NNE Cold Season Thread 2020-2021

[powderfreak]

17 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

LOL so easy to be chill when you are near the top. 

You are like a prince lounging in the Palace of Versailles circa 1720 wondering why those peasants won’t just chill since they had a great wheat harvest and have that latest wine shipment the king sent.   

Your neighbor up the hill has 30+ on the ground and 100+ on the season... what more could you want?  Spread the love is the motto in NNE, the averages will play out.  Happy for the southern brethren to get a good streak of snow-on-snow.  The mountains get their refreshes whether there are synoptic system hits or not.  Plenty of ways to snow up north.

[bch2014]

26 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

There is a reason I came from MD and kept going to NNE. I didn’t stop in NJ or Mass.  I could have moved basically anywhere in the entire EC. 

The NH state income tax ain’t bad either ;).

[PhineasC]

Just now, bch2014 said:

The NH state income tax ain’t bad either ;).

We plan to switch residency soon. It’s a little complicated with the MD business. It also affects the kids homeschooling. They are currently under a program accredited by the state of MD. MD taxes will be going up enormously to pay for the huge revenue hole they are in. We will get soaked if we don’t move. 

[PhineasC]

13 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Your neighbor up the hill has 30+ on the ground and 100+ on the season... what more could you want?  Spread the love is the motto in NNE, the averages will play out.  Happy for the southern brethren to get a good streak of snow-on-snow.  The mountains get their refreshes whether there are synoptic system hits or not.  Plenty of ways to snow up north.

I am struggling to find ways to complain as heavy snow falls outside my window. I nearly lost the battle with clearing the snow with the last storm so maybe time for a breather. LOL

[bwt3650]

51 minutes ago, alex said:

Really good snow here too now. I mean, not Jersey good, but good

I mean, let’s put Jersey winter in perspective..nice to see a good streak back home, but I think I’ll keep the place in jay. 

[backedgeapproaching]

2 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

I mean, let’s put Jersey winter in perspective..nice to see a good streak back home, but I think I’ll keep the place in jay. 

Horrific for sure. But that is climo, clunkers and then biggie seasons, lots of variance. Although last year looks like close to an all time rat. Its great for snow weenies like PF said to get a nice run of events going.  Ill give them a few more small events, then let's shut it off and shift it north...

[PhineasC]

9 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

Horrific for sure. But that is climo, clunkers and then biggie seasons, lots of variance. Although last year looks like close to an all time rat. Its great for snow weenies like PF said to get a nice run of events going.  Ill give them a few more small events, then let's shut it off and shift it north...

Agreed. It hurts my soul to see so much QPF wasted on rain and slop running down into storm drains. @Baroclinic Zone obs make me cry sometimes.   

[mreaves]

35 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Your neighbor up the hill has 30+ on the ground and 100+ on the season... what more could you want?  Spread the love is the motto in NNE, the averages will play out.  Happy for the southern brethren to get a good streak of snow-on-snow.  The mountains get their refreshes whether there are synoptic system hits or not.  Plenty of ways to snow up north.

Don’t forget, the best marketing for the resorts is a foot of snow falling in the big cities. We can have records snow but if it’s dry and mild in the megalopolis, a lot of people don’t think skiing. 

[Patriot21]

Light snow here, looks like an inch or two new today.  The wind is really whipping right now.

[Skivt2]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

Nice, I measured 2.5" at 8:30pm.  Another snowy evening.  Nothing earth shattering but it really seems to snow often around here the past 4-6 weeks.

-SN at probably a couple mile visibility at this point.

It is not just snowing often in VT.  Occasionally it is not snowing but most of the time it is.  Once you have this much snow it’s nice to just have it constantly snowing. Lol

[alex]

16 minutes ago, Skivt2 said:

It is not just snowing often in VT.  Occasionally it is not snowing but most of the time it is.  Once you have this much snow it’s nice to just have it constantly snowing. Lol

Agree. Once you get to this point I don’t even really care HOW MUCH is falling, nearly as much as the simple fact that it’s falling 

[timp]

4” now but doesn’t look like much more to come. Have been very happy with my first winter in this new house. Wasn’t sure what the upslope potential would be but I have been keeping up with @powderfreak and @J.Spin so I think I will be OK lol. 
 

I grew up 10 minutes from the Nazareth, PA that just recorded 36” from the big storm last week. Definitely disappointed to have missed that but last winter was so historically bad down there they deserved it. With plenty of cold and snow chances coming up it will be a fun stretch for all. 

[PhineasC]

2 minutes ago, timp said:

4” now but doesn’t look like much more to come. Have been very happy with my first winter in this new house. Wasn’t sure what the upslope potential would be but I have been keeping up with @powderfreak and @J.Spin so I think I will be OK lol. 
 

I grew up 10 minutes from the Nazareth, PA that just recorded 36” from the big storm last week. Definitely disappointed to have missed that but last winter was so historically bad down there they deserved it. With plenty of cold and snow chances coming up it will be a fun stretch for all. 

