powderfreak

It’s definitely a function of population and stereotypes. You see one driver zipping through lanes in NY but forget the other hundred drivers around you. And yeah every time I go to Boston I’m like this is madness, .

I feel like I’m offending people on the Interstate up north going fast and feel like I’m doing the same down south but for going too slow . That car is far too clean… tried to Google dirty Honda Pilot on interstate but didn’t come up with anything good.

First time on Long Island in probably a decade… it’s wild. I’m a “fast Vermont driver” (which means getting pulled over by State Troopers on I-89 in Waterbury, VT going 77mph) but 77 down here is like you are driving a school bus in the far right lane. Cars swerving through traffic, changing multiple lanes at once, then going back multiple lanes the other way, no one uses turn signals, ha. It’s like anarchy. Sober driving on the Long Island Expressway seems a lot more dangerous than having a couple IPAs at a brewery and doing 35 mph home in Vermont, lol. All the cops going through NYC just sitting in pull offs reading AMWX forums looking for 276 hour GFS snow events in Maine while traffic moves at 85mph.

All Eastern Mass All The Time in this forum. It’s infuriating. There are people that live west of 495!

Yeah agreed. Neither is “safe” at all and most of these studies seem to be at low levels of intoxication of both substances (like .04% BAC in that one I quoted)… if you are blasted on anything, you’re gonna have a hard/bad time. They all also reference “experienced users” of cannabis… so tolerance would be a big factor I’d think. In general it’s a silly argument, basically “my vice is better than your vice” and past personal history shapes opinions more than anything. You have an alcoholic family member who you watch it destroy relationships, or you have a family member who sits in their basement taking bong rips dawn to dusk and seems like they are wasting life away… or someone gambling away a mortgage and money for a family, etc those personal experiences will lead to our opinions on different vices much more than anything else.

This stuff is fairly fascinating to be honest going down the rabbit hole… I’ve never really read up on it but there are a lot of studies out there that seem to show how being under the influence of different substances directly relate to your “risk taking” and subsequent driving ability and fatality risk. Alcohol drinkers underestimate their level of impairment and drive faster, taking more risks and overtake vehicles ahead of them. THC users in national studies actually overestimate their level of impairment, are aware of it and slow down, increase distances between vehicles and do not overtake other vehicles as compensation. THC users slow down and do not maintain higher speeds even when directed to by researchers, while alcohol users increase their speed when directed to maintain. “Surprisingly, given the alarming results of cognitive studies, most marijuana-intoxicated drivers show only modest impairments on actual road tests.37, 38 Experienced smokers who drive on a set course show almost no functional impairment under the influence of marijuana, except when it is combined with alcohol.39 Many investigators have suggested that the reason why marijuana does not result in an increased crash rate in laboratory tests despite demonstrable neurophysiologic impairments is that, unlike drivers under the influence of alcohol, who tend to underestimate their degree of impairment, marijuana users tend to overestimatetheir impairment, and consequently employ compensatory strategies. Cannabis users perceive their driving under the influence as impaired and more cautious,40 and given a dose of 7 mg THC (about a third of a joint), drivers rated themselves as impaired even though their driving performance was not; in contrast, at a BAC 0.04% driving performance was impaired even though drivers rated themselves as unimpaired.41 This awareness of impairment has behavioral consequences. Several reviews of driving and simulator studies have concluded that marijuana use by drivers is likely to result in decreased speed and fewer attempts to overtake, as well as increased “following distance”. The opposite is true of alcohol.43 One review of eight driving simulator studies and seven on-road studies44found that cannabis use was associated with either poor lane control41, 45–48 or slower driving that successfully maintained lane control.49–51 In seven of ten studies cited, cannabis use was associated with a decrease in driving speed despite explicit instructions to maintain a particular speed, whereas under the influence of alcohol, subjects consistently drove faster. Two simulator studies showed that the tendency to overtake was decreased with cannabis use but increased with alcohol.52, 53”

Yeah there are a lot of studies showing alcohol as far worse and many accidents with THC also have alcohol on-board. The absolute worst is proven to be both as they enhance each other… but THC on its own has mixed results in driving studies. This is in no way advertising that it’s safe, as DWI is DWI (which specifically is failing to pass field sobriety tests/FST as a measure of being under the influence). Prescription drugs have been found to be more likely to lead to failed FSTs than operators with THC. “In driving studies, marijuana produces little or no car-handling impairment – consistently less than produced by moderate doses of alcohol and many legal medications. Mixing marijuana and alcohol together amplifies potential risks. Surveys show that when THC is detected in the blood of fatally injured drivers, alcohol is often detected as well.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2722956/ “Detrimental effects of cannabis use vary in a dose-related fashion, and are more pronounced with highly automatic driving functions than with more complex tasks that require conscious control, whereas alcohol produces an opposite pattern of impairment. Because of both this and an increased awareness that they are impaired, marijuana smokers tend to compensate effectively while driving by utilizing a variety of behavioral strategies. Combining marijuana with alcohol eliminates the ability to use such strategies effectively, however, and results in impairment even at doses which would be insignificant were they of either drug alone. Epidemiological studies have been inconclusive regarding whether cannabis use causes an increased risk of accidents; in contrast, unanimity exists that alcohol use increases crash risk.”

