NNE Fall Thread

[alex]

Still snowing lightly here, another 0.25" or so this afternoon. Glades are open! 

[J.Spin]

5 hours ago, powderfreak said:

JSpin, have you heard anything about Timberline at Bolton?  I just saw these photos this morning and this does not look good.  Definitely full deropement. 

There’s a bullwheel replacement that needs to be done on the Timberline Quad (the new bullwheel has been sitting in the Timberline parking lot for at least a week or two in preparation).  I was talking with a colleague just this morning about whether or not it’s possible to do that with some sort of de-tensioning system, or whether the cable has to be fully removed, but I’m guessing it’s the latter if they had to let the chairs down like that.  I can see why they’ve had such strict wording on the website about Timberline recreational traffic though:

I’m not sure if those photos are from someone working on the project, but if not I’d argue that’s a very dangerous place to be.

[J.Spin]

16 hours ago, powderfreak said:

The upslope portion of the storm has generally had much lower than normal ratios for that portion of a storm.  The low level flakes have been pretty awesome aggregates at times though.  This time of year, QPF is great for building the base.  The fluff will come.   This is hard to comprehend in November for turning conditions... an event with over 2" QPF as snow in the hills, that's impressive any time of the year.

Yeah, this has been a fantastic shot of base for the season.  Barring some sort of off-the charts type of warm event, it’s hard to imagine this going anywhere.  The moisture has continued to roll right along, albeit at a slower pace now.  But, we were up to 2.22” of liquid as of this morning’s observations:

 

Event totals: 13.0” Snow/2.22” L.E.

 

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

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.07 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 2.9

Snow Density: 35.0% H2O

Temperature: 34.0 F

Sky:  Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 10.5 inches

[Ginx snewx]

5 hours ago, wxeyeNH said:

On the couch today with a very sore back.  Over did it yesterday with snow blowing and roof raking.  Then trying to free birch trees.

Snow depth 12".   Season total 31.75".    Not going to add much over the next 10 days.  Bit of snow to crap to rain on Saturday.  Next weeks storm looks south.  

Get some rest old man, swear it was the March cement storm that finally did my back in. I wouldn't trust not adding much next ten days.

[Ginx snewx]

Pf up up she goes, near the record 

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 13.2” Snow/2.26” L.E.

 

The storm certainly seems to be slowing down today, but the snowfall continues so we’ll see if there’s anything else to add before it’s all said and done.

 

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

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.04 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 5.0

Snow Density: 20.0% H2O

Temperature: 34.0 F

Sky: Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 10.0 inches

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Pf up up she goes, near the record 

Today's report of 46" of depth is the new all-time highest November snow depth since 1955.  

Just beat out the 45" from Nov 1990.

Congrats to us all on making this the deepest November on record for Vermont's highest peak.

[powderfreak]

5 hours ago, J.Spin said:

There’s a bullwheel replacement that needs to be done on the Timberline Quad (the new bullwheel has been sitting in the Timberline parking lot for at least a week or two in preparation).  I was talking with a colleague just this morning about whether or not it’s possible to do that with some sort of de-tensioning system, or whether the cable has to be fully removed, but I’m guessing it’s the latter if they had to let the chairs down like that.  I can see why they’ve had such strict wording on the website about Timberline recreational traffic though:

I’m not sure if those photos are from someone working on the project, but if not I’d argue that’s a very dangerous place to be.

Those were photos posted to social channels this morning from a skinner I'd presume.  And you are right, no way in hell would I be standing anywhere near those haul ropes.  Slight shift somewhere on the line and those cables could move very rapidly. 

I also found out more information about the process from friends in the chairlift maintenance and installation world.  A lot of times places will take the chairs off the haul rope to decrease the weight/tension on the line, but obviously it's faster not to.  Those photos are likely from near the top of the lift or the midstation or something?  It sounds like they shift the tension to a backup system while they replace the bullwheel, and the haul rope comes off a couple towers near the top or bottom to allow them to do that transfer. 

Once they do the bullwheel, they'll get the haul rope back on it and use the lifting frame on the top of the lift towers to jack the cable up and put it back on the sheave assembly.

What happened here was that it then snowed 2-3 feet of dense heavy snow that loaded the chairs down and buried them, not causing any damage but just a lot of extra work to dig out the chairs that were near those towers where the rope came off the towers to help with the tension transfer. 

The classic catch-22 of mountains still having pre-season work to do in November but early season snows cause a lot of extra headaches.

[mreaves]

7 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Those were photos posted to social channels this morning from a skinner I'd presume.  And you are right, no way in hell would I be standing anywhere near those haul ropes.  Slight shift somewhere on the line and those cables could move very rapidly. 

I also found out more information about the process from friends in the chairlift maintenance and installation world.  A lot of times places will take the chairs off the haul rope to decrease the weight/tension on the line, but obviously it's faster not to.  Those photos are likely from near the top of the lift or the midstation or something?  It sounds like they shift the tension to a backup system while they replace the bullwheel, and the haul rope comes off a couple towers near the top or bottom to allow them to do that transfer. 

