J.Spin

March Totals Accumulating Storms: 7 Snowfall: 12.9” Liquid Equivalent: 3.34” March mean and median snowfall here at our site are both right around 30 inches, so this March was definitely somewhat lean in that department, running 0.86 S.D. below average. This March certainly won’t go down as a “middle of the pack” type of month, but it’s definitely not in with the “bottom of the barrel” type seasons like ‘09-‘10 (2.1”) and ’15-‘16 (5.7”) either. It even edged out ‘08-‘09 (12.6”), although it certainly falls in that group with seasons like ’11-‘12 (14.2”) and ’14-‘15 (17.2”). Total liquid for the month was a bit below the mean (3.67”), but pretty typical overall. The total number of accumulating snowstorms was actually right about the average (~7.5). Now that we’re on to April, the yard snowpack is dwindling and I suspect the last vestiges will be gone within a few days. It will likely disappear earlier than average (4/15), but it already looks like it’s going to persist longer than some of the very early seasons like ‘09-‘10 (4/3). This season had a very early snowpack start though (11/8), so the duration of the continuous winter snowpack here in the yard is already at 147 days and beyond the average duration.

Nice, glad to hear you got out into the backcountry. I was actually thinking of touring on the Bolton BC Network when we were out the other day – with so many people off from work, the resort trails are getting more traffic than usual. The snowpack at the Mt. Mansfield Stake is still 60 inches, and the forecast shows various chances for snow in the higher elevations over the next week. Even if none of the snows are very substantial, there don’t seem to be any overly warm temperatures, so the snowpack at elevation shouldn’t be going anywhere. I’m hoping we get some more rounds of spring storms with accumulations like this last one – it’s kind of strange having the resorts closed here in March, but it’s presenting some unique opportunities. The time of year is always so great with the deep snowpack and longer days, and the warm spring skiing is certainly fun, but the spring powder days have such a cool vibe – you get a piece of winter sort of transplanted into spring, atop what is typically the deepest base of the season!

With the fresh powder from Winter Storm Quincy, my younger son and I headed out for a ski tour at Bolton Valley yesterday, so I can pass along some snow updates and images. Depth checks of the new snow at 1,500’, 2,000’, and even up above 3,000’ were all essentially the same in the 7 to 8” range. That’s essentially the same as what we picked up at the house, so overall, there really didn’t seem to be much change in accumulation around here from 500’ on up to above 3,000’. Temperatures stayed well below freezing even at 2,000’, and probably even down to 1,500’, so the turns were very nice. The powder was of medium to perhaps slightly higher density, the snow had a nice surfy consistency, with enough buoyancy for bottomless turns on even steep pitches in the black diamond range. You could certainly hit bottom on the very steepest pitches, but we focused on medium-angle terrain and it was bottomless all the way. With many people not going to work right now as the state strives to minimize the spread of COVID-19, and a fresh dump of powder on the slopes, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at how many people were out for turns. The number of people touring seemed notable though – between Timberline and the Village, there were at least several dozen cars out there. Despite the number of people up at the resort, it was clear that even resort ski touring is still a great activity for social distancing. As is typically the case, we actually saw only a few people while we were out on the hill, and you still never had to go within 50 feet of anyone if you didn’t want to. A few shots from the tour:

That’s actually what we do a lot throughout the winter – simply clear the plow berm at the end of the driveway with shovels because that’s the only thing really presenting an issue. I do have neighbors who clean up just about every storm, and with the climate here giving an average of 50 storms a season with a mean snowfall per storm of 3.2 inches, you can imagine that’s going to be a lot of work. I really prefer to save the wear and tear on the equipment, impact on the environment, and the time required to get it done. For folks that enjoy the shoveling as an activity or exercise, you can certainly get plenty of it here throughout the winter, but I’d rather just head out and go for a ski tour to make use of the snow.

Indeed, this time of year it's especially undesirable to run the snow thrower when the driveway gravel isn't frozen in place. That kind of sets the threshold for actually clearing accumulations even a bit higher. We’ve got a solid slope on the driveway, but thankfully we’re running Subarus with Nokian WR G3s or WR G4s on them, so unless they start to struggle we typically just pack it down.

