powderfreak

Happy Birthday @mreaves! Hope it was a good one. Mild day, afternoon/evening rounds of rain here. 57F for the high at the nearest PWS... off a low of 31F and frozen early AM. Felt very comfortable with a just a rain shell or hoodie this afternoon.

That’s impressive to be honest with the temps just off the deck.

Everything was iced up this morning when I arrived at the Mtn Ops Center at 5am… super slick out at 30.5F from freezing rain. Sun actually came out this morning and we shot up to 45F and climbing at the office at 1500ft. Warm breeze at the top of the mountain.

It’s true, shoulder season snow happens at elevation. This season you definitely take the under with the forecast but it came through. Three days of whitened ground that melts throughout the day in the valley… but 1500ft+ along the Spine was in the sweet spot.

Love it. Another couple months and once can start a hike at 7pm and be back by 9pm without headlamp. Getting that spring fever with the late daylight.

I saw Hunter and Okemo were making snow in the VR family too. Maybe they thought they couldn’t make their scheduled closings? We’ve always been a firm third Sunday in April closure. If Mtn Ops had it their way we’d close on April 17 and the snow would be completely gone a week later so they can start off-season work lol.

Went up $100 from previous price. It’s still a great deal but got some folks going. Skiers complain that it’s too crowded but then complain when it gets more expensive too. Supply and demand is interesting.

Yeah I heard there was some blowback as the Spring Pass went up $100 and the snow wasn’t anywhere as deep as it usually is… so to correctly combat that they went on a weeklong assault of Superstar. Love to see it.

Had to drive to Morrisville for an appointment this morning... it's easy to see why they picked Mansfield for skiing. There is no other mountain in any direction that looks as caked and pasted white as it. It's not even close. If it was 1930 and I was standing around here right now, I'd be like "that's the one over there, that's where it snows." Spring in the valley, mid-winter on the mountain.

It's the equivalent of when you chill on the beach in September. The temperature is at mid-summer levels, the water is at it's warmest, but the calendar has led to the population moving on. The locals and those in the know are able to take advantage of the situation.

Another winter day. If the skiing wasn’t so good this cold would be annoying. Diurnal max/min ranges of 17/-2 on the mountain and 28/11 at MVL.

That’s a cool map… NW flow streamer.

That has to be it. Because it was just downright weird. You'll never see so few skiers at Stowe, empty chairs going up the Quad, while the entire Front is open from the top and 16" over the past 4 days or so at 3,000ft. The ridgeline at 4,000ft seems as buried as any time this season. The top 1,500ft is awesome mid-winter powder skiing. And everyone has given up it seems. It's just as good as anything mid-winter up there.

I haven’t seen Stowe this dead in a while. We were on Nosedive without a soul and almost thought they put the Quad on hold lol. Snow is phenomenal mid-winter powder, packed powder and wind buff. Even the locals have packed it in it seems.

Must’ve moved over there… getting some breaks of sun now at the mountain.

Yeah that’s the experience this time of year outside the mountain elevations. My yard has been covered white I think 3 times last few mornings and then it disappears during the day. Wake up and dusted white again, repeat. The difference between here and 1500ft is stark… plow piles and stuff.

1" past 12 hours at the mountain, just a persistent flurry. But it continues this evening. Long duration upslope flow.... wringing out the absolute last bit of moisture as small flakes in this artic airmass over the Spine. Can see the diminishing feed but still blocked enough to keep the -SN going.

The density has been perfect. Above mid-mountain it started really wet and dense with 4" over 24 hours (likely 0.50+ water) that covered the underlying wet snow/ice base. The earliest snow fell on top of the wet snowpack, not an icy sheen, which led to a great interface between the layers. Then we got the QPF rich but colder, dense snow on Sunday morning... probably adding another 3/4ths of an inch of water. The last part was arctic cold, wind packed snow. No fake fluff here... the 15" in the past 4 days was likely a good 1.50" QPF of frozen precip at the snow plots. Dense stuff. Very localized. That's a game changing amount of frozen water for skiers. A while back the models were definitely showing a solid period of frozen QPF... I doubted it to be honest, but it pulled through for the hill.

Max of 17F at MVL here in the valley. Currently 12 degrees with light snow falling. Feels like mid-January.

Skiing right now is some of the best of the season on the top 1,000 vertical feet. We are at 15" in the past 4 days at the High Road Plot. 11" since Saturday evening. There's absolutely no one skiing this afternoon either... prime lines sitting untouched hours after the Gondola opened at Noon (morning wind hold). 2:30 PM and just full on powder party. Patrol dropped the ropes on the Upper Starr, Upper Goat, Upper Liftline, etc... stuff that when it's open you know the skiing is good. Mid-winter powder day again.

I still can't get over this, ha. This is bonkers. Cornwall, VT last night... middle of the Champlain Valley. Just an isolated 8-10" over like one town out in the valley with a dusting only a few miles away. No topography at all.

Crazy, looks like a COOP observer had 7" on 0.43" liquid in that area of Cornwall.

This is crazy... a couple places in Cornwall, VT picked up 8-10" in like 3-4 hours. This is in the middle of the Champlain Valley last night. Addison County. Even this morning it had settled but still 7.5" at a friend's. He said there's like no snow just a few miles away. Like that hill in the distance behind the red barn looks largely bare or just coated.

Talking about weird squalls... a buddy in Cornwall, VT picked up 8-10" in like 3-4 hours. This is in the middle of the Champlain Valley last night. Addison County. He said there's like no snow just a few miles away. Like that hill in the distance behind the red barn looks largely bare or just coated.

It's not the height of the wind that matters, it's the direction of it, speed, and veering or changes with height. There's always some wind flow in all levels of the atmosphere. I'll try to write something a bit longer when I get a few minutes.