ORH_wxman

December 2015 was warmest on record and nearly snowless. Jan/Feb 2016 had a few fleeting moments (if you were far enough south in CT you got a decent piece of the Jan ‘16 mid-Atlantic KU)

You'll have to post pics of your sheltered side of the house later in winter. I bet in late winter/earl spring (like March/April) you have situations where there's like 3-4 feet on one side of the house and that open field with southern exposure is already getting some holes in it.

Funny thing is I learned to ski in the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 winters. Those were horrendous winters but I didn't know any better other than "it normally is a bit snowier than this" adults would tell me. But your post reminds me of my first trip to Killington in that 1990-1991 winter. The 1st two days were actually pretty wintry and there had been recent snow. But then the 3rd day was like this. Pouring rain and temps in the 40s. Funny this is it happened again the next time we went a year later. I thought it was normal to get pouring rain and 40s with bare spots on the steepest trails roped off. Only after skiing all the years after that did I realize in retrospect how pathetic it was.

Killington always had the deal (I think it's still there amazingly) where each kid 12 and under skis for free with the purchase of a 5 day adult lift ticket. That's prob one reason we went there a lot. Several resorts still have young kids ski for free any time (usually 6 and under or 5 and under) or reduced prices for older kids. I got some sticker shock on the day passes too a few years ago when I started skiing more again...but I actually did the math in my head and realized that it was pretty much in line with inflation since the 1990s.

Yeah, to really make it affordable for a lower income person...you typically have to be in these bins: 1. Single or at least no family to support...pretty hard for a middle-low or lower income person to pony up the up-front cash for a season pass otherwise. 2. Live close enough to a ski hill to have a season pass. 3. Relatively flexible job where you can get out and ski some mornings or afternoons during the weekdays. A lot of people in their 20s up there fit all these requirements so they can ski for pretty cheap.

As an avid golfer and skiier myself, I would say both are pretty expensive sports. You can definitely cut corners and save money if you put in the effort to find deals and not get too picky on the equipment....but at the end of the day, you aren't going to be finding a lot of lower income people willing to pay even $25-30 for a lift ticket or greens fees. It is especially hard for these groups to find the cheaper fees on non-weekend/holidays when they aren't working.

I’d have to think 2010-2011 there definitely exceeded 80”. 1995-1996 did too...and prob approached (if not exceeded) 100” that year. ‘02-03 would have probably beaten ‘17-18 as well if we’re just discussing in the past 30 years or so.

The upslope potential behind the 2nd system looks pretty decent. You’ll prob get a little behind the first system but the second one might be more favorable for several inches. Still a ways out but it takes a better looking track up into southern Quebec for it.

You’ll prob get decent upslope behind the 2nd storm anyway. Gonna need to get lucky for the synoptic stuff to be snow or mostly snow. It’s a hideous setup. Pattern gets a lot better once it passes.

For selfish reasons, I'm always happy that most people do not follow the Ginxy/ORH_wxman school of thought when it comes to skiing.....ski hard in March. Usually the best conditions of the season are in March at most places. The bonus is that you also are less likely to be in 0F temps with the sun struggling to stay above the horizon at 3pm like you get in late December and January.

Yeah openiong day was fine I'm sure because of the timing of the upslope...I'm talking about in general though early on...lots of thaw and refreeze the next 10 days = icy death ribbons

Gotta get those runs in on the icy death ribbons. This is why I rarely ski in early season. Even when there is a big snowstorm in early season, the pent up demand usually makes it hard to avoid big crowds unless I play hooky and go during a weekday. But I'm guessing things will be rocking pretty good by Xmas week up in the ski areas if the ensembles are correct. Looks like a pretty good 2-3 week period coming up post-12/5.

Yep originally nicknamed the “one eyed pig” and then it just got shortened to “pig”.

It looks like an olive purée. I can’t stand olives but I’ve seen people put that on bread or crackers before.

I think that’s low-balling it. Maybe something like Dec 1970, Jan 2011, Feb 2015, and Mar 1993

Yeah he’s on the wrong side of Pinkham notch for upslope. The synoptic stuff will come though. Some years there’s a couple good ones in November but other years it seems like you’re waiting and then all of the sudden you get destroyed by several in a row in December.

I love the sea scallops...the bay scallops are too small for me. I’ll maybe eat them if they are an appetizer at a party or something.

It definitely “feels” like this season is starting sluggish based on the last two Novembers (October warning criteria snowfall down here not withstanding)....but then I think back to like the 2007-2010 years which were excellent for snowfall but several of those Novembers weren’t exactly rocking, even in NNE. We weren’t starting permanent snowpack in NNE in early to mid November like the past two Novembers.

I used to go to Yankee lobster all the time by Harpoon Brewery back before it became a circus on the seaport and I loved their scallop and clam plate. Place is great because the boats come right to their dock in the back. Fresh stuff.

Yeah it was pretty terrible....there were a few fleeting moments of snow...esp for SNE (NNE was screwed even worse) in February. But yeah, more or less garbage pattern all winter. My guess is you'll start "permanent" pack season there behind the rainstorm that models have for Dec 1. Decent chance you get upslope behind it with that ULL takings its sweet time to move out, and then hopefully we start adding some synoptic stuff after that.

There's plenty of solid seafood where we vacation like 30 minutes east of Phin in Maine. That whole area doesn't shy away from it just because they are an hour from the coastline. Good prices up in that area too.

I haven't tried it myself, but I've heard from others that the flame-broiled flavor helps versus some other meat-substitute burgers. Yeah you slather enough condiments on anything, you can probably mask some of the weird flavor. Anyways, beef burgers for me int he foreseeable future.

I've had tofu twice in my life. It was horrendous each time....including the 2nd time when a vegetarian friend insisted "this one is really good". The concept of a "Tofurkey" sounds nightmarish. Maybe there's some good tofu out there but I'm not actively going to search for it.

We were going to have my sister and mother over if it was warm enough to eat on the deck, but since the weather looks like dogshit, it will just be our immediate family.

This pattern is absolute garbage. Once it becomes a little less hostile (signs of this happening as we go into early December) I’d expect some real threats to start happening for NNE.