eyewall Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 As I do more research the DJI Phantom series is looking solid. We shall see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Some dusting in central Maine this pre-dawn. Nary a flake at my place, but less than a half mile into my commute I began seeing some white skiff on the road shoulders. Another half mile and there was about 0.1", and evidence of that sort of flurry action (0.1" to 0.2") was visible all the way to my workplace east of the Kennebec. Can't get grumpy about missing a flurry, even this season, but I hope the north cutoff isn't indicative of how things will go once "real" snow arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryslot Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 A trace of ice here this morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 As I do more research the DJI Phantom series is looking solid. We shall see. Operating temp of 0-40C. So does this mean winter flying is pretty much out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 If it is we are ok this year lol Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Operating temp of 0-40C. So does this mean winter flying is pretty much out? Operating temp of 0-40C. So does this mean winter flying is pretty much out? I would think you could fly in the winter but the issue might be the battery. A cold battery doesn't have the power. If everything was in the house and warmed up before a 15 minute flight outside I guess you would be okay. Just get it back inside so the battery stays warm. One bad landing in powder type snow would not be good for the electronics. The props would probably break if the drone sank several inches in snow. A little story about dJI and the Phantoms. Last June when I first bought a drone I did research and decided on the DJI Phantom Advanced. I ordered from a company from the Amazon site. Got the Phantom. With Phantoms you have to download the latest firmware to your computer, unzip it and install it on the drone and controller. My drone was no problem. The controller would not update so it could not communicate with the drone. Called the Amazon store and they said it would be a 25% restocking charge to send it back. I was not going to pay over $250. They told me to call DJI, the manufacture. I did and after about 4 hours on the phone they said it was a faulty drone/controller and to send it to them for repair. I did. Every week I would call DJI to find out the status of the drone. Found out after they had had it a week that it would take 6 weeks to get through the system, they were swamped. I was furious. I paid for the drone, never would fly and now without one. Finally in early Sept I got it back. Still had problems with controller. Called DJI. They said if I sent it back another 6 weeks. Finally called the Amazon store. They said I had had it too long and it would be a 33% fee to return it. I went around and around with Amazon, DJI and my credit card. Paying hundreds of dollars for a drone that never flew. I sent it back to the Amazon store and took a huge loss. Because of this I hate DJI. I'm sure the Phantoms are great and I just got a dud but what an experience. I then bought my Yuneec Tyhoon 4K. No problems. A shoulder strap was missing. Called customer service, got right through and a strap is on the way. Bottom line. DJI probably is the drone leader right now but if something goes wrong and you need to deal with them, forget it! Here's a link to my Utube page with lots of drone video taken in the last 2 weeks. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCylPzvnNdi8EyTvxLDYhvew Brian, I know this is off topic so feel free to delete post. One day we will have interesting weather to talk about again! Gene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eekuasepinniW Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Drones are cool and I love how smooth and cinematic the video is... but for me, I can see the novelty wearing off after a couple of weeks. Then it would end up forever in a closet with all my exercise equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 DJI has the WORST customer support. That being said, they do offer great value on their drones. I've learned if I crash mine, or have problems, I don't even bother with the return process,I just fix it myself. I'm on my 5th one now and the thrill still hasn't gotten old. I sometimes use them to map sites in 3D modelling, or use free software to stitch together dozens of geo-referenced images. BTW, a "surveyor" grade drone for mapping made by an American company runs around $40k! Here's a screenshot of the first 3D model I ever created (just happened to be my cabin). