NNE Spring

[Allenson]

20" still at my stake but it's dropping every day now--one to two inches per day depending.

 

Banner day yesterday and looks like another decent one today before the rains tomorrow.

 

The mud is here but so far it hasn't been as bad as previous years (at least in our driveway, that is).

 

All frozen up and driveable this morning at 25F...

[powderfreak]

Today is going to a banner day on the slopes if you like warm spring skiing... the corn snow is going to be ridiculous around mid/late morning.  A good freeze last night (even if temps don't get too far below freezing, this stuff freezes from the bottom up) and we'll warm the top few inches to nice smooth corn/granular snow.

 

The BTV Webcam has been catching some sweet sunrises lately...this morning has another good one.

 

[Lava Rock]

Already up to 46F.

[tamarack]

I'm hoping for a July 1911 repeat this summer.

http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-CF862D40-2F13-4BB8-9D63-9A02290C2640.pdf

 

Hope not!  7/4/1911 set the hottest ever for all 3 NNE states, 105 in Maine/Vt and 106 in NH.  (Bridgton, Maine touched that 105 on both 7/4 and 7/11.)  Farmington, Maine reached 104 on the 4th and 102 on 3 other days during that heatwave.  In the century-plus since, they've notched triples only twice, in June 1944 (100) and on 8/2/75 (101.)  At least it apparently wasn't stiflingly humid, as temps in most places would drop to the mid 60s after those stratospheric highs.

 

Nice to hear the migratory birds singing amidst the trees outside the office in AUG, on Friday and even moreso today.  Still silent at home, which is fortunate for the songbirds as the snowpack was still 27" this morning.  Here in AUG the ground is bare even under the pines in the arboretum across the street.

[ono]

PF-

 

How are bare spots coming along?  Looking at Smuggs webcams, it seems like they could be ~100% open if they so choose.  

 

I imagine the Spruce is probably hit, but Mansfield could be 100%.

[powderfreak]

PF-

How are bare spots coming along? Looking at Smuggs webcams, it seems like they could be ~100% open if they so choose.

I imagine the Spruce is probably hit, but Mansfield could be 100%.

100% everywhere...Spruce still buried. We were skiing the trees there yesterday. You can still ski the woods to RT 108 on both sides of the notch.

I can't find a bare spot up here if I try. Snowpack is still 24" at 1,500ft on level ground. More north aspects, less south aspects. 60-80+ up in 3,000-4000ft.

[powderfreak]

Awesome day...50F now at 1500ft base of the mountain, snow is soft, but only a few inches down is still frozen solid. Not quite a ripe isothermal snow. The nighttime freezes help with that.

I see BTV has hit 60F...the college coeds must be out in force at UVM. I do miss that aspect of Burlington.

[powderfreak]

Mansfield Coop came in again with 82" at the stake, so very little change up there over the past week while the lower elevations from 2,500ft and below have been decreasing.  Definitely that time of year when the gradient sharpens with elevation.

 

Down in town this afternoon, a lot of standing water from the recent melt...especially today's 50s.  The ground still seems quite frozen, especially with the consistent sub-freezing nights keeping the thaw from getting too deep during the day.  The good part is the mud freezes up each night and has sort of kept it from getting too excessive.  If we were to get a like 4 day stretch above freezing with some rain thrown in, it would likely be another story.

 

This is in town here this afternoon and there's a lot of ponding of water where there's not supposed to be ponds, lol.  And this is before any rain even falls.  Going to be some very large puddles out there tomorrow in people's yards.

 

[MBRI]

Rangeley Maine today closed all the club trails for sledding.  3-5 feet on most, ok some thin spots every 10 miles

[mreaves]

Rangeley Maine today closed all the club trails for sledding. 3-5 feet on most, ok some thin spots every 10 miles

It gets difficult to groom when the snow gets "corny". There is still riding to be had but grooming is just about done. Season ends regardless of snow in VT on April 15th.

[mreaves]

Wow. Just looked out and mangled, slushy flakes are falling. Guess I hadn't been paying attention. 37.6F

[dendrite]

3/4SM -SN at Lost River, NH.

[dendrite]

3/4SM -SN at Lost River, NH.

Pushing 1/2SM there now and 33F. The Franconia Notch stations appear to be mixing too...temps are dropping toward 35F there.

[powderfreak]

Some really loud thunder this morning...that's a sound I haven't heard in a while.

METAR KMVL 080854Z AUTO VRB06KT 10SM -RA FEW010 OVC021 06/04 A2954 RMK AO2 TSB12E27 SLP007 P0016 60017 T00610039 56063

[J.Spin]

I bet our snow depth on average would peak in town during the first week of March.

