1709 replies to this topic

[tamarack]

wxeyeNH, on 16 February 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

Interesting.....I don't understand the logic. Newer snow=whiter snow and more reflection. So how does a newer snowfall make the older one melt faster?

Never said it was a valid statement.

However, by 4/1 the old snowpack is often settled to about a 3:1 ratio and with AM temps often still dropping into single digits, that stuff gets mighty hard. There's often a week or two when one can walk on 2-3' snowpack without snowshoes; with the rocks and blowdowns mostly covered, it can be the best time to explore the woods.

However, when the new soft snow gets exposed to the sun (early April days with temp ranges like 50/10 aren't uncommon in that part of the world) it quickly melts and probably helps to soften the older snow.

[MaineJayhawk]

46F in Portland. What an awful stretch of weather. This is worse than 09/10. At least that season it was fun in the first half. This has been repugnant since Thanksgiving. I'll be in the kayak by Tax day.

[jzinckgra]

Pretty much done with this winter. Haven't even snowmobiled yet. Hoping to get a ride in or two, but some personal matters had to be dealt with. Wow, only at 26" for the season. Never thought I'd ever witness such a low year.

[red]

What a beautiful spring day. 44 degrees, gorgeous brown grass showing everywhere, muddy driveway and that wonderful earthy smell is in the air. ahhhhhh invigorating!

Oh wait, its February 16th

[tamarack]

MaineJayhawk, on 16 February 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

46F in Portland. What an awful stretch of weather. This is worse than 09/10. At least that season it was fun in the first half. This has been repugnant since Thanksgiving. I'll be in the kayak by Tax day.

As of today, I'd have to agree this winter is a bit worse than 09-10 so far. However, two years ago I was only on the 9th day of a 47-day streak of above normal temps (by about 20 days my longest ever streak of abnormal temps in 40 yr of wx obs), and had yet to see the worst winter month (March being "winter" here, for avg snowfall) since Dec 1973. March produced only 0.6" snow (took five separate days with "measurable" snowfall to accumulate that massive total), and was not just the only March in 13 yr here to not get below zero, it failed even to get down to 10. Feb, March, and April 2010 were all the warmest I've had for MBY, each by nearly 3F from the 2nd warmest.

So 2011-12 has to produce a lot of continuing awfulness to wind up worse than 09-10, and has a significant Oct/Nov "handicap" in its race for the bottom. Six more weeks similar to the past two and it'll make it, though. This winter is also probably the worst for not only having no big storms, but not even having much for legitimate weenie-exciters, at least inside 100 hr. Du-u-u-l-lll!

Patches of brown all over the lawn in AUG, down to about 50% coverage in mid-40s hazy sun.

[wxeyeNH]

Light rain started about an hour ago. At the time it was 39F. It is now changing to light snow and down to 35.2F Dewpoint is 32F.

[ctsnowstorm628]

wxeyeNH, on 16 February 2012 - 05:37 PM, said:

Light rain started about an hour ago. At the time it was 39F. It is now changing to light snow and down to 35.2F Dewpoint is 32F.

Classic wetbulb situation. Beautiful.

37/28 waiting on precip

[wxeyeNH]

light snow 32.6F slushy coating of maybe 1/4" meh

[powderfreak]

Stowe Mountain Resort
Mountain Operations Center
Barnes Camp Snow Board
1,549ft

Current Weather: Light Snow
Temperature: 35F
New Snow: 1.0" (very wet snow)
Snow Depth: 17"

Stowe Village (my house)
800ft
Temperature: 34F
New Snow: 0.0" (trace of non-accumulating snow)

Notes: One of the most bizzare thermal patterns I've ever seen in this local area. Driving on RT 108 from Stowe Village to the Ski Resort... it is raining in Stowe village; rain changes to snow around 900-1,000ft and becomes noticable on the roadway. At 1,200-1,300ft the road was plowed with new snowbanks and what looked like 1-2" of wet snow. Looks like a postcard with wet snow clinging to everything and all trees are caked in snow. Car temp was 32F (don't like using the car temp but its at least in the ballpark). However, once you get up towards 1,500-1,600ft it warms up very quickly and was almost a mix of rain and snow again. Car temperature goes up to 34F and we have 35F here at the office. PWS at 1,600ft has been up near 36F all this morning. The snow has melted off the trees up here and it is very close to raining... however its a much drier snow falling only 300-400ft lower and there was likely more snow accumulation at 1,300ft than 1,500-1,600ft.

Very localized downsloping processes or mixed out inversion?

http://www.wundergro...sp?ID=KVTSTOWE3

[J.Spin]

We’ve picked up 0.08” of liquid from this event so far at our location in Waterbury, and while it was just a touch too warm for accumulation down in the bottom of the Winooski Valley, it did translate into 3” new up on the mountain. I’ve added the usual north to south list of reported accumulations from the Vermont ski areas below:

Jay Peak: 1”
Burke: 1”
Smuggler’s Notch: 2”
Stowe: 2”
Bolton Valley: 3”
Mad River Glen: 1”
Sugarbush: 1”
Pico: 2”
Killington: 2”
Okemo: 0”
Magic Mountain: 1”
Stratton: 1”
Mount Snow: 4”

Reading a few of the comments from the resort websites and those from Powderfreak above, it’s not too surprising to hear that the new snow is dense and that the density varies with elevation, but the current round of snow has at least been a refresher as we head into the holiday weekend. It also looks like cooling temperatures and additional small shots of snow are in the forecast for the mountains through Sunday.

[eekuasepinniW]

The Laconia world championship sled dog derby has been canceled for only the 5th time in its 83 years of running. Seems unlikely they'll get the 10" base needed by next weekend.

They should just put the sleds on wheels. Dogs won't mind.

[Allenson]

Had a slushy 1/2" at the house last night. It looked nice this morning--some fresh white, in the trees, covering the ice etc. Our snowpack is hanging tough at 6-8" overall but it doesn't take much of a drop in elevation to loose the solid cover pretty quickly.

Still, it's amazing that in a year like this, I can put my bushwhack skis on at my front door and ski for miles. True story. Here's a shot from at the house a couple days ago. It hasn't changed much here since then other than the fresh slushting last night:

MaineJayhawk, on 16 February 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

I'll be in the kayak by Tax day.

The Connecticut River, which had been iced over, opened up this week. I drive up and down the river quite a bit and was starting to get the itch to toss the ol' canoe in. There're icebergs floating around--something to dodge.

[Dryslot]

-RN 37.4F depressing

[tamarack]

35 and dz when I left home at 6:45, 0.02" and not even any slush. Saw some fat slushflakes splatting as I drove in to Belgrade Village. Looks to be nice and cool by Presidents' Day, then back to 30s-40s for some midweek RA. Figures...

After reading about western CT getting a bit of white grass-cover yest afternoon, seems odd Maine can't get snow in the cool of the night.

[klw]

.8 of an inch overnight. For some bizarre reason the schools are open despite the blizzard.

[dendrite]

Not a flake here. I wonder if we can soar to 50F today in spots.

[ctsnowstorm628]

Very wet 0.3" snow.

Melted already as temps have soared.
Going home to CT then FL for winter break. Back on 2/27!

37/36

[MaineJayhawk]

Allenson, on 17 February 2012 - 08:10 AM, said:

The Connecticut River, which had been iced over, opened up this week. I drive up and down the river quite a bit and was starting to get the itch to toss the ol' canoe in. There're icebergs floating around--something to dodge.

Much of Sebago is open - I could lace up the skates, make a figure 8 or two and then plop into the kayak and make a lap. Crappy winter biathlon.

Is 5.1" really going to be my largest snowfall in met winter?

[Snow Bow]

dendrite, on 17 February 2012 - 10:16 AM, said:

Not a flake here. I wonder if we can soar to 50F today in spots.

No flakes here at all either, I did make it up to 50.3 right around 11:15AM but have since plumetted to a refreshing 48.9

[Allenson]

MaineJayhawk, on 17 February 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

Much of Sebago is open - I could lace up the skates, make a figure 8 or two and then plop into the kayak and make a lap. Crappy winter biathlon.

Is 5.1" really going to be my largest snowfall in met winter?

Crazy that Sebago is open, or mostly.

A couple years ago in April I did a ski in the morning and a paddle in the afternoon. Not too shabbeh.

Our bigest snowfall this season was the day before Thanksgiving at an even 10"...and I was in Connecticut and missed it.

[wxeyeNH]

We had a coating of snow overnight. Nothing down at Newfound Lake level but heading to Plymouth noticed the Mayhew Turnpike had been plowed at the high point between our town and Plymouth.

Nice spring afternoon out there (41.7F will probably be the high) as we continue to slowly melt the snow on the south facing slopes. Most level areas and north facing slopes are still snow covered. My pond is getting very low!

Attached Files

•  netcam02172012.jpg   148.62K   1 downloads

[J.Spin]

The BTV NWS discussion mentions that there will be a west northwesterly upper level flow in place with changes for snow showers through much of the weekend, but it’s hard to get specifics on the timing of snowfall beyond that. Anyway, over the past hour or so I’ve seen the clouds build in, tendrils of snow start to form along the western slopes, and now most of Mansfield has disappeared as it’s become buried behind a veil of snow. We’ve even got flakes here in Burlington, so I wasn’t surprised to see precipitation moving through the area on radar. I added some recent frames below:

[tamarack]

Sun popped out in AUG an hour ago and bumped the temp into the low 40s. Snowcover down to 25% of the lawn area, and what's left is 2" or less.

Today's bit of rain will perhaps equal the 0.04" I recorded on 2/1. Driest Feb IMBY is a modest 1.99" and I'd estimate a 98% chance it's broken this year (which isn't going far out on the limb, I know.) Driest for any month since I moved to Maine in Jan 1973 is 0.30" in Feb 1987 (in Gardiner), and I think we've got a serious shot at sliding under that one, too. I certainly can't see this month ending like Feb 2010, when 23 days with only a trace were followed by 3.8" qpf on 24-28.

[Dryslot]

Terrible teribble winter day here, Would be a nice spring day though........

[powderfreak]

You never know what you will see on the mountain...

This thing came within like 20-30 feet of me in the woods. It was touch and go there for a little bit as it was a lot bigger than it looked from a distance.





This snowboard has no idea whats about to run past him...



It ran through the base area, past the FourRunner Quad and then over to Lower Lord trail where it just chilled for a while.

[Dryslot]

powderfreak, on 17 February 2012 - 05:28 PM, said:

You never know what you will see on the mountain...

This thing came within like 20-30 feet of me in the woods. It was touch and go there for a little bit as it was a lot bigger than it looked from a distance.

IMG_1870_edited-1.jpg

IMG_1874_edited-1.jpg

This snowboard has no idea whats about to run past him...

IMG_1877_edited-1.jpg

It ran through the base area, past the FourRunner Quad and then over to Lower Lord trail where it just chilled for a while.

IMG_1886_edited-1-1.jpg

They can cause a lot of havoc, Lot of people die on the ME pike when they hit one, Springtime is when they are more out and about, But this winter between the moose and the deer, They are having it easy..

[Ginx]

powderfreak, on 17 February 2012 - 05:28 PM, said:

You never know what you will see on the mountain...

This thing came within like 20-30 feet of me in the woods.  It was touch and go there for a little bit as it was a lot bigger than it looked from a distance.

IMG_1870_edited-1.jpg

IMG_1874_edited-1.jpg

This snowboard has no idea whats about to run past him...

IMG_1877_edited-1.jpg

It ran through the base area, past the FourRunner Quad and then over to Lower Lord trail where it just chilled for a while.

IMG_1886_edited-1-1.jpg

awesome,man that would suck hitting him at full speed on a crossover, he needs relocating

[wxeyeNH]

Great Moose picture. I posted it on my FB page with the caption "Going to be a lot of people on the slopes this weekend. Watch out for traffic"

[ctsnowstorm628]

LMAO great pic PF. Think snow for the busy holiday weekend!

[powderfreak]

Thanks, guys... it was pretty cool to have that thing come running past me in the woods. They can move a lot quicker than I would've imagined, lol.