This is wild… is this true? The Sierra saw this little snow in two months from Jan 15 - Mar 15…. And then has more forecast the next two days?

Could be but on current progs that SW side is like western PA for nice weather. It can change but it doesn’t scream like nice warm spring weather on various 5-day means. Doesn’t mean it’s 38F and raining but probably not 60s and 70s.

That’s awesome!

BTV’s observed snowfall map…

The grass looked insanely green today everywhere after the snow yesterday. Even where snow was still on the ground some parts melted out were like glowing green. Spring snow must’ve been like fertilizer. Wild to have the deepest snow of season in the upper elevations while it’s so green in the valleys. I love this time of year. First above average snow depth reading since the first week of December . Storm Totals: 3,800ft… 15” (depth from 47” to 62”) 3,100ft… 13” 1,500ft… 8” From Ruschpy (Instagram) on Mansfield today…

Driving south to ALB then to Long Island today a couple observations… Very surprising how the Champlain Valley still had snowbanks and some snow a day later… that was a healthy little snow for like the third week of April even to Lake elevation. Went across the southeastern Adirondacks (Schroon Lake) area to I-87…. wild to see the snowbanks and they had to have seen 7-10” of absolute paste. Tons of tree damage along I-87 with trees freshly cut right in the breakdown lanes. It must’ve been a mess yesterday morning as there was a tree trunk cut every 1/4 mile at some points that would’ve been laying across at least one lane of the interstate. Evidence of snow through plow piles all the way down through Albany area at my parents house. Heard they got 2-3” down here, which is real impressive in the banana valley here for this time of year. Some buds and flowers out, looks like a few trees got smoked by the snow though, flowering on the ground. Certainly much greener than up north, starting to look like spring.

Lol upper mountain natural snowpack at it’s season high of 62” on 4/20. And I’m going south to Long Island.

It’s all fake. The ability to create precip and snow on westerly winds (the prevailing default flow in N.America) into the Northern Greens is what makes this the powder skiing capital of the East.

This is an incredible radar. This is dumping on the mountains. After melting this afternoon in the warm sector it has come back strong. There was ~6-6.5" at the board flip and the location is usually less than the calmer, ground based High Road location.

This is a beautiful radar at 26F on the top of the mountain. Upslope flow is just crushing the ski area right now. That stuff is all getting pushed and deposited downstream, having a large area of 30-35dbz firing up like that and hitting the county line means the ski area is seeing some healthy precipitation rates. That's the textbook look... with more moisture continually feeding into the upslope band. Standing wave getting fed! 11" increase in Snow Depth today at the Mansfield Stake. It's been a fun past few weeks for the N.Greens... some good events. Storm above 3,000ft likely ends up 8-15".

Gahhh, I'd definitely take a personal day and head up there (either today or tomorrow, or both) except for taking the next 3 days off to head to Long Island. Radar looks healthy. Any time 30dbz pixels are flaring up over Mansfield (and west side) and points north, it means the upslope is steady precip over the mountains. Jay Peak is always too far away, beam too high, in these situations to "see" exactly what's happening up there but if radar has this signature along the northern western slopes, Jay Peak is getting crushed. Good moisture feed getting wrung out. These echoes are landing downstream in the flow.

That's a good one right there. 7:30am and blowing numbers. "Beer." A winning combo.

38/33 with upslope rain in the valley. Still snow outside in town. That waterlogged stuff is hard to melt.

As a kid 70s or 80s that aren’t excessive humid/hot was the sweet spot and still is… street hockey, baseball, football, manhunt, etc. No one wanted to do that stuff at 92/70… you’d be inside the AC playing Nintendo. And as kids I feel like they have a high tolerance, like we’d swim in the lake in CT at 60F and pouring rain. Didn’t matter the temp. Never do that now lol.

But do they not go outside at 75F vs 90F? I’d almost think kids are more likely to play outside when it’s not blistering hot.

We changed to rain earlier but back to snow now at the base of the ski area. Cold wrapping back in.

Wow at the temperature gradient across N.VT.... Island Pond, Gallup Mills, usual very cold spots in NE VT are 50-55F right now, while BTV is 34F with light sleet. Newport, VT near 50F too at the Canadian border. Wild.

That's awesome. Good move to head up for the snowstorm. There has to be zero people there.