 

Since Stowe seems to behave similarly to our location in many of these parameters, that’s likely a very good observation – when my snowpack numbers are averaged, the peak of that plot is on March 3^rd.

 

 

The combo of snowy March plus coldest on record, has led to it taking a while to really look like spring around here.  This was the view today from the mountain, with the valley still white.  This view looked more brown in mid-January this year than it does today, April 7th.

 

For the past two morning’s reports to CoCoRaHS, the snowpack has actually been right at “average” for this date at our location; of course that mean number is made up of some seasons with deeper snowpack, and some with less, so “typical” is often hard to characterize at this time of year.  If I look back in my records though, the previous two seasons had less snow on the ground at this point, so that may give this season a snowier feel in the mountain valleys.

 

Even in the warmest examples though, April is definitely still either winter or stick season in NNE.  Like trying to rush winter in during the fall, people often try to rush summer in during the spring (which I guess makes sense – stick season isn’t all that great in the valleys for a lot of activities).  I’ve learned from enough years around here not to expect an appropriately warm weather scene until Memorial Day/start of June; the leaves aren’t fully out until that point anyway, and prior to that it often feels like forcing warm-weather activities to happen in snow, muck, grass that’s not ready, etc.  Fortunately, the mountains are typically either still getting snow, or they at least have good snow for outdoor activities.

 

On that note, we were out at Bolton on Sunday for their last lift-served day of the season, and they were actually able to close out the season with all the lifts going and essentially 100% operation, even down on the low-elevation, west-facing terrain at Timberline.  And, that was without even having the chance to make snow on a lot of the terrain down there that would usually have it, so the natural snowpack lasting in those low elevation spots was certainly a function of the March we had.  Sunday was certainly a fun one on which to close out their lift service.  More details are in the full report, but I’ve added a couple of images from the day below:

 

 

 

On the topic of snowfall, since it was Bolton’s last day of snow reporting, I grabbed their seasonal snowfall numbers and those for other resorts in the northern half of Vermont to see where things stand.  There’s no doubt that March offered up some great skiing, but the numbers below should weaken any arguments that people have been making about the season somehow approaching average in the snowfall department.  Even including the Central Vermont Ski Areas that might have been doing better relative to average at some point, not one of the areas below even reached 90% of their reported mean seasonal snowfall.  There are a number of areas still down in the 70%+ range, and Bolton Valley came in with less than 2/3 of its average:

 

Jay Peak: 308” (86.8%)

Smuggler’s Notch: 273” (84.8%)

Stowe: 258” (77.5%)

Bolton Valley: 206” (66.0%)

Mad River Glen: 185” (74.0%)

Sugarbush: 230” (85.5%)

Killington: 189” (75.6%)

 

This past March was great with respect to snow preservation, and it even had good snowfall, but it just shows what a massive hit was made to the season with January and much of December not contributing.  Also, April really hasn’t done much with respect to helping out March thus far.  This was actually the third season in a row for Bolton with snowfall substantially below average, so they’re probably due for a rebound at some point.  Perhaps they’ll have to wait for some La Niña years like those that delivered a few years back.

[eyewall]

I was woken up by thunder overnight. To me that means spring is certainly here.

[Allenson]

Yep, had thunder & lightning here too early this morning.  Was woken up at around 4am to several flashes & booms.

 

South wind was absolutely ripping last night before the rain finally came in.

 

0.38"

[tamarack]

Dumped 0.42" from the bucket at 7 AM, and probably another tenth or two came after that, with the back edge passing over the home front at present.  Snowpack down to 25" this morning, and if the clouds stick tough, as GYX thinks for my area, we'll only lose one more inch by this evening.  Stuff should be fully ripe at density between 0.4 and 0.5, though, so any significant RA in the next week or two would likely bring some excitement.  This event may be enough to move the ice on the largertributaries.

[klw]

The snow here is quickly being eaten away revealing about 5 months of layers of aged frozen golden retriever poop to clean up around the yard.  Ah the joys of spring.

[Lava Rock]

Our lawn is a mess. We have a dirt driveway and all of the snowblowing this winter, shot a bunch of the dirt onto the lawn. All kinds of sand and small rocks will have to be raked out. One of these days we'll pave the driveway.

