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Came back from a quick trip to Pennsylvania. Daffodils and leafing shrubs down there, full on winter here

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When I left the mountain around midday yesterday, it was a bit tough to pull myself away because the ski conditions were really good both on and off piste. The Vista Peak terrain was skiing on 10-12” of dense powder that provided a solid resurfacing of even steep pitches, and all the way down to 1,500’ at the Timberline Base there was at least 9-10” of that snow with a lot of liquid equivalent in it. The precipitation at that point was snow that was a mixture of both regular flakes and more granular types, and it frequently switched back and forth favoring one over the other. As the day wore on and moved into the evening, precipitation at our place in the valley gradually transitioned to more mixed precipitation, but I wasn’t sure what had gone on up at Bolton Valley – it was possible that the mixed precipitation was minor, leaving just a skim atop the new snow, or it might have been a lot more substantial. I decided to head up for some turns today to find out where conditions stood, and without the Vista Quad, the Timberline Quad, or the Wilderness Chair in operation, I decided to do some touring. I had though about hitting the Nordic and Backcountry Network, but I decided that touring via the Wilderness Uphill Route was a better option – if the off piste and ungroomed snow was in bad shape I could catch a run down some groomed terrain instead. Well, I’m glad I gave myself the option of a groomed descent, because anything terrain had not been groomed was essentially unskiable. The combination of dense snow granules, sleet, freezing drizzle, rime, and whatever else had fallen, hadn’t left just a thin crust atop the snowpack, it was a substantial crust. I checked in various spots on my tour, and the crust was typically about a half inch thick, with probably close to a half inch of liquid equivalent in it. Thankfully, the groomed terrain was in excellent shape, since once that crust was pulverized into the rest of the new snow, it made a substantial covering of the old snowpack. I descended on groomed terrain via the Wilderness Liftline and Lower Fanny Hill, and that was really nice. In terms of the off piste skiing, it’s not going to be good again unless you hit an area that has been broken up by previous skiers. The snow below the crust is excellent, but you’ve got to break up the crust to get to it. Other than that, it will need to either need to warm up or we’ll have to get another resurfacing storm cycle before it will be fun to get back off piste again. Until that point, at least the groomed slopes are in great shape because of the resurfacing we’ve gone through. In the valley I’ve recorded 1.05” of new liquid equivalent in the snows from the past couple of systems, so the mountains must be up there around 1.5” of liquid or even more. As a testament to that, the snow depth at the Mt. Mansfield Stake has jumped a foot over the course of the past few days, so these recent March storms have been an excellent addition to the snowpack as we head toward spring.

3/16: .5 Total: 25.1

What you can't see was sleet mixed in with the snow in the pic. It started as straight sleet and came down pretty hard. Enough to make paved/concrete surfaces wet. Along with making the vehicles look like steady rain hit. After about ten minutes it changed over to mostly snow - for about another ten minutes. I can definitely say I was NOT expecting that...

Frozen stuff falling from the sky right now in Ellicott City

Short sleeves not working

Not a fan of today - too chilly / windy.

Sorry Paulie, been through it a few times myself, never easy.

Its not cold I think some of you are a bit dramatic.

ripping pretty good .. might pick up a quick inch at this rate

Flurry's here at the moment.

Took this right around 9:00 pm. I'm about eight miles directly north of Carlisle, a couple of miles west of route #74...

68.9F but that was about midnight.

Looked decent on radar for a bit there. Heavier on the eastern countyline.

Excellent post, and points. Thanks for the great description.

Lol…I’m calming down. It’s all good.

Glad some folks getting snow. Nothing here, dry and 35. Let’s get some springtime weather. Have had it with this trash. 30’s and grey is just horrible. As the guy Brian from Greenwich said..it’s like this in November alot…but the coming winter gives it a much different feel for sure.

One of the Best.

Really? What was your high today?

Great, I hate this cold and dreary weather. Happy we had our 2nd above average snowfall winter this decade. Already ahead of the 1970 through 1999 pace (4 in 30 years).

Sixth consecutive day, which ties the April record from April 25-30, 1992.

We will need ruler verification photos.

Today wee small hours highs EWR: 52 / 38 (0) NYC: 50 / 38 (-1)

It is snowing in Melville, LI.