powderfreak

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.

HREF mean likes 4-6” for the ski areas in NVT. Good old SREF plumes are around 2” for MVL out in the valley, so one would think the slopes might get at least some help or a snowy day tomorrow.

Got some snow coming it looks like tomorrow. A couple waves but snow growth looks pretty good. Could be a refresh. With no synoptic storms we need to keep limping along with butter on some bread. Euro is the lightest... GFS is the heaviest... this would be a good shot for the Northern Greens. GGEM NAM

Up to 7F at MVL... still getting gusts over 30mph.

Yeah I had a half inch with the initial squall at 3pm that’s completely gone except for all the footprints and dog prints are filled in. Had some decent secondary squalls at like 10pm and I don’t think the snow even hit the ground. Most snow in the flood lights seemed to be going upward. Good flake size too. Other than that, the crusty surface is just wiped clean. Covered with pine needles, sticks, boughs and debris though.

This has been one of the longest wind events I can remember. Just constant for 12 hours at least.

BTV at 24G40... peak gust of 47mph so far. KBTV 020154Z 34024G40KT