EMontpelierWhiteout

Just flipped to snow just outside of Montpelier.

6 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

I think the cold is coming in now, just dropped to 30.2F at the top of the Quad.

35F at 2600ft and 36F at 1600ft.

850mb and 925mb cold we’re pacing at similar times so once it starts snowing at elevation it should drop to 1500ft pretty fast.

First flakes on Summit Cam at 7:55. 

2 hours ago, J.Spin said:

It’s a busy weekend for me and I wasn’t certain if I was going to get out for turns, especially since I was unsure if surfaces were going to be soft with temperatures in the 30s F, but your comments helped tip the balance. If we’ve had a notable thaw-freeze, then 30s F isn’t really going to cut it to soften things up, but the snow hasn’t really cycled above freezing for a while – it’s already in such good shape that it doesn’t need to soften. With the next storm moving in today, Saturday also seemed like the better day to hit the slopes, so that helped motivate us to get out while the weather was relatively stable.

My wife and I headed up in the midafternoon period, and we were a bit leery about parking because the snow report indicated that Bolton had already filled their upper lots and people were parking down at Timberline. We were late enough that plenty of spots were opening up though as others finished their day and headed home.

The resort is definitely humming as they start to move to every day operation this week. They had all the lifts going except Timberline, where I don’t think they’ve made much snow yet, and the natural depths down at 1,500’ aren’t quite there to support lift-served traffic. Patrol has opened up just about everything else though – low angle, moderate angle, steeps, trees, people are skiing it all. Some steep, and even moderate natural snow terrain requires various levels of negotiation around the usual patches depending on whether you’re using rock skis or not, but you really can ski just about anything.

The snow quality we encountered was fantastic, soft and carvable but not sticky at all, and there’s no ice anywhere to speak of because of the huge resurfacing we got from those recent storms. The resort has all of Wilderness open with zero grooming, so they’re just letting people have at it as nature intended. That means that there’s plenty of uneven terrain and occasional water bars to negotiate, but the snow quality is so good that it’s simple to deal with any obstacles you encounter.

My son was up with a bunch of friends from UVM, so while we were waiting to meet up with them at the bottom of Wilderness, I walked around the Village a bit and grabbed some additional photos. It’s been a few days since the last storm, but there’s tons of snow all over the place up there that’s piled up and sticking to things. The snowpack is certainly in good shape for early December, and we’ll soon see what this next storm does for the slopes.

J. Spin, have really appreciated your detailed assessment of the snowpack per elevation this season.  Very informative for planning getting out to ski.   Interesting and encouraging early season.  Seems we will luck out again especially at summits with this one.  Temps never soared today in East Montpelier, have topped out in low 40s. Changeover appears ahead of schedule as already seeing some frozen returns in high peaks of the ADKs.

Mt. snow reporting 46” storm total this morning!

3” overnight, 13” storm total.  Light snow still falling.

3” overnight, 13” storm total.  Light snow still falling.

1 hour ago, J.Spin said:

I just noticed that they pushed the Winter Storm Warnings farther north again, so that trend continued as you can see from the latest alerts map.  And, you can see the additional increases in the Event Total Snowfall maps pushing more of that 12-18” shading farther into the Northern Greens.  It’s actually been snowing pretty hard here at the house in Waterbury.  The snowflakes have been very large with diameters in the 3 to 4-inch range, and snowfall rates have been somewhere above 6”/hr.  We picked up 2 inches of accumulation in about 10 minutes, and roughly another half foot of snow came down in short order  Based on the local radar it appears it was from a band that came through.

I had great rates like that for a bit earlier this morning, pickin up 4 1/2” in about 2 hours.  Sadly, we seem to be between snow bans right now in E. Montpelier.  Pretty much stopped over last hour.  Hoping for better as afternoon wears on. 

Flake size here just increased significantly.  Dumping.  5” and counting.  Lights flickering.

