powderfreak

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.

Snowing at 1500ft now. All flakes. Flowers have to be stoked.

Hey, I’ll agree. What makes Killington special is that the others close down. That’s what drives the economic demand. If all the ski areas stayed open, it would dilute the market and diminish the vibe at Killington this time of year. Part of that excitement and feeling is because of the diminished supply, which focuses the stoke into one area. Economic principles rule all. Stowe could operate for sure, but I’ve seen too many empty chairs to believe it is worth it. When everyone is open this time of year, the market is diluted. We all enjoy skinning and earning our turns too, at least the folks that like this transition season. Most of the community is onto Mtn Biking (MTB), maybe a skin up here or there, but closing at this juncture just doesn’t illicit any outrage. It’s time here, despite the snowpack.

66F from 23F at the nearest PWS here on the other side of the river. MVL ASOS was 68F from 24F, for a 44 degree diurnal swing out in the air field. Top 10 day.

One other thing is that skiers and riders know their ski area over time and know what the number means. This discussion came up on the lift this winter with someone who skis at one spot midweek and another on the weekends. They told me we must be using a different ruler than a nearby hill because the same number on one report led to different skiing than that same number on another report. But I countered that it’s just a different method and that she could already identify what each number means just by the conversation. In her head, she already knew what the snowfall on each report meant, correlated to and how it would ski. We discussed instead of comparing the numbers, just recognize what it means. And that’s really what a Snow Report is for. Be consistent however you want to do it, so people know what it “means.”

Yeah I hope that came across as just apples to oranges, not good vs bad. It’s just important to recognize when comparing both snowstorms and seasonal snowfall. Is it a consistent spot in sort of the new version of snow reporting over the past decade or so… or is it the old school estimated range style. Both can be or feel correct for any given storm but over time adding up the deepest snow on property will lead to a different total than the same patch of woods over a season. That old school style is a part of northeastern ski culture too. Out west has always been a one number one plot game for avalanche purposes, where East was always a “you can find between 8-12 inches out there” type of vibe. I always found it more stressful to have to come up with estimates, I enjoy just showing people the readings and saying it is what it is, ha.

I did ask a former marketer at Jay and he didn’t know of any spots, confirmed the sort of old school crowd sourced range method between grooming, patrol, skiing around. I did that when I started here but it’s stressful, ha. Easier to have something tell you what it is instead of hemming and hawing “how much do you think this seems like?” TK thinks we are low even when I show him the actual measurement lol. Was hanging with him last weekend, love skiing with that dude, the enthusiasm is hard to beat. Which also plays into snowfall… skiers love snow, get excited, want to be stoked and I won’t lie, I bet 90% of skiers on a powder day would over-estimate snowfall. “Dude, that was so deep, had to be a foot and a half.” Plot shows 13”. Ha. Just like we’ve seen with weather weenies, sometimes excitement gets the best of everyone and I’ll admit, without seeing it on a stake I would estimate higher too. It’s human nature. A plot keeps me in check. The number of text convos we sometimes have that are like, “man it seems like so much more snow.” “No dude, we report what’s on High Rd. It is what it is.” The three of us gut check each other occasionally that way throughout the season. Thats how estimates might be 12-18” in the old school style, but turns to 13” these days. And you see the seasonal total drop over time. And skiers think both are correct, because they are for the most part. It’s just different ways of doing it.