NNE Cold Season Thread

[wxeyeNH]

I was surprised to wake up to almost 1" of snow.   We got about 1/4" yesterday morning too.  Slowly ticking up to around 57" for the season.  It doesn't seem like I have gotten that much with frequent thaws but we have managed to have a fairly constant snow cover most of the winter.  If bare patches during warm spells on south facing slopes.

Looks like a 3-6" snowfall tomorrow.  Once we move to late February with increasing solar insulation I am ready for spring although I know March is still a winter month in NNE

[klw]

Clearing the driveway, this morning is Labrador approved.

 

 

[Ginx snewx]

Just now, klw said:

Clearing the driveway, this morning is Labrador approved.

 

 

Nice man. Beauty 

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.2” Snow/0.04” L.E.

 

I found 0.2” of snow on the boards this morning in association with this next system, which has been named Winter Storm Mabel.

 

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

New Snow: 0.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.04 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 5.0

Snow Density: 20.0% H2O

Temperature: 31.8 F

Sky:  Light Snow (1 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 16.0 inches

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.7” Snow/0.12” L.E.

 

Details from the 5:00 P.M. Waterbury observations:

New Snow: 0.5 inches

New Liquid: 0.08 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 6.3

Snow Density: 16.0% H2O

Temperature: 32.5 F

Sky:  Light Snow (2 to 10 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 16.0 inches

[powderfreak]

On 2/12/2020 at 9:52 AM, klw said:

Clearing the driveway, this morning is Labrador approved.

Beautiful dog.  I've obviously got a soft spot for black labs.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 1.0” Snow/0.14” L.E.

 

There’s still a bit of arctic dust falling this morning, although I’m not sure if that will result in any substantial accumulation beyond a trace.

 

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

New Snow: 0.3 inches

New Liquid: 0.02 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 15.0

Snow Density: 6.7% H2O

Temperature: 1.9 F

Sky:  Light Snow (1 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 15.5 inches

[klw]

We ended up with 1.5 for the "event" which was less than the surprise the night before.

[backedgeapproaching]

Picked up 1.4" yesterday and overnight, event total ended up being 3.9". Still underperformed a bit.

Little nippy out there, but nice to have some sun and  bluebird skies. Feel like there hasnt been many of those this winter.

Depth is right at 12". Almost constant snowcover since NOV, which is a bit surprising in my location which can torch pretty easily and retention is not a strong suit, especially since it's a been a warmer winter.

 

[dendrite]

Congrats Diane

Station                    Lat     Lon  Elev(m)
Berlin_Municipa     NH US 44.58  -71.18   353
------------------------------------------------------------------
KBML   ECM MOS GUIDANCE    2/14/2020  1200 UTC

DT /FEB  14/FEB  15                /FEB  16                /FEB  17
HR   18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 06 12
N/X                   -26          17           4          38    19
TMP   4  4 -5-11-16-21-22 -3 12 17 10  9  8 10 12 27 35 35 29 27 22
DPT -12-13-15-18-22-26-27-13 -5 -2  0 -1  1  4  7 15 18 20 20 19 15
CLD  CL CL CL CL CL CL CL CL CL SC BK OV OV OV OV BK SC BK OV OV BK
WDR  30 31 31 30 30 33 00 00 21 17 18 18 28 27 27 25 24 26 29 30 31
WSP  09 07 03 01 01 02 00 00 03 03 02 03 06 06 03 03 07 03 02 02 04
P06         1     1     1     2     2     0    26     3     2  7 19
P12                     1           2          35           3    19

 

[wx2fish]

Some hints of an upper level deck around 9z, but if that stays north we should see some -30s again in the coldest spots 

[#NoPoles]

5 hours ago, dendrite said:

Congrats Diane

Station                    Lat     Lon  Elev(m)
Berlin_Municipa     NH US 44.58  -71.18   353
------------------------------------------------------------------
KBML   ECM MOS GUIDANCE    2/14/2020  1200 UTC

DT /FEB  14/FEB  15                /FEB  16                /FEB  17
HR   18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 03 06 09 12 15 18 21 00 06 12
N/X                   -26          17           4          38    19
TMP   4  4 -5-11-16-21-22 -3 12 17 10  9  8 10 12 27 35 35 29 27 22
DPT -12-13-15-18-22-26-27-13 -5 -2  0 -1  1  4  7 15 18 20 20 19 15
CLD  CL CL CL CL CL CL CL CL CL SC BK OV OV OV OV BK SC BK OV OV BK
WDR  30 31 31 30 30 33 00 00 21 17 18 18 28 27 27 25 24 26 29 30 31
WSP  09 07 03 01 01 02 00 00 03 03 02 03 06 06 03 03 07 03 02 02 04
P06         1     1     1     2     2     0    26     3     2  7 19
P12                     1           2          35           3    19

 

1030 pm and Alex's weather station is reporting -17, I have a sneaking suspicion my car won't start in the morning

[#NoPoles]

-26

[mreaves]

-35 at Island Pond. -18 here

[wxeyeNH]

-6.6F up here on the hill. 

