NNE Spring

[J.Spin]

Snowing again up high...this mornings snow melted quickly but should accumulate a little this evening and tonight.

 

Again a nice bright band ring around the BTV radar site, especially near the Spine where precip is likely heaviest with W/NW flow up to 12k feet. Usually that should get a Froude of 1 or higher without any low level veering, but flow is weak so probably keeping things centered over the Spine.

 

It’s nice to see the precipitation has changed back to snow up high – we’ve had some steady rains this afternoon – looks like the Froude Number is a bit less than one:

 

[powderfreak]

Cool, JSpin...I had looked and it said Froude Number unavailable so was taking a shot in the dark. The weak flow definitely isn't allowing much propagation downwind of the Spine, though more general synoptic rains are occurring from lift higher in the atmosphere.

[Nittany88]

Cool, JSpin...I had looked and it said Froude Number unavailable so was taking a shot in the dark. The weak flow definitely isn't allowing much propagation downwind of the Spine, though more general synoptic rains are occurring from lift higher in the atmosphere.

Froude goes down the tank overnight.

 

15z- 1.33

18z- 1.81

21z- 1.29

00z- 0.87

03z- 0.49

06z- 0.36

09z- 0.21

12z- 0.31

[ORH_wxman]

I wanted to congrats powdefreak on experiencing the coldest March on record for his state 2 years after he got to sit in his hammock for the warmest March on record.....revised NCDC data puts 2014 as the coldest March on record for the state of Vermont. He was so worried that it couldn't get cold there anymore....now he has experienced the coldest March mother nature can offer ever since NCDC kept records....back when his Scandnavian ancestors were skiing on wooden skis.
 
Congrats my friend:
 
 




You beat out 1916 by 0.3F.
 

 

Now you can truly feel you didn't miss out on late season skiing like your great grandparents got. None of that anecdotel "we used to have perfect conditions until May 1st" crap. You got the best there is to offer in 2014.

 

 

Also, only 1993-1994 was colder than 2013-2014 since 1977-1978 for December-March for Vermont.

[powderfreak]

Awesome, Will

How does the NCDC calculate those on a state-wide plate? Is it from whatever Coop and long-term climo sites they can get? Does that average temp represent like a mean elevation or something? I wonder statistically speaking, on a 100+ year data set what the chances are of having the warmest and coldest values being within two years of each other. That's sort of absurd, haha.

I really doubted the atmosphere had it in it anymore, there's certainly an upward bend in that graph post 1985 as far as March average temps (the above normal temps were getting higher above, and the belows weren't going as low)...but nice to see Ma Nature can throw us a bone

For the record, I have no desire to see Jan or Feb break their coldest month records...March was cold enough, no need for consistent -20s and -30s like Jan/Feb would probably require. That and the lack of snow that would come with a polar vortex in those months. March was a perfect month for it as it maximized snow chances straight to the end of the month...late enough in the season where record cold means above normal snowfall, and not the Jan/Feb design of only a few inches of arctic sand throughout the entire month in brutal cold.

[J.Spin]

For the record, I have no desire to see Jan or Feb break their coldest month records...March was cold enough, no need for consistent -20s and -30s like Jan/Feb would probably require. That and the lack of snow that would come with a polar vortex in those months. March was a perfect month for it as it maximized snow chances straight to the end of the month...late enough in the season where record cold means above normal snowfall, and not the Jan/Feb design of only a few inches of arctic sand throughout the entire month in brutal cold.

 

Well, we can see where this past Dec/Jan couplet sits with respect to the last several; it’s down near half the average snowfall.  There’s little desire to repeat that performance for two key base-building months:

 

[CoastalWx]

Hopefully a 2010 style -NAO for NNE this year with our burgeoning Nino.

[tamarack]

But very fluffy snow when you get 500" and your depth maxes around 72". Similar to when people wonder how JSpin can get 200" of snowfall but have a depth that maxes around 40". Tamarack or Dendrite get 500" of snow and they have 350" of it on the ground afterwards, lol. From a skiing perspective though, the snow quality and quantity of that orographic fluff cannot be achieved synoptically except in like a deformation band or CCB in a strong storm system.

Maybe 200". 

