jculligan

We've had two separate rounds of brief squalls here; the first a little after 5pm, and the second rolled through between 9:30-10:00pm. The cumulative total has been 0.4" so definitely nothing to write home about at this point. As expected, the bigger story has been the temperature drop so far; from around 40F at 4pm to 15F now. Back to deep winter for the time being.

High wind warning issued for my area. Wind gusts to 65 mph tomorrow. I'm not sure I have ever experienced such severity of wind combined with the projected low temperatures. Pretty extreme event shaping up. One of the things I have noticed in my location, however, is that sometimes we effectively get "blocked" from northwesterly winds...presumably due to a mesoscale effect produced by the Presidential barrier which is immediately upstream. I'm sure this localized "bubble" can be more/less pronounced due to the exact direction/speed of the wind, as well as the presence (or lack thereof) of temperature inversions...but since I've moved up here, I've noticed the local wind minimum regularly presents itself on guidance, often times near the Fryeburg area in particular. So...we will see how this manifests itself with tonight/tomorrow's event.

Ended up being a pretty balmy day here with a high of 40F. Although I generally despise deep arctic air, this seems like it's going to be a fun frontal passage, and I'm looking forward to seeing how quickly the temperatures take a nosedive this evening. We should end up with something like a 40-degree drop in about 12 hours, which is rather impressive. In other news, I'm heading up to Baxter State Park in Maine at the end of this week for what was supposed to be a long weekend of cabin-based ski touring. The big objective was a descent off the summit of Katahdin via the Abol Slide, but projected temperatures may keep us below treeline unless things trend differently as we get closer. There are a couple of smaller objectives that appear to be within striking distance of our cabin, but with limited knowledge of the snowpack history and no formal avalanche forecasting in the park...we'll be keeping things as conservative as possible for that area. Either way, it'll be nice to get out into true wilderness for a few days...and leave the familiarity of the White Mountains behind for a bit.

Just drove up from the village and noticed all the trees about 200-300' above my cabin are glazed. Looks like a pretty good freezing rain event higher up on Doublehead this morning. The top of Black Mountain appears to be glazed as well. Hopefully those elevations get a spike in temp this afternoon before the wind arrives. 36F with a steady rain falling here at 1500 feet. 0.17" in the bucket so far today. Hopefully we can catch a squall or two this evening to freshen things up again.

Little bit of a bust here this morning. I expected 2-3" of wet snow overnight, but we ended up getting a little bit of sleet and a light glazing of freezing rain instead. Currently 33F and misting.

Balmy start to the day. After we spiked to 40F last evening, it eventually dropped back down to 30F overnight but it's already back up to 36F as of 7am. The snow developed a crust layer with the overnight re-freeze, but should go through a true "corn cycle" (in skier terms) once the sun hits it for a couple hours this morning. As I mentioned last night, I think the overnight re-freeze was critical for good spring ski conditions today. I'm planning to lap the Cog to get some alpine views in low risk terrain today. Tonight's event looks good for a quick 2-3" in my area, but I think areas below 1500' will struggle with the warm boundary layer. The models have a pocket of >0C 850 temps north of the Whites, so I have a feeling Phin's poor luck with downsloping recently will continue. Tomorrow evening's arctic front looks fun. There's a good signal for squalls, though the RGEM is focusing more on southern NH. We've had a dearth of WINDEX events this winter, but this could be a good one. The combination of wind and cold to follow looks to be among the worst we've seen all season, but thankfully this is a quick in-and-out.

39 now. When we mix out, it can happen fast. We had a 9-degree spike in about 30 minutes ha.

Wind kicked up and we've spiked to 35. Couldn't hang on to our cold pocket forever.

After creeping up to 32F we have cleared out and slipped back down to 30F. I expected to edge above freezing this evening with a period of dripping, but perhaps not. *Edit: I see the models have a spike around 9-10pm after FROPA, so maybe it's still coming. I actually want a melt/refreeze tonight, otherwise the snow is going to be super sticky tomorrow. A little crust in the morning will mean we could actually have a corn cycle tomorrow, which will make for good skiing by late morning/midday.

Really wild observations today! Seems that I fared quite well, all things considered. Ended up with 2.7" of snow and sleet. This stuff has some serious density, as has been the case with almost every event this winter. But we never had any rain or freezing rain here. Currently up to 32F which is the warmest it has been all day. A very dense fog has rolled in during the last 10-15 minutes...almost instantaneously as the temperature hit freezing. I suspect we may drip for a few hours this evening before temps slip back down overnight. Doublehead skied amazingly well today.

Measured 1.5" here at 1pm and it continues to snow steadily. We've had some pretty heavy bursts at times, but short-lived. Temp has crept up to 29F.

