powderfreak

20 miles? That seems like a long way in weather differences.

That was one of my favorite events to watch unfold even being well out of it. I remember being at the Mtn Ops Center at 5am and getting no work done drooling over the BGM observations… I’ve never seen those hourly water values in a cold season fronto band. My sister’s pics were insanity of like 40” overnight near the BGM airport.

BTV’s version. Fits the thoughts from last couple days. 3-6” summits down to sloppy coating-1” around 1,000-1,500ft.

18z NAM.

Some good energy in the trough coming up early next week... maybe a chance of some squally weather?

Hopefully there are some good clear/cold set ups where all elevations go low. Snow cover would help. Showery regimes with rounds of vort maxes moving through, they tend to keep the wet-bulb temps up. We need some highs in the 20s at 1500ft. Elevation dependent precipitation types usually means disappointing snowmaking. 26-34F type temps can be fun with natural precipitation but snowmaking really starts to succeed at wet-bulbs under 26F for 6-8+ hours. Above that it can be hard to justify the effort. It's certainly the most wintry look of the season and will be most welcomed.

Yeah it looks like a classic stretch of light events but lots of activity and flakes in the air. The type of stuff that can add up over time for the elevations. It's great this time of year, exciting squalls, periods of snow showers, just the ground being white is a novelty. By March we are a bit jaded but right now, even showery, cold pool light accumulations are really fun. Meteorology definitely is more fun in the cold season than it is during the warm season. I find myself checking the models more frequently with each passing day.

Yeah once the surface flow can tug NW. There’s southerly flow ahead of it with a warm nose creeping north at the start. If that low can get its act together might even see a quasi-CCB try to briefly form.

Yeah that sounds about right. I think 1500ft can whiten up at the tail end. Coating to 2” seems reasonable for that elevation… 1-2” if it flips early, coating if it’s the tail end. It’s really only like a 3-5 hour burst as it moves through. I think it’ll immediately wet-bulb the snow level down to like 2500ft when precip starts but holds there for a while. Then towards the end of the steady precip we see the snow levels drop down to even 1,000ft… but wet ground and waning precip keeps accumulations 1500ft or higher. The timing is perfect though over your way Phin. The best precip rates look to coincide with the coldest diurnal time of day (early Sunday morning)… so that time of day can sometimes surprise with snowfall levels lower than anticipated. These marginal events can also favor west slopes locally (the other side of Mansfield) and over towards Alex…as a marginal sounding can get a little upslope cooling assist when the low level winds go NW. Even that extra few tenths or half a degree Celsius of cooling from forced ascent can be the difference of many hundred feet of snow levels.

That's what I've got... I think the true accumulation stays above 2,000ft but flipping to snow at the end down to 1,000ft or even mangled flakes below that. The bulk of the precip seems to be with a freezing level around 925mb. Fast moving, so I like 2-4" above 2,000ft or even a above 2,500ft.

Looks like a nice elevation event. I'm thinking around these parts in VT you'd want to be primarily above 2,000ft given the freezing level around 925mb. But check out that lift in the snow growth zone.

We laugh but have to respect someone who takes pride in the appearance of their property on such short notice.

Will you be able to sleep with that mess of leaves out there? ”Mom, why’s Dad leaf blowing at 2am!?”

Says it’s 34F outside but already frost on the car at 7pm. Need some snow to preserve but keep wasting money on fake cold.

Yeah as long as you pay it off… if not, it removes the benefits because of your interest accrued ha. But if you pay off everything each month, they give you free money and benefits. Even if it’s just $500-$1000 annually, it’s still money you are getting back just for paying all your expenses with their card.

Cash back, enough to pay our internet bill monthly. Basically pay everything with CC, get enough cash back to go out to dinner one night or cover a small bill.

We do too. Always pay it off but get cash back and points for all.

More interesting.

I actually just looked up Hingham and it makes a little more sense. I don't know why I thought that was near KBED or Framingham and it most definitely is not. Coastal south shore town (as I'm sure all of you are aware, ha)... so now it fits a little more. But still, that's a rough stretch even on the water I'd think. But I think in my head I rush climo a bit along the actual coast/Atlantic ocean early season. Plowable/decent December storms are probably a little more rare there than say BED, right?

Another reason to hate that period. 16 of 19 brown Xmas’ in eastern Mass… yikes. I mean that’s like someone’s entire childhood. Turning 18 years old, finishing high school, and only seeing 3 Christmases with 1” or more dusting the ground in your life to that point… in the E.Mass climate belt that these days seems to squat out big snowstorms. Sounds more in-line with what you’d expect in Maryland or something.

I’d have to check but ALB in 2002 I think we woke up to bare ground on Xmas day… that huge storm started at like 9-10am IIRC. Then we had 18” by the time I was driving my grandmother home that evening and finished with 22” at my childhood house. Snowing 3”/hr during Christmas Dinner was awesome. But despite like 18” at ALB on the 25th, that 12z morning ob might have been grass.

I’m not sure the specific depth requirements but it’s pretty significant I believe…. like an even 30” wall-to-wall top-to-bottom. Possibly even more? It has to be enough depth to sustain winch cat grooming operations, drilling holes to set gates, and most importantly it has to be deep enough to sufficiently anchor layers of safety netting. Those anchors go pretty deep to be able to stop a skier moving at a high rate of speed and not just rip out of the snowpack. That’s where the wall-to-wall coverage is needed… can’t skimp on the side of the trails where safety netting gets drilled in and anchored.

I agree with your sentiments. Even a decent pack of 12” loses its “White Christmas” luster if it’s 44F, raining with 1/4 mile thick fog and blackened snowbanks. Sure it’s a “White Christmas” but despite a foot on the ground, there are soggy water runnels and pea soup views outside… whereas even a fresh 2-4” on grass and on every twig and branch probably achieves a better festive atmosphere with 70% less snowpack.

Isn’t it 1” snow depth at 12z on Xmas morning?

Granted living anywhere near Hilton Head can’t be cheap. I’m pretty sure it was a Kroger supermarket. Every single ski area I know of is incredibly short staffed and wages are higher than ever… not like a dollar raise either but like $5+ per hour over what that same job was 2 winters ago. Jobs that ski areas got away with paying $10/hr for a decade plus a ski pass are now at $15-$20… similar to the supermarket thing we were discussing. Plus signing bonuses, referral bonuses, etc. Its a great time to be a high schooler looking for part time work, lol. I know a financial planner in town who said his high school daughter made over $20K this summer as a waitress in like 3 months. I wouldn’t have known what to do with that money in high school lol.