powderfreak

You ever wonder what 1978 would’ve looked like on today’s models? Could it have been 5-6 feet, that verifies as 36-48”. I always wonder about that... how storms of yore would’ve been represented in the lead time with today’s models.

Elemental Energy. Hooralph. Some good old ones there.

Yeah it wasn’t that special but more than was expected 2-3 days out. The band was definitely east of us along the MA/NY border at this latitude. But boy do I remember Jan 2002 too. Great memory to bring up. A complete sh*t winter that somehow grabbed a high-end event. That featured a depth increase of 8” in 2 hours officially at the airport during the height of it. Delmar, NY where I grew up had 18” and was a near jackpot. Not bad for the 01-02 winter. That was another southern stream moisture laden storm: In this case, the northern and southern stream branches of the jet never really phased well. What happened instead was that a strong upper level storm embedded within the southern branch of the jet intensified to the point, as it drove south into the Gulf of Mexico, that it alone was able to buck a fast shearing flow along the coast as it swung around the base of the east coast trough, to form a moderately intense surface Nor'easter that produced some heavy snow in the Northeast. The storm did move very rapidly from off the Virginia coast late Sunday afternoon to the Canadian Maritimes by early Monday morning, which reduced the amount of snow that would have fallen had the system moved slower. The fast speed of the storm, however, was compensated for by the lift in the atmosphere the storm created and the high moisture content of the air it brought with it from the Gulf of Mexico. The atmospheric lift was so great and moisture content so rich that snow fell at rates of 2"-4" per hour for a couple of hours from 8pm through midnight on the 6th. In fact, at Albany, eight inches of snow fell between 10:00pm and midnight on January 6.

I love it. Because I feel the same way. You become ok with even being shafted in some events, because it's about the variety and interesting weather you see in the mountains compared to other areas. I still think mountains feature by far the most interesting weather you can get. It's also in your face, because the terrain gives a literal vertical profile of the lower levels of the atmosphere. When I grew up in the Hudson Valley, you look up and there's no point of reference for weather. For some reason it just feels different in the mountains when you can see visually what's happening. We have no shortage of interesting weather. In the mountain communities is where a random snow shower/squall or rouge strong thunderstorm can pop up at anytime. The low level lift is always present... wind flow and moisture still need to be figured out. But the mountain communities have omnipresent lift possible. I think that's the key to the interesting weather. Not even considering temperatures that vary wildly based on set-up.

That’s awesome. I still have to remind myself of where you came from and what that must feel like. You feel like a lifelong member of the NNE crew already. But this is like prom night, before marrying the prom queen . Hopefully it never becomes “old” when it snows!

I’m an idiot. It was Feb ‘01. Dendrite was probably in that same mesoband I remember coming through eastern NY state SE of ALB. It was that same winter, I just didn’t flip the calendar year in my post .

Banned.

Comparing a few over-performing snow shower events up here to Feb 2015 seems like a major party foul. I get it but that made me chuckle.

Yeah Killington looked favored on that blocked SW flow ahead of the low today. We had 1.5" daytime at Stowe... the same I got down in the village. There's an insane amount of rime up on the hill from the thick moist clouds. The hill is plastered white, despite low natural snow depths. Some terrain expansion coming.

Wasn't there one in February 2000 too that just kept tracking westward on the models in the final 48 hours and hit a similar area? I distinctly remember an event we were going to whiff in ALB and for some reason the memory is very vivid of skiing Whiteface that day and coming home to see the ETA was all the sudden hammering eastern New York and adjacent western New England. The event I'm thinking of had some insane meso-band from the Berkshires to SE of ALB and into the lower Hudson Valley I think.

The bolder I agree with. It’s not as big of a difference as up north, but I truly believe there is still a north/south gradient between Mt Snow and Killington. Marginal borderline events, maybe SWFE? Killington has significant elevation in that 2000-4000ft range, slightly higher than Mt Snow. I get @radarman’s point though, sometimes Mt Snow gets hit hard in coastal that scrape Killington... but my gut still says there’s a gradient between the two.

I know Ginxy, you’re never surprised lol.

Loved this one. Probably one of the first storms I remember truly tracking online using like unisys weather models (or something like that). Anyone remember that site? We had 13” in Albany I think.