I didn't realize you had gone so long without a 2" snowfall! I guess this month has been better for the synoptic areas versus the upslope areas (though not by much). I measured 2.3" on February 16th and 3.4" this past Monday into Tuesday.

Skied a lap on the Sherburne Trail out of Pinkham Notch this morning. I would estimate there was 1-2" of new snow in the Pinkham parking lot, and closer to 3" up at Hermit Lake (3800'). I noted a similar consistency here as powderfreak noted in Vermont - it skied way more dense than a usual 1-3" snowfall. There's a pretty scratchy surface underneath thanks to the thaw/freeze cycle these last two days. Looking forward to a complete re-set on Saturday, but hoping we can avoid a change to sleet/fzra in the late stages of the event.

Just about 3" on the nose here. Currently 24F with calm wind and mood flakes still flying. I'll have to get out in the yard and take some actual depth measurements tomorrow, but I'm estimating our snowpack is around 22-23" on the level now. While that may be below average for late February in these parts, it's a beefy pack with a lot of water locked in it...so this is going to have some staying power. Almost every event since 12/17 has been high density this winter.

That's what we are at as well. 1.7" on the day and 49.3" on the season over here. Not sure where I sit in terms of snowpack since there has likely been some settling since Tuesday, but I would imagine we are hovering around 20" OTG. Deep winter.

Picked up 1" in the last hour. 1.4" total so far. Still snowing at a decent clip, though the flakes have gotten smaller. Holding at 25F.

They definitely have a very "surfy" feel to them! They are a blast in powder - no chance of going over the handlebars in those things!! This is my 9th season with them since they get such limited use, but I have brought them onto Crescent Ridge both times I have gone so far. I do more touring than I do riding the chairlift, so the Salomon MTN 95 Explore is what I ride on probably 90% of days. It's 95 underfoot with good tip rocker and a stiff tail. Kind of a jack-of-all-trades for ski mountaineering. It skis surprisingly well in powder due to the tip rocker, but it's nice and stiff for the more technical terrain we have in the ravines around here. Back to the weather...I measured a half inch at 11am so hopefully the observations of ~2" totals upstream eventually translate up here. Snowing nicely now, and down a degree to 25F.

I've got four skis in rotation right now. If I'm skiing fast groomers with no uphill involved, I have a pair of race skis that are 72 underfoot. My two touring skis are 95 and 97 underfoot, which seems to be perfect in most conditions here in the East...then I have a fat pair of 115s that I might only use once or twice a season. Definitely good to have a quiver!!

Getting excellent snow growth here in Jackson - big fluffy flakes! Honestly some of the best snow growth I've seen in any event so far this season. Up to 26F with a nice little refresher underway!

Bailed on work yesterday and skied the Crescent Ridge Glades in Randolph. I was quite surprised at the density of the snow, even up there...and there was even a slight crust from freezing drizzle. Not exactly the powder turns I had envisioned, but man...what a bomber base now!! Skied the Sherbie on Mount Washington this morning, and there wasn't a rock to be found in spite of a lot of skier traffic this week. The woods/backcountry are fully open. Absolutely tragic news out of Ammonoosuc Ravine. I tried venturing into Ammo last March before the shutdown, but was turned around by thin snow conditions. Having been there, I can envision how the snow would pile up so deeply in the event of a large slide - it truly is a classic terrain trap. I think full burial scenarios are rather uncommon in the White Mountains compared to the western mountain ranges, but this makes two fatalities in three years now so it can definitely happen...especially as folks are pushing deeper and deeper into the more remote nooks and crannies of the range. This is definitely a moment for many of us to pause and think about the decisions we are making out there. In other news...looks like a little bit of a refresher incoming for tomorrow. Hoping to pick up a couple to maybe 3" with the little system moving in.

Those remaining bands in Maine fell apart as they approached, so I think 11" may end up being close to our final tally here. Still a solid event and I'm happy to have a real snowpack now!

Snow abruptly ended around 2pm and we've been in a lull for the last hour or so. So hard to tell with drifting, but I'm logging my storm total as 11" so far. Looks like a few more bands rotating westward out of Maine, so I'm anticipating a little more before this is a done deal.

Another inch down. 10" total and 22" OTG. Nuking.

Getting absolutely crushed here. I measured 9" at 12:30 and it looks like we've picked up at least another inch since. The radar looks extremely promising. Finally looks like a 12"+ event is likely here. Over 20" OTG now.

Snowfall rate has definitely picked up recently, and the flake size has increased. I just measured 1.5" of new snow following my first measurement at 7am, so I'm up to a storm total of 7.4" at this point. Looks like we're going to pound for a few hours now though, so hopefully we can get into double digits before all is said and done. 29F and quite windy.