NNE Cold Season Thread 2020-2021

[PhineasC]

Mod snow, 13 degrees here. 

[CoastalWx]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

His totals aren’t really much higher than me. At least I haven’t noticed much of a discrepancy so far. I have tracked very closely to him since December. You noticing a discrepancy? I haven’t seen “hefty” totals from him since the early Feb event...

I feel like he’s called in totals at times that seem more than you. But that’s just a subjective take as I haven’t seen actual evidence (I’m not there haha). It was just the vibe I got. But if you think he’s correct, then I’ll defer to you obviously. 

[PhineasC]

7 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I feel like he’s called in totals at times that seem more than you. But that’s just a subjective take as I haven’t seen actual evidence (I’m not there haha). It was just the vibe I got. But if you think he’s correct, then I’ll defer to you obviously. 

LOL well in fairness he is not here complaining on the boards.

My totals have been pretty similar to his in the core of winter when temps are pretty uniform. I saw a little gap in the early event in October and probably will see some again in April. 

He measures very accurately like J. Spin so sometimes he reports snowfall overnight that vaporizes the minute the sun comes up, which makes it feel kinda bootleg from a “sensible weather” perspective. It all counts, obviously. I can and have driven around the corner to his place to check for myself.  He measures near the entrance to the ice gulch path, FYI.

I have been here all winter aside from about 2 weeks and I haven’t seen an event yet where my obs seemed much off from his.

 

 

 

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

LOL well in fairness he is not here complaining on the boards.

My totals have been pretty similar to his in the core of winter when temps are pretty uniform. I saw a little gap in the early event in October and probably will see some again in April. 

He measures very accurately like J. Spin so sometimes he reports snowfall overnight that vaporizes the minute the sun comes up, which makes it feel kinda bootleg from a “sensible weather” perspective. It all counts, obviously. I can and have driven around the corner to his place to check for myself.  He measures near the entrance to the ice gulch path, FYI.

I have been here all winter aside from about 2 weeks and I haven’t seen an event yet where my obs seemed much off from his.

Ha, I think that's probably it.  I get that vibe that Coastalwx brought up but I think it must be from the posts.  I mean, how can someone be upset with that type of snowfall, even if it's just 3" in two days for a while ha.  You can see why J.Spin always points out the neighbor's numbers up the hill from you, it's that steady trickle of snow that adds up over time that is a strong part of the mountain climo.  I like to post photos from time to time, so people get a feel for the new snowfall on the board, it lowers questioning, ha.

[mreaves]

NWS forecast for the week looks like perfect sap run weather. Upper 30’s and low to mid 40’s for highs and dropping below freezing at night.  Feels like March. 

[Patriot21]

Flurries here at the moment, can't tell how much total has fallen these last couple of days due to the wind.  Is about 4 inches fresh in some spots and just an inch in others. My outdoor thermometer is at 0.

[tamarack]

9 hours ago, mreaves said:

NWS forecast for the week looks like perfect sap run weather. Upper 30’s and low to mid 40’s for highs and dropping below freezing at night.  Feels like March. 

Especially if the wind quits - gusts tend to limit sap flow somewhat.  Yesterday morning watched a gray squirrel lapping up sap from a small maple after nibbling holes in the thin bark.

[Fozz]

The weather here is quite incredible this morning. Upslope snow showers and blowing snow with a temperature of 1°F.

[wxeyeNH]

5F  snow flurries and blowing snow

Had some nice squalls last night.  Everything is white again.   Today is the 28th anniversary of the east coast Super Storm.  I remember it well.  Loaded up my Golden Retriever in Boston got in the truck and came up here to enjoy it.  

[dendrite]

15 minutes ago, wxeyeNH said:

5F  snow flurries and blowing snow

Had some nice squalls last night.  Everything is white again.   Today is the 28th anniversary of the east coast Super Storm.  I remember it well.  Loaded up my Golden Retriever in Boston got in the truck and came up here to enjoy it.  

It actually started the afternoon on 3/13 and finished up during the morning on the 14th. Had about 18” of new snow depth in Auburn. 

[dryslot]

4 hours ago, tamarack said:

Especially if the wind quits - gusts tend to limit sap flow somewhat.  Yesterday morning watched a gray squirrel lapping up sap from a small maple after nibbling holes in the thin bark.

Wind hinders flow, Today's cold as well............

[PhineasC]

Legendary conditions at BW today. A little cold but the snow is just perfect for me. Epic!

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, PhineasC said:

Legendary conditions at BW today. A little cold but the snow is just perfect for me. Epic!

And you can look at MWN where the WCI was -68 last hour.

[PhineasC]

Maybe just me, but the time changes really seem to have an outsized effect up here. It’s still pretty bright out. 