I don't know as much about local VT climo, but if you are keeping up with those two you are in elite company!

Mid-Atlantic climo is fluky. Some spots have had a banner year, but as we both know, next year could be a total skunk. Much more consistent here. This has been a "bad year," and I have been hammered over here in Randolph. A good year must be obscene. Same for your area, I'm sure. 

[PhineasC]

Heaviest here seems to always happen at night when everyone is asleep. Every time.

[J.Spin]

6 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Just started dumping huge flakes.  A quick quarter to half inch from the size of the flakes.

It had just started to snow when I headed up to the mountain with the boys this afternoon for a session.  We had on and off light snow during the afternoon, but it started dumping those huge flakes when we were leaving.

Today wasn’t the obvious powder day that yesterday was, but the snow continues to be fantastic.  We just had to travel farther afield to get into fresh stuff around the resort today.  It really just keeps piling up with each round of snow, making all the untouched areas more and more bottomless.

A few shots from today’s outing:

[bwt3650]

17 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Heaviest here seems to always happen at night when everyone is asleep. Every time.

Kind of cool, tho.  Going to sleep watching the flood lights and wake up to 4-6 of fresh powder.

[PhineasC]

Just now, bwt3650 said:

Kind of cool, tho.  Good if to sleep watching the flood lights and wake up to 4-6 of fresh powder.

Yep, have the lights on now watching it come down. 

Radar is clear and that's usually when I am getting hammered with upslope.

GYX says: "snow showers possible in the north."

Game on.

[bwt3650]

6 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Yep, have the lights on now watching it come down. 

Radar is clear and that's usually when I am getting hammered with upslope.

GYX says: "snow showers possible in the north."

Game on.

Yep...”snow showers” have a whole new meaning up here...I’m used to that phrase for passing flurries; now, it means light it up, upslope is coming.  I’ll take snow showers for days.

[PhineasC]

1 minute ago, bwt3650 said:

Yep...”snow showers” have a whole new meaning up here...I’m used to that phrase for passing flurries; now, it means light it up, upslope is coming.  I’ll take snow showers for days.

LOL exactly. I used to assume snow showers meant at best my mulch might be slightly whitish. At best.

Now it means 2-5 inches, possibly for days. 

The GYX distro treats us basically as another planet, you are lucky that BTV focuses on the ski areas. 

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 3.3” Snow/0.10” L.E.

 

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

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: Trace

Temperature: 6.4 F

Sky: Clear

Snow at the stake: 21.0 inches

[backedgeapproaching]

Just did a core of snowpack- 3.37" in 18".  Got a little meat to it.  Bottom 3-4" is pure ice.

[MRVexpat]

Got a place just south of Jay Pass for the week, right where Big/Little Jay dump out. Looking forward to touring in the backyard and getting some midweek days in at the resort! Looks like tomorrow will bring yet another refresh to the area, otherwise what are thoughts on bread and butter related chances throughout the week?

[tamarack]

15 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

I have about 28” in NJ...what’s uncommon this year is the snow on snow pattern setting up, not necessarily the depth at one single moment.  It’s great to see down there as it’s been a couple years since there has been a real snow pack mid winter feel, but it still can’t compare to northern vermont.  Overall winter retention is completely different.  It’s great for the local ski areas tho, who some seasons ski on completely man made garbage most of the year.  Even hunter opened all of hunter west for the first time in a few years..

 

I agree...I root for snow anywhere.  I live seeing places that miss for a while score big, especially knowing the averages will come through up north.

In my NNJ years we very rarely had powder on powder.  Even powder on crust wasn't that frequent.  My memory has only 2 winters, 60-61 and 66-67, with multiple pow-pow scenarios.

Finished with 2.3" from 9 hours of S-.  Maybe another inch tomorrow night, Friday is gone, we'll see about next weekend.  At least there's interesting stuff to track.  Most of last month was a boring desert.

[powderfreak]

10 hours ago, bwt3650 said:

Yep...”snow showers” have a whole new meaning up here...I’m used to that phrase for passing flurries; now, it means light it up, upslope is coming.  I’ll take snow showers for days.

We get feet of "snow showers" sometimes, ha.  I always love those zone forecasts.

Tonight... Snow showers.  New snow accumulation 4-8 inches.  Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Tomorrow... Snow showers.  New snow accumulation 3-7 inches.  Chance of snow near 100 percent.

They do that too out west in the mountains a lot.  Call everything "snow showers"... you'll see like Mt Baker in Washington with like "Snow showers.  New snow accumulation 18-24 inches."

You certainly change your tune up here with snow showers.  Growing up in Albany, NY it was also said for like a passing flurry with the sun still out meant "snow showers."

[powderfreak]

Hard to complain this morning.  4-5" of new snow but blown in deeper in spots.

