NNE Cold Season Thread 2021/2022

[dryslot]

5 hours ago, tamarack said:

FVE reporting S+ at 1 PM.

Hope the snow doesn't come too big too fast.  I think my 11 y.o. snowblower had something serious break inside.  Had to replace the primer (rubber had rotted) and ran the machine for a minute, tried to restart and can't pull the starter rope.  Tried the electric start and it wouldn't crank either.  When that happened (can't pull starter only, obviously) to my old Husky 53 chainsaw, it was dead, broken pieces in the cylinder.  Will try to have the small engine place down the street look at it, but not ready to buy an expensive repair on a middle-aged machine so checking on new/used ones in the 8 hp range.
Ideas?

That sounds like a bent connecting rod that seized the motor, had that happen to one of my snowmobiles, Could not pull start it or crank it over with the starter, Check Craigs list or Uncle Henry's for used or a dealer that may have taken something in on trade.

[CoastalWx]

9 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Another 1” in 45 minutes up high.  30dbz raking the ridge, it has to be wild up there right now.

Not doing much in town but crushing at the mountain.  Orographic lift, ha.

It starts at the tables. Works its way down haha.

[powderfreak]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

It starts at the tables. Works its way down haha.

Snowing where it should be snowing in mid-November.  

[powderfreak]

Finally getting a little accumulation down at 750ft on the cars.  The difference between here and 1500ft is crazy right now.  Almost like blizzard conditions it looks like from a text from my friend up there.  Heavy snow moving sideways with blowing and drifting.

[PhineasC]

Back to 2 inches OTG again.

[mreaves]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

Finally getting a little accumulation down at 750ft on the cars.  The difference between here and 1500ft is crazy right now, ha.  Almost like blizzard conditions it looks like from a text from my friend up there.  Heavy snow moving sideways with blowing and drifting.

Good shower here too. Grass, cars and deck covered and it’s snowing sideways. The dark, gravel driveway still clear. 

[powderfreak]

Getting 7-10 split here right now.  J.Spin into MPV had to have been getting some decent precip rates with the 30dbz Winooski Gap echoes south of here.  Cold season convective bands love going through there.  Then, to the north of here is still getting some broader NW cyclonic flow. 

[DavisStraight]

8 hours ago, tamarack said:

FVE reporting S+ at 1 PM.

Hope the snow doesn't come too big too fast.  I think my 11 y.o. snowblower had something serious break inside.  Had to replace the primer (rubber had rotted) and ran the machine for a minute, tried to restart and can't pull the starter rope.  Tried the electric start and it wouldn't crank either.  When that happened (can't pull starter only, obviously) to my old Husky 53 chainsaw, it was dead, broken pieces in the cylinder.  Will try to have the small engine place down the street look at it, but not ready to buy an expensive repair on a middle-aged machine so checking on new/used ones in the 8 hp range.
Ideas?

Sounds cooked, I'd look at something bigger than 8hp where you live, I got lucky and got a 10 hp 2 years used for a good price.

[mreaves]

56 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Getting 7-10 split here right now.  J.Spin into MPV had to have been getting some decent precip rates with the 30dbz Winooski Gap echoes south of here.  Cold season convective bands love going through there.  Then, to the north of here is still getting some broader NW cyclonic flow. 

Yea that streamer pops up pretty frequently.  Moisture just shooting the gap and then hitting the hill south of Montpelier. Mini upslope. 

[mreaves]

2.25" overnight.  29.4°

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 1.6” Snow/0.86” L.E.

We’ve had a good shot of liquid with this system so far at our site.  It wasn’t until later in the day yesterday that it really started to accumulate here, but if we’re at 0.86” of L.E. so far, the local peaks must be around an inch of L.E. by this point, with a lot of that as snow up high.  There’s only a weak radar signature out there right now, but we’ve been getting some steady light snow this morning to add a bit more accumulation.  Flakes have been small (1-2 mm though), so I don’t expect accumulations to amount to too much unless that changed.

