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NNE Winter. Will it ever snow again?


mreaves

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I agree with the BTV discussion that with such a light wind flow there may not be much terrain enhancement of QPF (or shadowing).  I think there will be an elevational dependence to the snow amounts though because of the dry air in the low levels.  A bigger flake at 4,000ft will accumulate much better than its smaller size at 500ft.  Snow/water ratios will increase with height, but not because of temperatures but because of saturation.

 

 

Nailed it ;).

 

I wasn't working today but got up there for some turns around noontime.  Heavily elevation dependent snowfall last night with only 1" at the base but 4" about 2,000ft higher up.  Totally due to the dry air in the low levels.  Dendrites were huge and perfect size up top, and about a third of the size or smaller at the base.

 

Dry air cutting into base totals but up near saturation at the summit it was able to efficiently accumulate.

 

Scene at 3,600ft... so nice to have snow back on the trees, haha.

 

12474002_10102441332252460_2000870914388

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Something very weird must've happened last night though looking at the area snowfall reports from the ski areas:

Jay Peak...4"

Smuggs...1"

Stowe...4"

Bolton...0"/Dusting

Sugarbush...3"

Jay/Stowe/Sugarbush are on the eastern sides of Spine and Smuggs/Bolton are on the west side. That's the only thing I can think of.

I wouldn't believe the Bolton report of 0" until I saw this photo from 10am this morning:

12729309_10205848948449391_1933170334857

Meanwhile a few miles north on Mansfield it was quite different.

12657274_10102441341938050_3845753295953

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PF- how much have you gotten at 1500'-2000'? 

 

I just checked johns NH weather and hes nickle and dimed his way to 54.8". 

 

Looking at First Lake COOP the lowest recorded to date was 46.5" (2011-2012). They stopped reporting snow a couple years ago so I dont know what the COOP would be at. Its only a couple miles away from John though, albeit a couple hundred feet lower. So it looks like they are on par with some of the worst winters, but not on pace for a record at this point. 

 

Edit: I just checked Johns #s for 2011-2012 and he was at 47.2"..so right inline with the COOP. He ended up with 137" that season...his lowest by a good margin since he started his site in 05-06.

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PF- how much have you gotten at 1500'-2000'? 

 

I just checked johns NH weather and hes nickle and dimed his way to 54.8". 

 

Looking at First Lake COOP the lowest recorded to date was 46.5" (2011-2012). They stopped reporting snow a couple years ago so I dont know what the COOP would be at. Its only a couple miles away from John though, albeit a couple hundred feet lower. So it looks like they are on par with some of the worst winters, but not on pace for a record at this point. 

 

Edit: I just checked Johns #s for 2011-2012 and he was at 47.2"..so right inline with the COOP. He ended up with 137" that season...his lowest by a good margin since he started his site in 05-06.

 

I actually don't have my 1,500ft snowboard data at home, but I'll check at the office tomorrow.  My guess is 1,500ft is in the 40-50" range, as 3,000+ft just hit 80". 

 

J.Spin is at 40" and the base area usually runs a little above his numbers due to the 1,000ft of increased elevation. 

 

I'll also have to compare it to 2011-2012.  I think NH/ME have been doing a little bit better this winter.  Of course that's all relative...as being further east has gotten just a bit more moisture in some of these scraping coastal systems for NNE...along with that inverted trough event a while back. 

 

I do remember in 2011-2012 it was bad but I still had 90" at 750ft but right now I'm at 27", ha.  I'll have to see where 1,500ft and 3,000ft sat at this same time in 11-12. 

 

Basically NH and ME mountain areas seem to be on par with the worst of winters, but not below it at this point.  Where as VT is a tick below that.  Especially up at John's Wx where they were able to nickel the front ends of some of the cutters a bit more than we were further SW than him. 

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PF- how much have you gotten at 1500'-2000'?

I just checked johns NH weather and hes nickle and dimed his way to 54.8".

Looking at First Lake COOP the lowest recorded to date was 46.5" (2011-2012). They stopped reporting snow a couple years ago so I dont know what the COOP would be at. Its only a couple miles away from John though, albeit a couple hundred feet lower. So it looks like they are on par with some of the worst winters, but not on pace for a record at this point.

Edit: I just checked Johns #s for 2011-2012 and he was at 47.2"..so right inline with the COOP. He ended up with 137" that season...his lowest by a good margin since he started his site in 05-06.

