powderfreak

Ha, thanks, it's just a passion for mountain weather and being in the right spot at the right time over a decade ago. People did not believe ski area snow reports, and they still don't most of the time. Since the start of the ski industry in the northeast back in the 1950s, there was optimistic embellishment to sell a product that was very weather dependent. Even if it snowed, or the weather sucked, there's an economic reason to sugarcoat it. And resorts/ski areas did, Stowe included, if not leading the charge back in the day. The 1980s to the 2000s seemed to be prime time for snow reporting in the northeast to lose trust among skiers/riders. The advent of the internet. No longer was it just print, TV, or radio snowfall. In the 2000s, Snow Reporting had a wake up call once folks started getting on social media and information traveled rapidly among users. To me, I had always liked western ski area snow reports. They were always matter of fact, snowfall from a designated plot, and were consistent due to avalanche dangers; there's no time to mess around out west with snow and weather observations. But at the same time, its part of the culture on eastern snow reports to be a bit less rigid, so to speak. Alta's Collins Plot is my favorite out west by far. Automated snowfall readings by sensors every hour that are very accurate, I'd do anything for that technology. It is where Alta records their snowfall every season. It is at 9,500ft, not 11K or 8.5K. Just a representative mid-mountain snowfall. They definitely get more snow up high, but their numbers provide skiers with a consistent value they can develop a familiarity with. You know what the number means for the mountain. These days with the cheap season pass market and the advent of the Epic, Ikon, etc, even Indy passes, the reason for ski areas to embellish has declined. People are going to come/visit, they already paid for it. The money is gathered up front before the season, you do not need to convince people to come on any given day. You can let them know what they need to know, when deciding if to come or not. Rain, snow, wind, freezing rain, powder or frozen granular. You just report it as fact these days. It's a great trend for eastern skiers and riders. Even high level marketers in the big ski conglomerates know that being honest and transparent is a positive marketing strategy these days (and the past decade really). Those who write the content are allowed to tell the story as truthfully as they can, which wasn't always the case at many ski areas in the past. I loved the High Road getting some play in the local newspaper, by the long-time Scribe. Kim Brown's column has been around for a very long time. He started writing as a ski bum way back over a couple decades ago… writing about the ski area news in the local paper and being a skeptic to the old school snow reports. He's got his weekly ski column documenting the last week of skiing at Stowe going on 20+ years? This was in his season recap this week.

That’s some high stakes weather. Don’t want a TOR but the sick part of me is jealous for the survival adrenaline rush that must occur when stuff like that happens in your local weather.

Going to be another radiational night early on. Down to 38F locally by the river and golf course at 1 NW of Stowe Village. MVL down into the 30s too NW on RT 100. Always interesting to see the local variations on these nights as the low spots drop quickly, even relative to those just 100-200 feet higher.

NWS is bad in SNE? I’m honestly confused. Where would be best in CT?

Genuinely curious, what’s the hate for the NWS? They are the best out there IMO.

That’s massive. I’m all set with that.

What a day. Sunshine and 57F in the valley, 42F up top

MVL with 21F, nearest PWS with 20F. Two very cold nights.

Honestly think spring leaf out gets many going more than fall foliage. We as a collective forum used to rush fall foliage by being optimistic about the progress, but feels like spring leaf out has taken over, ha. By September the discussion will turn to how late the foliage is or how it'll be the latest foliage season on record, bank on that .

Golf and skiing… seems similar to many season passes for skiing that aren’t on the cheap mega passes.

Yeah nothing happening up here except maybe some forest floor shrubs trying to break out. These cold nights don’t help accelerate anything, ha.

Sun just feels so good this time of year. Still so high and bright at 6pm right now.

Looks like MVL here will do 47F off a low of 19F. It’s actually impressive under full mid-August sun to only get to 47F, IMO. But it still felt very comfortable in a hoodie and Carhartts just now walking the dog a few miles… even though wet bulb temps are like near freezing. Was funny looking at the snowmaking system today in this dry air, it was like 43F ambient with a wet bulb of 29F in the base area… thinking could make snow even at that temp above 40.

I will say there’s still something about the sun this time of year. The weather feels fall-like but the sun is high and still has that spring vibe to me. Not sure how to explain it. Sky is just deep blue.

Yeah it’s true. It seems like folks can’t do both though for whatever reason. Talk cold and warm. Thats what I mean by team sport. Yesterday and last night was a solid/healthy cold shot for late April. We can say that. But also I agree that I’ve felt like bringing up months of +4 to +8 and other folks shrug it off like the pools aren’t open so it wasn’t warm.

Why can’t we just call a spade a spade on here in the warm season? lol. Sometimes it’s cold, sometimes it’s hot. 8 months of this forum is like a team sport that you need to pick sides, and the other 4 months are bitching about winter .

Nah that was MVL on the rapid fire wake up post. Looks like the PWS a half mile away was 21F.

No I think that’s a freeze bud. What it does to the plants can be debatable but that is a freeze.

19F.

Watching playoff hockey on a CAA evening feels fitting. It doesn't mean anything in the larger context of things, but it was more of a cold season vibe than warm season. With playoff hockey.

Definitely a deep cold looking at the mountain temps. What's interesting is the exposed upper mountain temperatures continue to cool off faster (relatively, the delta is larger up high) than the lower elevations on the east side. Two sites, over a mile apart at 3,600ft are showing 16F. While two sites, at mid-slope are 7F warmer at 1K lower elevation. That's a steep lapse rate that is common with continued CAA from the NW up there. Low levels are harder to drop, but up high in the free air is cooling much faster. Cold air aloft. Looking at the mountain profile... 3,600ft... 16F 2,600ft... 23F 1,500ft... 27F 750ft... 30F

30F at MVL and 29.7F at nearest PWS. It is cold outside. There's still some NW wind too. Not fake.

Cold moving south. We are going to be at freezing in a hurry. Walked the dog with hat and gloves, with flurries blowing by sideways, after doing it in shorts and a T-shirt yesterday. Gotta love the 30+ degree temp changes in New England.

Jealous. This is miserable. Like 30+ degrees colder than yesterday afternoon. Windows and doors open yesterday, wet snow falling outside today.

Even BTV and MVL now reporting -SN.