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NNE Winter: just can't compete with Maple Hollow.


eekuasepinniW

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Glad you're not worried.  truth be told, I'm not either since I have other commitments and wont be skiing for a few weeks regardless. 

Do you attribute the improvement to the fan guns you guys added, the new low-e guns or something else?

I get the impression that many skiers think the new low e guns make less snow in marginal temps, but from what I hear from those involved at SB, they are more than pleased with the performance.

 

We don't really have anything that is referred to as a new low-e gun...just a ton of HKD tower guns and HKD fan guns, mixed in with some Ratnik landframes.  The fan guns are ridiculous and we've got a lot of them on the lower mountain.

 

Today the snowmaking crew had 13 trail segments running with 175 guns going on a multiple top-to-bottom routes.  It always impresses me when this system gets going at full-tilt.  Going from not being able to open on Saturday, to possibly having two full top-to-bottom routes on Wednesday.

 

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12239487_10153122398132382_4005859687980

 

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These fans are a year or two older but still at 300 gallons per minute, just pump out water.

 

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The large beginner slopes at Spruce Peak...but those new orange HKD Fans are like snow cannons. 

 

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And as far as portable guns go....nothing is going to match the portable fans that get towed around.  This thing will take care of the base area and lift maze by itself in a day.

 

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Things might get interesting around here finally around the middle of next week. Of course that is too far off at this point to get too excited but at least the signal as there. The Euro has a Nor'easter entering the GOM Wed night with significant snows for much of VT, northern NH, and ME. I believe the GFS is also hinting at something.

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Feb. 1943, PWM:

14...32....-2

15....-2..-31

16.....7..-39

17...19..-19

 

Next coldest on record is -26 in Jan. 1971.  Both Feb. 15th and 16th were about -40 departures.  I've posted before that I suspect this is the coldest ever US temp next to salt water south of the Aleutian Peninsula.

Edit: Wunderground has current PWM norms for Feb 15,16 as 35/16 and 35/17, which would make both those 1943 days 42F BN. I've no idea what norms were being used in the 1940s.

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Feb. 1943, PWM:

14...32....-2

15....-2..-31

16.....7..-39

17...19..-19

 

Next coldest on record is -26 in Jan. 1971.  Both Feb. 15th and 16th were about -40 departures.  I've posted before that I suspect this is the coldest ever US temp next to salt water south of the Aleutian Peninsula.

Edit: Wunderground has current PWM norms for Feb 15,16 as 35/16 and 35/17, which would make both those 1943 days 42F BN. I've no idea what norms were being used in the 1940s.

Yeah that -39F is amazing...it even beat CON's -37F which was a few degrees colder than their 2nd coldest recorded temp. It would've been interesting to see what we would've had for readings with the network we have in place now...probably widespread -40s from SFM-IZG-BML.

 

Massabesic Lake COOP (a mile from the house I grew up in) just outside of MHT had -43F that morning. So it's conceivable that CON didn't even max out on their radiational cooling that night. Some of the local HADS stations probably would've been below -40.

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Yeah that -39F is amazing...it even beat CON's -37F which was a few degrees colder than their 2nd coldest recorded temp. It would've been interesting to see what we would've had for readings with the network we have in place now...probably widespread -40s from SFM-IZG-BML.

 

Massabesic Lake COOP (a mile from the house I grew up in) just outside of MHT had -43F that morning. So it's conceivable that CON didn't even max out on their radiational cooling that night. Some of the local HADS stations probably would've been below -40.

Congrats on the snowstorm.

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Today the snowmaking crew had 13 trail segments running with 175 guns going on a multiple top-to-bottom routes.  It always impresses me when this system gets going at full-tilt.  Going from not being able to open on Saturday, to possibly having two full top-to-bottom routes on Wednesday.

 

I really don’t think there was ever much concern about the skiing options for the holiday based on the forecast temperatures for this period and the resort’s snowmaking firepower.

 

It’s funny, I’d been thinking that November 2006 was a very rough period during that ski season because it’s the only November in my records where we didn’t have any accumulating snow in the valley, but the mountains did have some snow.  We skied on natural snow on November 4th at Stowe, and then manmade at Bolton Valley on the 24th.  It looked like natural snow was still lean in the latter part of that month, but it had clearly been cold at some point if Bolton Valley had made snow.  There must have been a warm period after that, because the next time I skied wasn’t until we got that storm at the beginning of December, and Bolton had closed back down at some point prior to that.  Based on the forecast for the next week and the amount of snow you guys can blow though, I don’t see any major concerns about sailing right into December with operations.

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Probably end with a big 0.3" at home, but tally it up, lol.  It was nice walking the dog out, classic currier and ives flakes floating down.

 

With the summits in the upper teens, temps are real good for orographic snow growth.  Some of these flakes land and you instantly have a quarter inch.

 

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Probably end with a big 0.3" at home, but tally it up, lol.  It was nice walking the dog out, classic currier and ives flakes floating down.

 

With the summits in the upper teens, temps are real good for orographic snow growth.  Some of these flakes land and you instantly have a quarter inch.

 

Well, 0.3” is just what we ended up with here at the house, so I’d say that’s a pretty good call on the potential total.  Accumulations certainly weren’t substantial with today’s event, but on the last day of work for many people heading into the holiday, you could certainly see how the snow and the air and a bit of whitening of surfaces put a bit of extra bustle in people’s step.

 

In terms of observations in the area from this afternoon/evening, the snow had picked up in the Burlington area toward the end of the work day as I mentioned in my earlier post, and the snowfall stayed pretty steady right through to Waterbury on my way home.  The snow generally wasn’t accumulating on the road, except for a bit between Jonesville and Bolton, and then not surprisingly, again as I climbed the rise of the pass on I-89 toward our house.

 

Event totals: 0.3” Snow/Trace L.E.

 

Details from the 9:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 0.3 inches

New Liquid: Trace

Temperature: 31.3 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: Trace

 

It looks like the next potential for snow is Friday night into Saturday, and as the forecast stands at this point, that’s probably the last opportunity for accumulation this month.

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