uncletim

Cars starting to glaze over for the first time in Chevy Chase. Assume freezing rain mixed in w/sleet.

Worth their weight in gold on ice. Ours are somewhat less “aggressive”, but still very effective.

This is an interesting pic - I have same effect on my deck. Normally even a couple of inches of snow and the decking gaps are filled in. This was so cold, dry and fine that even with 5 inches of pure snow, it was still sifting through the gapping,and the sleet continues the same way. Never seen that before.

18/-6 at the bottom of the Grand Canyon of the Rock Creek. My dp seems low compared to other stations reporting nearby. Most are reporting -1 or -2. Similar temps though.

Thanks for the reply. Curious because it seems to me that weather modeling is one area where AI can be truly useful to society - possibly a major upgrade in modeling, which from my uneducated perspective seems to have stalled somewhat. But I also know we are only in the intitial stages of AI implementation.

Did it (Euro AI) ever “adjust”? Was it better than conventional Euro, say, 4 days out? Serious questions, not snark. Just wondering where it’s most useful.

Except in Georgetown; it’s still bright sunshine there.

The one south of Ludlow I think is Proctorsville Gulf on 103. Fun to check all these out on Streetview. Hazen's Notch road reminds me of Stratton/Arlington road in the south. Smuggs story. First time I was there was over 25 years ago and we passed a small sign on the road that just said "Bingham Falls For Sale". Intrigued by the concept of a waterfall for sale, my buddy and I pulled over and walked down what was at that time a narrow path to the falls. A good way down the path we were blocked by, of all things, a pickup truck in the middle of the trail. It was clear that someone had driven down the trail, encountered a fallen log, and with no possibility of backing up just abandoned the truck. I often wondered how long the truck was there and how it was removed. It was surprising that it could have gotten as far as it did given how narrow the trail was and there no way it a commercial tow could get to it. Not too mention what possessed the driver to try in the first place...

OK, if you want to give downhill a try, here's my advice, which others I'm sure can add to. Don't go out west just to try to ski. It's pricey, to say the least, and you may find you really don't like it. Maybe the first thing you should do is - find someone to go with. Not many people just make a decision on their own to go by themselves and start skiing - most have friends or family and it's a lot more fun. The other person or people don't even have to be skiers, which might be even better because you're all in the same boat trying something new. It may seem obvious, but take a lesson. Ski resorts have instructors that specialize in "never-evers" of all ages. The first time, it's probably best to just go locally to Liberty, Roundtop or Whitetail. You absolutely do not have to make a major trip to a "big resort". If you have flexibility, try to pick a sunny but cold, calm day. Unfortunately, as we have all discussed here ad nauseam, these are getting rarer and rarer around here. You don't need to buy any equipment or even clothing in advance, everything you need can be rented at the slopes in a package. If you really want to see snow cover, you can go by car to northern New England, but what will happen when you are there is still a bit of a crapshoot. Last year during 3 days in March in Vermont, we had 37 inches of snow. This year first week in March it rained almost every day, but fortunately not all the time, so we still skied. And Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are beautiful places in the winter with plenty of other activities. If you find downhill is not for you, you can do X-country, which is a lot easier and cheaper just to "go out and do it". And don't let a "not athletic" self-image deter you. I started in my 30s and no one has ever called me "athletic". I may not be very good, but I think being out in the mountains in the winter is magic. My father started after he retired in his 60s and went many times to New England and even out west. Had a great time with it for years.

(Getting off-topic here, mods please move this to banter if appropriate…) Here’s the the operative question: do you ski at all - and by “ski” in this case, I mean downhill as opposed to x-country? Have you ever been skiing? If you haven’t, and I get the feeling that’s the case, then I think many members of this forum, including me, would be happy to give advice on the best approach to getting started. Skiers tend to be evangelists for the sport, and the thing we most want to avoid is for first-timers to have a bad first day and get turned off, which can easily happen. Having a fun first day, even if you’re falling all over the place, is the key.

Would love to see this go back a couple of decades further. Growing up in Faifax County in the sixties and early seventies, I learned to ice skate and never was on a rink until my last couple of years in high school. Ponds froze for at least a handful of weeks most winters. The other reason I would like to see it go back further is to see how those late seventies winters look compared to earlier. Was that period as anomalous in context of the previous couple of decades?

I think this is what W53 refers to.

Hmm - how about an Amwx ski day at Liberty or Whitetail. I’d be down for that.

The “chain-up” lots on the east side of Bennington and west side of Wilmington on rt 9 are promising indicators for sure. Usually only see that out West!

I think prices will go down eventually, at least in ME. Any kind of fluctuation tends to be exaggerated there because of the distance from population centers. Also, historically the length and depth and darkness of winter in the higher elevations in ME tends to be discouraging. Fun at first, but it gets old for most folks after a few years. Even Squire Rangeley, the town namesake, said the hell with this and moved down to Virginia after several years. That may be changing though; last several winters even there have been significantly more moderate (getting back to thread relevance!).