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Nice Mark O. eek, totally get your point. I have owned this house since 1989 and have the woods between me and Newfound Lake. For some reason I have always wanted to get up high enough over the trees in my backyard to see the lake. I have also always wondered if I could see Mount Washington from over my house. I accomplished both of those within a couple of drone flights. I even accomplished flying over a low cloud deck. So my big "thrills" have been achieved. It will spend more time in the closet now. Incidentally I have gotten several neighbors asking for videos of their houses. One neighbor said if he sees it over his property he is going to shot it down. He's just kidding but lots of people don't like them. Invasion of privacy? With a telephoto lens shooting into someones window I could see a lot more than a drone a couple of hundred feet over a house. I wish there was some way to fly them when there is a cold rain and your wondering how far over your head its snowing! Would be cool to put a recording thermometer on one. Mark, do you know of anyway to do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkO Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 Funny how folks are worried about privacy, and it's true about a good telephoto lens, or who knows what Google or the US government is capable of. My house in 3D on Google earth is pretty darn detailed (you can see me waving to the Camera on Bing maps). Flytrex has a $49 module that records temperature, pressure, elevation and coordinates, but yeah, I'd rather not fly in rain although there are videos out there of folks waterproofing their drones. I think the ESC's for the brushless motors are the most vulnerable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 I would think you could fly in the winter but the issue might be the battery. A cold battery doesn't have the power. If everything was in the house and warmed up before a 15 minute flight outside I guess you would be okay. Just get it back inside so the battery stays warm. One bad landing in powder type snow would not be good for the electronics. The props would probably break if the drone sank several inches in snow. A little story about dJI and the Phantoms. Last June when I first bought a drone I did research and decided on the DJI Phantom Advanced. I ordered from a company from the Amazon site. Got the Phantom. With Phantoms you have to download the latest firmware to your computer, unzip it and install it on the drone and controller. My drone was no problem. The controller would not update so it could not communicate with the drone. Called the Amazon store and they said it would be a 25% restocking charge to send it back. I was not going to pay over $250. They told me to call DJI, the manufacture. I did and after about 4 hours on the phone they said it was a faulty drone/controller and to send it to them for repair. I did. Every week I would call DJI to find out the status of the drone. Found out after they had had it a week that it would take 6 weeks to get through the system, they were swamped. I was furious. I paid for the drone, never would fly and now without one. Finally in early Sept I got it back. Still had problems with controller. Called DJI. They said if I sent it back another 6 weeks. Finally called the Amazon store. They said I had had it too long and it would be a 33% fee to return it. I went around and around with Amazon, DJI and my credit card. Paying hundreds of dollars for a drone that never flew. I sent it back to the Amazon store and took a huge loss. Because of this I hate DJI. I'm sure the Phantoms are great and I just got a dud but what an experience. I then bought my Yuneec Tyhoon 4K. No problems. A shoulder strap was missing. Called customer service, got right through and a strap is on the way. Bottom line. DJI probably is the drone leader right now but if something goes wrong and you need to deal with them, forget it! Here's a link to my Utube page with lots of drone video taken in the last 2 weeks. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCylPzvnNdi8EyTvxLDYhvew Brian, I know this is off topic so feel free to delete post. One day we will have interesting weather to talk about again! Gene Did you post this on amazon? I read a very similar negative review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Where is winter? Well it certainly is going strong in the Oregon/Washington Cascades. Family lives in Bend Oregon and the ski resort of Mt Bachelor has been getting blasted. On their website they are reporting 154" of snow since Oct 1. 74" the past 7 days and storms lined up in the Pacific so big new totals incoming. Storms are making a big dent in the drought in Washington and Oregon. Need to get the storms further south into California. If Concord NH does not see a trace of snow in the next week or so we move up to 2nd or 3rd place for latest measurable snowfall. Saw that on the news tonight. I think the latest trace ever was Jan 10 1899? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Where is winter? Well it certainly is going strong in the Oregon/Washington Cascades. Family lives in Bend Oregon and the ski resort of Mt Bachelor has been getting blasted. On their website they are reporting 154" of snow since Oct 1. 74" the past 7 days and storms lined up in the Pacific so big new totals incoming. Storms are making a big dent in the drought in Washington and Oregon. Need to get the storms further south into California. If Concord NH does not see a trace of snow in the next week or so we move up to 2nd or 3rd place for latest measurable snowfall. Saw that on the news tonight. I think the latest trace ever was Jan 10 1899? they've had a T...ASOS just missed it. Throw the T records out the window imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 they've had a T...ASOS just missed it. Throw the T records out the window imo. Yeah, there is no accurate way to track that information. We can't search our records for a trace, unless we manually go through every monthly B-91 since 1868. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Yeah, there is no accurate way to track that information. We can't search our records for a trace, unless we manually go through every monthly B-91 since 1868. What's the problem? Nothing else going on at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceanStWx Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 What's the problem? Nothing else going on at the moment That would be a real boring midnight shift. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Where is winter? Well it certainly is going strong in the Oregon/Washington Cascades. Family lives in Bend Oregon and the ski resort of Mt Bachelor has been getting blasted. On their website they are reporting 154" of snow since Oct 1. 74" the past 7 days and storms lined up in the Pacific so big new totals incoming. Storms are making a big dent in the drought in Washington and Oregon. Need to get the storms further south into California. Just getting back toward their averages. Paradise, at 5,500' on the windward side of Rainier, had 79.6" for November - sounds good, but that's only 76% of their 1981-2010 avg. Glad to see some catching up there. Last year they had a bit under 300", first year on record below 400" and less than half their avg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
backedgeapproaching Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 ALY map--I'll take it..scratch and claw for every inch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Getting some graupel mixed with small flakes this afternoon...almost like sleet too. You can tell it's probably low level orographic precip with poor snow growth temps at the summits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Getting some graupel mixed with small flakes this afternoon...almost like sleet too. You can tell it's probably low level orographic precip with poor snow growth temps at the summits. image.jpeg We take the small victories this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 We take the small victories this year. Yes most definitely. This wouldn't even cause me to blink most winters, now I'm like holy crap it's not liquid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Getting some graupel mixed with small flakes this afternoon...almost like sleet too. You can tell it's probably low level orographic precip with poor snow growth temps at the summits. image.jpeg We had a short burst here as well. Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 We take the small victories this year. Exactly. I'm, very thankful for the 0.6" surprise on Nov. 23. Apart from that I've recorded "T" on 3 different days, which added together might total 20 flakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 About .40" from the previous system here in Bridgewater NH. Since I report in fairly often during storms I thought it might be useful to show my location up on "John Smith Hill". I often talk that I am about 600 feet above Newfound Lake level and Bristol/Bridgewater/Plymouth NH. Took the drone to Rt 3A and took a picture of my property in the distance. Picture is facing due north. My house is in that small clearing just below the X. You can clearly see my exposure is to the SW. The mountain behind my hill is Plymouth Mt about 2100 feet. There is also a ridge to the right of the picture that separates my hill from Rt 93 and the Pemi River. Gene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Well, it’s been more than two weeks since we’ve had much to consider with respect to valley snow, but the BTV NWS forecast discussion is starting to talk about it now: SATURDAY: SATURDAY IN PARTICULAR SHOULD START FEELING MORE LIKE A TYPICAL DECEMBER DAY WITH GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS AND PERIODS OF CONVECTIVE SNOW SHOWERS ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE GREENS AND ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF LAKE EFFECT SNOWBAND ACROSS SOUTHERN ST. LAWRENCE, FRANKLIN AND ESSEX COUNTIES OF NEW YORK. THERE`S A PRETTY GOOD STRETCH OF MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LAKE EFFECT WITH NAM/GFS ALL SHOWING CONNECTION TO THE NORTHERN GREAT LAKES. IN ADDITION TO THE MOISTURE, BOUNDARY-LAYER IS STRONGLY MIXED WHICH WILL LEAD TO BOTH GUSTY WINDS AND ALSO SHOWS SOME WEAK LOW-LEVEL INSTABILITY INHERENT IN NAM/GFS BUFKIT DATA. THESE MOISTURE/INSTABILITY ASPECTS ARE PERHAPS BEST SHOWN IN BTV-4/BTV-12 SNOW SQUALL PARAMETER PROGS WHICH ARE RATHER HIGH FOR SATURDAY. WHILE IT`S NOT A TRUE SNOW SQUALL SITUATION GIVEN THE ABSENCE OF STRONGER FRONTOGENETIC FORCING THE OVERALL IDEA OF CONVECTIVE SNOW SHOWERS STILL LOOKS ON TRACK. LATER SATURDAY, POPS ARE ACTUALLY HIGHER IN NORTHERN VERMONT AS A STRONG SHORTWAVE DIVES SOUTHWARD FROM QUEBEC INTO NEW HAMPSHIRE. BETTER CHANCES FOR SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS NORTHERN VERMONT AS THE SHORTWAVE WILL SHIFT THE LAKE EFFECT BAND FURTHER SOUTHWESTWARD. POINT SNOW AMOUNTS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY OF A DUSTING TO AROUND 2 INCHES AT ELEVATION, THOUGH MAY BE SLIGHTLY HIGHER IN MORE PERSISTENT CONVECTIVE SNOW SHOWERS. PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES WILL SUPPORT HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S TO LOWER/MID 30S, THOUGH IT WILL FEEL COLDER THAN THAT WITH THE GUSTY NORTHWEST WIND. SATURDAY NIGHT: AFOREMENTIONED SHORTWAVE TROUGH PUSHES EASTWARD WITH ANY LINGERING SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST KINGDOM AND NORTHERN VERMONT ENDING BEFORE MIDNIGHT. PERHAPS A ADDITIONAL INCH OF SNOW ACCUMULATION THROUGH MIDNIGHT. ALL TOLD THROUGH SATURDAY, ACCUMULATIONS RUN FROM A DUSTING IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS TO UP TO 4 INCHES ACROSS THE HIGHER SUMMITS. WHILE TEMPERATURES WILL FALL TO LOWS IN THE UPPER TEENS TO MID 20S, PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM FALLING FARTHER THAN THAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Nice J.Spin... I've been watching it and there looks like there should be a decently active period for snow showers later tomorrow afternoon and evening, especially like 21z to 03z. I like a general 1-2" with spot 4" amounts at the summits but that'll really take a stalled convective band to get to those values. I could see mostly a dusting to 1" in the mountain valleys, but places like J.Spin could pick up a couple inches. Whenever I see those more westerly flow lake effect banded type events, the Winooski Valley is prone to channeling the flow between Camels Hump and Bolton to increase low level convergence a bit. So you get that orographic lift plus extra convergence (like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube) of that moisture trying to work through the Winooski Valley, and bam localized 1-3" amounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eyewall Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Nice J.Spin... I've been watching it and there looks like there should be a decently active period for snow showers later tomorrow afternoon and evening, especially like 21z to 03z. I like a general 1-2" with spot 4" amounts at the summits but that'll really take a stalled convective band to get to those values. I could see mostly a dusting to 1" in the mountain valleys, but places like J.Spin could pick up a couple inches. Whenever I see those more westerly flow lake effect banded type events, the Winooski Valley is prone to channeling the flow between Camels Hump and Bolton to increase low level convergence a bit. So you get that orographic lift plus extra convergence (like squeezing toothpaste out of the tube) of that moisture trying to work through the Winooski Valley, and bam localized 1-3" amounts. I'll take anything at this point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 Had soome snow come through St. Johnsbury about 5pm. Nothing stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mahk_webstah Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Drove up 93 today then out to Quebec city. No snow anywhere until 30 miles before . Quebec. A few inches on the ground here and it feels like a different place, winter. They had a foot a few days ago but then rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lava Rock Posted December 18, 2015 Share Posted December 18, 2015 Wet snow falling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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