Mount Joy Snowman

.71” of rain here. Looking forward to a more wintry pattern developing in the near to medium term.

That’s an astounding record. Amazing, really.

This is where I would like to remind everyone that 6 of our last 8 winters have been above average seasonal snowfall. Speaking for Harrisburg of course. In any case, let's keep a little perspective. Our snow will come, it almost always does!

Not only is it top ten of all time but from what I can tell it's number two behind only the 81.2" during the winter of 1960-61.

No doubt. I believe the Keweenaw is considered the snowiest non-mountainous place in the world, but could be wrong about that. They can get lake-effect from damn near any direction. Any of you know of John Dee? Weather guy who lives up there and tracks everything, has cams, writes blogs, etc. It's just an incredible environment up there. Here is his site: https://johndee.com/

I think we may have been discussing the Pine Creek Inn?? I have to get there some time. It's just that we never travel west of Galeton on Route 6. Damn I miss the Galeton 4th of July fireworks too, best I've ever seen. We used to go up every summer for those (hang at the Wonder Bar afterwards ha) but it's been a minute ugh. As for doing anything like that soon, unlikely, as I have a 20-month old with another on the way in April. I'll be sitting on the sidelines for a bit when it comes to most of that stuff but I'll be back in the saddle one day and when I am, look out!

Good stuff Nut. I believe I've mentioned this to you before but I have a buddy with a cabin up that way that must be close to you, also in Gaines. He's a few miles south of Route 6 and doesn't sit quite as high as you (~1,900') but he is on the north side of the mountain and boy oh boy you ain't kidding about it being a different world up there. I specifically remember a time we went up for a late March bachelor party and there was nary a hint of snow on the entire drive but as soon as we rounded the bend on the top of the mountain the north face was completely covered. His yard still had damn near a foot in it. Then it proceeded to snow almost non-stop for three days, just glorious. We had a keg plopped in the snow. What a weekend and what a place ha.

It's funny, I have buddy moving up to Bethel, AK so I've been keeping tabs on things up that way and they actually had a brutally cold November. Anchorage was like 8 degrees below normal and Bethel was a whopping 18 below average! December has been more of a mixed bag with Anchorage running a few degrees below and Bethel like 8 degrees above, and other locations are all over the place. But November was something else up there, just locked in extreme deep cold. Bethel's average temp for the month of November was .7! Think about that, .7 as an avg., in November no less haha! I believe it was their second coldest of all time. Changing topics but thought some might find this interesting in regards to Sierra snowfall: With four days left to go in the month, Tahoe has already broken the record for December snowfall set 50 years ago. On Monday, December snow totals at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab reached 193.7 inches, blowing a 1970 record of 179 inches out of the water. The lab, located at Donner Pass, has received roughly 39 inches of snow in the past 24 hours and could break the 200-inch mark today.

I actually got 8.2" that year but yeah, putrid. Interestingly enough, Harrisburg's first year of record keeping in 1888-1889 may have had a shot at being under 10" as well, but they didn't start tracking until January of 1889 so we don't know what fell in Nov or Dec of 1888. However, only 8.0" was recorded in Jan thru March of 1889, so if Nov/Dec would have come in at under 2" we'd be in business. Doubtful but who knows. The following season of 1889-1890 was also lackluster, with only 10.3". I'll leave it up to you to decide if the snow measurement techniques were up to snuff back then ha.

I count four occasions where Harrisburg received a total seasonal snowfall of under 10 inches -- 1937-38, 1949-50, 1994-95, and 2019-20. The one two years ago was the worst in history, as we all know too well, with just 5.1".

You really can't ha.

A low of 39 last night with .02" of liquid H2O for me. Looks like parts of the Route 6 corridor got 2-3" of snow. Forecast for the foreseeable future: Clouds.

Correct. Memorial Day Weekend was extremely cold and dreary. Set two record low highs. On May 29th we topped out at 52, smashing the previous record of 57 from 1990. The next day we reached 56, breaking the record of 58 from 1953.

There are four calendar days in Harrisburg's history that have failed to reach 60: 12/27 (59 in 2016), 1/10 (58 in 2016), 2/2 (59 in 1988), and 2/7 (57 in 2009)

The records for New Year's Day at MDT are the ones to watch -- max of 64 in 2005 and highest minimum of 44 in 1966 -- both within reach.

Haha anytime mate! We are cut from the same cloth.

High and low for the Lower 48 yesterday of 92 at Rio Grande Village, TX and -38 at Chinook, MT, for an impressive national diurnal range of 130 degrees. We live in an amazing country.

I'm still under fog here but visibilities finally climbing towards 1/2 mile. Not a hint of sun thus far. Hmmmmmm was there an overnight shower or something that perhaps I was unaware of and could be skewing my SLR ratio? Remember I use a manual cylinder gauge, not an automated one, so I can't always verify timing of precip without looking at other sources.

I'll do you one better, I recorded .3" snow off of .19" liquid for a SLR of just 1.58 haha. This is almost assuredly the lowest ratio I have ever recorded for what I believe to be an all-snow event. The reason for me is pretty straight forward though, simply that my temp didn't drop below 35 for the duration of the event so the snow had a hard time accumulating. Didn't get the rates needed to overcome a marginal boundary layer. Still pretty amazing to see a ratio that low though. I guess it makes sense in that the people just to my east saw a trace to nothing and the people just to my west got over an inch, so this was the transition zone to paltry totals. Also, just to back up your measurement, someone on Cocorahs who resides near Carlisle reported 1.8" of snow off of .32" liquid, so in the same ballpark as you. Weird little event we had on our hands. This fog just won't quit down here in the valleys today. At peak I was under 1/8 mile visibility.

32/31 here with dense fog. Visibilities well under 1/4 mile at my locale. CTP's SWS talks about this.... ...AREAS OF FREEZING FOG THROUGH MID MORNING... Areas of fog have developed across portions of central Pennsylvania this morning, most notably across the Susquehanna Valley. Temperatures largely in the low to mid 30s have led to some instances of freezing fog. Motorists should allow extra time to reach their destination this morning.

How 'bout it!? Yeah I should have waited, looks like another 1+ foot for them on the way. Same, didn't notice any mixing by the time things dried up.

Meanwhile, out at Mammoth Mountain...... 11:00 AM Update: Due to extreme snowfall rates, no visibility, high winds and recent temporary power outages we are suspending operations for the day out of Main Lodge. It's been dumping all morning! This latest round of storms has dropped 3+ feet and counting, bringing our December snowfall to over 12 feet at Main Lodge! Avalanche mitigation work is taking place across the mountain this morning as our team works to keep up with heavy snowfall. Currently the lower-mountain lifts out of Eagle and Canyon Lodge are open. We are working to expand terrain as conditions allow. With a layer of blower snow on top, it's going to be a good time in the white room! Check the lift status page for real time operating information. Weather holds and closures are in place for the safety of our guests and employees – please adhere to ALL closures. Avalanche Danger is very high after all this new snow. The snow is very DEEP and light out there now. Snow Immersion Suffocation (SIS) danger is a reality during heavy snowfall periods like this. Ski and ride with a buddy and keep your buddy in sight at all times. Let it snow!

Things about wrapped up here and it looks like I'll finish with .3". Snow had a hard time piling up with my temp never dropping much below 35. Elevation is so key is these marginal type events, and well, I just ain't got it. Still nice to see the white. Onward.

Yep. Visibility dropping to ~1/4 mile or so.

Solid flakes falling here in western Lancaster County.