powderfreak

No way Saddleback comes anywhere close to 250-300k skier visits a year. Half that maybe? I agree with all your points.

BTV AFD... .NEAR TERM /THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT/... As of 313 PM EST Thursday...Pleasant weather conditions out there at the moment. Temperatures have even reached 30 degrees for portions of southern Vermont. Winds have been on the breezy side, but not seeing much in the way of gustiness. The higher dewpoint depressions than forecast have made it tougher for mountain snow showers to begin developing, with virga that moved in that then dissipated. Thus, anticipate we remain dry for the rest of the afternoon. Winter Weather Advisory from 7 PM tonight through 7 PM Friday. An upslope snow event will unfold this evening as a trough moves towards the North Country. The snow growth zone is plenty deep, and with moisture wrapping around deep low pressure, we should see light, fluffy snow with snow-to-liquid ratios in the 20:1 to 30:1 range. With the lack of any other synoptic forcing, we are looking at mostly orographic snow on northwest facing slopes of the northern Greens and Adirondacks. Our flow overnight is semi-blocked. As we transition into Friday, Froude numbers increase and flow becomes unblocked. A brief lull is expected late morning into the afternoon, but then an additional slug of moisture and increased vertical motion from cyclonic vorticity advection will promote more snow showers. As a surface trough pushes through, we should an additional round of snow Friday afternoon, with even some instability present. There could be some brief, heavy snow showers. However, it does not look like ground visibilities will be impacted too much, nor will we see flash freeze concerns. When both of these phases are added together, snowfall totals on northwest slopes of the Greens and Adirondacks will see 3 to 6 inches, with locally up to 10 inches at the higher summits. Northwestern Vermont and the southern Greens should see 1 to 3 inches of snow. Then the rest of the region should see about an 1 or less.

Yeah that's a good look for Jay Peak for sure. I like it for Mansfield but it does get a bit too blocked once it gets towards 0.75. Tomorrow evening should be pulsing way downwind of the mountains with froude of 2.0-3.0. With retrograding moisture the best QPF is usually up at Jay Peak anyway, closer to the deeper moisture. The HRRR Kuchie maps worked out well in the last event, almost spot on. Here's the latest on this one, ha. Looks like Kuchie would be around 30:1 ratios... where 0.20" water brings 6".

Yeah we were calling it "Deeper dust on crust" or the main joke of the day was "It looks so great, and then you go to make a turn and it's the loudest turn you've ever made." And from what I saw, it looked like Bolton was the epicenter of this little event. 6-9" wouldn't surprise me. I think they were in the best radar for most of that one. I don't know if you follow the Pinnacle Ski Shop guys who do these unofficial Stowe snow report videos on instagram but they are usually great. The one guy here, known as Birdman by locals, is hilarious. He described the surface well, ha. https://www.instagram.com/tv/CL9Wz49hp5q/

We will have to see what happens with the retrograding moisture swinging back into the Green Mtn Spine as we head into the weekend. The northern areas should see some QPF, snow totals will depend on ratios, varying by area.

Central VT got a good squall axis of 2-4" with the arctic front. Up north of that axis we had a half inch here, to 2" at elevation... now this past event added 3-6". Western New England in the meso-scale zones have done well with squalls, upslope, and random snowfalls this winter. With a dearth of widespread synoptic events, we are surviving on the localized stuff.

A friend up at Bolton Valley shared this pic of 2"/hr that gave them a quick 5-6" last night on some weak clipper with warm air advection. The ski areas in the Northern Greens have definitely made their name for the powder snow ski hills in the northeast. Frequency and random snowfalls do have a place in climo.

Love the variance in New England. Upper 20s this afternoon with snow showers up here (4” past 24 hours) but still at a low elevation... continued flurries. I can’t wait till that first sunny 50F day. I love that type of year when it’s mild over snow.

From my views of Bretton Woods (never skied, only seen from the base a couple times recently), the terrain looks nearly perfect for families and a sustained intermediate pitch. It's a very Okemo type gradient...no run out and a moderate pitch. A sustained ramp at just the right angle, along with a strong mountain operations team. Based on many observations, it's a well executed operation without a lot of rough edges, so to speak. 1,200-1,500 vertical feet of moderate slope, located in an upslope zone that will at least get some refreshes more than neighboring areas... it's a good combination for highly rated snow condition quality. On average, the intermediate pitch won't see the ice that a steep pitch will see if all else is equal. Skiers don't edge as hard and gravity doesn't play as big a role in snow conditions. It may not be a 2,000-2,500 vertical foot ski area with sharp relief (Wildcat, Cannon), but I think Bretton Woods is likely a top-tier cruiser mountain based on conditions and operational proficiency.

My dad turning 70 this year and still hunting the powder turns. He's always been a guy that loved the ungroomed natural snow, but getting older so it becomes a bit tougher. Over 30 years we've been enjoying powder mornings, as he started me at 3 years old on skis.

That’s nuts. What a contrasting 12 months, even cherry picked.

Got home to another quarter inch or so, so looks like 4” for here. Nice little event... those WAA into arctic air with deep westerly flow seem to make pow. Should see another round up to an inch this evening with the cold front. Just flurries falling now.

48-Hour Reading from High Road Snow Stake. Didn’t get read yesterday due to high winds and lift closures. Call it 7.5” or something. A little more wind effect than normal on the pole. But a healthy net gain.

Poor heated pavers malfunctioning. I always think of this forum when I see them. Folks can enjoy a snowy vibe for today on them. Seems about 5” now at 1500ft and tapering off until the cold frontal upslope snows later today.

Have 3.75” on the cars at 750ft. Good fluffer but looks so nice and refreshed with trees clinging to a few inches of snow now.

Should be some deeper dust on crust but even if the base is firm, 4-6” is still fun. Still snowing pretty good!

Nice! Yeah radar had that look. Only about a half inch here the past hour. Sparkling snow though.

Ha! Just saw that. 0.50-1.00” water through Saturday... Kuchara maps have 10-20” snow in Northern Greens next 4 days. Those 850mb temps are perfect for a pow dump... cold -12C to -18C stuff.

Days and days of snow. 00z GFS gon’ wild through Saturday. At very cold 850mb temps... Kuchie maps have 10-20” next 4 days, lol.

Someone on the west slope into J.Spin’s area looks to be getting smoked. Cold air mass slamming moisture into the mountains. That escalated into like a deform band type radar echoes real fast. Snowing on this side now too. Lower level scan so Mountains blocking some of the radar beams.

Yeah, ha that radar escalated fast on the west slope to the crest.

18z HRRR looks decent... even a third of an inch of water on the slopes would help.

Awesome Gene!

Some models have like 0.40” water over JSpin (Canadian HRRR) lol. I bet on an ensemble he’d had some 10-12” members ha. Theres some workable QPF on the models over this way...that’s not the worst signal.

Happy Birthday dude. Taste that cake.