powderfreak

Graupel for sure... like skiing on ball bearings. But no legit hail. We’ve had some upslope events with squalls and thunder/lightning that drop like 3-4” of graupel that skis extremely smooth.

We had some snow earlier and are now getting a mix of literally every type of precip that can fall from the sky. Big flakes, freezing rain, pellets, mist... lol. No hail or graupel though.

Downsloping up high is warming the mid-level layer. Just a slight sinking motion at 850-700mb can cause it to go above freezing. CAD locking in the surface temps but aloft there's some sinking motion there. Can see it on the 3km NAM... see the above freezing 850mb temps in the lee side of MWN from the wind direction. Can see the Green Mtn Peaks in N.VT doing the same thing.

Nice initial band of big flakes that coated the ground pretty well for only 15 minutes of snow, ha. Know when big aggies start from the get-go that it’s marginal aloft.

Yeah maybe that's the difference. I wonder what it's like outside of the bubble. The longest trip we seem to make in the winter is to Burlington every couple few weeks. In a ski town, there's a common thread. Similar to a surf or beach community. It's a community that's very interested in the out-of-doors that does it for me. There's an energy here and in the mountains that's upbeat. People are excited. That's definitely the ski culture and the vacation town feel. It's hard to get a depressed feeling in an area that seems highly desirable... like people work hard for their money, they save it up, and they look forward to using it to come to where we live. The COVID comments are interesting. It seems like it isn't a thing anymore except for wearing masks and being a little more conscious of how close you are to someone. No real opinion on it from me, but there seems to be no economic problems locally. Quite the opposite at times, 3 small businesses opened though one was PK Coffee that closed and reopened in another spot along the Mountain Road. Scary for when there's no pandemic though, with the free market roaring the demand might be nuts. Despite the very high demand to visit, the only problem for the town has been the lack of employees for area businesses from the previous President's ban on temporary work visa's (which I don't disagree with when so many are unemployed, but fails to realize the realities of seasonal employment).

Yeah I remember rafting the Deerfield and then also taking inflatable kayaks down it... Zoars Gap I think it’s called in there. That’s good stuff. Up here while the water is clear, don’t have that stuff in general. It’s either like a lazy clear river or a flooding muddy torrent. I like the Berkshires, for that latitude, they have the hill town vibe and culture for sure.

You guys have definitely taken the skunked award. I kept waiting for one of those Miller B specials that just hammer like NE Mass on up through the Maine coastal plain/interior... but just hasn’t happened. You guys can get one of those at 15-20” in like 12 hours that equals about 5-6 of my 3” fluffers in the snow table, lol. Just hasn’t hit yet maybe... not that one would save the winter but I’m sure a 15”+ would offer some redeeming value.

That's the place Dryslot has posted photos of before, right? The topography there looks perfect for WNW flow.

There’s a lot that factors into it, IMO. Veering in the low levels under 850mb, speed/velocity, inversions, stability, etc. That’s why BTV studies the Froude number so much. In some events a certain wind direction at 850mb can result in a downslope, but then in another event that same wind direction seems to be pushing the moisture over the barrier so effectively it’s a QPF jackpot. Here sort of explains it... if there’s blocking then the Lee side down slopes, if it’s unblocked the Lee side actually jackpots. BTV often references it on NW flow but it goes for all wind directions... sometimes I think we do great with an east flow in a synoptic storm only to find the precip maximum ended up on the west side because it was unblocked...likewise sometimes we jackpot in NW upslope on the east side. It’s not as simple as just looking at a straight wind direction. “The Froude Number represents the flow of air when it comes in contact with a barrier, in Vermont's case, the Green Mountains. It is an estimation of whether the flow can make it over the mountains or not and is basically a ratio of the wind perpendicular to the mountain chain versus the atmospheric stability. Under northwesterly flow, if the Froude Number is low (< 1), or subcritical and blocked, the air will not make it over the mountain and the precipitation will back up and fall primarily along the spine of the Green Mountains and the western slopes. If it is very low (< 0.5), the precipitation will back further west into parts of the eastern Champlain Valley and the western slopes of the Green Mountains. If the Froude Number is high (> 1), or supercritical and unblocked, the air will flow freely over the mountains and deposit the heaviest precipitation on the east side. A Froude Number near 1 is critical and the heaviest precipitation will likely fall along the barrier.”

Grew up there skiing on Sunday afternoons/evening under the lights. We had cheap passes from like 12pm-8pm on Sundays at Jiminy. We get quite spoiled up north when I think about the difference on days like this... skiing 8" of upslope blower up north or chattering down ice cube sized granular. As a kid I feel like I didn't know any better and I loved it... as an adult it's like "I could be doing something else right now..." ha.

That's how it is east of the crest axis... we get the same in Stowe Village. I bet Alex's area sees a lot more slate gray upslope days with clouds locked in. I feel like he mentions that quite a bit too. Just like the western slopes around here can be locked in low clouds all day on upslope flow while we are more squally to the east.

I'd believe it. We are over 8" now at Stowe above like 2,000ft. Last night grooming department reported a period of -RN at 1,500ft around midnight or just prior... then it went to paste and finally to fluff. Bet we still have 6" at 1,500ft just eyeballing it. As usual, "Snow showers likely" forecast brings in more inches of snow than the Winter Storm Warnings do, lol. It's finally tapering off it seems, the radar echo seemed to have slinked one ridge to the south near Dewey Mtn and then towards the three county line.

As I always preach... you just need to freshen up that top layer to make a snowpack look like it all fell yesterday again.

Yeah radar over here looks unblocked for the most part.... allowing for good propagation downwind. It seems that's your sweet spot too. Lets the snow showers/squalls get further ESE without losing their pay load too early.

Just keeps dumping. Some fantastic skiing today. Around a 7" total so far.

It is snowing so hard. 1”/hr at least. That skied more like half a foot now.

Flash freeze for sure. It was like 38F in the base area at 11pm it looks like, then the FROPA came through with several hours of +SN. Poor heated pavers, ha.

Snowy morning. Weirdest surface in the base area... tire tracks only 2” deep but there’s a layer of like 1-1.5” of complete sludge underneath. It must’ve came in warm and then chilled fast. You have to dig to find the actual pavement underneath. The plows are moving some chunky heavy snow despite the top 2” being fluff.

This is a crushing radar for the Spine. Quick several inches.

Had a couple snow showers today after the sunny start. A stronger burst just came through dropping a quick inch on the Lookout Snow Plot. It came through as white rain down in town at 750ft. Snow level seems to be 1000-1500ft this evening but will drop fast after the FROPA. Here's last run at 4pm... I love how light it is now late in the day. Two months ago I would've needed a headlamp practically at the time of these photos on our final lap. Now I can ski till 415pm and still have enough light to walk the dog when I get home.

If there’s one thing that decides overall vibe in weather... it’s expectations. You can have a great winter if your expectations are the floor lol.

Despite the warmth, wet-bulbs must be low because this band is monster flakes. Huge aggregates.

I was pretty impressed by that BTV stat... especially given how warm the airport can run sometimes. Not hitting 40F until 2/24 seems pretty decent... especially since one good southerly flow day can pump 40F up that valley with ease even in mid-winter.

Private weather station temperatures have been holding in the low to mid-30s. The earlier snowfall still was melting during the break... this current round started whitening things up again. It's a marginal situation at 750ft.