Yeah I guess they do... but that pattern can also often be Dusting to inch and have a nice day. Last night dropped an inch of like snow drizzle, I think that’s the cling. It was snow but all low level small flakes, a decent amount of them. I dunno, I definitely didn’t expect this scene on the whole when looking at the pattern for this week. I think town has continued to out perform the mountain some how too. That plays into the wow factor. Temps and moisture are good. It’s been like 25-27F every day and good inversion with lots of moisture trapped under it. I think we are getting blocked flow upslope from the Worcester Range on the east side of town... that 3500ft ridge line I think is backing up the flow just enough to keep moisture coming in town, while east slope of Mansfield where the ski area is finds itself blocked out a bit.

Pretty much all unforecast and unmodeled snow here this week. 3 days of continuous light snow eventually adds up. Norman Rockwell has nothing on the scene in town right now.

Steady light snow eventually adds up. Walked the dog through a winter wonderland this afternoon on the Rec Path: Even the power lines are going white. There's been some combo of fluffy snow that's also incredibly "clingy" to create that true winter wonderland look. Like caking snow.

Stowe Village is just insanely beautiful right now. I can't believe how lucky we've been this week with snowfall.... we missed the big storm but the orographic insurance policy has come through. Still more snow on the ground under 1,000ft than above 1,500ft . I mean we'd spend days tracking this type of snowfall.... almost all of this was un-modeled snow.

Pretty consistent moisture feed into the Spine. We should see it go all night.

About an inch so far at home. Wintry appeal.

The accumulations haven't been all that much, but what a snowy period for literally nothing showing up on the models at all. As of 10pm it is still snowing lightly. Total accumulations with a couple board clearings in the past 48 hours is ~5.75" of mostly non-modeled snow. There's 4" of snow depth (plenty of compaction in the past 24 hours), owing to the fluffy nature of the recent snow.

The past couple days definitely feel a bit snowier here than normal in these patterns. Just the right conditions I guess for dendrites. When we left the roads were dry and got back and they were snow covered except for the wheel lanes. Despite literally nothing on radar we've had some decent periods of light snow and almost like a snow mist this evening. It has to be very low level stuff for the radar to not hit it (under 5-6k feet here).

Just got home to 1” of absolute dust. Can see straight through it. Still snowing lightly.

It’s the “wintry appeal” vibe when there are just flakes falling all the time. Even if there’s no real accumulation it’s about setting the winter mood.

Ha it’s funny you mention this as Killington has been getting hammered in online and social circles for their measuring or lack thereof. The other day when they reported 8” it was more than anyone and on the Live cams there was like grass showing everywhere and people who skied said there was like 3-4” in the woods up high lol. Killington’s numbers have been starting to stand out but I’d be curious on Jen’s take there. She skis it daily. But at times they’ve been higher than Stowe and Jay in seasonal totals. The unopened mountains like Sugarbush/Bolton/Smuggs probably miss some snowfall as it’s hard to get upper mountain reports. We are lucky with a decent snow cam and I also get up a lot for early season snowfall to verify at the Stake and on hill. I agree with everything you said. Jay definitely gets the most and I try to explain to skiers who don’t believe it that on the most basic level, snowfall increases as you head north in New England, all else equal. Jay maximizes orographic lift too. And then when people are like “I don’t believe they would get 50-75” more than Stowe and Smuggs!” I usually answer, but you accept that Stowe and Smuggs can at times get 50-75” more than Sugarbush/MRG? IMO once averages sort themselves out long term, there’s a clear stepwise increase from SB/MRG to Bolton/Stowe/Smuggs... followed by another clear step up to Jay. I do also fully believe Sugarbush should average a clear step up from Killington. Just like Killington should be clearly more than Mt Snow.

No idea, your best bet is to call and often just calling one of the resorts can clear it up quicker than calling headquarters out in Colorado. College passes are always the hardest but in the past (even when I was in college) the ski areas wanted a letter from the registrars office with official school emblem/seal on it showing enrollment. The same proof you needed for a lot of stuff related to college student discounts as I remember it. UVM had an office when I went specifically for that stuff so people could get their proof for the ski areas lol.