Over 16 yr my max depth has averaged just under 1/3 of my seasonal snowfall (29" and 88", respectively), with colder winters at 35+ and warm winters (01-02 and 05-06) barely over 20%.  13-14 at 42% was 2nd highest, topped only by 08-09 at 48%.  That winter had the benefit of 24.5" of 13:1 snow in late Feb to reach 49" on 2/23, which dropped to 43" by the 24th.  Oddly (to me), my pack % of snowfall has been nearly 4% higher in New Sharon than it had been in Ft. Kent (32.4% vs 28.6%), though milder Gardiner at 24.8% seems logical.  A better snowpack retention metric might be SDD per snowfall inch.  There logic reigns, with FK at 21", Gardiner at 13", and NS in between where it "should" be at 18".

 

Greatest snow depth I can find for New England is Pinkham's 164" on 2/27/69, toward the end of their 77" share of the 100-hr snowstorm.  Mansfield reached 149" that same year (in early April) and melted off the last in early June, 3 weeks later than Pinkham.

 

Edit:  Great info, Will.  I suspect that NH/Maine would look similar, maybe not with 2014 as champion but probably a contender.  The key to the March cold was n't super-frigid mornings (I've recorded colder in 2001,2003,2007, and 2011) nor brutal maxima (also have recorded colder in 4 other years, with 2007 leading the way.)  It's the sustained cold, featuring 8 mornings at -14 or colder, and lack of warmth - only 3 days even reached 40 and none past 45.

[J.Spin]

It's just an interesting observation about the relationship of snowfall to snow depth...and that guy looked to measure almost 500" in town only clearing his board once every morning! That's absurd. But very fluffy snow when you get 500" and your depth maxes around 72". Similar to when people wonder how JSpin can get 200" of snowfall but have a depth that maxes around 40". Tamarack or Dendrite get 500" of snow and they have 350" of it on the ground afterwards, lol. From a skiing perspective though, the snow quality and quantity of that orographic fluff cannot be achieved synoptically except in like a deformation band or CCB in a strong storm system.

 

Over 16 yr my max depth has averaged just under 1/3 of my seasonal snowfall (29" and 88", respectively), with colder winters at 35+ and warm winters (01-02 and 05-06) barely over 20%.  13-14 at 42% was 2nd highest, topped only by 08-09 at 48%.  That winter had the benefit of 24.5" of 13:1 snow in late Feb to reach 49" on 2/23, which dropped to 43" by the 24th.  Oddly (to me), my pack % of snowfall has been nearly 4% higher in New Sharon than it had been in Ft. Kent (32.4% vs 28.6%), though milder Gardiner at 24.8% seems logical.  A better snowpack retention metric might be SDD per snowfall inch.  There logic reigns, with FK at 21", Gardiner at 13", and NS in between where it "should" be at 18".

 

Seeing the above, I just ran the numbers on my data set; the snow depth max to snowfall ratio comes in at 18.0%, not far off the 1 to 5 ratio that PF suggested, and SDD to snowfall ratio comes in at 9.5 for the same period.

[ORH_wxman]

Awesome, Will

How does the NCDC calculate those on a state-wide plate? Is it from whatever Coop and long-term climo sites they can get? Does that average temp represent like a mean elevation or something? I wonder statistically speaking, on a 100+ year data set what the chances are of having the warmest and coldest values being within two years of each other. That's sort of absurd, haha.

I really doubted the atmosphere had it in it anymore, there's certainly an upward bend in that graph post 1985 as far as March average temps (the above normal temps were getting higher above, and the belows weren't going as low)...but nice to see Ma Nature can throw us a bone

For the record, I have no desire to see Jan or Feb break their coldest month records...March was cold enough, no need for consistent -20s and -30s like Jan/Feb would probably require. That and the lack of snow that would come with a polar vortex in those months. March was a perfect month for it as it maximized snow chances straight to the end of the month...late enough in the season where record cold means above normal snowfall, and not the Jan/Feb design of only a few inches of arctic sand throughout the entire month in brutal cold.

 

 

NCDC will use kringing I believe to try and fill in the areas in between coop stations. So for example, if you have 10 stations in southern VT and only 2 stations in N VT and the southern stations come in much colder.....you will not get a cold bias because more stations are in the south. They will account for that. The southern calculation just might be a bit more precise with the better density, but it shouldn't skew the mean of the whole state.

 

It is also why they use anomalies and not raw temperature....since the density of stations could create a bias in absolute temperature. Like if Mt. Mansfield didn't report temps one month, the average temp of VT would rise since you are excluding a 4,000 foot reading from a slew of lower elevation stations. But if you are only using anomalies, missing Mt. Mansfield for a month wouldn't be a huge loss. They can then convert the anomalies back into actual temperature after they have applied their statistical extrapolation methods.

