powderfreak

That's wild the differences from here to there during the last few weeks. Today was another Top 10 Spring ski day. No crowds, good coverage, all the steep/narrow Front Four still open. It's going to look a lot different after 1-2" of rainfall though over the next couple days. Upper Starr just before it rolls over and out of view. Upper Goat, just one ski width wide elevator shaft. There could be 12 feet of snow on the ground and that skiers right side would still be bare rock with snow only packed in on the skier's left. That's what makes it a classic. You fall and you can go for a very uncomfortable ride downhill, just aim for the snow instead of steep ledge.

Haha, I will say I don’t share the hatred of springtime like you guys do. It can be a really nice season up here. On an aside, the 2PM dew point at CAR was 3F. That’s wild. Red flag air mass. The RH map shows todays “winners.”

The next couple months are when SLK-MVL-BML can shine north west of the Marine Mank. Days like today with super dry air and warmth. I feel like April/May and even June in recent years have really amplified the over-the-top mild days.

I got 62F here and not a cloud in the sky. People out in shorts. MMNV1 is showing 50F right now at Picnic Tables… warmer at 4kft than SNE. Dews in the 20s… dry 26% RH spring glory.

What a day. 10/10.

Bonus day of sunshine and mild weather. Full sun. Was 26F at my house at 5am with heavy frost. Looks like we grab one more good spring ski day before 4 days of garbage time.

I’d need to see more model support and run to run continuity on that 12z GFS run… but verbatim that would be a large elevation snow event for the upslope zones of NVT. This time of year with cut-offs slowly meandering around they are always possible but that particular run needs a lot more support. Wouldn’t surprise me to see some Mtn snow though on the backside of that system with ULL pushing east slowly. But might only be 2-4” or something.

True, makes sense.

I love this time of year. The long daylight, plenty of snow left, evaporating skiers, corn snow. Spring skiing at its finest. Now for some retrospective… There was a time back in mid-March when I was skiing around with Andre and we were checking things out after the mountain failed to see a freeze in four days. We’d just seen over an inch of rain as well. It looked dire. The natural snow trails looked smoked and secondary snowmaking runs were not fat. The prospect of Mother Nature limping us out of another season was looking likely. A month left and we’d be skiing main snowmaking routes and that was it. Fantastic. Skip forward two+ weeks and today we skied Upper Starr in the sunshine. Upper Liftline? Open. Goat, good coverage. The Hayride rock reefs in the flats above the Waterfall pitch? Covered. Even mighty Chapel Lane was sporting wall-to-wall good coverage for downhill polling today, ha (it barely pitches downhill). It’s funny how it works out but despite the dire scene a couple weeks ago, Mother Nature has come through big time with several healthy snows, and cold weather that will make the last two weeks of lift service on Mansfield very fun. And it’s safe to say there will likely be a considerable “third season” of skinning given snowmaking snow depths. Bravo on the revival Mother Nature. If you look closely here, you can see Mount Washington glowing white even on an iPhone photo on the right side horizon.

It’s that time of year for sure.

We are actually in much better shape than last year at this time to be honest. The last 2 weeks have held ground if not gained.

Yeah I’m a big fan of spring. Still so much snow, the skiing today is phenomenal and it’s nice enough in town to walk the dog for an hour at like 6pm. So much snow left… zero people. This is why ski areas close with lots of snow ha.

I’m doing mine in May, it should be early enough. It is weird… a decade ago it seemed like 3-4 days a summer maybe. Now it’s weeks where you are like yeah that’d be nice to have.

Now you are a true North Country resident.

Yeah he’s been around! Best time of year up here IMO. Zero people and still healthy base depths.

Today featured everything... powder, packed powder, sun-baked powder, wind-scoured hardpack ice, spring corn snow, even some borderline slush at the base. Mansfield's sporting a snow depth a few inches below 5 feet at the Stake. There's been spring melt, but the snowfall has kept pace. The 16" cycle, then a rainer, followed by another 6" last night, plus the random inch. The mountains quietly adding two feet to the cumulative total the past couple of weeks. 1 PM today, at 2,500ft (mid-slopes) in search of and finding dry powder while southerly facing slopes get smoked by the April sun. Last weekend for the Gondola as usual in early April. Will still be able to access the lower 1,000 vertical feet from Rim Rock off the Quad. Been a fun spring so far to be honest. Snowfall has surprised. Events finally producing some fun snows for those still skiing.

28F and dropping with the low dew points this afternoon. It’s getting to be the time of year when above or below freezing makes a difference. For the snowpack at higher elevations and the possible start of growing season in the south/larger valleys.

41/12 right now and bluebird all day. Can tell it’s dry with dews of 12F because 1.8” of snow in town survived in the shade despite highs near mid-40s. Temp is going to plummet though with this real dry air mass once the sun sets. But it was absolutely gorgeous on the mountain with fresh snow.

Visible showing the remaining snow in NNE...

Ha nice, met his dog yesterday. He’s going to Cannon today. Might try to take some laps with TK on Sunday.

Just shy of 2” of dense rimed flakes at home. Enough to fully cover the grass and need to brush the car off. Dense wind-packed 3-4” at 1500ft. Some decent moisture in it as the snowbanks are surprising for that amount of snow.

A groomer went up there to spotlight it this morning… a few inches under 5 feet. I had just shy of 2” of dense rimed snow at home. Looked white. Wind-blown 3-4” at 1500ft.

It just keeps snowing hard. The VAD shows the story of deep layer uniform air flow.. . Pushing moisture into the east side. No low level veering and blocked flow here.

Snowing nicely with the flow unblocking. All white outside. Grass sufficiently covered and dog coming back inside white. Getting good east slope drift now to the precipitation.

Snowing and turning white at 750ft. 31F. MVL visibility at 1.5sm and that sounds about right. A steady light snow. Grooming team reporting 3" near 1,500ft and 6-7" above 3,000ft.