powderfreak

March snows though are usually great snowstorms. It all melts at some point, I just don’t get the fact that snow after like Valentines Day is just stat padding snow.

April 97 was certainly just a stat padder, no one enjoyed that knowing it would eventually melt.

How would a big March storm be a stat padder? It’s just odd that your climo favored time for large snowstorms is the time you refer to as stat padder time.

Sad news from the search and rescue last night. The backcountry terrain around here is no joke, sounds like they were from CT and familiar with Stowe. One skier found deceased under cliffs and his friend found alive on top of the cliffs. CASE#:20A101038 RANK/TROOPER FULL NAME:Det. Sgt. Jacob Metayer STATION: Williston CONTACT#: 802-878-7111 DATE/TIME: 18:40 02/29/20 INCIDENT LOCATION: Cambridge, VT - Smugglers Notch State Park VIOLATION:n/a VICTIM: Name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of next of kin AGE: 36 CITY, STATE OF RESIDENCE: Connecticut SUMMARY OF INCIDENT: On 02/29/20 at 18:36 the Vermont State Police-Williston barracks received a 911 call reporting two skiers had gone off of the trail at Stowe Mountain Resort. They were lost and one of the two skiers had fallen off of a cliff and was injured. Members from the State Police, Stowe Mountain Rescue, Colchester Technical Rescue, Cambridge Fire Department and several members of the Army Mountain Warfare School responded to begin searching for the skiers. After a search lasting over 2 hours, the two skiers were found. One of the skiers, a 36 year old male from Connecticut, was found at the base of a cliff deceased. The other skier was a 35 year old male also from Connecticut. He was found to be uninjured and was assisted out of the woods by rescue personnel. The two skiers were reported to be avid skiers who were familiar with the Stowe Mountain Resort. The names of the involved parties are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin.

It what we always talk about. You never can write winter off in a place where you can get rogue bombs.

We finished with a 40" storm total at the High Road Snow Plot. This is high-end. Andre and I are big fans of documenting events and a 40" storm total sounds outrageous, but that's what it was at the regular High Road Plot at 3kft on the east slope of Mansfield. This is the same location we measure all winter and have used for Stowe snowfall over the past decade. It is certainly not a drift. This was one of the more freakish events I have ever seen at the mountain. Along with that, the 25" stack that Andre found yesterday morning is one of the single largest stacks we have ever seen there, though it was a full day of accumulation due to the previous day wind hold.

I am still in disbelief that it did it again last night. Look at that firehose... with lake effect those yellows are like 2"/hr on the hill. Like 30 hours of this lake effect streamer being aimed in the Mansfield direction. Finally down to just a few flurries now and even a couple breaks in the clouds.

9" more at High Road Stake this morning. 39" total at that location on Mansfield. This is getting out of hand. 5" more in the parking lots at 1,500ft...almost two feet now at base level.

Here we go again. The ski area is in the firehose again.

Lake effect band moving south again. It’s been going slowly as it moves back south, spending 60-90 minutes in a location...I bet dropping a quick 1-3” to areas just north of us.

And just like that, 15" above the normal level. This one was memorable for how it happened from a skiers perspective. I may never have runs like the past couple days again. Yesterday was pure untracked sweetness in Tres Amigos with literally no tracks in huge swaths, for several laps. Today the Quad opened at like 1pm after wind hold all morning. Folks were tired or started leaving thinking the Quad and Sensation wouldn't open today. Then bam at 1pm everything popped open as the wind abated. All that snow sitting there for a couple days of very low to no traffic/lift access in spots...you don't get that lucky sneaking out for runs at 2pm ever.

It was a very memorable event. This place can still bring those high end surprising events but the signs were there... you'd just never forecast it. The long duration Lake Ontario band was aimed somewhere in this region and most models had a huge streamer even getting to NH/ME. That type of moisture with fantastic snow growth mixing with the orographic lift? Bonkers. Froude numbers were around 1.0 which is pretty much perfect for the east slope on Mansfield. The best lift is right over the crest and then you have the strong westerly flow that is able to blow those fluffy dendrites pretty far downwind. Town rarely gets into stuff to that extent, too. 10" out of this was quite the surprise. It's already settling as the last few inches was pretty much pure lake effect, stacking high on trees and powerlines with fluff. The first round was wet paste and then ratios kept increasing from there. Overall, this wasn't as much an upslope event, it was a Lake Ontario event that got a pretty substantial bump when it interacted with the Spine. It was like 10" of dense synoptic snow, then 20" of blower lake effect on the mountain.

No it didn't... but it really spaced itself out in this lake effect band. It just must be snowing harder up in the cloud? lol. That high elevation just fluffs snow in upslope/lake bands. I dont' know if the flakes are bigger or what. If it's 1"/hr at the base it's 2"/hr at 3,000ft in these meso-scale situations. It just snows so hard up there.

Finished with 10", just got home. 18" at 1,500ft and 30" at 3,000ft. Nice gradient.

They seem reasonable. Were saying 20" this afternoon at Jay. The lake band has migrated up there now.

30" total as of 4pm. Here are the two readings... first stack was 25" at 11am and then 5" from 11a to 4p.

Stake is now a few inches under the 7 foot mark... probably right around 80".

It's waist deep on the level. I'm getting consistent 24-30" measurements and that's with settling.

It's waist deep on the level. I'm getting consistent 24-30" measurements.

Full on lake effect blizzard in Vermont. 3,000ft at 10:45am was checking in with 26" storm total stack (not multiple measurements, a 26" stack). Here's 1,500ft at the office.

Yeah we’ve been in that moisture plume since yesterday afternoon, just west flow from Ontario. This band though is legit. Might pass 10” within the hour. 20-25+ dbz in lake effect is some pretty nice snowfall. Snow growth is as you’d expect. I bet it’s 30:1 ratio stuff right now at 1”+ per hour.

Set blasters on turbo... it is just choking dendrites all the sudden in town. Wonder if I can clear 10” at home from this event. 8.4” so far and leaving for work. Will find out later this evening.

I've put all my obs in the actual thread... but man it's still snowing out. Skiing (photos in the storm thread) was obscenely good.

I'm about to head out skiing for the afternoon... buddy Dylan from the skivt-l days reporting that its skiing deeper than it seems. Nice dense snow, that stuff skis so well when you can power the turns with no regrets.

Pretty snowy look...