Reports from friends riding out of Pittsburgh before last week's meltdown were that it was ok once you got out of town. In town was pretty snirty. Like I said though, that was before last week's rain. I know that riding went kaput on the other side of the river in the NEK.
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3.9"/0.24" for the event. At least I'm over 20" now.

Bring on the fridgies.

So jealous. I've had one snowfall of 4" or greater at onetime this season, and it was like half sleet haha.

I can't imagine what having 4" fall all at once would look like.

And where's Dryslot these days? Haven't seen a post from him in the NNE thread in weeks it seems.

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The 1.5" measured this morning pushed Orwell into the double digits.  10.2" total for the season. 

 

Edit: I was contacted by the Orwell Chamber of Commerce and CEO of the famed Mt. Independence Ski Lodge (the most vertical gain in all the lower Champlain Valley) and shamed into admitting the total for the season is vastly under-reported, as there have been multiple trace events and one all-day snow event that mostly melted on contact throughout the day.  All told, the snow total is 10.4".

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I actually don't have my 1,500ft snowboard data at home, but I'll check at the office tomorrow.  My guess is 1,500ft is in the 40-50" range, as 3,000+ft just hit 80". 

 

J.Spin is at 40" and the base area usually runs a little above his numbers due to the 1,000ft of increased elevation. 

 

I'll also have to compare it to 2011-2012.  I think NH/ME have been doing a little bit better this winter.  Of course that's all relative...as being further east has gotten just a bit more moisture in some of these scraping coastal systems for NNE...along with that inverted trough event a while back. 

 

I do remember in 2011-2012 it was bad but I still had 90" at 750ft but right now I'm at 27", ha.  I'll have to see where 1,500ft and 3,000ft sat at this same time in 11-12. 

 

Basically NH and ME mountain areas seem to be on par with the worst of winters, but not below it at this point.  Where as VT is a tick below that.  Especially up at John's Wx where they were able to nickel the front ends of some of the cutters a bit more than we were further SW than him. 

 

This last storm plus the pixie dust flurry late morn totaled 3.7", getting my total to 32.5", just over 60% of avg YTD and 4th lowest of 18 winters (not 3rd, I forgot 01-02 earlier.)  However, LEW has forged ahead once again.  Despite the 15-20" climo difference, I've finished with lower than Jeff about half the years KevInMA has run the snow table.  Also, the midcoast folks have not been using the table this year, and the last few little storms have been better there than here, 7-10" while Jeff gets 4-6 and I get a bit under 4.  N. Maine is doing fair, below avg but they've gotten some events that missed the rest of the region.

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Something very weird must've happened last night though looking at the area snowfall reports from the ski areas:

 

Jay Peak...4"

Smuggs...1"

Stowe...4"

Bolton...0"/Dusting

Sugarbush...3"

 

Jay/Stowe/Sugarbush are on the eastern sides of Spine and Smuggs/Bolton are on the west side.  That's the only thing I can think of.

 

I wouldn't believe the Smuggs report of 0" until I saw this photo from 10am this morning:

 

12729309_10205848948449391_1933170334857

 

 

Meanwhile a few miles north on Mansfield it was quite different.

 

12657274_10102441341938050_3845753295953

thought you were posting a pic of Smuggs earlier. Bolton- talk about a conundrum. Great elevation and potential snowfall, but totally exposed to prevailing winds and afternoon sun. Been spoken many times over- there's a reason most ski areas don't face due west around here. At least Smuggs has a bit more variable aspect to at least.

 

Skiing both places a fair bit- Smuggs' Madonna 2 lift is always quite wind scoured with a similar aspect to your pic. Once in a while it's the deepest snow on the mountain, but snowpack highly localized because of the wind- and often quite low depth- the Madonna 1 liftline spine and Morse Mt seem to act as a funnel and W-NW winds just funnel up that area like crazy.  One of several reasons there are not more trails cut on Madonna- wind. Could cut more glades.

 

This picture is case-in-point- open trails exposed to the W-NW just get decimated by winds and sun. Probably more factors than just that- if only Bolton, Jay and the like engaged in more MRG-style trail management, rehabilitation, and development- it would preserve a heck of a lot of snow on those exposed areas. Just a thought. Not that this year makes much a difference. 

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With that weak low passing overhead tonight, and -10c 850s moving in and a saturated environment, i think tonight into tomorrow am could be a very nice snowfall for the upslope regions of the greens. 4-6" def. possible. And I should add that I'm laid up with the flu so might as well move that from possible to ABSOLUTELY going to nuke tonight. 

