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NNE Cold Season Thread 2020-2021


wxeyeNH
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There were no major updates to BTV’s maps this morning – the projected accumulations map was similar to what they had out earlier, and on the alerts map, there had just been an expansion of additional Winter Storm Watches.  A text alert this afternoon indicated that we’ve been updated to a Winter Storm Warning here in Washington County, and the alerts map shows that Winter Storm Warnings have been put in place for much of Northern Vermont and Northern New York at this point.  The projected accumulations map has much of the northern half of Vermont in the 8-12” range, with a couple spots in the 12-18” shading.  Our point forecast here suggests accumulations in the 8-16” range through Tuesday, and I’m seeing 10-18” for the Mansfield point forecast, which is where they do have that area of darker shading.

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1 hour ago, Froude said:

This winter has been tracking remarkably close to 06/07 at the stake. Let's see if this week can help us keep up with the 2007 V Day blizzard.

546895292_ScreenShot2021-02-14at6_55_03PM.thumb.png.673df9275683185c12c571f547a241c0.png07 

 

It’s felt pretty similar too. We had a MLK Day storm in ‘07 and a smaller event before the big dog on VD. After that it was a monumental season. 

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Saturday was expected to be fairly chilly, with temperatures topping out in the teens F, and without any fresh snow in a couple of days, backcountry touring seemed to be the call.

I was looking for something new to explore, so I planned a tour in the southwest corner of Bolton’s Nordic & Backcountry Network.  My anticipated route was from the Catamount Trail parking lot on the Bolton Valley Access Road at ~1,200’, head up through the expansive beaver pond meadows in the Mt. Mansfield State Forest, and top out around the Buchanan Shelter at 2,150’ below the Long Trail.

On my ascent I was on the lookout for potential descent options, exploring trails on the network such as Moose-ski.  The terrain was nice, but generally rolling, so while there were some nice descents, it would be challenging once my climbing skins were removed.  The views from that area across the beaver ponds did provide some great views back toward the alpine trails and the Village area.

The best powder skiing terrain on the tour was definitely on the slopes below the Buchanan Shelter, with some nice areas of open forest.  The only sign of skiing in that area was an old ski track from someone that must have been from at least a couple of storms ago.  I suspect traffic is generally light in this area because it requires an approach that’s close to two miles, vs. much quicker access in many other spots on the network.

Even without new snow in a couple of days, the snow preservation has been so good, that the quality of the powder is simply spectacular.  The snowpack I found was generally in the two- to three-foot range, but there’s such good density in the bottom layers that anything of concern is well covered.

The powder out there yesterday was so good that I told my wife and the two of us headed back out to the area for another tour today.  The boys were both at work covering shifts for friends, so the fact that it just ended up being the two of us was sort of neat in the context of Valentine’s Day.

A few shots from the weekend’s ski touring:

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55 minutes ago, Fozz said:

Oh man, seems like I timed my trip almost perfectly. I'm really looking forward to the next month or so. 

I hate to tell you this but I may have ruined it for you. I bought a new snowblower today. A sure sign that snow is done. What may balance that out though is the fact that I sold my snowmobile expecting to immediately purchase a newer one, which I learned had been sold before I could get down to buy it. So it’s a tossup on the big karma wheel of weather. 

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12 hours ago, mreaves said:

I hate to tell you this but I may have ruined it for you. I bought a new snowblower today. A sure sign that snow is done. What may balance that out though is the fact that I sold my snowmobile expecting to immediately purchase a newer one, which I learned had been sold before I could get down to buy it. So it’s a tossup on the big karma wheel of weather. 

Nah, I’m not worried about that. My biggest fear was that it would stop snowing in VT as soon as I arrived. Similar to my fear of another 2009-10 as soon as I moved to New England.

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23.3F  Light snow.  

 I'm sure I will stay below freezing for the whole storm.  The question is, will I mix out enough to melt any ice accretion on the trees before back into the deep freeze tomorrow night?  

Today is day 9 that I have stayed below freezing and have not hit 40F yet this year.  Actually have not hit 40F since Christmas

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@wxeyeNH I meant to mention this but until yesterday, never realized what a good look you have from the top of ragged mountain over to your house. You can clearly see a # of large open fields above Newfound. Not sure how much open acreage is on your property. Looking from the west rather than from along 93 gives you a much better ideà of the elevation gain. 

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Event totals: 0.4” Snow/0.03” L.E.

 

Earlier today we picked up our initial accumulations from Winter Storm Uri, with additional snowfall form the system expected overnight.

 

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

New Snow: 0.4 inches

New Liquid: 0.03 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 13.3

Snow Density: 7.5% H2O

Temperature: 22.8 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 18.5 inches

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7 minutes ago, Patriot21 said:

Looks about the same here, coming down pretty good too. I also got a snowblower this year

The pull cord on my old one broke a week or 2 ago and the starter motor was giving me trouble.  I decided that I didn't want to screw around anymore and got a new one.  I have wanted one with a headlight and handwarmers so I broke down and spent the money.  I hope I don't regret getting a 24" vs. the 26" I had but the reviews for the DR were pretty good and the features you get for $799 were worth a gamble.

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28 minutes ago, mreaves said:

The pull cord on my old one broke a week or 2 ago and the starter motor was giving me trouble.  I decided that I didn't want to screw around anymore and got a new one.  I have wanted one with a headlight and handwarmers so I broke down and spent the money.  I hope I don't regret getting a 24" vs. the 26" I had but the reviews for the DR were pretty good and the features you get for $799 were worth a gamble.

Yes there comes a point where it is just time to go brand new. Between time and money spent working on a machine, it is nice to just go outside and fire it up. And it is nice to have something new for a change haha. I doubt you'll miss those 2 extra inches, you might not even notice if your hands are more comfortable.

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12 hours ago, Angus said:

@wxeyeNH I meant to mention this but until yesterday, never realized what a good look you have from the top of ragged mountain over to your house. You can clearly see a # of large open fields above Newfound. Not sure how much open acreage is on your property. Looking from the west rather than from along 93 gives you a much better ideà of the elevation gain. 

I have 15 acres but my several neighbors just above me have hundreds of acres.  About half are fields.  I look directly at Ragged and can see Sunapee too.  From the top of Ragged you can see my fields if you know where to look.

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Event totals: 3.6” Snow/0.72” L.E.

 

There were no obvious signs of mixed precipitation in the snow stack during this morning’s analyses, but the snow was obviously very dense – the 3.2” of snow held 0.69” of liquid.  That’s essentially a resurfacing of the slopes right there in just 3-4” of accumulation.  Snowfall was very light at observations time, with just dense, 1 mm flakes falling.

 

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

New Snow: 3.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.69 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 4.6

Snow Density: 21.6% H2O

Temperature: 23.9 F

Sky: Light Snow (1 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 20.5 inches

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