December 2022 Obs/Disc

[TalcottWx]

2 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Lol I know, I’m just busting back. My main concern is my wife. If she has a bad experience, she’ll never ski again in her life lolo

Sounds familiar. My wife is.... Not the outdoors type. Neither am I, but I can hang outdoors because I'm open to new things. She wants to go skiing, but only if she doesn't have to go up the mountain or leave the lodge. We haven't gone together yet. I'm the type of guy who will be there at open until it closes getting runs in. I need to baby her a little bit. Not going to be a fun experience. I feel your pain. 

[weathafella]

3 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Lol I know, I’m just busting back. My main concern is my wife. If she has a bad experience, she’ll never ski again in her life lolo

Go to Colorado or California.  Easier ski experience.   I bet the costs aren’t that different in the big picture.

[TalcottWx]

Just now, weathafella said:

Go to Colorado or California.  Easier ski experience.   I bet the costs aren’t that different in the big picture.

Depends heavily on which mountain he is considering too. 

[ORH_wxman]

12 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

19-22

This is why you got a bunch of shit. If your vacation was next weekend, you’d have legit concern. But you’re not going for almost 4 weeks…NNE might be buried by then. 
 

Honestly, if I was you worrying whether my wife would have a good experience, I’d be more worried about bitter cold temps in mid/late January than snow conditions. Nothing ruins a ski experience like bitter cold that you might be slightly underdressed for. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

7 minutes ago, TalcottWx said:

Sounds familiar. My wife is.... Not the outdoors type. Neither am I, but I can hang outdoors because I'm open to new things. She wants to go skiing, but only if she doesn't have to go up the mountain or leave the lodge. We haven't gone together yet. I'm the type of guy who will be there at open until it closes getting runs in. I need to baby her a little bit. Not going to be a fun experience. I feel your pain. 

Try X-C skiing  

[powderfreak]

7 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

This is why you got a bunch of shit. If your vacation was next weekend, you’d have legit concern. But you’re not going for almost 4 weeks…NNE might be buried by then. 
 

Honestly, if I was you worrying whether my wife would have a good experience, I’d be more worried about bitter cold temps in mid/late January than snow conditions. Nothing ruins a ski experience like bitter cold that you might be slightly underdressed for. 

Bingo.  I’d take 40F and showers over -10F all day.  Snow is at least soft then.

All it takes is one warning event to bring it back in a big way between now and Jan 19 for him.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Just now, Baroclinic Zone said:

Try X-C skiing  

Oh' man that is a slippery slope.  You need to be really patient and have focused consideration of where you take first time XC novices.  Otherwise they will never try again.

[bwt3650]

5 minutes ago, TalcottWx said:

Sounds familiar. My wife is.... Not the outdoors type. Neither am I, but I can hang outdoors because I'm open to new things. She wants to go skiing, but only if she doesn't have to go up the mountain or leave the lodge. We haven't gone together yet. I'm the type of guy who will be there at open until it closes getting runs in. I need to baby her a little bit. Not going to be a fun experience. I feel your pain. 

When I first mentioned wanting a place at Jay, my wife gave me a resounding "f, no".  She had never been that far north in Vt. and hated the idea of that drive. I took her there for a few days and both times we went, they were buried.  It snowed almost non-stop on those two trips and after that, and seeing no lift lines on weekends, she finally got it and was on board.  I completely agree with the happy wife theory when it comes to skiing. 

The ability to fix crap weather streaks with fake snow every few days (most of the time) is what makes it different everywhere north of sugarbush.  Still crappy sometimes, but 7 days out is an eternity usually in fake snow land. 

[bwt3650]

10 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

This is why you got a bunch of shit. If your vacation was next weekend, you’d have legit concern. But you’re not going for almost 4 weeks…NNE might be buried by then. 
 

Honestly, if I was you worrying whether my wife would have a good experience, I’d be more worried about bitter cold temps in mid/late January than snow conditions. Nothing ruins a ski experience like bitter cold that you might be slightly underdressed for. 

this week looked like crap 5 days ago and seems to be turning out pretty decent.

[Baroclinic Zone]

6 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Oh' man that is a slippery slope.  You need to be really patient and have focused consideration of where you take first time XC novices.  Otherwise they will never try again.

Yeah, I know what you mean.  When we went, we found Jackson a great place to start.

https://www.jacksonxc.org/

[HoarfrostHubb]

8 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

Oh' man that is a slippery slope.  You need to be really patient and have focused consideration of where you take first time XC novices.  Otherwise they will never try again.

Yeah.  I find it more difficult and unforgiving than downhill to be honest 

[HoarfrostHubb]

Watching some drone footage from Buffalo.   Geez

[tamarack]

25 minutes ago, TalcottWx said:

Just know I'm only ever messing with you, I'm a big clown, just ask the rest of these banana heads 

Comes from playing OL.    I'm o of those, too, though I played 50 years before you.