I’ve got my past couple of rounds of observations below, and some travel observations from yesterday.  I was heading home a bit late from Burlington in the evening and the temperature was 37 F.  At that point there was no precipitation in the Champlain Valley, and roads didn’t even start to get wet until I got into the mountains.  I was surprised to not see any snow until I approached the town of Bolton, and then everything changed in what seemed like an instant.  The road was covered with an inch or two of unplowed slush, and it definitely pushed you around while driving.  At home the temperature was 33 F, and the slush on the road had almost disappeared relative to what I’d seen in Bolton and Bolton Flats.

 

Here are the past couple round of observations from our site:

 

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

New Snow: 0.4 inches

New Liquid: 0.11 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 3.6

Snow Density: 27.5% H2O

Temperature: 33.6 F

Sky: Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 0.5 inches

 

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

New Snow: 1.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.22 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 5.5

Snow Density: 18.3% H2O

Temperature: 32.5 F

Sky: Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 1.0 inches

[PhineasC]

Ended up with another 2" last night, maybe a tad more. 4" last two days is pretty solid given the marginal temps for much of the day yesterday. Mid winter this would been a nice fluffy event of several inches.

Edit: forgot about the inch Sunday. So 5 inches last 3 days in marginal temps is pretty solid.

[tamarack]

14 hours ago, dryslot said:

That sounds like a bent connecting rod that seized the motor, had that happen to one of my snowmobiles, Could not pull start it or crank it over with the starter, Check Craigs list or Uncle Henry's for used or a dealer that may have taken something in on trade.

Went back out later yesterday and was able to pull the cord but the machine wouldn't start.  Might have flooded it, easily done in warm temps on this model.  New primer was working at least.  However, I'll b looking elsewhere as I don't see this one being dependable any more.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, tamarack said:

Went back out later yesterday and was able to pull the cord but the machine wouldn't start.  Might have flooded it, easily done in warm temps on this model.  New primer was working at least.  However, I'll b looking elsewhere as I don't see this one being dependable any more.

I was actually pi$$ed it snowed one night because my snow blower wasn't working and it would be a long winter without a good snow blower.

[LaGrangewx]

2 hours ago, PhineasC said:

Ended up with another 2" last night, maybe a tad more. 4" last two days is pretty solid given the marginal temps for much of the day yesterday. Mid winter this would been a nice fluffy event of several inches.

Edit: forgot about the inch Sunday. So 5 inches last 3 days in marginal temps is pretty solid.

Looks like Hermit Lake raked up a foot or so based on the 9” depth increase yesterday. Pretty sweet hopefully ski season starts with a bang.

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, DavisStraight said:

I was actually pi$$ed it snowed one night because my snow blower wasn't working and it would be a long winter without a good snow blower.

We spent the winters of 2008-09 and 09-10 without a working snowblower and we paid for the absence. 
In Feb 2009 we had a 24.5" dump atop a 27" pack - was 49" total at my 9 PM obs time 10 hr after the storm ended, tallest I've measured here.  Took two of us 6 hours to clear half the driveway so we could get out, had to start with a shovel to clear a spot to push the scoop, ended having to slide the loads up a 7-8' embankment.  Part of the reason my son was eager to move back to southern Japan.  A year later we had the great mashed potato storm, 10.7" on 2.67" LE with 1.14" cold RA mixed in.  There was about 8" with nearly 3" LE when I ran the scoop and it was a lot harder to move than the 2-footer a year earlier.  Trying to slide the loads on the bare gravel (had not snowed for nearly a month) was a chore, and considerable driveway material rode onto the lawn along with the snow.

[powderfreak]

Been busy this morning but had about 4-5" of absolute sand at 1,500ft.... this stuff is dense, almost like sleety snow.  Must be some serious QPF in it, it's heavy.  8-12" above 1800-2000ft where it was colder for most of the daytime precip yesterday.