 

 

 

FWIW, Maine and New Hampshire both just missed out on #1 coldest March. Both coming in at #2 coldest on record behind the previously mentioned 1916. Though it is close enough that its possible revised versions could make it #1. Esp for Maine which missed out by less than 0.5F.

[J.Spin]

Hopefully a 2010 style -NAO for NNE this year with our burgeoning Nino.

 

The 2010-2011 season was the last time there was above average snowfall here in the Northern Greens, and at our site it was right up there around the 200” mark with 2007-2008, so I think most of us would take something like that in a minute: 

 

 

For some reason I’m partial to the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 type of La Niña winters with what seemed like a reliable parade of storms, but somehow 2010-2011 managed to get into the league of 2007-2008, and that’s no easy feat.

[CoastalWx]

The 2010-2011 season was the last time there was above average snowfall here in the Northern Greens, and at our site it was right up there around the 200” mark with 2007-2008, so I think most of us would take something like that in a minute: 

 

 

For some reason I’m partial to the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 type of La Niña winters with what seemed like a reliable parade of storms, but somehow 2010-2011 managed to get into the league of 2007-2008, and that’s no easy feat.

 

Basically Dec-Mar were very kind to you guys, while we had an insane 6 week period down here and then abruptly shut off. Good synoptic snows and upslope were you are. Nice site BTW. 

[J.Spin]

Basically Dec-Mar were very kind to you guys, while we had an insane 6 week period down here and then abruptly shut off. Good synoptic snows and upslope were you are. Nice site BTW.

 

Yeah, great point about Dec-Mar; I looked at the monthly snowfall chart for that season once you mentioned it, and indeed those were four solid months standing like pillars of that season, with rapid drops in snowfall on the periphery in Nov and Apr:

 

 

Glad you enjoyed the site, happy to see it used.

[wxeyeNH]

62F, comfortable with sunny breaks on the coastal plain equas 48F mostly cloudy, breeze and feeling quite cold again here.  Another quite crappy May day for NNE. Only hit 70F (briefly) twice this year. HIgh for year I think was 72F.

[tamarack]

Seeing the above, I just ran the numbers on my data set; the snow depth max to snowfall ratio comes in at 18.0%, not far off the 1 to 5 ratio that PF suggested, and SDD to snowfall ratio comes in at 9.5 for the same period.

 

Vermont fluff vs Maine synoptic cement. 

 

Thanks for showing the methodology, Will.  That would've been my next question, given the vast difference in station populations between 1900 and the present.

[powderfreak]

Vermont fluff vs Maine synoptic cement.

Thanks for showing the methodology, Will. That would've been my next question, given the vast difference in station populations between 1900 and the present.

Regarding the VT Fluff vs Maine Cement, I feel like we get more (in quantity) dense snowfalls than alluded to sometimes. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of J.Spin's snowfall with regard to inches in a season that fall with say anything less than a 13:1 ratio (does that seem right for synoptic snows?) and amount of inches that fall with a ratio higher than that.

I'm not sure if that would be possible, but if it is, JSpin seems like the person that would have the data. I think it would be interesting to see if the VT upslope regions see a similar amount of synoptic density snow to the Maine/NH areas, and then the upslope is like extra snowfall that just lowers the average density.

I've always thought the Spine ski areas got a similar amount of synoptic snow to the other mountainous areas in New England...like take away the upslope and the ski areas up in north/central VT probably fall into that 140-200" range average that most Adirondack/Whites/Maine mountains get. But it would be interesting to actually quantify it. The Mansfield data from the coop is pretty useless due to under catch or allowing for once a day measurements in the late afternoon...if you used that data, Mansfield's snow ratios are pretty ugly and probably comes out denser than the Maine cement. But JSpin's data might be able to show the amount of high ratio snowfall to lower more synoptic type snowfalls...though I'm not sure how he has it organized if it would be possible to quickly run on excel or something.