Once they do the bullwheel, they'll get the haul rope back on it and use the lifting frame on the top of the lift towers to jack the cable up and put it back on the sheave assembly.

What happened here was that it then snowed 2-3 feet of dense heavy snow that loaded the chairs down and buried them, not causing any damage but just a lot of extra work to dig out the chairs that were near those towers where the rope came off the towers to help with the tension transfer. 

The classic catch-22 of mountains still having pre-season work to do in November but early season snows cause a lot of extra headaches.

I saw a post on Facebook say the bullwheel was installed and they were expecting to have it up and running soon. 

[mreaves]

Here is the post

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156738941469323&id=112593644322&_ft_=mf_story_key.10156738941469323%3Atop_level_post_id.10156738941469323%3Atl_objid.10156738941469323%3Acontent_owner_id_new.112593644322%3Athrowback_story_fbid.10156738941469323%3Apage_id.112593644322%3Aphoto_id.10156738928744323%3Astory_location.4%3Astory_attachment_style.photo%3Apage_insights.{"112593644322"%3A{"role"%3A1%2C"page_id"%3A112593644322%2C"post_context"%3A{"story_fbid"%3A10156738941469323%2C"publish_time"%3A1543522831%2C"story_name"%3A"EntStatusCreationStory"%2C"object_fbtype"%3A266}%2C"actor_id"%3A112593644322%2C"psn"%3A"EntStatusCreationStory"%2C"sl"%3A4%2C"dm"%3A{"isShare"%3A0%2C"originalPostOwnerID"%3A0}%2C"targets"%3A[{"page_id"%3A112593644322%2C"actor_id"%3A112593644322%2C"role"%3A1%2C"post_id"%3A10156738941469323%2C"share_id"%3A0}]}}&__tn__=*s*s-R

[powderfreak]

Just now, mreaves said:

Here is the post

Yeah I saw that too... I think those photos posted today in various social channels by some skinners up caused them to clear up the air. 

I have solid respect for the lift ops/maintenance team that digs out those chairs.  That's a hard day of work right there.

[Hitman]

Wow, hard to believe they did that on purpose with the chairs on.

[J.Spin]

Well, with Winter Storm Bruce winding down, I figured it was a good time to check on storm totals for the Vermont ski areas.  Since it’s been snowing for four days now, it seemed like the 7-day totals would be the best representation of the storm totals, so that’s what I used.  North to south listing of available snowfall totals are below:

Jay Peak: 44”

Burke: 26”

Smuggler’s Notch: 28”

Stowe: 18”

Bolton Valley: 32”

Pico: 26”

Killington: 26”

Bromley: 30”

Magic Mountain: 23”

Mount Snow: 22”

 

I’m assuming that Stowe number is low (PF will know) based on the surrounding areas, but it’s what they’ve got on the website for now.

 

For areas that have them, I’ve also added the current season totals below:

Jay Peak: 72”

Burke: 35”

Smuggler’s Notch: 86”

Bolton Valley: 84”

Mad River Glen: 72”

Sugarbush: 67”

Pico: 62”

Killington: 62”

Bromley: 53”

Magic Mountain: 43”

Stratton: 39”

Mount Snow: 47”

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 13.3” Snow/2.27” L.E.

 

Well, this is the first set of observations I’ve made since Monday without snow falling, so it looks like Winter Storm Bruce is finally coming to an end.  If this is where it ends up in terms of the snow total, it sits in second place for November storms since I’ve been recording here.  The #1 slot for November snowfall in an event is still held by the 11/20/2008 storm, although it looks like this year’s event had much more liquid with it.

 

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

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 10.0

Snow Density: 10.0% H2O

Temperature: 33.3 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 9.5 inches

[wxeyeNH]

Will I ever see the sun again?  Much of Eastern New England is cloud free but not me.  So close but yet so far.

[dendrite]

4 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

Will I ever see the sun again?  Much of Eastern New England is cloud free but not me.  So close but yet so far.

33F and OVC at the casa. Dark dark dark like every other day.

[#NoPoles]

Eric Fisher put up some stats 2 or 3 nights ago on the 11pm news about how overcast it has been...sept oct and november all came in with less than average sunshine days...November was at 68% of the month as overcast. I saw brief period of sun yesterday and today but usually by 11am socked back in with clouds

[Hitman]

shout out to this thread in the washington post today.

[Ginx snewx]

16 hours ago, J.Spin said:

Well, with Winter Storm Bruce winding down, I figured it was a good time to check on storm totals for the Vermont ski areas.  Since it’s been snowing for four days now, it seemed like the 7-day totals would be the best representation of the storm totals, so that’s what I used.  North to south listing of available snowfall totals are below:

Jay Peak: 44”

Burke: 26”

Smuggler’s Notch: 28”

Stowe: 18”

Bolton Valley: 32”

Pico: 26”

Killington: 26”

Bromley: 30”

Magic Mountain: 23”

Mount Snow: 22”

 

I’m assuming that Stowe number is low (PF will know) based on the surrounding areas, but it’s what they’ve got on the website for now.

