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das

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Posts posted by das

    March Banter 2019

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, jonjon said:

    I'll put up another vote for Vermont.  I have my eyes set on a place up there someday, I try to get up there once a year (Waterbury).  I was inspired by their beer and my brewery is essentially a Vermont South version of what they put out. Their sense of craft, whether beer, cheese, maple syrup, etc., is truly inspiring to me.  Beautiful mountains, long snowy winters with few thaws, and summers that aren't too hot are definitely draws for me, too.

    Completely agree.  The craft brewing up here is DIVINE.  If your brewery is anywhere as good as your B&B was, I'll definitely have to make a trip out to check it out!

    • Like 1

    March Banter 2019

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    On 3/7/2019 at 7:30 AM, vastateofmind said:

    Assuming you still want to remain in U.S., maybe western NY? Vermont? @das has shared some great pics from VT this winter.

    @PhineasC  Tug Hill plateau in upstate NY and then coastal Maine are awesome but getting to an airport is tough.  BTV (Burlington) airport is just big enough that most carriers go there and there regular, daily direct flights to places like DC, NYC and Boston. The Champlain Vally gets the lowest totals in all of VT (typically 65-90" per year) but where you are in the valley really matters too.  The eastern side of the Valley, where there are considerable and plentiful classic Vermont towns edge up towards 85-90" and where I live during the weekends (Charlotte, Shelburn, Vergennes area) is like 80+" (I'm over 60" already this year with most of March to go and realistic chances in the first 2 weeks of April as well).  

    30 minutes (not miles) due east gets you easily into the 150"+ zone.  Very cute places like Underhill or Stevensville.  30 minutes NNE gets you into the 100"+ areas as well.  Not all of this is elevation dependent either as froude backing in WNW flow events after a storm departs to the east is what typically bumps up those easter valley totals.  Light, fluffy snow similar to upslope snows.

    It's deep winter pretty much the whole time.  You can count on 2-3 winter thaws each year with a deluge of rain sometimes accompanying but the patterns are an exact inverse of DMV.  Instead of mostly warm with incursions of cold, it's mostly cold with incursions of warm.  Having come from 26 years in the DC metro area, it feels like it snows all the time.  Look at my signature for frequencies and amounts.  Once you get the first significant snow of the year in November or December, snow piles stay 100% of the winter, 50% partial coverage is for 20% of the winter and 100% snowcover of varying depths is like 70% of winter.  All the ponds and lakes freeze enough to skate/ice fish from December through late March (or later) and even all the Lake Champlain bays and inlets freeze with the lake itself freezing over around once per decade.  

    The cold is nice.  There are plenty of bluebird days but patterns don't last long up here, even when there is stable blocking as we are far enough west to get the northern stream impulses assaulting the block from the west.  Benchmark storms typically are too far east unless they are severely blocked then they back up into the Maine coast and we get decent wraparound snows.  The best track for east coast storms for us are coastal huggers and inland runners with a neutral or slightly positively tilted trough.  Negative tilts are a killer (we're actually quite far east of DMV even though we are quite far west of the coast) unless its a negative tilt for storms way east of the benchmark.   It's hard to pin down a "normal day" since things change so quickly up here.  There is a pretty even distribution of 17F/5F (hi/lo) days, 30F/15F days.  It's cloudier a bit more up here but when it is sunny, it's usually cold so there is not a lot of drip, drip, dripping.  0.5" - 2" snow happens all the time to pretty things up and reinforce the snow lost to sublimation.  

    One last thing: The area is impervious to cold and snow.  During the cold and even during most snows, the city and towns just move along as if nothing is happening.  Snow removal is a absolute art.  Commerce continues.  Outdoor activities actually tick up from an already high level.  And, people get pretty excited. Everyone up here looks forward to the first snows and, even though they are nonplussed and unimpeded when the snows come, they are all happy when it does snow and pretty disappointed when it melts.

    I'll add a couple of pics just for fun:

    This is my front yard this morning.  It's looked basically like this all winter.  The snow on the walkway along the front of the house is from one of the many 1/2" toppers that move through.  Highs were in the teens and lows were in the low single digits the last few days (it's 5F right now at 10am) but it will jump to 30F today and we'll be in the 30's with lows in the teens and low 20's for the next few days before we get "cold" again.  That means tomorrows system that moves through will be snow showers in the morning till noon, white rain or a rain/snow mix in the afternoon and snow showers in the evening.  That is a typical "warm" storm for us.

    2035388797_frontyard.thumb.jpg.63029ad6c6752687bb150e0c7fa6764b.jpg

    This is my wife when we did a quick hike out to (and past) the offshore lighthouse on Lake Champlain last weekend after I picked her up from work.  We're probably over a half mile out on the lake at this point.  If you zoom in on the lighthouse, you can see others that are doing the same thing.  If you zoom in on the far right, you can see there are many other people out on the ice because, that's just what people do around here.  Along with snowshoeing, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, etc...

    1163739896_frozenlakechamplain.thumb.jpg.716f913f5a944e797aed14d89db49bc8.jpg

    Edited to add:  Here's the normalized for the last 30 years snowfall map for VT.  It's pretty low rez as most microclimates are not represented but gives you a good idea.

    BTV_Snow_Average.thumb.png.90d2e4b66ee82a24d525b38f266fbc1f.png

     

    • Like 9

    2/19-20 Winter Storm Observations

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    3 hours ago, usedtobe said:

    If you want icing, hope the precip stays on the light side, otherwise the freezing on contact will reolease too much latent heat to get you the icing you crave,

    +1.  When it is raining moderately, my temp raises to 32F.  When it is light or stops, it immediately drops to 31F.

    2/19-20 Winter Storm Observations

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    Just now, Weather Will said:

    OPM has a new policy.  Federal employees no longer get snow days or weather and safety leave as it is now called.  We must either take personal leave or telework.  

    Makes complete sense since the Fed has made considerable investment in a mobile-enabled workforce. 

    • Like 1

    February 19-21, 2019 storm threat

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    13 hours ago, PhineasC said:

    I will make a bold prediction that @das will once again report the highest region totals from his backyard. He will only be watching via webcam, of course. 

    Ha. Since it’s a rare mid-week storm, I’ll be there. If the snow comes in heavy enough Tuesday night, my conference/speaking engagement in DC Wednesday might be postponed and I get to stay in Clarksburg all day. I’ll be wearing my PJ’s inside-out, sleeping with a spoon under my pillow and flushing 20+ ice cubes. 

    • Haha 11

    The Mystical Month of February--Long Range Discussion

    in Mid Atlantic

    Posted

    37 minutes ago, Wonderdog said:

    So each of these MJO runs sort of retreats into phase six before circling around and eventually heading into phase 8, where we want it. With the EURO forecast taking the less time, as I read it. If the EURO is right, would that shorten current warmup period?

    No. The progression to the colder MJO phases is past the timeframe of the current warmup forecasts, even for the faster Euro. The loops in phase 6 that all show are correlative of the warmth we are about to see. 

    combined_image.png

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