jculligan

Looks like another great setup for squalls later today. I managed 2.5" from the last WINDEX event, so hoping I'll get lucky again this time around. The timeframe in the White Mountains looks to be from 3pm-7pm (northwest to southeast). If the meso models are correct, the squalls should sweep through central and southern parts of the state as well. Last year at this time I was at 67.6" compared to this year's 67.4" total. Incredible that we are pretty much lock step with last season. Hopefully more snow this March compared to the 1.1" total I mustered last year.

Just about done here I think. We'll end up a little shy of 9" by the time all is said and done. So many of our storms this season have featured dense low ratio snow, it was nice to have a low density event for a change. Easiest shoveling of the winter. Depth is back up to 17 inches.

8.5" in Jackson NH with steady light snow continuing. Most of our storms this winter have featured very dense snow, but this was by far the easiest to shovel. Very high ratios up here.

3" in the last two hours in Jackson, NH. 8" storm total so far. 15F with steady snow continuing.

Another 1.5" in the last hour. 3" in the last two hours. 8" on the day.

1.5" in the last hour. Total accumulation of 6.5" on the day.

Went down the road for a few laps at Black Mountain and it snowed another 2" while I was gone. We're up to 5" total with excellent flake size right now. This might actually be the best combination of snowfall intensity and flake size of the entire winter so far. Up to 16F.

3" down so far. Looks like we're entering a bit of a lull now, so hopefully the convective snowfall referenced by BTV pans out this afternoon. Looking at the meso models, I think that would potentially work its way into my area after 1pm. I'm feeling an underachiever but we'll see...QPF doesn't totally shut off until this evening so we've got a ways to go.

8F and 2.4" down so far.

9 degrees and 1.5" down so far. Finally broke 60" on the season and we should come within striking distance of last year's seasonal total today. My course with the Mount Washington Backcountry Ski Festival was called off due to the low tide conditions right now, so I'll be lapping groomers instead. Hard to call that a bad day.

I'm registered for two days of touring with the Mount Washington Backcountry Ski Festival tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow I'm registered for the "White Mountain Exploration" course and Sunday I'm registered for a "Ski Mountaineering" course. Based on this morning's avalanche advisory, conditions sound absolutely atrocious with a multitude of hazards. Many of the ravines in New Hampshire are watershed drainages, and with the volume of meltwater and rainwater that was funneling underneath the snowpack this week...a lot of very significant undermining has occurred. Apparently a large chunk of Hillman's Highway has washed away, according to this morning's avalanche report. Undermined snow, ice dams, moats and glide cracks - these are hazards that don't typically emerge until late spring. For backcountry enthusiasts in the White Mountains, this is a bottom tier winter. I have a call with my guide this evening, and I have a feeling our list of potential objectives will be quite short...

My blocked anemometer just hit 40 mph which is the peak gust of the year so far. There's a private wx station on Thorn Hill Road which is only 100' higher than my location, and that site has apparently clocked a 63 mph gust so far this evening. Hoping to keep onto the power here at this point.

Very impressive temperature drop. From 55F at 2:30pm to 23F now. The wind is roaring. Welcome back winter.

Also, my records indicate that my snow depth peaked on this date last year when we had 23" OTG. So we're much worse off than we were last year at this time, which is pretty discouraging to think about. Hoping for a miracle March.

The valley is almost completely melted out, but I think we're going to make it through with a solid pack still in place here. Roughly 8-10" OTG right now. That's way down from our seasonal peak of 33" back on 2/8, but hey...no grass showing here which is a win in this pattern. Made it up to 59F today but back down to 55F with a noticeable uptick in the wind last hour. Ready for winter to come roaring back in.

2.4" total in Jackson NH today

Ended up with 2.4" between the synoptic snow and the squalls that followed. Very pleased with this outcome! I hiked to Ripley Falls in Crawford Notch early this afternoon, and estimated at least 3.5" to 4" of snow there...and that was even prior to the squalls blasting through. Wintry appeal has been restored to the New Hampshire mountains.