[tamarack]

Some ratio numbers for snowfalls of 4"+, with any ZR/RA filtered out but with IP included:

Ft. Kent (9.7 years - 1/1/76 thru 84-85)

4"+...N=107...R=11.6

12"+..N=13...R=12.6

Gardiner (13 years - 85-86 thru 97-98)

4"+...N=92...R=10.2

12"+..N=8...R=11.9 (The 4 events 12.0"-13.9" avg 13.4, 4 with 14"+ avg 10.9)

New Sharon (16 years - 98-99 on)

4"+....N=122...R=10.7

6"+....N=73...R=10.7

8"+....N=52...R=10.6

10"+...N=29...R=10.7

12"+...N=18...R=11.3

14"+...N=12...R=11.6

16"+...N=7...R=11.3

18"+...N=5...R=12.1

20"+...N=3...R=13.3

22"+...N=2...R=13.8

Storms 10"+ in New Sharon have ratios ranging from 4.0 (the late Feb slopfest in 2010; 2nd lowest was 7.4 on Mar 22-23, 2001) to 18.0 (this past Dec 29-30.)

In Gardiner the 10"+ ratios ran from 6.1 (1993 superstorm) to 18.3 (Jan 31-Feb 2, 1993), and in Ft Kent 9.2 (Jan 10-11, 1977) to 22.8 (Dec 19-20, 1981.)

[ORH_wxman]

Vermont fluff vs Maine synoptic cement. 

 

Thanks for showing the methodology, Will.  That would've been my next question, given the vast difference in station populations between 1900 and the present.

 

 

Yeah the lower density months/years will probably have a bit higher error bars than the higher density years. So the data isn't 100% homogeneous in that sense. Thankfully, the eastern states have pretty good density all the way back to the beginning of the NCDC period. In the west, its spottier.

[Nittany88]

Regarding the VT Fluff vs Maine Cement, I feel like we get more (in quantity) dense snowfalls than alluded to sometimes. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of J.Spin's snowfall with regard to inches in a season that fall with say anything less than a 13:1 ratio (does that seem right for synoptic snows?) and amount of inches that fall with a ratio higher than that.

I'm not sure if that would be possible, but if it is, JSpin seems like the person that would have the data. I think it would be interesting to see if the VT upslope regions see a similar amount of synoptic density snow to the Maine/NH areas, and then the upslope is like extra snowfall that just lowers the average density.

I've always thought the Spine ski areas got a similar amount of synoptic snow to the other mountainous areas in New England...like take away the upslope and the ski areas up in north/central VT probably fall into that 140-200" range average that most Adirondack/Whites/Maine mountains get. But it would be interesting to actually quantify it. The Mansfield data from the coop is pretty useless due to under catch or allowing for once a day measurements in the late afternoon...if you used that data, Mansfield's snow ratios are pretty ugly and probably comes out denser than the Maine cement. But JSpin's data might be able to show the amount of high ratio snowfall to lower more synoptic type snowfalls...though I'm not sure how he has it organized if it would be possible to quickly run on excel or something.

Baxter et al in 2005 had the average snow ratios. For Vermont its 13:1.

 

http://people.cst.cmich.edu/baxte1ma/Baxter_SLR.pdf

 

Maine and NH generally 12:1

 

[J.Spin]

Regarding the VT Fluff vs Maine Cement, I feel like we get more (in quantity) dense snowfalls than alluded to sometimes. It would be interesting to see a breakdown of J.Spin's snowfall with regard to inches in a season that fall with say anything less than a 13:1 ratio (does that seem right for synoptic snows?) and amount of inches that fall with a ratio higher than that.

 

I'm not sure if that would be possible, but if it is, JSpin seems like the person that would have the data. I think it would be interesting to see if the VT upslope regions see a similar amount of synoptic density snow to the Maine/NH areas, and then the upslope is like extra snowfall that just lowers the average density.

 

I've always thought the Spine ski areas got a similar amount of synoptic snow to the other mountainous areas in New England...like take away the upslope and the ski areas up in north/central VT probably fall into that 140-200" range average that most Adirondack/Whites/Maine mountains get. But it would be interesting to actually quantify it. The Mansfield data from the coop is pretty useless due to under catch or allowing for once a day measurements in the late afternoon...if you used that data, Mansfield's snow ratios are pretty ugly and probably comes out denser than the Maine cement. But JSpin's data might be able to show the amount of high ratio snowfall to lower more synoptic type snowfalls...though I'm not sure how he has it organized if it would be possible to quickly run on excel or something.

