Very very real. We were at the condo slope side. Over 4 ft fell .This entire Mt lost power and was closed all day but 730 am the next day we knew the lifty and rode up with patrol. Two of us are weather observers. Totally on board 1 hr measure. It was also the day the mega ski shop at the base of the Mt Washington burned down because of down wires. I was incredibly lucky to catch the Feb and March blizzards.