I think it's a combination of factors. It's somewhat against climatological norms to have a storm track that particular way in the month of February, but even more unusual to have two within a single week. Add a below average snowpack into the mix, and we don't have the normal insurance policy to protect us from snowpack decimation that we normally would. All that being said, I have a suspicion that next week's event will not feature 24+ hours of 40F+ temps in the White Mountains. There are some better indications for low level CAD that were missing in this most recent event. I'm hoping we rot at 32/33F for hours followed by the more typical spike that often accompanies the frontal passage, rather than having an all out torch that lasts for more than a day.

I've been a frequent visitor to the White Mountains since I first arrived as an undergrad at Plymouth State University in the autumn of 2001. I'm sure some folks in here have a better memory than mine, but I'm not sure I've ever witnessed the seasonal snowpack being wiped out in the month of February. There have been years where it took a long time to initially establish the seasonal snowpack...but usually once it's there, it stays through at least the end of March. Last year was perhaps the earliest melt-out I've seen, with the possible exception of 2016. If you lose all of your natural snow next week, that will truly be noteworthy. I don't have official stats to back this up, but...that would be quite a significant deviation from the climatological norm in this area, if not close to unprecedented.

In other news, looks like a great setup for squalls tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Makes me afraid to see what Black Mountain looks like today. It took until last week, but they finally had almost 100% of their terrain open...but they have wide open south-facing slopes which I'm assuming took a huge hit with this event. As they fight the increasing sun angle with each passing day, I don't know that they'll be able to bounce back to the trail count prior to this event.

I'll be returning to Jackson early this evening. There was two feet OTG when I left Wednesday evening. I don't think CAD was much of a factor in this event, so I'm assuming our pack took a healthy hit. I'm hoping there's a foot left at my place as well. Still planning to head to Stowe on Monday, so I'm hoping for some Green Mountain magic out of tomorrow's clipper. Even if it's just a couple inches, it has to do something to freshen the snow surface...

I'm heading down to Massachusetts this evening until Friday afternoon, then traveling back north to Jackson Friday evening. I have about two feet OTG in my yard right now, so it'll be interesting to see how much survives the inevitable torch. I'm hoping CAD saves the Mount Washington Valley for most of the day tomorrow, but I'm sure there will be at least a 12-hour period of rapid melt tomorrow night...especially at my 1500' elevation. Hopefully we only lose 6-8" but I get nervous when I see dewpoints nearing 50F in the forecast. We'll see. I hope the Greens really cash in with the post-frontal upslope on Friday and then the follow-up clipper system on Saturday. Planning to take the girlfriend and her 10-year-old son over to Stowe on Monday in search of better snow.

Looks like some opportunities for the Vermont folks to pick up some snow on the back side of Friday's system, then again with a little clipper Saturday afternoon/evening. Maybe a couple/few inches in the northern Greens from both systems? Little hope here in the eastern Whites and I envision ski conditions won't really improve here until warmer temps arrive early next week. Looking farther down the road, I'm cautiously optimistic about the Thursday/Friday period late next week. Looks like an opportunity for an SWFE type system on both the Euro and the gfs. The gfs is particularly robust with it. Things were really good here about a week ago, so hopefully this current stretch will be just a temporary setback and late Feb/March will deliver the goods once again.

Lost a good 6" of snow between Friday and Saturday, but man were conditions great yesterday. I skied the Doublehead ski trail twice in the afternoon and it was super soft and springy with bumps that had a perfect flow to them. Hands down the best it has skied all year. Today will be an entirely different story. The gfs is trying to spit out some QPF here with the inverted trough tonight, so maybe we can squeeze out a coating to an inch. Otherwise we aren't looking at much now until the cutter at the end of the week, which looks to be another huge hit to the snowpack. Those cutters with 50-degree overnight temps are notorious snowpack annihilators, so I really do hope something changes. I'd estimate about two feet OTG right now.