powderfreak

Every winter is different which is fun. This one has left a lot to be desired. Weather though is always fascinating…it’s why we are all here. An event or two can change the overall appeal of a winter, especially in the lower average spots. A couple events have been game changers in the south/east New England quarter. Everyone else has been struggling… but that’s the risk/reward of living closer to the coast. Get a couple to hit and it’s a solid snow year. Always good when at least someone on the forum wins.

Maybe 60” around here at home, and the mountain needs a good 150”+.

Happy Anniversary of the most fun snowstorm of my life. This thing was a real storm. I think it's the only all frozen QPF event at BTV with 2" of liquid equiv in the month of February?

That has to be largely the blizzard, right? Like half of that came in one storm in eastern CT.

Need the GGEM to work out... turns the late week rainer into a snower. EURO stays just north of us. And GFS is just a monster thaw with big snow well north, ha.

That's awesome looking at the TAN obs. Over half a foot and ripping with only one brief observation showing moderate snow (1/2sm vis). Most of it at 1-2 mile visibility. That's how you know the snow growth zone is getting punched by lift.

It's just the flake type and liquid amount falling from the sky. A small flake, needles or bullets type snow packs in tight and is dense on the ground. To achieve higher snowfall rates, visibility will be quite low, almost like a fog if you are getting 1"+ an hour out of needles. You're also getting 0.10-0.15"/hr water to hit 1"/hr snowfall with needles. That'll give that 1/4sm +SN. With fluffy, large snow growth stuff, it takes less flakes and less water to make an inch of snow. Therefore there are fewer flakes in a given volume of air... still accumulating efficiently but impacting visibility less. The ASOS stations under-report the water in this type of snow, but if 0.025-0.05" an hour can give 1"/hr, visibility will remain higher than what most of us equate to that type of accumulation rate.

That's the classic good snow growth where visibility doesn't translate to the snowfall rate. The stuff where you can get 1" an hour but with 1-1.5 mile visibility.

Looks like it's been quite the winter for the coastal mid-Atlantic too... no stats to back it up but these SE Mass snowers seem to love coastal Delaware into SE NJ. Just seems like it wants to be snowing in those low average coastal/beach towns. Delaware Coastal Airport with a nice 4+ hour wintry appeal obs this afternoon/evening.

Still getting the same ratios as this morning? I’m just checking back in. If it’s fluff someone will get 7+ right?

That’s a solid radar loop!

Yeah it’s been a very light upslope season on the whole. Usually there are a couple distinct events or like 4-8” upslope after a cutter… we can survive a winter on that sometimes ha.

That EURO run is what we all love to see though for sure. Hot cutter late week. Then arctic cold over the weekend. Then hot cutter again by day 9-10. What a sequence.

70F in February would be funny to be honest. If it's not going to snow, might as well go for broke.

Snowpack in New England is usually only two warm cutters away from a real bad time unless it’s a truly bomber snow year. Life in the East. It won’t be pretty but we’ll make the best of it.

45F to 27F now… locking up tight out there. Ski surface conditions are now screwed until it snows again or warms up. Ungroomed stuff will be basically unskiable and groomers likely the classic eastern granular.

March 2001, March 2007 are my favorites. March 2011 had a 24-30 incher of dense snow. March 2017 had a four foot storm (named Stella by TWC) that was synoptic followed by huge upslope. March 2018 had a big one too. 2007 though from mid-January through April was absolutely obscene. Valentines Day 2007 is still the biggest most impactful snowfall I've seen up here. There was a St Patty's Day storm that dropped 12-18" synoptic and another like 18-24" upslope. I remember that was one that started out as a coastal plain storm and then kept hugging and amping up until go time (where'd those storms go? Ha). April had like 6 feet of snow. I remember an event where it snowed like two feet of concrete at the base of Stowe and then changed to like over an inch of rain. That snowpack was so beefy that winter.

You could tell it was struggling to cool off depending on mixing. MVL was bouncing from upper 30s at calm to mid-40s with wind several times over night.

Definitely a concern. It can change in a hurry both ways... a couple big rainers or one 2 foot wet snow bomb. But yes right now there's definitely some concern of natural snow if we start stacking rainers. We are over a foot below normal right now, that's spring base depths if everything had an extra foot on it.

All detach high speeds are usually 1,000ft/min... many can actually do 1,100/min but are run at 1,000ft/min as the tramway board approved line speed. Our FourRunner Quad, Gondola and Sensation Quad run at that line speed unless wind or something else dictates a slower speed. Sunny Spruce Quad services a lower level skier beginner/low intermediate so that gets run at 800ft/min to help with load/unload. In the summer we'll do 800 or lower on the Gondola as that foot traffic is more sightseeing and also less knowledgeable at loading/unloading like skiers. They can be a bit more timid as many have never ridden a gondola, so the line speed is dialed back. Its also more of an experience than skiing which is just "get me to the top as fast as you can." Places will run their lifts at what is optimal speed too... meaning that maybe 1,000ft/min leads to more stoppages as people fall or misload... but at 800ft/min there are less stops so it actually is more efficient to run at that speed in some cases, if you average the throughput.

I do love big vertical on a fast lift. That’s what makes for a big mountain ski experience. When you get on a lift and it delivers you quickly (line speed of 800ft/min or more) to large vertical of 2000+ feet, it’s a fun experience. The difference in weather and snow surfaces can be extreme over that distance. Gotta love it.

Any strong SW flow where afternoon 850s rise above 0C are going to torch in lee side mixing. Most spots are in the 40s with gusty winds looking at the ASOS network across New England. It's been a while since we haven't been frigid for a period of several days. Sunday and into early next week will jack up the heating demand again. The peaks are staying cold though which is all that matters. Preserve the snow up high as long as possible, down where people live it's nice to get a break from the real cold stuff. Very western US or even European mountain climate vibe right now... mild dry flow down low while the high terrain keeps the snow. I love that stuff.

It was hard to complain today. Conditions were perfect for the steeper terrain around NNE.

Daily ski conditions are impossible to know at any lead time and can change on a dime. A passing rain shower just prior to a freeze, or a nice 2-3" round of snow showers lead to extremely different conditions. The east is fun like that. The actual surface snow that we ski on that day is what matters, not the conditions leading up to or after a certain day. Very hard to predict at any lead time. I hear ya on the Toll House concerns. It's the lowest elevation area (all natural snow) at 1,300-1,400ft with no snowmaking. That terrain needs to maintain snow. The Mansfield Stake up top has only been in the low/mid-40s lately. Below normal but serviceable. Very dense. The Toll House base area right now with daily grooming is only a foot of depth. Ski area grooming machines are very heavy and compact the snow quite a bit. That foot of packed snow would take time to melt, but a warm week could also end the Toll House lift. Operations will manage it as best as possible, limiting grooming when temps are highest and avoid grooming in the rain. No reason to open up the snowpack with a large machine in thaw times. Snowfall at lower elevations is always a good thing for Toll House.

These warm days with low dews are so nice. Like 45/18 at MVL… keeps snowmelt in check. Felt warm on the mountain but snow stayed dry above 1700-1800ft despite above freezing temps. 3” from yesterday up there led to nice soft bumps in mild temps… I want this for a month lol.