For TBlizz:  As others have noted, NNE is different, and this month is a good example.  Since mid-November I've had 5 RA events and one big snowfall.  The month will finish about 5° AN and either 2nd or 3rd mildest (2015 will rule forever) of our 25 Decembers here.  Yet we'll finish with nearly 125% of average snowfall even if the next 5 days adds nothing.  Even with Friday's 3.25" deluge, there's still 12" at the stake and enough for the groomer to be working on the local club snomo trails.   And I'm at 390' so no big elevational advantage.

[CoastalWx]

40 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

19-22

For NNE I think after the 6th or so it’s favorable. Plenty of time to build it up. I mean even in a good pattern you can easily get a cutter mixed in. But I would keep it. 

[78Blizzard]

 

[UnitedWx]

2 hours ago, TalcottWx said:

Sounds familiar. My wife is.... Not the outdoors type. Neither am I, but I can hang outdoors because I'm open to new things. She wants to go skiing, but only if she doesn't have to go up the mountain or leave the lodge. We haven't gone together yet. I'm the type of guy who will be there at open until it closes getting runs in. I need to baby her a little bit. Not going to be a fun experience. I feel your pain. 

You should try snowmobiling! Once I did, I never tried to ski again. SO much more interesting 

[OceanStWx]

11 minutes ago, 78Blizzard said:

 

I find the faux-ish outrage about this to be something special. Like in 2021 TX, do we honestly think less than 30 days into office Biden closed all the fossil plants in TX? No, it was failures of existing power sources. Similar to TN now. I would hazard a guess that a switch to natural gas and limited supply is what is driving this. 

[WxWatcher007]

From today’s walk along the Connecticut River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[78Blizzard]

8 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

I find the faux-ish outrage about this to be something special. Like in 2021 TX, do we honestly think less than 30 days into office Biden closed all the fossil plants in TX? No, it was failures of existing power sources. Similar to TN now. I would hazard a guess that a switch to natural gas and limited supply is what is driving this. 

I never saw any news articles saying Biden closed all the fossil plants in Texas.  There are always extremist sites that will put out this bs, but most people ignore those sites.

[dendrite]

18 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

I find the faux-ish outrage about this to be something special. Like in 2021 TX, do we honestly think less than 30 days into office Biden closed all the fossil plants in TX? No, it was failures of existing power sources. Similar to TN now. I would hazard a guess that a switch to natural gas and limited supply is what is driving this. 

The Titans are so bad right now that they should consider postponing all games until next season. 

[ORH_wxman]

7 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

I find the faux-ish outrage about this to be something special. Like in 2021 TX, do we honestly think less than 30 days into office Biden closed all the fossil plants in TX? No, it was failures of existing power sources. Similar to TN now. I would hazard a guess that a switch to natural gas and limited supply is what is driving this. 

Energy policy has been embarrassing for a while now. We’ve made voluntary decisions to move away from nuclear (an excellent bridge energy source between fossil fuels and renewables), we’ve hindered the natural gas infrastructure which actually increases the use of oil and coal in the short term (see the nixing of natural gas conversions away from heating oil all across New England because we cannot pipe nat gas in from PA), and we’ve had a lot of NIMBY problems updating the grid itself to be less susceptible to weather (such as putting lines underground). 
 

It’s unfortunate that everything becomes so political that it’s hard to navigate our way through all of it with logic, but that’s the reality we live in today. 

[mahk_webstah]

39 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

I find the faux-ish outrage about this to be something special. Like in 2021 TX, do we honestly think less than 30 days into office Biden closed all the fossil plants in TX? No, it was failures of existing power sources. Similar to TN now. I would hazard a guess that a switch to natural gas and limited supply is what is driving this. 

Yet another reasoned, intelligent response to the politics coming into our threads today.

[alex]

Took this picture yesterday - some pretty cool ice formation on the wetlands as the flood waters receded 

[Sled]

Just go sledding. Basically free, no need to drive far away, just as fun. 

[radarman]

Word is that certain local ponds might be ready to go tomorrow with smooth black ice.  Be safe but take advantage if you can.  Doesn't usually last long.

[DavisStraight]

1 hour ago, Sled said:

Just go sledding. Basically free, no need to drive far away, just as fun. 

I saw some of the big lakes with a solid coating, the smaller ones must be getting thick enough. A lot depends on size and deepness, but Webster Lake has a solid coating.

[powderfreak]

Just some residual Great Lakes moisture, sloshing through the topography at H85 temps around -15C.  Snow growth maximized in light winds.

Ski country can produce it's own snow. Fake snow, but it has the real vibe.

 

[Massplow]

What’s the deal with the stuff on radar right now in western ma? Is that actually reaching the ground and is it going to keep pushing east ?

[Whineminster]

4 hours ago, radarman said:

Word is that certain local ponds might be ready to go tomorrow with smooth black ice.  Be safe but take advantage if you can.  Doesn't usually last long.

I went today in leominster state forest.  About 6" in our spot. Sunday when I checked there was one open spot well away from us. 

[weathafella]

Through 12/25:

 

BOS:  +0.3F

ORH:  +2.3F

PVD:  -0.7F

BDL:  +0.2

 

I thought it would average warmer to date.  12/26-27 will likely end up aob but 12/28-31 will tack on some +.