 

For areas that have them, I’ve also added the current season totals below:

Jay Peak: 72”

Burke: 35”

Smuggler’s Notch: 86”

Bolton Valley: 84”

Mad River Glen: 72”

Sugarbush: 67”

Pico: 62”

Killington: 62”

Bromley: 53”

Magic Mountain: 43”

Stratton: 39”

Mount Snow: 47”

You made the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/weather/2018/11/30/parts-new-england-new-york-have-seen-historically-snowy-november/?utm_term=.e44ffc285838&__twitter_impression=true

[wxeyeNH]

3 hours ago, dendrite said:

33F and OVC at the casa. Dark dark dark like every other day.

Yes, another dark day, 31F.  Just can't seem to get temperatures up over freezing.  Looking at the ridges the trees are still holding on to a lot of snow.  We need some melting tomorrow before more weight is added tomorrow night.  Sun/Monday should provide a melt before back into the deep freeze.

[tamarack]

56 minutes ago, #NoPoles said:

Eric Fisher put up some stats 2 or 3 nights ago on the 11pm news about how overcast it has been...sept oct and november all came in with less than average sunshine days...November was at 68% of the month as overcast. I saw brief period of sun yesterday and today but usually by 11am socked back in with clouds

November has been the cloudiest month at my place, with a narrow "lead" over December, and this November may be the cloudiest of the 21 here.  (Though my overall record month for clouds came with the endless stratiform RA of June 2009.)

[J.Spin]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

You made the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/weather/2018/11/30/parts-new-england-new-york-have-seen-historically-snowy-november/?utm_term=.e44ffc285838&__twitter_impression=true

Hey, nice catch; that’s so cool that they’re visiting the NNE thread.  Go data!

[Ginx snewx]

4 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

Hey, nice catch; that’s so cool that they’re visiting the NNE thread.  Go data!

Well they had an assist,  see the very bottom of the article,  also Ian the writer was an admin here for a while and and original from Eastern days. So cool how many of our original crew have gone on to the big time. 

[wxeyeNH]

4 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Well they had an assist,  see the very bottom of the article,  also Ian the writer was an admin here for a while and and original from Eastern days. So cool how many of our original crew have gone on to the big time. 

Steve.  This is great!  Thank you for assisting the Post in writing this article.  31.75" inches of snow will be my total for the month, most of that in the last 2 weeks.  

[Ginx snewx]

1 hour ago, wxeyeNH said:

Steve.  This is great!  Thank you for assisting the Post in writing this article.  31.75" inches of snow will be my total for the month, most of that in the last 2 weeks.  

Epicosity

[alex]

42" for the month here. I won't complain. 

[Ginx snewx]

16 minutes ago, alex said:

42" for the month here. I won't complain. 

Wow

[powderfreak]

6 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

You made the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/weather/2018/11/30/parts-new-england-new-york-have-seen-historically-snowy-november/?utm_term=.e44ffc285838&__twitter_impression=true

Nice Ginxy...really incredible when you consider that all 3 NNE states and especially ski country got crushed in multiple events.  It's this last storm that really pushed it over the edge, after what would've been a snowy month regardless.  Excellent time of year for the local economy to get a boost heading towards the holidays.  People want winter this time of year.

"Hat tip to Steve Gencarelle for his guidance on this topic."

[J.Spin]

I saw that Winter Weather Advisories are up for the area ahead of the next system since some frozen precipitation is expected on the front end before temperatures warm.  The forecast calls for just an inch or two of snow on the front end, but the BTV NWS forecast discussion suggests there’s additional snow potential on the back side of the system:

.LONG TERM /MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY/...

As of 249 PM EST Friday...moisture and lift, combined with developing upslope flow behind first cold front will produce chc to likely pops on Monday into Tues. Initially thermal profiles support snow levels around summit level as 850mb temps are near 0c at 12z Monday, but cool to -5c to -9c by 00z Tuesday associated moderate low level cold air advection. Several inches of snowfall is possible late Monday into early Tuesday, especially above 1000 feet.

[J.Spin]

On ‎11‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 10:40 AM, Ginx snewx said:

JSpin FTW pic wise woah

I’m glad you’re enjoying the photos Ginx.  Shooting the action shots on Tuesday’s tour was incredibly challenging since we were at dusk, in late November, in a snowstorm.  But of course, pushing the limits is part of the fun.  The scenery shots at the start of the tour were fairly standard because there was still a decent amount of available light, relatively speaking of course.  The action shots at dusk were only possible because I was using a really bright lens, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM that’s just right for these sorts of occasions.  Unfortunately it seems that images posted on the forum strip out the Exif data, but it’s still present for all the shots on my website.  In order to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 sec to stop motion, I went to F/1.8 and ISO values in the 6,400 to 8,000 range.  The photography and skiing were super fun, but of course the best part was getting to be out on a ski tour with my older son.

I was also out for a quick tour yesterday morning, so here are a few more pictures: