ORH_wxman

That said, it should ramp up some more in Jackman after 00z.

The later guidance seemed to be hitting about sugarloaf southward the hardest.

Rapidly forming CCB. Just classic.

Yeah anything over 6" is going to be a problem...and many are going to exceed that.

Ripping up near Sunday River

I was telling Phin in a PM that the Presidentials are really one of a kind in the east. They remind me of views out west staring out at more imposing peaks than you typically find in the east. But the Presidentials are pretty amazing to look at. Even though I've been up there a ton of times, I'm always awed when I see them....very picturesque.

Congrats Phin. Excellent spot....within 20 minutes to Wildcat, half an hour to Bretton Woods, and 45 min to either Sunday River, Cannon, or Attitash....or Cranmore. You are now likely the snowiest location for a home on this forum. Prob prob a 175ish average. I think Jspin is in the 160 range. Mitch might be close...maybe 150ish?

Prob gonna be a big elevation component. You'll have 33F paste down at 200-500 feet and maybe 31-32F paste over 1000 feet.

Too bad this wasn’t even two weeks ago. Climo gets really tough even in ORH after about 4/14-15. The only two warning criteria events at ORH post 4/15 are 4/28-29/87 (17.0”) and 5/9-10/77 (12.7”). 4/18/65 got close with 5.5”. But if there’s a pattern that can do it, it’s this one.

That airmass later next week is pretty sick on most guidance. What a sick pattern for mid April. Better snow thicknesses than we saw half of winter. Lol.

I haven’t skied Bromley so it’s nice to hear some feedback on it. I love old school New England trails narrowly cut into the trees. S VT definitely has some nice options. I would not be afraid of it from PhineasC’s perspective of looking for a place there. But yeah, heed the advice of making sure you clear 1500 feet since snowfall on location is a big factor. Luckily there’s a ton of options above that elevation as me and powderfreak discussed further upthread.

I’ve always loved driving through S VT. I don’t do it often at all but each time I’m reminded how nice it is there. If I was looking for a place there, a big pro is I’d really love having the backup option of Magic Mountain during peak days where Stratton or Mount Snow are overcrowded. Or Bromley if you are more family-oriented with less gnarly ambitions.

3200 feet just east of First Connecticut Lake would certainly be about as snowy as it gets.

Yeah that location is truly ratter-proof. Fairly similar to some place like powderfreak described on the southwest slope of Jay. Garbage winters there are probably like 180-200”. Theres gotta be a few spots to the east or northeast of Diamond Pond that do even better. Prob average 250-300”. If you go a little further northeast, you cross into ME where literally nobody lives northwest of Mooselookmeguntic lake over to just south of Coburn Gore. That terrain just sticks up from the flatlands of southern Quebec. They must get destroyed but there’s nobody there to record it. I think dryslot said he had been snow mobiling up near there a few times and it’s ridiuclous depths that even places like Rangeley-Eustis can’t match.

Laurentian Plateau in Quebec is always one of my favorites. They’ll have like a 5 foot snowpack in mid May well after northern Maine has already melted out.

I’ve often searched the topo maps and real estate listings to find the weeniest snow spots in New England. One of my most underrated is the highlands east and northeast of Diamond Pond in Coos county NH. The Diamond Pond coop itself was only around for like 10 years or so but they averaged like 230” of snow. Yet there is more favorable privately owned terrain to their east and northeast. Some of those spots must be between 250-300”. Not much of anything out there either including ski resorts (the failed Balsams not withstanding), lol. It’s gorgeous country though.

Lol nice. Yeah that spot could be one of the single snowiest annual averages in all of New England for private livable property. All others that are higher would prob be land over 2500 or 3000 feet that isn’t buildable or own-able.

Agreed and there’s actually quite a bit of property above 1700 feet in that immediate area on the map above that’s pretty reasonably priced. I’d definitely want to try and grab something in that range. It looks like prices only get really out of control almost right at the mountain. But even 2 or 3 miles away is relatively affordable.

Getting back to the S VT discussion near Stratton...we were discussing towns like Wardsboro and Jamaica....on the topo map below, you can see how different the west sides of these towns are compared to downtown. Even though downtown areas are still plenty good for snow, you'll be so much better out in the circled regions....that circled region if you look at properties there all either say West Wardsboro or Jamaica....even though they aren't that close to the downtown areas (marked by the X)....I also marked Stratton and Mount Snow respectively with the S and MS. But that circled area is almost all completely above 1500 feet...and most of it is in the 1700-2000 foot range, and they are exceptionally good for snowfall. Prob 125-140" annual averages there with excellent retention. You'll get over 150" if you sneak up into the 2100-2300 foot range.

Well obviously 2200-2400 feet is going to blow the doors off anything else...but the options are limited if he’s looking for some specific features like plot size, etc. But Jamaica (esp over 1000 feet west of town) still is a great spot. They average well over 100” with insanely good snow retention.

Phineas might need to start his own small logging company with a plot size like that. Lol. But that might be the snowiest land for sale in all of New England.

I’m guessing if he’s going 10-30 acres, he’s prob west of downtown Jamaica over 1000 feet. But yeah, right down at the River in eastern sections will def be less...but even there the retention is probably pretty sweet. I’ve only driven through there a few times in winter but I don’t ever remember seeing Brattleboro or Bennington-esque conditions. It always looked buried.

Yeah Jamaica is right next to Stratton. Good spot there. Great combo of annual snowfall and retention and proximity to ski areas.

Bennington is a bad snow hole. You’d want to be east of them up in the Woodford/Searsburg region...which is actually very close...just a 15 min jaunt east on rt 9. Very big snowfall gradient there. As for Portland. You’re prob gonna want something a bit south of Sunday River. You can get to towns like Waterford, Stoneham, Lovell, Sweden in less than an hour and from there you are only like 25-30 min to Sunday River or maybe 10 min to Shawnee Peak. You won’t get the 200” snowfall totals there like Montgomery Vt or even Woodford VT, but they do have probably some of the best retention in New England outside of those 2500 foot elevations. A 100” winter there which is pretty normal will feel like 150-160 in some other places that don’t retain quite as well.

Yeah as a general rule: NH ski areas closer to I-93 = more Massholes VT areas closer to I-87 in eastern NY = more New Yorkers. Jay peak is so far north you kind of get a mix plus a lot of Canadians. But it is generally not that crowded outside the absolute worst peak times (MLK weekend, Presidents Day, etc). Obviously a tougher drive from down south but if you fly into BTV it’s not that far.