[J.Spin]

On 3/14/2021 at 10:21 AM, powderfreak said:

Powder morning on the hill.  Around 6” but with wind it’s like 2-10”.

Mansfield Magic last night.

Seeing your nice images and catching Bolton’s report of 4-6” in the past 48 hours was definitely enough to convince me to head out for some turns yesterday.  And of course, watching it snow huge flakes down at the house and on the Bolton Valley Webcam reinforced that sentiment.

I wanted to head up before that colder air was supposed to move in later in the afternoon, so I hit the mountain in the late morning.  With those strong winds blowing from the northwest, it wasn’t at all surprising to see in the snow report that the Vista Quad and Wilderness Double, being the highest elevation lifts, were on wind hold.  With that in mind, I decided to make it a hybrid outing of both riding the lifts and skinning to get efficient access to the fresh powder.  The Mid Mountain Chair was running, so I ended up using that for a quick elevation assist over to the Wilderness area.  I followed some folks that were using a nifty access route around the mid-mountain snowmaking pond to get to Wilderness.

I generally found powder depths topping out around 6” just like the snow report indicated, aside from wind scoured or drifted areas, or trails that had been groomed during the storm.  Low angle terrain on fat boards was what I’d been planning to hit, and that definitely delivered.  The lift assist from the Mid Mountain Chair was just right for cycling the bottom half of the Wilderness terrain, which had the kind of pitch this snow called for.  Anything with moderate pitch or above was just too steep for the available snow, and you’d be hitting the scratchy subsurface unless you were in a drifted area.

The BTV NWS forecast discussion said that the precipitation would be somewhat cellular during the day, and indeed that’s just what I experienced out on the mountain.  At times it would be whiteout conditions with near-zero visibility, and at other times that snowfall would wane and it would almost look like the sun wanted to break through.  Temperatures started out in the 20s F, but were down into the teens F by the time I was leaving, so that colder air was moving in as scheduled.

A few shots from yesterday’s outing:

[PhineasC]

No posts for over 24 hours...

Exciting times.

[tamarack]

11 hours ago, PhineasC said:

No posts for over 24 hours...

Exciting times.

Exciting month.  

[STILL N OF PIKE]

When was the last synoptic storm to produce a warning event in NNE

[PhineasC]

48 minutes ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

When was the last synoptic storm to produce a warning event in NNE

Careful, some on this subforum get a little prickly when this is pointed out. All is well, NNE sites had a good year, everything is well within normal parameters.  

[STILL N OF PIKE]

10 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Careful, some on this subforum get a little prickly when this is pointed out. All is well, NNE sites had a good year, everything is well within normal parameters.  

Well...I like to chase milfs and snow.  I haven't had any desire to chase NNE anything in months.  It's been a below average year. Along the upslope spine it's hard for them to swing and miss (this year hasn't been good for them but its been "ok") others in NNE are likely Below average..  Anyone who doesn't live in Upslope Land and missed the big ML fronto that went from South Central Vermont over to South Central to Central NH is probably in the Below normal category.  Your area Phin seemed to stand out early to mid season (even missing the ML fronto bomb) but has been  lack luster for the last month plus (even with Bread and butter light) where as Maine....they gotta be solidly below average. I don't think i'm saying anything news worthy...just attempting to state things matter of factually with regard to averages not feelings. Maybe someone like Alex is doing a tad better ...I haven't checked in for a while. 

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

When was the last synoptic storm to produce a warning event in NNE

2/16 here.  The 6-10 forecast dropped to 5-8 just before precip began, and it verified as 2" of sleet.  Only 4 warned events so far, only 15-16 had fewer in 23 winters.  Looked like a good start with 12-18 forecast on 12/5 but we got 6" of ultra-paste from 1.38" LE.  Jan 2 had 6-9" forecast and verified right at 6.0, then Feb 2 had 9.5" after a 8-14 forecast.  If one adds the low and high ranges, it comes to 31-49" from the 4 storms and verified with 23.5.  Sad.

[PhineasC]

24 minutes ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

Well...I like to chase milfs and snow.  I haven't had any desire to chase NNE anything in months.  It's been a below average year. Along the upslope spine it's hard for them to swing and miss (this year hasn't been good for them but its been "ok") others in NNE are likely Below average..  Anyone who doesn't live in Upslope Land and missed the big ML fronto that went from South Central Vermont over to South Central to Central NH is probably in the Below normal category.  Your area Phin seemed to stand out early to mid season (even missing the ML fronto bomb) but has been  lack luster for the last month plus (even with Bread and butter light) where as Maine....they gotta be solidly below average. I don't think i'm saying anything news worthy...just attempting to state things matter of factually with regard to averages not feelings. Maybe someone like Alex is doing a tad better ...I haven't checked in for a while. 

This is pretty accurate. Alex is not doing any better than anyone else, his totals are below mine by a bit right now as he underperformed in the east-flow synoptic events that hit Randolph pretty well.