That sky was so freakin' blue too.  Can't get better than red, white and blue!

[bwt3650]

1 hour ago, MRVexpat said:

Got a place just south of Jay Pass for the week, right where Big/Little Jay dump out. Looking forward to touring in the backyard and getting some midweek days in at the resort! Looks like tomorrow will bring yet another refresh to the area, otherwise what are thoughts on bread and butter related chances throughout the week?

I’ll let the others more familiar with the meteorology, flow and wind pattern this week comment, but I will say that tues and weds look good for powder refills and right now, the woods are so deep that they don’t even really need much more than that when you will be there.  People are starting to pick up on how well the northern greens are skiing so maybe it will start to get a little more crowded, but mid week has been amazing and empty; zero lift lines.  Everything is staying fresh.  I would recommend the glades off ullrs (andres and beaver) as well as everglade right now. Also, the tram is not running weekdays, so hike up north way and Valhalla will be untouched or if you know the pump house.

[tamarack]

10 hours ago, PhineasC said:

LOL exactly. I used to assume snow showers meant at best my mulch might be slightly whitish. At best.

Now it means 2-5 inches, possibly for days. 

The GYX distro treats us basically as another planet, you are lucky that BTV focuses on the ski areas. 

Helps that BTV radar can pick up the upslope so well.  GYX beams are pretty high by the time they reach the mountains.  Also, BTV has (or is near to) a skiing vibe while GYX is much less so.

[powderfreak]

3 minutes ago, tamarack said:

Helps that BTV radar can pick up the upslope so well.  GYX beams are pretty high by the time they reach the mountains.  Also, BTV has (or is near to) a skiing vibe while GYX is much less so.

See this is true but also not.  For my location east of the Spine, I need to look at the 2.5 degree scan for the beam to see over the Spine at 4,000ft.  It samples the sky at 5,500ft over my place, despite being only like 23 miles away.

Looking at the 0.5 degree scan for Phin, that samples the air at actually a slightly lower elevation at like 5,300ft despite being 67 miles from the radar site.

Where I am and where Phin is, the radar hits us at the same height overhead despite massive differences in distance from the radar dome.  Anything lower than that really gets blocked by the Spine here.  BTV's lower scans are useless and only look up and down the Champlain Valley.

I'm not sure why it picks it up better here but there's also significant downwind drift of that fluffy snow.  Like it often looks like it's not snowing over my house as the air, but I know if the radar is showing a wall of echoes that ends just east of the mountain crest, that will hit me.  Wonder if the same thing is happening up there where Phin is getting downwind drift off those mountains to his NW.  That's why I get a lot of stars are out looking east but it's snowing surprisingly steadily from the west, ha.

[bwt3650]

17 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

See this is true but also not.  For my location east of the Spine, I need to look at the 2.5 degree scan for the beam to see over the Spine at 4,000ft.  It samples the sky at 5,500ft over my place, despite being only like 23 miles away.

Looking at the 0.5 degree scan for Phin, that samples the air at actually a slightly lower elevation at like 5,300ft despite being 67 miles from the radar site.

Where I am and where Phin is, the radar hits us at the same height overhead despite massive differences in distance from the radar dome.  Anything lower than that really gets blocked by the Spine here.  BTV's lower scans are useless and only look up and down the Champlain Valley.

I'm not sure why it picks it up better here but there's also significant downwind drift of that fluffy snow.  Like it often looks like it's not snowing over my house as the air, but I know if the radar is showing a wall of echoes that ends just east of the mountain crest, that will hit me.  Wonder if the same thing is happening up there where Phin is getting downwind drift off those mountains to his NW.  That's why I get a lot of stars are out looking east but it's snowing surprisingly steadily from the west, ha.

Completely misses me at jay.  I’m starting to learn how to anticipate what’s coming and the flow a little.  Closest spot that it picks up is probably Richford.  Not sure if it has anything to do with how isolated the snow is sometimes also.  Not always, but there are times where it literally shuts off just 7-8 miles down 242.

[MRVexpat]

38 minutes ago, bwt3650 said:

I’ll let the others more familiar with the meteorology, flow and wind pattern this week comment, but I will say that tues and weds look good for powder refills and right now, the woods are so deep that they don’t even really need much more than that when you will be there.  People are starting to pick up on how well the northern greens are skiing so maybe it will start to get a little more crowded, but mid week has been amazing and empty; zero lift lines.  Everything is staying fresh.  I would recommend the glades off ullrs (andres and beaver) as well as everglade right now. Also, the tram is not running weekdays, so hike up north way and Valhalla will be untouched or if you know the pump house.

Sweet! Yeah I'm really looking forward to it. Have skied Jay about 10 times over the years so I'm somewhat familiar with the terrain. My deepest east coast day to date was/is still my sophomore year of high school (March 06 I think?) where I learned in Beaver Pond that the "need a snorkel" joke wasn't a joke after all haha.