We have some light snow falling now.  Looks like winter.  Only a half inch down in the village at 750ft.

[J.Spin]

I guess this event isn’t quite done yet because it even started snowing here in Burlington – I see on the radar that it’s got the look of a big batch of streamers on WNW.  It seems to be hitting the mountains now, so you might get an uptick in snowfall if the spine does its usual thing.

[J.Spin]

15 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Getting 7-10 split here right now.  J.Spin into MPV had to have been getting some decent precip rates with the 30dbz Winooski Gap echoes south of here.  Cold season convective bands love going through there.  Then, to the north of here is still getting some broader NW cyclonic flow. 

 

14 hours ago, mreaves said:

Yea that streamer pops up pretty frequently.  Moisture just shooting the gap and then hitting the hill south of Montpelier. Mini upslope. 

We were getting some decent snowfall out of that as the stronger echoes came through.  Accumulation was still relatively slow due to the marginal temperatures and relatively small flake size, but you can see from the CoCoRaHS L.E. map how it’s added to the total liquid from this event in our area:

[J.Spin]

15 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

I guess this event isn’t quite done yet because it even started snowing here in Burlington – I see on the radar that it’s got the look of a big batch of streamers on WNW flow.  It seems to be hitting the mountains now, so you might get an uptick in snowfall if the spine does its usual thing.

 

[PhineasC]

Some light snow falling now here.

[PhineasC]

28 with light to mod upslope.

[OceanStWx]

On 11/15/2021 at 9:48 AM, jculligan said:

I'm visiting the gf down in Boston, but my landlord texted me some pics from the cabin in Jackson this morning. Looks like about a quarter inch on the grass up there. Enough to go down as the first accumulation of the season there.

Happy to see all of the AMC huts are reporting snow depth once again this season! Looks like 5" OTG at Hermit Lake and 6" OTG at Zealand Falls, both of which should get a couple/few inches out of tonight's upslope event. Perhaps the start of the White Mountain snowpack at elevations above 3k?

I'm pretty excited we were able to get at least some up and running before this season kicked off. I helped install Zealand so I'm especially glad to see things going smoothly so far.

[powderfreak]

Periods of light snow today enough to dust cars and roads again, lots of blowing and drifting snow now.

The mountain feels like an island of mid-winter right now.  It’s so much different than surrounding areas.  

[tamarack]

4 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Been busy this morning but had about 4-5" of absolute sand at 1,500ft.... this stuff is dense, almost like sleety snow.  Must be some serious QPF in it, it's heavy.  8-12" above 1800-2000ft where it was colder for most of the daytime precip yesterday.

We have some light snow falling now.  Looks like winter.  Only a half inch down in the village at 750ft.

The angle of repose on the bench/table edges suggests sleet or at least heavily rimed flakes.  Lots different than the bulbous edges when it's 32° fatties.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

Periods of light snow today enough to dust cars and roads again, lots of blowing and drifting snow now.

The mountain feels like an island of mid-winter right now.  It’s so much different than surrounding areas.  

Nothing in the village?

[powderfreak]

10 minutes ago, tamarack said:

The angle of repose on the bench/table edges suggests sleet or at least heavily rimed flakes.  Lots different than the bulbous edges when it's 32° fatties.

I think it’s heavy graupel (rimed) as there’s a lot of those dippin’ dots mixed in.  Big dense, QPF rich frozen material.

Snow growth was not maximized to say the least.  The snowbanks look more like a 6-10” snowfall instead of 4-5”.

[powderfreak]

11 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

Nothing in the village?

Had a half inch dusting this morning (grass blades poking up through type dusting) but around 1300ft is when you cross into the other winter portal.  Like snow on trees, plowing, etc.

[PhineasC]

28 degrees with some light stuff around still. Very nice few upslope days here. 3 inches at my measuring stick on the south aspect. 5 on the north stick.

[alex]

Diane sent me this taken from my window. Nice to be in Jamaica but I'm almost a little jealous.