

Raked.

[mreaves]

Big flakes now. 3" new and still 4.8F. Also saw 4 or 5 deer in the backyard when I was out measuring. Love these snowfalls with little wind. Everything is muffled and quiet.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 2.7” Snow/0.23” L.E.

 

I made a midnight clearing of the snowboards, and found 2.7” on there.  One interesting observation came from when I was turning the boards vertically to knock the snow off – the bottom ~1” stayed on the board and it was obviously a different (much denser) consistency than the layer above.  That bottom layer likely came from the early snow in this storm that was comprised of very small flakes.  The aggregate density of the snow that has fallen in this time block is 8.5% H2O, although I suspect the bottom portion was denser than that, and the top portion was less dense than that.  The snowfall rate while I was out there was probably in the 1”/hr range, nothing outrageous, but decent, steady snow.

 

I’ve also got the corresponding midnight image from the J&E Productions Web Cam below; accumulations aren’t perfectly even on all faces of the blocks, since even in a relatively calm location all it takes is the slightest bit of air flow to redistribute the flakes, but I’d say the mean depth off those two blocks is right in the range of what I found on the snowboards:

 

 

Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 2.7 inches

New Liquid: 0.23 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 11.7

Snow Density: 8.5% H2O

Temperature: 9.3 F

Sky: Snow (2-12 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 6.0 inches

[ctsnowstorm628]

Best snow of the day right now. 9/6 with SN. Nice flakes.

 

2.4" on 0.15" LWE

[weatherMA]

4.0" here

1.9" last hour. SN now after an hour of SN+