Totals here were 8.7” snow from 0.70” L.E., which at least in terms of snowfall was definitely above the initial NWS forecast. I didn’t run the snow thrower though – even in midwinter this would have potentially been borderline for a clearing depending on how packed the snow on the driveway was below it. In this case the driveway was essentially clear of snow to begin with, so this is just serving as a new base layer – and its’ nearing the end of March now, so it’s eventually going to melt. I took a look backward in my data for spring storms, and the one of significance I hit first was from last year on 3/21 to 3/23. I guess that one is sort of on the border for actually being in spring. Data for that one was 12.5” from 1.99 L.E., so obviously a lot more potent and dense with respect to snowfall, and I see it brought 2 to 3 feet of snow to the local mountains. This recent storm has certainly helped with respect to seasonal snowfall, but we’re still about 14 inches behind average pace due to the lackluster snowfall for much of the month. Average snowfall from this point on is about 10 inches here at our site. We’d need about double that to really get close in to average snowfall, but even if we stop at this point, the season would only be ~0.6 S.D. below the mean.

Event totals: 8.7” Snow/0.70” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.6 inches New Liquid: 0.05 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 12.0 Snow Density: 8.3% H2O Temperature: 31.8 F Sky: Light Snow (1 to 4 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 9.0 inches

Event totals: 8.1” Snow/0.65” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 5.8 inches New Liquid: 0.44 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 13.2 Snow Density: 7.6% H2O Temperature: 30.2 F Sky: Light Snow (2 to 12 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 8.5 inches

I got a text alert around 7:30 P.M. that we’ve been put under a Winter Storm Warning here in Washington Country, no doubt due to the continued heavy snowfall. The BTV NWS has updated their maps as well, which I’ve included below. Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Burlington VT 758 PM EDT Mon Mar 23 2020 NEAR TERM /THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... As of 748 PM EDT Monday...Well its been an extremely busy evening here at the office, as we expanded the advisories north to the international border and placed central/southern cwa into winter storm warnings. Expecting storm total of 2 to 6 inches advisory and 4 to 8 inches in warnings, with many reports of 6 inches or so from Newcomb to Port Henry to Orwell to Bridport. A meso- band developed and moved further north than anticipated, causing snowfall rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour. We picked up 2.9 inches in 1 hour here at BTV during this band. Moving forward expect this initial band to lift northeast of our cwa by 02z, however, some additional lighter bands of snow will continue to impact central/southern cwa thru midnight or so. Have updated snowfall maps and qpf to match our thinking.

I saw this band approaching on the radar, and the snowfall rate turned out to be pretty robust as it came through here. I’d cleared the snowboards at 6:00 P.M., and as of 6:30 P.M. there was already an addition 2.6” of accumulation, so the snowfall was in excess of 5”/hr. during that period.

Event totals: 2.3” Snow/0.21” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.3 inches New Liquid: 0.21 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 11.0 Snow Density: 9.1% H2O Temperature: 30.9 F Sky: Snow (2 to 10 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 2.5 inches

I’ve got the latest BTV NWS maps for the current storm, which has been given the name Winter Storm Quincy by TWC. There aren’t really any winter weather alerts this far north in the state, but I have seen some fairly steady snow this afternoon in the Burlington and Waterbury areas. The projected accumulations map has us in the 3-4” range, and the point forecast suggests something in the 2-4” range, so the agreement is fairly good there.

Event totals: 0.2” Snow/0.08” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.2 inches New Liquid: Trace Temperature: 25.2 F Sky: Flurries/Light Snow (2 to 10 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: Trace

Event totals: 1.6” Snow/0.10” L.E. Details from the 4:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.2 inches New Liquid: 0.02 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 10.0 Snow Density: 10.0% H2O Temperature: 42.6 F Sky: Sprinkles/Mist Snow at the stake: 2.5 inches

Event totals: 1.4” Snow/0.08” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.4 inches New Liquid: 0.08 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 17.5 Snow Density: 5.7% H2O Temperature: 30.7 F Sky: Light Snow (2 to 8 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 3.0 inches