Some of the southern and central VT totals are pretty good, but they are inflated by the 36-40" some spots received in the mid-December event. Take that away and it was a pretty pedestrian snow year in several locales. I may not have the full story there, I am not as familiar with the climo over there. Maybe they are around normal even without the big dump.

I believe J. Spin is closest to average at this point, but to be honest his weather seems to be much more decoupled from the overall pattern than is the case for the rest of us. It just snows there on schedule because of topography and the calendar date it seems. He appears to need even less synoptic help than Mt. Mansfield to reach average. I am not sure about Jay. Maybe they are near average now. I doubt it just based on posts here and their lofty average.

It was still a good winter here, but there is zero doubt from a snowfall perspective Feb and March have been well off the mark across the majority of NNE.

Retention is a different matter, that was good in Feb, behind in March with very little progress being made since the start of Feb in adding pack. Just maintaining until recently when it became clear it was a losing battle against the solar input.

Bretton Woods has reported 110" last I checked. The Randolph Hill observer near me has reported 130.5" so far with very little on the horizon.

A+ winter for me compared to MD, obviously. But I assuming the regulars here will give grades ranging from F from someone like @dryslot or @Lava Rock to maybe a B or similar for J. Spin.

[powderfreak]

What a day.  Man I love this weather... thinking we got some sun burns today too... but St Paddy’s day and spring skiing is just an awesome combo.

Such an amazing vibe out on the hill.  We live for these days.  Can’t wait to do this for another week straight at least.  High diurnal changes and beautiful weather is a fantastic combo.

54F off a low of 11F to fulfill my fetish for 40+ diurnal swings and RH under 30%.  Like living in a CO ski town.

[Skivt2]

All so true.  Everything was perfect today and it’s just the beginning of some of the best skiing of the year.  The FB memories of this week in 2017 and 2018 reminded me of what it can also be like this time of the year with the giant snowstorms. I think we got 47” in a 4 day period or something in 2018.  But I will take soft bumps with all the usual suspects.  Glory days are here.  What we missed last year.

[PhineasC]

What was it like this time last year? I wasn't around then. Washout and no snow?

It definitely has been a great ski season after Grinch through this week. Very few bad condition days, and we have been skiing 4-5 days a week the entire time so I have been out a lot.

[powderfreak]

25 minutes ago, Skivt2 said:

All so true.  Everything was perfect today and it’s just the beginning of some of the best skiing of the year.  The FB memories of this week in 2017 and 2018 reminded me of what it can also be like this time of the year with the giant snowstorms. I think we got 47” in a 4 day period or something in 2018.  But I will take soft bumps with all the usual suspects.  Glory days are here.  What we missed last year.

Yup, full on party on the slopes.  Love it.  At one point I got passed by two banana's that were being chased by a gorilla.  People all dressed in costumes and beads.  Leprechauns.  The annual dying of the Waterfall under the Gondola to make it green.  Fun stuff.

[powderfreak]

19 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

What was it like this time last year? I wasn't around then. Washout and no snow?

It definitely has been a great ski season after Grinch through this week. Very few bad condition days, and we have been skiing 4-5 days a week the entire time so I have been out a lot.

I don't think there were any lifts running last year on St Paddy's day... I don't remember much except being shut down, ha.  It started snowing again in April and May though.  I don't think much happened last March for snowfall IIRC.

I just checked CoCoRAHS and most sites appear to have had less snow on the ground last year on this date than this year. 

[PhineasC]

6 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

I don't think there were any lifts running last year on St Paddy's day... I don't remember much except being shut down, ha.  It started snowing again in April and May though.  I don't think much happened last March for snowfall IIRC.

I just checked CoCoRAHS and most sites appear to have had less snow on the ground last year on this date than this year.

LOL duh I totally forgot about COVID shutdowns. Yeah, that definitely put a damper on some things around this time last year!

[mreaves]

Just now, PhineasC said:

LOL duh I totally forgot about COVID shutdowns. Yeah, that definitely put a damper on some things around this time last year!

It was pretty crappy by this time anyway. Closing snowmobile trails was pretty much a moot point when that happened. We had a couple of events that created solid ice ribbons. I think there were a few trails open around Woodford but it was not much.  

[powderfreak]

1 minute ago, PhineasC said:

LOL duh I totally forgot about COVID shutdowns. Yeah, that definitely put a damper on some things around this time last year!

Ha yeah.  This was the time of year the sh*t had just hit the fan like within 72 hours of now.

Over this way we've had more snow to date this March than last March, which is hard to imagine but we do go through some really dry Feb/Mar spring patterns at times.

I remember 2005 or 2006 (maybe both of them) were like back to back very lean and dry second half of winters.  Like record low snowfall on back to back years in the spring.