NNE Cold Season Thread

[Angus]

Not sure if I had mentioned this on my entry about skiing Tremblant in early March but I was surprised to see BV from 89S on our way back. It gave me a different perspective of where BV is located. 

[mreaves]

2 hours ago, Angus said:

Not sure if I had mentioned this on my entry about skiing Tremblant in early March but I was surprised to see BV from 89S on our way back. It gave me a different perspective of where BV is located. 

You didn't know it was in VT?   It is surrounded by neighborhoods and they have bought out many houses over the years and paid for a lot of soundproofing upgrades

[J.Spin]

April Totals

Accumulating Storms:  3

Snowfall:  4.1”

Liquid Equivalent: 4.46”

 

In terms of storms, snowfall, and liquid, this April was slightly on the lean side of average, but it’s certainly not atypical.  Of the 14 seasons in my data, it actually came in below the mean of 6-7” snowfall and well down into the bottom of the pack (4^th from the bottom), but there are a number of seasons sitting just a few tenths of an inch above it, so it’s certainly clustered in with those 4-5” Aprils.  Total liquid was a few tenths below the mean, and the number of accumulating snowstorms was right in the 3 to 4 range that we average each April.

[J.Spin]

The forecast here does have a chance for snow tonight, but it started changing over and accumulating a bit before 11:00 P.M.  It seems like the type of precipitation where the intensity matters a lot though, so it might not stay snow when the intensity drops until the temperature falls overnight.

[alex]

Woke up to some light accumulations

[borderwx]

A little sun on the new snow before the next round. Always nice to see fresh snow on the new Spring green

 

 

[eyewall]

I remember those May snows well when I was up there. Looks like I will be headed up to the NC Mountains overnight. May be an inch or two of snow at 5K feet at sunrise. That would be just about at the latest recorded snow I believe.

[alex]

Alternating sun and snow showers in the middle of the day in May. Oy vey

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.3” Snow/0.14” L.E.

 

Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.3 inches

New Liquid: 0.08 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 3.8

Snow Density: 26.7% H2O

Temperature: 33.6 F

Sky:  Light Snow (1 to 3 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: Trace

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 2.6” Snow/0.33” L.E.

 

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

New Snow: 2.3 inches

New Liquid: 0.19 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 12.1

Snow Density: 8.3% H2O

Temperature: 32.0 F

Sky:  Light Snow (2 to 10 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 2.0 inches

[borderwx]

In and out of the squalls now. Nothing shocking, a few inches up high

 

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 2.9” Snow/0.37” L.E.

 

Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.3 inches

New Liquid: 0.04 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 7.5

Snow Density: 13.3% H2O

Temperature: 38.8 F

Sky:  Flurries

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

[J.Spin]

I haven’t really seen any talk about the snow with this next system, but with the way it’s pouring with temperatures dropping into the 30s F way down at this low in the valleys, I wasn’t surprised to see that it’s pounding snow at elevation.  Both the Bolton Valley Vista Peak Cam and MRG Bird Cage Cam are showing impressive snowfall rates, and the local radar is certainly lit up:

[J.Spin]

The rain just changed over to snow down here at the house, so snow levels are certainly dropping.

[J.Spin]

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah I think they all are north of Killington.  Just can't see it, ha.  Sugarbush took down their upper mountain cams after the last storm. 

Even snowing at the Bolton base pretty hard, just starting to stick.  Those folks who live up there at 2kft get another measurable snowfall, ha.

White ridgelines in the morning.

I saw your post about the Sugarbush mountain cams being down, and I didn’t see them either when I checked earlier today, but maybe the BTV NWS has access to them:

 

Area Forecast Discussion

National Weather Service Burlington VT

536 PM EDT Mon May 11 2020

Snow has been occurring with sfc temps in the 35 to 38 degree range. Web cam atop Sugarbush shows snowfall approaching 6 inches at 3900 feet, also noted Buels Gore at 2300 feet has several inches, so a few slick spots above 1800 feet is possible this evening acrs central/northern VT, into the NEK.

 

We’ve had about 0.5-1.0” of accumulation here at the house at 500’ so far on just about all surfaces, so the snow level has actually dropped pretty low.

[powderfreak]

I found out they are on the Winter version of the Sugarbush App.

These have to be the biggest flakes I've seen in a very long time.

[J.Spin]

12 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

I found out they are on the Winter version of the Sugarbush App.

These have to be the biggest flakes I've seen in a very long time.

That’s good to know about the app.  And yeah, this system has definitely had the right conditions around here for large flakes – we’ve had flakes up to 3” across at times this evening.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.9” Snow/1.10” L.E.

 

This has been an impressively moist system for the relatively short time it’s been affecting the area – I was out for an MTB ride midafternoon and it was just starting to rain, and now we’ve already had 1.10” of liquid equivalent.  At elevations where it’s been all, or mostly snow, it’s going to be quite a substantial resurfacing of the slopes.  We’re supposed to drop to around the freezing mark down here in the valley, and lows are projected in the 20s F at elevation, so we’ll have to see how much the snow dries out and how much more falls with respect to the potential for quality turns.

 

Details from the 8:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.9 inches

New Liquid: 0.37 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 2.4

Snow Density: 41.1% H2O

Temperature: 32.9 F

Sky:  Light Snow (2 to 5 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 1.0 inches

[J.Spin]

14 hours ago, powderfreak said:

The QPF seemed to over-perform too.  I mean the summits had to get wrecked with a fast 6-10".

Here’s the elevation profile for accumulations I saw for this most recent storm in the Bolton Valley area this morning:

340’:  0.5”

1,000’:  1”

1,500’:  2”

2,000’:  3-4”

2,500’:  7-8”

2,800’:  8-9”

3,100’:  9-10”

As you can see, the largest increases in depths seemed to come from a bit below 2,000’ up to about the 2,500’ range before tapering down.  The storm was probably mostly snow above 2,500’, and with 1.21” of L.E. down here at the house, it was a decent resurfacing above 2,000’, and a very solid, “no worries” type of resurfacing above 2,500’.

Essentially all the snow above 1,500’ was winter-dry, and temperatures were still in the 20s F this morning from probably 1,500’ on up.  I’ll have to look back at all the April and May storms we’ve had, but this was some of the driest/wintriest snow I can recall in the past few storms.

[J.Spin]

From the latest Mt. Mansfield Snow Depth Plot at Matthew Parrilla’s site, you can really see how the Mansfield snowpack has sort of been toddling along at 60 inches or so since way back in the beginning of February.  There were a couple of spikes up into the 70 to 80-inch range, but it’s really been pretty steady for over three months now.  It’s not in record territory or anything, but it’s certainly above average (by more than two feet) with the help of the fairly cool April and May.

[J.Spin]

A few shots from the Bolton Valley area today:

 

 

[Ginx snewx]

Just now, J.Spin said:

A few shots from the Bolton Valley area today:

 

 

Gorgeous 

[tamarack]

10 hours ago, J.Spin said:

From the latest Mt. Mansfield Snow Depth Plot at Matthew Parrilla’s site, you can really see how the Mansfield snowpack has sort of been toddling along at 60 inches or so since way back in the beginning of February.  There were a couple of spikes up into the 70 to 80-inch range, but it’s really been pretty steady for over three months now.  It’s not in record territory or anything, but it’s certainly above average (by more than two feet) with the help of the fairly cool April and May.

Looks like they would be BN for SDDs but closing the gap.

[J.Spin]

19 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Gorgeous 

It was great the way the storm had pulled away to brilliant blue May skies by morning – with another amazing aspect being that the temperatures were in the 20s F, so the snow wasn’t even melting in that sunshine.