powderfreak

Barely getting in on it here on the northern gradient. Steady -SN but not getting more than a healthy inch or so. Been steady for a couple hours but synoptic ratios with around 0.10 - 0.15” QPF expected… not going to add up to much.

This is the obs content we log on for.

I think this moving the goalposts of normals is a fun topic, ha. 25 years ago wasn’t that long ago.

Steady light snow. Vis about a mile. Immediately whitened up the cars. Hoping to pull 1-2”.

Light snow just started back up here. It’s been a westerly flow month. Hard to argue with anyone that the synoptic areas have been dry. We get pennies and nickels.

Agreed 100% when I saw this. Devils Fiddle was a high-end treat growing up. Most often in March when natural snowpack topped out. Aspect melts out fast in the spring but the rock drops and sustained pitch made it one of my favorites during Match school trips to Killington.

The MVL ASOS in the valley here is +0.4F on the month of January. That is absolutely wild. It has felt cold. Average temperature of 16.2F isn't noteworthy though. I guess what made this month feel colder was the consistent fluffy snowfall, wind? Or maybe it was the fact that the past two seasons had average temps of 23.8F (+8.1) or January 2023 with 26.4F (+10.7). This January being colder by 8-11 degrees from the previous two January's definitely skews perception. The past two January's were top tier warmth, average feels cold.

Down to 0F in town and -4F at base of ski area with a brutal wind. Classic.

The local zone from here in town to the ski area has done ok this winter (so far). This is the 1,500ft base area elevation at the end of today. The old Barnes Camp. A couple feet of wind-blown snow on the ground (after today’s accumulation), and the atmosphere is just in storm mode. Wind has been hammering this evening with flakes falling sideways. Summit is 60G70.

Those are the days we remember.

6" of snow today at home, fluffy but still has some density, and still coming down steadily with 1sm visibility. Cold wind-blown stuff this afternoon. Felt like a winter storm with temps, snow and wind. Despite being at the mountain all day (9"), the MVL obs are what I think would the valley story. Largely steady light snow but some heavier squalls that put down some faster accumulations. Those heavier bursts were much more sustained and more frequent up at the mountain.

Yeah all good points. Have a half a foot down in town from last night and today. Still snowing pretty well.

Around 9” for Mansfield at the High Road Plot, lol. Might have gotten 4” in 2 hours during some of those squalls.

8.5”-9” for Mansfield. High Road Plot had 4.5” at 9:30am and then added another 4” in 5 hours through 2:30pm. The differences have been wild this year from Champlain Valley to Greens.

Up to about 5" at the ski area now. Snowing hard.

January morning vibes.

2” and light snow.

It has just been a gentle slosh of moisture into the mountains from the NW/W/SW direction aloft for almost a month. Places that are near the barrier to that sloshing, have done ok so far this winter. Places downstream that are blocked by terrain and see drastically less low level moisture don’t seem to do as well… those downstream areas (of the barrier) are the ones that benefit from a SE/NE flow.

I bust your balls a lot for your dry persistence forecasting in the warm season but you had the fear and it has continued into the cold season. Your idea of using the dry falls and how those years correlated to shit snowfall the following winter has not been wrong so far.

BTV forecast:

It would be nice.

Yeah, like that guy in the ski thread who vacationed there recent at one of Alex’s properties and said they woke up every morning to the car covered in fresh snow. It has been amazing to me the lack of synoptic snowfall or even precip events. It hasn’t rained or snowed synoptically in a long time. I guess tomorrow is synoptic but there’s an orographic assist too. Been a while since just straight mid-level lift producing precip.

Just ran into an old friend at the gas station 15 minutes ago in Stowe, his first words were “You must be stoked we are having a good old winter finally with cold and snow”…. right after getting back from BTV where my wife was commenting on the grass blades showing and how little snow there was. If you live in the orographic bubble, the perception is wildly different from outside of it. Locally folks seem oblivious to what’s going on regionally.

It is crazy the differences. I also don’t think people up here realize how lucky we’ve been too. Everyone talking about “finally an ol’ fashion winter” and I’m thinking we haven’t seen a synoptic snow in like a month and are only surviving because of orographic or mesoscale stuff. It’s been very tenuous but has worked out to date.

Ahh so a cold 48F instead.