[powderfreak]

 

On the topic of snowfall, since it was Bolton’s last day of snow reporting, I grabbed their seasonal snowfall numbers and those for other resorts in the northern half of Vermont to see where things stand.  There’s no doubt that March offered up some great skiing, but the numbers below should weaken any arguments that people have been making about the season somehow approaching average in the snowfall department.  Even including the Central Vermont Ski Areas that might have been doing better relative to average at some point, not one of the areas below even reached 90% of their reported mean seasonal snowfall.  There are a number of areas still down in the 70%+ range, and Bolton Valley came in with less than 2/3 of its average:

 

Jay Peak: 308” (86.8%)

Smuggler’s Notch: 273” (84.8%)

Stowe: 258” (77.5%)

Bolton Valley: 206” (66.0%)

Mad River Glen: 185” (74.0%)

Sugarbush: 230” (85.5%)

Killington: 189” (75.6%)

 

This past March was great with respect to snow preservation, and it even had good snowfall, but it just shows what a massive hit was made to the season with January and much of December not contributing.  Also, April really hasn’t done much with respect to helping out March thus far.  This was actually the third season in a row for Bolton with snowfall substantially below average, so they’re probably due for a rebound at some point.  Perhaps they’ll have to wait for some La Niña years like those that delivered a few years back.

 

For Bolton, do you remember if they were recording snowfall in November?  I usually start my tally in early November once snowmaking begins...with the idea being that snowfall is starting to be used towards getting the mountain open.  Any October snow doesn't get included as that almost always melts out.  I'd have to consider that if we were to get 3 feet of cement on October 29th followed by a cold November that allowed that snow to stick around permanently... but my general idea is to not include anything prior to snowmaking starting. 

 

Anyway, if Bolton didn't include November snow (such as the like 18-24" that fell in the like November 11-15 period), then that's going to handicap them.  We picked up an even 40" of snow in November I think, so apply that to Bolton and the snowfalls are fairly similar.  IMO, Bolton, Stowe, and Smuggs are all in the same league and any given winter one could come in higher than the others or vice versa.  Bolton's season length can sometimes skew the numbers though depending on when they are counting.

 

Interesing numbers though, that they are all within 75-85% of normal, so its fairly consistent across the Spine, with the exception of Bolton where I really think the lack of counting November snowfall (which was one of the colder/snowier months relative to normal this winter) hurt a bit.

 

This is the third straight season of below normal snowfall, and fourth in the last five years I think for the central/northern Greens.  We definitely got spoiled there for a while, prior to 2009-2010 season.  However it should bounce back...we'll show up with a 350" season or something soon.  Another 100" would've really helped this year in Dec/Jan

[powderfreak]

Posted this in the Ski Thread, but will add it here too with the discussion of ski areas snowfall...

 

Of course this is mixed man-made snow with natural snow, but I mean this is a lot of base depths to melt out.  It is going to take a while...even the Mansfield stake holding at 82" yesterday showing the fairly significant natural snowpack still in place in the higher elevations.  While the lower elevations have been decreasing (down to 18-24" at 1,500ft), the upper elevations are staying put.

 

Just the tippy top of the roof showing at this point...somewhere in the 10-foot range, given the building sits on an 18" cement foundation, too.

 

[Lava Rock]

Posted this in the Ski Thread, but will add it here too with the discussion of ski areas snowfall...

 

Of course this is mixed man-made snow with natural snow, but I mean this is a lot of base depths to melt out.  It is going to take a while...even the Mansfield stake holding at 82" yesterday showing the fairly significant natural snowpack still in place in the higher elevations.  While the lower elevations have been decreasing (down to 18-24" at 1,500ft), the upper elevations are staying put.

 

Just the tippy top of the roof showing at this point...somewhere in the 10-foot range, given the building sits on an 18" cement foundation, too.

 

comparison.JPG

lol. they should put a cam there and use that shot as marketing tool to inform people just how much snow there is on the mountain.

[powderfreak]

lol. they should put a cam there and use that shot as marketing tool to inform people just how much snow there is on the mountain.

We should do a "guess the date when you'll be able to see the foundation" type contest.

[Lava Rock]

We should do a "guess the date when you'll be able to see the foundation" type contest.

right, then offer a free day pass for next season. seriously, that would probably generate a little business, but what do i know.

[dendrite]

47F CAD-wretched degrees here.

[wxeyeNH]

47F CAD-wretched degrees here.

Frickin miserable   46.8F high so far.  In and out of the fog as the stratus deck is just above my house by 100 feet or so.  .52" last night.  Lost most of my snow cover in open southwest locations but woods and shadowed areas still have over a foot.

[dendrite]

Frickin miserable 46.8F high so far. In and out of the fog as the stratus deck is just above my house by 100 feet or so. .52" last night. Lost most of my snow cover in open southwest locations but woods and shadowed areas still have over a foot.

44/43 and currently +SHRA.

Beautiful.

[powderfreak]

Been an awful day up here too but we managed 50F. Low clouds and drizzle most of the day, then the ceiling lifted a little while ago when some heavy rain showers moved through and the wind picked up.

It was almost claustrophobic at the mountain today with the thick cloud deck like 100ft above the office and then 2,000 vertical feet of milky low vis fog on the mountain.

[dendrite]

41.6F here right now. CON was 61F at the 6pm ob. lol