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I read that convo too but didn't want to go looking for it.

 

He had zoomed in Topo maps too somewhere else...

 

We’ve talked about it before in the forum – the pass through the Northern Greens carved by the Winooski might be the snowiest place in all of New England below 500’.  The annual snowfall seems to average somewhere up in the 150”-160” range based on what I’ve documented so far over nine complete snow seasons.  The only other pass through the Greens that I can think of at this low of an elevation would be the Lamoille Valley to the north (someone with more knowledge may be able to clarify that).  So with the Northern Greens as the snowiest area of New England, there aren’t really that many other low elevation spots to consider.  I don’t think any of us made the full connection about how snowy it was here before I started documenting the snowfall, but Powderfreak has noticed on multiple occasions how you can drive through the high point of the pass cutting through the Greens on I-89, and it will be the only spot in the area where it’s snowing.

 

I doubt there’s anywhere in the mainland Western U.S. that’s even in contention, since the only places that low in elevation would be right along the coast; you’d have to go up toward places like Alyeska in Alaska, where they report an average of 208” at 250’ to get into something low elevation and snowy out there.  So, outside of the Great Lakes, this could be the snowiest sub-500’ area in the lower 48.

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Oh, so it's that narrow notch running E-W

 

I was looking at an image the other day from the mountain, which gives a good idea of how J.Spin gets so much snow (and precipitation) relative to other local areas.  Even though he's at 500ft, its a narrow steep valley that runs east-west and is far too narrow to have any downsloping effects from any direction.  Precipitation bubbles up over the larger Spine terrain which features peaks that line up north-south, but there are ridges off those peaks that run west-east. 

 

This is a view looking south along the Spine from Mansfield's southern end, and I've marked J.Spin's approximate area behind that peak/ridge which is Bolton Valley's terrain.  Behind that ridge, it drops sharply into the Winooski Valley, before rising back up towards Camels Hump.

 

Literally no matter what direction the wind comes, it never downslopes over him until that wind is out of his area.  Its big terrain all around him.  He's got 3,000-4,000ft terrain pretty much rising up out of his neighborhood.  That's different than myself where its flat around me in the valley, but with the Mountains rising up a few miles away, which can be just enough to cause some downslope.  J.Spin's area, while at 500ft, he gets precipitation similar to the adjacent high elevations.

 

So despite the 500ft elevation, he's got massive lift going on all over from being in a narrow valley between the big terrain.  It really is a cool micro-climate.  There are other areas similar to it...like in Stowe the Nebraska Valley is known as a very snowy spot and its similar to him where its a narrow valley that runs towards the Spine...so you can live at low elevation but reap the full benefits of the orographic lift.  Those narrow valleys also cause some low level convergence on west flow, so it rises over the peaks and then tries to force itself through the narrow valleys.  You end up with concentrated areas of heavier snow sneaking through the gaps and into the eastern side in blocked flows.  So there's really nothing that is ever a bad wind direction. 

 

 

This is a map shot of the view you are looking at for context.

 

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Nice thanks. Even if there was downsloping the effects would be blown 10 miles to his south by the wind.

 

Exactly.  The valley there is too narrow as the terrain just goes back up on the other side.

 

Meanwhile, where I live (I put a marker west of the "Stowe" to give my approximate location) the valley is broader, so it can downslope if the inversion is near ridgetop blocking the flow.  You can see the differences between our locations are subtle with relation to the Spine, but that extra couple miles he has closer to the axis makes a difference.  I also have Mansfield's wall blocking air from the west, where J.Spin has the Winooski Valley gap...so even in blocked flows he'll get good snows that sneak through the cracks (the valleys).  Now I can get crushed in a good high inversion event as Mansfield acts like a ramp and then it deposits all the snow/precip on the east side...but I'm more prone to certain set-ups not being as favorable, where J.Spin is pretty much good to go in any set up.

 

I do like the summertime convection here, as Mansfield will often initiate thunderstorm development over the mountain which then drifts east over town and can be quite fun. 

 

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Latest on Euro upgrade from NCEP:

This is a final reminder that ECMWF's IFS will be upgraded to cycle 41r2

on Tuesday 8 March 2016.

The first operational run using the new cycle will be the 06 UTC

analysis and forecast in the Boundary Conditions Optional Programme on

8 March followed by the 12 UTC main assimilation and forecast.

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Latest on Euro upgrade from NCEP:

This is a final reminder that ECMWF's IFS will be upgraded to cycle 41r2

on Tuesday 8 March 2016.

The first operational run using the new cycle will be the 06 UTC

analysis and forecast in the Boundary Conditions Optional Programme on

8 March followed by the 12 UTC main assimilation and forecast.

 

 

ECMWF does create these analysis files at 6z & 18z, but it is only this one file.  It's not a full run of data.

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