[ctsnowstorm628]

So, as of tonight, I have gotten word that my application has been accepted for review for brand new upperclassman student housing across the street from the burke mtn base lodge. Building commences in April and myself and 5 other met majors have first priority if everything goes right!

The site is at 1,200ft (with up to 1,600ft within a half mile walking distance up Mountain Rd) and would be sweet for us to take official measurements over there as opposed to at 1,000-1,100ft at LSC due LSC's relative Passumpsic Valley location, not to mention they get an extra 20-30" there per yr as opposed to LSC. If we move in, we have the MADIS station at 1160ft in East Burke on the road we would live on, but it updates every hour so we plan on bringing up a decent wx station for our own temp measurements only. We also will be setting up a snow stake and snow board if all goes right...hopefully it does, its a great opportunity!

PS- It'll be interesting to see if my measurements coincide with Burke's measurements at the base. It'll keep them in check

[powderfreak]

It is snowing down here in town this morning... car is all dusted up. Looks like around 1" new here in town. Massive dendrites getting ripped out of the atmosphere. It should be snowing pretty decently up at the mountain.

The Green Mountain Spine.... what can you say? Surprise snowfall for President's Weekend... show all the tourists the magic of the Greens.

[powderfreak]

Snowfall has tapered off up here... have around 1.5" in the base area right now, waiting for the next pulse. Groomers are reporting 2, maybe a bit more up high. I'll call it 1-2" on the early report until I have a chance to get up and verify if anything more fell at the 3,000ft snow board.

However, J.Spin is getting crushed right now on these past couple radar scans. That 28-30dbz stuff is usually 1"/hr or greater in these situations.

Just sitting there over J.Spin just east of the actual spine (county line) and in the Winnoski Valley/I-89 corridor.. I'll be curious to see what he has when he wakes up. Probably closer to 2" than the 1" we had up here in town.

[powderfreak]

BTV now updated to "Snow Likely" with 1-3" of accumulation. They love the 5am spotter reports from town and the mountain, haha.

.NEAR TERM /THROUGH TONIGHT/...
AS OF 547 AM EST SATURDAY...ISSUED UPDATE TO ACCT FOR SNOWFALL
SHOWING UP ON LCL RADAR THAT IS CURRENTLY "LIGHTING" UP THE
WESTERN SLOPES OF THE GREEN MTNS FROM WASINGTON CTY NORTHWARD.
PREVIOUS FORECAST HAD A DUSTING TO AN INCH MENTIONED THERE AND WE
HAVE A SPOTTER REPORT IN LAMOILLE CTY THAT ALREADY MATCHES THAT.
W/ WNW FLOW PACKING UP AGAINST THIS AREA...HAVE UPDATED TO INCLUDE
1-2" ADDITONAL SNOWFALL POTENTIAL. THIS AREA OF PRECIP WILL TAPER
OFF AS THE MORNING PROGRESSES. REST OF FORECAST IN GD SHAPE.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 0.3” Snow/0.09” L.E.

We picked up 0.3” of snow overnight, which is the first snow down here associated with this event; temperatures have presumably now gotten cold enough to get snow to most of the lower mountain valleys. I’ve updated the north to south list of storm snowfall for the Vermont ski areas below using 48-hour snow totals. It looks like a decent little storm for the Stowe through Sugarbush area:

Jay Peak: 2”
Burke: 3”
Smuggler’s Notch: 2”
Stowe: 4”
Bolton Valley: 4”
Mad River Glen: 5”
Sugarbush: 5”
Middlebury: 3”
Pico: 2”
Killington: 2”
Okemo: 0”
Bromley: 0”
Magic Mountain: 1”
Stratton: 1”
Mount Snow: 4”

PF – you probably know, but one of your moose pictures is being cycled on the Ski Vermont website, so that’s pretty cool.

Some details from the 7:00 A.M. Waterbury observations are below:

New Snow: 0.3 inches
New Liquid: 0.01 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 30.0
Snow Density: 3.3% H2O
Temperature: 32.0 F
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Snow at the stake: 8.0 inches