powderfreak

Wolfie visiting Mass huh.

12z GFS looks reasonable for the first half of November. Can always adjust upward from there if needed through November 15th.

Ha, still haven’t froze up here.

It’s not a complete shitshow, to be honest. This is one of the more reasonable discussions about environmental change, and the New England forum can do it. Why is everything in life nowadays so black and white? That’s what bothers me personally. We can take the time to understand everyone’s viewpoints… be empathetic and not always go immediately on the defensive. My livelihood and my wife’s are solely resting on tourism, in this industry that relies on snowmaking (the topic at hand) to entice people to drive or fly (more carbon footprint) here and spend money. We cannot live the comfortable life we do without people getting in their cars or on an airplane. However, we also don’t need to become defensive about it. Just realistic. Temperatures are warming up over time, it’s accepted. Irrefutable. To me the ski industry acknowledges that progress can continue to be made, even small steps, and it doesn’t need to be this abrasive discussion. It can be honest and open to all stakeholders. Every discussion in life can be honest and open to all stakeholders, if you allow it to be.

Ha, Forky is talking about the real fake snow. Not the fake fake snow. Decode that.

Best thread title in a while.

Yeah that’s why they move away from that stuff… but still have diesel backups for power on lifts (ie power outage with people on chairs, need a way to move them). Ski areas have come a long way since the 1990s, but then again maybe not as that’s all in the eye of the beholder. Sort of like has humanity come a long way since the 1990s? Maybe in some respects, and not in others?

Yeah that should be the goal of all industries for sure.

Yup, with snowmaking it’s the baby steps of buying Low-E, tower, and efficient guns. Many places have completely turned over their fleets. It’s also economical… initial investment heavy but then if you are using 40% less energy (saves 40% $$ too) than the old ground based air hogs. You need to make snow at slightly colder wet bulbs but it’s a cleaner step. Maybe in another 15 years we are cutting another 25% off. The notion of killing industries outright is likely not the answer either, just baby steps. Not grounding all airplanes and cruises, but maybe they develop better technologies as well… and it’s usually economical, use less energy/fuel and it costs less. Thats why many have mini splits now and heat pumps, etc.

It’s definitely something the industry wrestles with. More and more money goes into low-e guns, fan guns and other lower energy infrastructure. I’m not going to sit here and tell anyone it’s the best way to do things, but humans do a lot of things that aren’t ideal. The energy usage is the nut to crack… the water just melts and goes back into the same reservoir it came out of. Plus it rains enough in winter to refill it on the go. One can really go down the rabbit hole of golf courses too. The pros of snowmaking are that it literally drives whole economies in many places of the world that would have zero economy too. The downstream effect of no snowmaking would close the industry and be akin to manufacturing cities and towns when the plants shut down. Its definitely not an easy discussion.

Think of it like a ski area is just irrigating their trails like a golf course or millions of American yards all summer. Ski areas just do their irrigation when it’s cold, ha. Although one could easily argue against watering grass too.

What if they need to make snow inside at a mall in New Jersey? God forbid people have fun, ha.

Very aesthetically pleasing scene in the hardwoods right now.

Actually getting some mangled flakes in town now as wet-bulb evap cooling at the start takes place. First flakes at home.

Headed out with the dog now for a lap to the picnic tables and back before settling in for some football. How Sunday’s should be this time of year haha.

39/30 What a change from yesterday.

Yeah 46/39 at local PWS, MVL ASOS a bit more mixed at 48/35. Interesting modeled temperature battle going on between 18z models tomorrow. Euro vs GFS. 40s during the afternoon is nothing special for time of year, but mid-30s during the afternoon would be note-worthy. Definitely related to precipitation and evaporational cooling, but ECM looks much more likely. EURO

Breezy NNW wind now 17G24 and down to 52F. CAA happening. Tomorrow will be a bit different than today.

The press conference said they searched all the trailers at that Maine recycling plant as the owner kept telling them the shooter was very familiar with the place. However, there was an auxiliary parking lot across the street or something with a couple extra trailers that weren’t mentioned to police. So when they went back to focus on the area and were checking off spots cleared, they became aware of this additional area with a couple trailers. Maine State Police tactical units then cleared those and found him in the back of one. Sounded like a plausible f*ck up based on the aerial map they showed. But you still think they’d look into anything within 100 yards of that recycling plant. Or that someone would be like, “what’s that over there?” “Oh you own that too?”

We hit 68F with thick OVC. Dark but mild day. Weird. Now 61F and falling.

And from +7.3 and no freeze in October for the first time in recorded history... to the American models wanting it to snow Sunday night and Monday morning. NAM and GFS very similar evolutions... though the rest of the world's models (RGEM, GGEM, ICON, EURO, etc) say no shot in hell and want no part of this. *For the record I'm not looking at the amounts here, just that its coding snow. A widespread coating/trace with some legit -SN obs at a few ASOS would be nice.

The fact that it was 63F at 2am up here east of the Spine last night is pretty crazy. +19, +21, departures past two days. Our normal high is 52F and normal low of 32F. +7.3 on the month here. That is pretty incredible. And still no 32F. Two 33s though.

ICON and GGEM keeping the dream alive. All snow maps are over done this time of year. But they highlight the more climo favored zones.

It could happen anywhere; there’s a bond in New England and especially NNE. We all know people in that area of Maine. They have the same laid back values of just trying to go through life wholesomely, and enjoy a few things along the way. That no community is immune from this sort of thing is the truly sobering and gut-wrenching part.

Watching online I keep thinking it’s a recording… hope they get it going.