 

Also, I may be crazy but the last few runs of the GFS are starting to show a decidedly much colder pattern. Still missing the big bombs we need to get back to a reasonable season, but at least it is showing some winter. If it is going to turn around, this is when it has to start showing up. To me the question will be what happens to the storm progged for the 2/20-2/21 time period.  A few runs showed this as a major cutter and rain maker. The last few show it as a colder storm.... 

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With that weak low passing overhead tonight, and -10c 850s moving in and a saturated environment, i think tonight into tomorrow am could be a very nice snowfall for the upslope regions of the greens. 4-6" def. possible. And I should add that I'm laid up with the flu so might as well move that from possible to ABSOLUTELY going to nuke tonight. 

 

Also, I may be crazy but the last few runs of the GFS are starting to show a decidedly much colder pattern. Still missing the big bombs we need to get back to a reasonable season, but at least it is showing some winter. If it is going to turn around, this is when it has to start showing up. To me the question will be what happens to the storm progged for the 2/20-2/21 time period.  A few runs showed this as a major cutter and rain maker. The last few show it as a colder storm....

2/20-2/21? What about 2/16-17? Is that over?

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With that weak low passing overhead tonight, and -10c 850s moving in and a saturated environment, i think tonight into tomorrow am could be a very nice snowfall for the upslope regions of the greens. 4-6" def. possible. And I should add that I'm laid up with the flu so might as well move that from possible to ABSOLUTELY going to nuke tonight. 

 

Also, I may be crazy but the last few runs of the GFS are starting to show a decidedly much colder pattern. Still missing the big bombs we need to get back to a reasonable season, but at least it is showing some winter. If it is going to turn around, this is when it has to start showing up. To me the question will be what happens to the storm progged for the 2/20-2/21 time period.  A few runs showed this as a major cutter and rain maker. The last few show it as a colder storm.... 

 

I am going to be the streak and go with cutter.

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2/20-2/21? What about 2/16-17? Is that over?

latest Euro still shows something 2/17- basically straight up the CT river valley, but it's way far out. getting pretty tired of stuff showing something D7 or so, and never coming through. 

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latest Euro still shows something 2/17- basically straight up the CT river valley, but it's way far out. getting pretty tired of stuff showing something D7 or so, and never coming through. 

 

Yeah this has been bouncing around run to run with little consistency but the risk is there of a relaxation for this thing to cut. If not we could score something out of it. Given the streak this winter I am inclined to go with a cutter, but we may finally get a shot. We shall see.

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latest Euro still shows something 2/17- basically straight up the CT river valley, but it's way far out. getting pretty tired of stuff showing something D7 or so, and never coming through. 

Everything is always in fantasy range.  Verbatim Euro OP has 2ft+ for NW CT, Berks, SVT up to KRUT out to D9-10 at the end of the run.  Regarding D7, at this point at rather see a HV/CRV runner rather than SE of 40/70 and praying for a 150 mile shift NW.

 

Maybe the tides are turning? Like you said, would like to see a credible threat in the D3 range and not 7-10.

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Event totals: 1.2” Snow/0.08” L.E.

 

We’ve just had light accumulations over the past 24 hours, but flakes have been in the air a lot.

 

Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: Trace

Temperature: 26.6 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

 

Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0

Snow Density: 5.0% H2O

Temperature: 25.3 F

Sky: Flurries

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

 

Our forecast here at the house continues to looks snowy through the rest of the week, with projected accumulations in the 3-6” range:

 

10FEB16A.jpg

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Event totals: 1.2” Snow/0.08” L.E.

 

We’ve just had light accumulations over the past 24 hours, but flakes have been in the air a lot.

 

Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: Trace

Temperature: 26.6 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

 

Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0

Snow Density: 5.0% H2O

Temperature: 25.3 F

Sky: Flurries

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

 

Our forecast here at the house continues to looks snowy through the rest of the week, with projected accumulations in the 3-6” range:

 

 

I attribute the uptick in snowiness, however slight, to my shaving strike.  Of course it has been pointed out that sparseness of my beard mimics the continued sparseness of snow.   :(  As of this coming Friday, it will have been 2 weeks since I last shaved.

 

post-363-0-09884000-1455113121_thumb.jpg

 

 

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I attribute the uptick in snowiness, however slight, to my shaving strike.  Of course it has been pointed out that sparseness of my beard mimics the continued sparseness of snow.   :(  As of this coming Friday, it will have been 2 weeks since I last shaved.

 

 

Unless you want your employment outed, you may want to redo that photo  :snowing:

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