3:5”.  Light snow.  With just this amount, trees already look seriously loaded.

First few flakes.  36/29.

I am thinking NWS needs to expand Winter Storm Warnings northward based on latest model guidance spinning this thing a little north of Provincetown.  With that evolution, can’t see how better dynamics don’t get thrown back further north and west.  Anyway, not a lot of NNE chatter, but maybe we should get some going on this. 

Just now, STILL N OF PIKE said:

It is  safer to forecast more and see less than the other way around . The public tends to rejoice when less snow falls , and complains when more does and people have unplanned delays . But at a 3 day lead time with huge differences in models it would probably be better to put out 2 maps , “if snowier models prevail , “if weaker milder storm models prevail “

They attempt to do that with their 9/10 and 1/10 maps, I guess.

Just now, EMontpelierWhiteout said:

Wouldn’t they err on the side of more snow so crews could be ready?

5 minutes ago, Henry's Weather said:

"Objective" is different than being responsible for damage-control. The NWS can't forecast a snowy solution for borderline areas because they are responsible for public works' mobilization, not because they are strictly following guidance. Strict adherence to guidance = "objective", only yields a snowier forecast than the one they put out. They are more conservative not for the purpose of fundamental accuracy, but for risk management at this distance 

33 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

You wonder if Stevie Wonder was at the desk 

Maybe they are being objective, rather than looking through thick snow goggles.

Hoping most of SNE folks on this forum can have track and dynamics set up to overcome the marginal airmass and get a positive bookend to a frustrating winter down there.  Even up in N Central VT, NWS still throwing in chance of some rain in broad valleys on front end of storm. Rooting for you all. 

7.5” new on the board at 6:45.  All from ~midnight on.  Looks like I missed seeing intense snowfall rates from a couple hours ago.  Moderate snow.  28/25.  Almost no wind. 

Last day of a trip to Jackson NH yesterday and skied for a couple hours at Wildcat mid morning to early afternoon.  Incredible conditions in heavy snow and wind direction perfect for filling up tracks every run.  Best powder skiing I have had in quite awhile.  Consistency of snow was western-like.  Was skiing with folks who really knew the mountain, so didn’t have to think at all.  Wish I had longer, but a travel day.  My ski companions said skiing stayed epic all day.

6” new as of 6:15. Light snow. No wind.

13 hours ago, snowfan said:

Outside of heli skiing in Alaska, it’s hard to beat little cottonwood canyon when they get locked into a good cycle. It just dumps there. Here’s a pretty cool article and vid on what it’s like to be there when they go into interlodge. https://www.alta.com/stories/interlodge

Love this video.  I was stuck in an inter lodge at the Peruvian in Alta a dozen or so years ago for 12 hours, but the skiing available after release before the Canyon opened was epic.  Only downside was I lost a ski in deep powder and despite powder straps took me 25 minutes to find it.  My girlfriend ar the time, now my wife, helped me look for a bit then ditched me because powder was too good.  I couldn’t blame her.

Arctic front through here with a vengeance at 5:45.  Heard it first with plastering of snow wet snow against window.  Now swirling winds and SN+.  

Discouraging AFD this PM from NWS Burlington.  We need Cindy Lou Who to give the Grinch a talking to.

3 hours ago, Skivt2 said:

Green mountain power says Tuesday night or Wednesday. We have no alternative heat source. We f’d

Unless you have exposed pipe in a crawl space or totally uninsulated area, would not see the temps we are experiencing as huge risk for pipes freezing.

6 minutes ago, moneypitmike said:

 

 

Never say Never.  Think Patriots down 28-3 to Atlanta in SB LI.

21 minutes ago, STILL N OF PIKE said:

Mount snow 20” Stratton 24” Sunapee 14” wildcat 24” Bretton woods skunked a bit 10” Killington 22”

Stowe only reporting 10” at 6:00 this morning.  Better dynamics stayed south.