[tamarack]

Touched -25 or a bit colder here.  Another 40+ diurnal range today.  Saw -32 at PQI, guessing Big Black/Estcourt Station under -35.

[backedgeapproaching]

-10 here.

[J.Spin]

I was just checking on the NOHRSC plots for our site, and on the SWE plot you can really see how the past week or so has provided an impressive injection of liquid into the snowpack.  I set the start date for the plot at 1/29, the last time I did an actual coring of the snowpack, and the SWE was 2.08” at that point.  I haven’t cored since then, but the modeling shows that the SWE has almost doubled thanks to Winter Storm Kade and the subsequent smaller events:

Mean snowpack depth at our site for this date is close to 20”, so the current depth is just a bit on the low side, but well within one S.D. of the mean.  Snowfall for the month thus far is 21.5”, which is just shy of average pace, so overall it’s been a decent first half of the month.

[alex]

Brought my daughter to ski school and I have to say, cold as it is, the sun makes a big difference. It's definitely not the same as the December sun

[dryslot]

-16°F at 6:00am.

[wxeyeNH]

Balmy -6.5F on my hill.

Alex,  like you said that strong sun makes a difference.  We are almost 2 months since the winter solstice.   Sun angle today is like late October.  Sun is starting to make the dents in south facing snow banks and warming up car interiors.

[alex]

4 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

Balmy -6.5F on my hill.

Alex,  like you said that strong sun makes a difference.  We are almost 2 months since the winter solstice.   Sun angle today is like late October.  Sun is starting to make the dents in south facing snow banks and warming up car interiors.

And I love it.

[tamarack]

Low was -28, only 1° from my coldest Feb morning here.  That came in 2003, the winter that killed my peach tree.  Planted in late May 1998, that Reliance peach would grow vigorously in summer then die back to about 2' tall each winter.  Then 01-02 didn't get colder than -12, there was no dieback, and the tree produced 100+ luscious tennis-ball-sized fruit.  Jan-Feb-Mar 2003 reached -20 or colder 12 times, bottoming out with that -29 in Feb, and it was lights out.  A weak sprout came from below the graft, thus useless, but it died in July anyway.

[mreaves]

The northern Greens have gained some snow the last week or two. Was -18 when I got up so decided to get a later start to our ride. Was 0 when we left at 10:00 am. Beautiful day to be out. 

[powderfreak]

Cold and clear the past two days until this evening when high clouds rolled in.

A 46-degree diurnal spread today in the valley... -23F to +23F.

February looking like February should.

[tamarack]

10 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Cold and clear the past two days until this evening when high clouds rolled in.

A 46-degree diurnal spread today in the valley... -23F to +23F.

Only 45° here, -28 to 17 (after Friday's 30/-13.  Afternoon high was 10.)  GYX noted that Jackman had -41 yesterday morning and might reach 30 today.

[dendrite]

3 hours ago, tamarack said:

 GYX noted that Jackman had -41 yesterday morning

Wow I totally overlooked that yesterday even though I looked at the HYD obs. I was so focused picking out -30s that I didn't even let my eye peek for -40s. Impressive.

[J.Spin]

13 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Cold and clear the past two days until this evening when high clouds rolled in.

A 46-degree diurnal spread today in the valley... -23F to +23F.

February looking like February should.

Indeed, snowfall and snow depths are nothing outrageous at the moment, but they’re right around average, and average is pretty nice this time of year.

We headed up for some turns at Bolton yesterday afternoon once temperatures warmed up, so I can pass along a snowpack/conditions report and some images.

We’ve had roughly five systems go into the snowpack at this point above the main subsurface, starting with Winter Storm Kade that brought the bulk of it, and then four additional events which included the snows from Winter Storm Lamont and Winter Storm Mabel. 

For powder depths above the old base, our checks generally revealed depths of 20 to 22 inches.  There was a breakable crust present within the snow from some mixed precipitation that occurred during Winter Storm Mabel.  In some areas the crust was absent altogether, and in others it was anywhere from 2 to 8 inches down in the snowpack.  The presence and depth of the crust depended on things like aspect, wind effects, and protection from that part or the storm by trees or other terrain features. 

Overall the powder skiing was good, although of course not up to the level of last Saturday with the fresh snow from Winter Storm Kade.  The crust is thin enough that it’s breakable, and buried enough that it’s inconsequential in many spots, but it definitely makes the powder skiing variable enough that you have to be on your toes and you can’t expect to be floating through bottomless champagne on every turn.  So the off piste powder skiing is certainly good, but that variability and the fact that the bulk of it isn’t super “fresh” right now means that it’s not really absolute top tier.

With roughly 60 inches at the stake, base depths are excellent, and it looks like we’ve got a chance for a bit of snow today into tomorrow, and then a slightly larger system in the Tuesday timeframe.  I’ve got a few shots from yesterday below, and the full report can be access via the text links.

[Ginx snewx]

12Z Euro 

[wxeyeNH]

Clouds have been pretty thick all day.

Seemed to be stuck at 33.8F   A couple of drips off the roof but no real melting today.   Doesn't look like much melting this week just adding to snowcover on Tuesday.