 

I’ve seen you talk about this before, and it’s always made sense to me that Vermont probably does get a similar amount of synoptic snow relative to much of New England, and the upslope liquid and snow amounts are just stacked on top of that.  Outside the Champlain Valley, most of Vermont seems to fall in that same broad 40.00” - 49.99” annual precipitation category as the rest of New England (I think the last time I posted this map from the BTV NWS, someone might have also posted another map with New England annual precipitation as well, so feel free to add that): 

 

 

The numbers go up in the mountain areas, but if one uses the valleys as a general baseline for synoptic events, and assumes a similar distribution among seasons, the overall synoptic precipitation could be similar.

 

On the snow density topic - since the snow density is such a continuum of values, to get a sense for the distribution, you’d have to bin the values into some sort of categories.  Essentially what you want is what Tony Crocker has already done in his efforts to compare snow density/quality at Stowe, Alta, and Mammoth.  Unfortunately, he had to use the data from the Mt. Mansfield co-op for that analysis, and since we know that those data are flawed with respect to new snow depth (and thus density), he attempted to correct it.  If you go to the thread linked below, you’ll see his uncorrected data in the table in the first post, and his corrected data in the second table a couple of posts down:

 

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8947

 

That’s actually a fun thread to read for people that are interested in this snow density thing, and you’ll see lots of contributions from Powderfreak there.  You can see that at the start of that thread, we didn’t even know enough about what was going on at the Mt. Mansfield co-op to understand why their snow measurement was coming in so low, but eventually Powderfreak actually talked to the people in charge of the co-op and figured it out.  We now have a much better understanding of what is going on at Mt. Mansfield co-op, there’s some fun historical discovery documented right there in that thread.

 

Anyway, as for the topic of synoptic vs. upslope snow and density here in the Northern Greens, I added a couple of figures to that thread that speak to that, so I’ll pass them along here.  The first is a visualization of Tony’s revised data set for snow density at Stowe, Alta, and Mammoth, and the details on how I made that are there in the thread:

 

 

A second addition that I made that might even be more along the lines of what Powderfreak was looking for, was a table of snow density by storm using the snow and liquid equivalent data from our Waterbury site during the 2009-2010 winter season:

 

 

It does take some work to create that table, because each of my analyses is independent, but if there was continued interest, and something to actually compare the data to, I could do something similar.

[mreaves]

Actually was a nice evening to do some yard work. My classes are done for the semester so I can finally start to catch up with things that need doing. I guess the poor spring has helped me not get behind too far. Though, I don't think this spring even cracks the top 10 worst for around here.

[powderfreak]

Baxter et al in 2005 had the average snow ratios. For Vermont its 13:1.

http://people.cst.cmich.edu/baxte1ma/Baxter_SLR.pdf

Maine and NH generally 12:1

Nice, wasn't aware of that study...I had seen the references in the BTV AFDs of our climo norm being 13:1...but makes sense it would increase closer to the coast. Map looks highly dependent on distance from the Atlantic.

[powderfreak]

After all that upslope precip disco the other day, I finally got around to seeing BTV's daily climate map and quite fascinating how tied to orographics it was. The actual spine axis, like where J.Spin is, had 0.5-0.7" with the western slopes in the 0.3-0.5" range, and then on the east side in the RT 100 corridor 0.05-0.25". Always amazing how fast it drops off in a blocked flow regime...going from like 0.57" at JSpins under the spine axis, to like 0.15" like two/three miles east into Waterbury town center. Same here in Stowe...I saw the ski resort base was around 0.60" and then a few miles east down at Rt108/100 intersection it was 0.17". Even up near Jay Peak...there are two reports of ~0.25" but right over the spine it's over 0.5".

Had it been snow, this would've been one of those events where folks would see advisory snowfall on the west slope, 1-2" to the east towns like Waterbury/Stowe, and then a narrow axis including the ski resorts and JSpin's house (haha) with warning criteria snow. In Stowe, it would certainly be one of those days where it's like a dusting of 1-2" in town and then get to the mountain to find over a half foot.

Other fascinating effect is the Orange Hills/Heights...the second Spine in VT from Allenson northward through like Coles Pond/Walden and north. Very orographic ally tied precip field there...enough so the map clearly picks up on the topography relationship.

[J.Spin]

After all that upslope precip disco the other day, I finally got around to seeing BTV's daily climate map and quite fascinating how tied to orographics it was. The actual spine axis, like where J.Spin is, had 0.5-0.7" with the western slopes in the 0.3-0.5" range, and then on the east side in the RT 100 corridor 0.05-0.25". Always amazing how fast it drops off in a blocked flow regime...going from like 0.57" at JSpins under the spine axis, to like 0.15" like two/three miles east into Waterbury town center.

 

Had it been snow, this would've been one of those events where folks would see advisory snowfall on the west slope, 1-2" to the east towns like Waterbury/Stowe, and then a narrow axis including the ski resorts and JSpin's house (haha) with warning criteria snow. In Stowe, it would certainly be one of those days where it's like a dusting of 1-2" in town and then get to the mountain to find over a half foot.

 

image.jpg

 

Thanks for the map PF, with the coloring you can really see the areas of enhanced precipitation – it hadn’t really jumped out at me from the CoCoRaHS map when I first looked yesterday, but there may have been some stations that hadn’t reported by that point.  You can see it now though, at least with respect to the way the precipitation drops off to the east of the spine:

 

 

I was watching the temperatures and cameras at elevation in case there was fresh snow calling, but the snow levels just never seemed to consistently drop low enough with this one.  It looks like Mt. Washington picked up over a foot of snow and almost three inches of liquid though over the past few days with the extra elevation.  That should help to keep building the snowpack for the upcoming spring season on the snowfields.

 

These types of events are the sort of stuff that contributes to our site getting roughly two feet of additional liquid each year vs. BTV (at least based on the annual precipitation average that is developing from my CoCoRaHS data), and really kicks those annual snow totals into that extra gear.  I think it also helps make our site a decent low-elevation surrogate for what is going on with respect to snowfall along the spine in the higher elevations at the resorts.

[bobbutts]

You're familiar with Tony Croker's snow site?

http://bestsnow.net/

[J.Spin]

Nice, wasn't aware of that study...I had seen the references in the BTV AFDs of our climo norm being 13:1...but makes sense it would increase closer to the coast. Map looks highly dependent on distance from the Atlantic.

 

It’s interesting to note that in the snowfall density table I posted above using most of my 2009-2010 snowfall data (posted again for reference below), the average density of the snow (when weight averaged on snowfall amount) comes in at 7.5% H2O, which is a 13.3:1 ratio that is very similar to the 13:1 that is mentioned here.  Details on the calculation are in the original post with the table.

 

 

I’ll have to go back to that First Tracks!! discussion and add a link to this discussion and the Baxter et al paper, those would be good additions there.

[J.Spin]

You're familiar with Tony Croker's snow site?

http://bestsnow.net/

 

Indeed, Tony does some neat work; PF and I have communicated and discussed snowfall at ski areas with him a lot over the past several years.  Along with the reports at my site, Tony actually makes extensive use of the updates that PF and I post here when he creates his qualitative snow assessment charts for Northern Vermont:

 

http://50.87.144.177/~bestsnow/vrmthist.htm

[powderfreak]

You're familiar with Tony Croker's snow site?

http://bestsnow.net/

Yes, very. I supply Tony with the Stowe snowfall info, and in the past JSpin and I have had discussions with him on our local climate. Great site and a very knowledgable guy on snowfall across North America.

[powderfreak]

These types of events are the sort of stuff that contributes to our site getting roughly two feet of additional liquid each year vs. BTV (at least based on the annual precipitation average that is developing from my CoCoRaHS data), and really kicks those annual snow totals into that extra gear. I think it also helps make our site a decent low-elevation surrogate for what is going on with respect to snowfall along the spine in the higher elevations at the resorts.

I just always find it interesting how you just happened to move there without really knowing what was happening...I had no idea really either, but where you are is that special spot on the Spine axis that gets in on all events...not just east slope or west slope, blocked or unblocked. Like where Stowe Village is, we do nicely on unblocked NW flow and easterly flow events. I find the spots like Nashville/Jericho/Huntington obviously do best in blocked flow, but then can be downsloped in easterly flow events...so each set of towns had the pros and cons, but where you are under the Spine axis doesn't really have anything going against it. There are probably what, 100 households that live in that zone of Rt 2 and Duxbury Road before you start to get too far east or west and start seeing negative effects in certain events.

It's awesome that just by luck you ended up there, and also are so diligent in reporting and observing it. I really think the only way you could improve on that spot would be to move up higher in elevation over your house but I would think BV base area would be the real only option to improve from where you are.

[IsentropicLift]

Nothing like a little late season snow for the white's and the greens