J.Spin

Event totals: 5.4” Snow/0.31” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 3.6 inches New Liquid: 0.17 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 21.2 Snow Density: 4.7% H2O Temperature: 30.6 F Sky: Heavy Snow (5-25 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 21.5 inches

Phin, it really depends on what kind of snow you’re skiing, and at how high a level you’re going to be skiing on hard snow/ice. For a high-level racer who’s going to be on hard snow all the time and wants performance, they’re going to sharpen their skis very frequently - many, many times a season. They want the perfect bevel and all that for their desired performance. Also, for someone like the guy from VT who was recently lost in that avalanche in the Presidentials, you’re going to want your edges in tip-top shape. For the most part, someone like that is going to be skiing relatively soft snow, but if you’re in no-fall-zone terrain like some of those ravines, you never know when you’re going to come across a hidden ice bulge, and you don’t want to leave anything to chance. Those sharp edges could save your life. For just about everyone else, the frequency of sharpening is going to be much less, and there’s a lot of preference involved in the exact interval. I think Brewbeer is probably being a bit cheeky based on the emoticon, but that’s not too far from the truth for many people I know. Unless I’ve got obligations for a ski program day or something along those lines, I typically don’t even go out unless there’s fresh powder or really good snow, so on most of my pairs of skis, really sharp edges are hardly a priority. Those skis do eventually get sharpened every couple of years or so when I decide it’s time for a full tune. And, I have carving skis that I will sharpen and tune myself when I know I have to go out on a crap day. I kind of make the call on sharpening them based on how bad the conditions are going to be. For the typical recreational skier who is being selective with their days, you can get away with infrequent sharpening up here in NVT, much like many areas out in the western U.S., because of the frequent refresher snows we get. Obviously you can get away with it in other parts of NNE as well, depending on skier traffic and how the snow’s been falling. Stretches like this with no freeze/thaws make it very easy, as long as you stay away from manmade snow or very high traffic areas. If you guys are skiing five days a week and not choosing just primo snow days though, you’re probably going to be encountering hard snow at times (basically hard snow is essentially anything that makes noise when you’re making a turn). If I was going out five days a week and had to ski regardless of the conditions, I’d probably be sharpening every couple of weeks. If you’re not at a level where you can obviously tell that your edges need sharpening, then it’s not an imminent issue for you. Can you scrape off some fingernail on the edges? How do your bases look with respect to scratches? What I’d recommend though, with the amount of skiing you appear to be doing, is to get a mid-season tune from a professional (just your skis, not the whole family’s). You’re the one in the family who is actually cognizant of the potential issue, so you might as well be the test pilot. If you don’t notice any difference, that’s fine, you may not yet be skiing at a level where it matters too much. We’re around that mid-season point now, but the conditions are pretty good, so you could always wait on a tune until the conditions go south. But if you’re skiing a lot of icy stuff like what you mentioned you found at Cannon, those would be conditions that would let you recognize a difference.

It looks like another burst is just about to hit the spine around here:

We picked up just shy of an inch in the past 30 minutes, so that would put the snowfall rate near 2”/hr.

It’s not our tried and true NW or WNW flow, but it is coming down pretty heavily out there. It should be hitting you in short order unless there's some sort of Froude issue.

I saw those stronger echoes as well – it’s always interesting to see what they do when they hit the spine.

Yeah, I see that moisture approaching on the radar, and flakes have started falling here at the house.

Event totals: 1.8” Snow/0.14” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.8 inches New Liquid: 0.14 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 12.9 Snow Density: 7.8% H2O Temperature: 30.9 F Sky: Cloudy Snow at the stake: 18.5 inches

Snow from this next incoming system (Winter Storm Peggy) just started up here at our site.

January Totals Days with new snow: 29 Accumulating Storms: 12 Snowfall: 41.0” Liquid Equivalent: 3.05” SDD: 311.0 I just got around to assembling my January snow data. I think I recall people being rather “meh” on January’s winter weather in general, but it really snuck its way to just about average around here in terms of snowfall. And, snow fell on 29 out of 31 days of the month, so that’s going to provide a rather wintry feel right there.

With that period of 2”/hr snows we had on Tuesday afternoon, I stopped in at Bolton for some runs yesterday morning to see how the powder was skiing. When I got there about 30 minutes after the opening of Timberline, it seemed surprisingly busy for Bolton on a weekday morning, but I must have caught part of the initial burst of skiers, because it was back to walk-on by my second run. I was surprised to run into freezing mist and drizzle as I was heading through Bolton Flats, and that was the main precipitation type right on up to the mountain. My experience was similar to yours, in that it was pretty inconsequential with respect to the overall snow quality. It was irrelevant on the groomed terrain, and in the powder out in the open, while you could tell the layer was there, it was so thin that it just didn’t make a difference with respect to turns. The powder overall was denser than I thought it would be with my evening snow analyses coming in roughly 5 to 6% H2O, but perhaps the freezing drizzle had its effects there in terms of compacting things a bit. As you mentioned, in the trees it was even better because they catch most of the mist/drizzle. While the snow was relatively unaffected, the biggest hassle I found with the freezing drizzle was visibility. My goggles would glaze up pretty nicely during a lift ride. The great solution I found was to simply pop out my lens for the lift ride (another nice benefit of magnetic lenses), stick it in my coat, and by the time I reached the top, it was thawed and clear to start another run. At the Timberline Base I found about 5” of new snow, and depth checks I did around the mountain in the 1,500’ – 2,500’ range revealed roughly 5-8” of accumulation. I think was a bit more than what they mentioned in the snow report, but I’m currently seeing a report of 9” in the past 48 hours, so I’d say that’s pretty similar overall. The precipitation was changing back over to snow as I was heading out, and then later in the day that next round of backside upslope finally came through to finish off the storm. Even with that bit of freezing drizzle, we really haven’t had too much weather to specifically knock down the fluff or push the snow off objects, so it just continues to stack up on various surfaces. I’ve added a couple of shots I got of the snow while I was at the mountain:

Event totals: 10.2” Snow/0.60” L.E. We picked up 0.7” of snow through midnight, and then an additional 0.3” this morning, and I suspect that’s the end of the snow from Winter Storm Orlena. The NWS forecast for our area was 7-14” of snow, so the 10.2” we picked up fits right in there. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.3 inches New Liquid: 0.01 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 30.0 Snow Density: 3.3% H2O Temperature: 27.9 F Sky: Cloudy Snow at the stake: 19.0 inches

Event totals: 9.3” Snow/0.53” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.1 inches New Liquid: 0.15 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 14.0 Snow Density: 7.1% H2O Temperature: 27.7 F Sky: Snow (4-15 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 18.5 inches

Yeah, the flow has finally turned to the north and west representing the back side of Winter Storm Orlena. It was amazing how far west the storm pushed, and how long it took to get to the backside moisture.

Event totals: 6.9” Snow/0.38” L.E. I headed home from Burlington to Waterbury this afternoon through what seemed like 2”/hr snowfall – the type of snowfall where the road is entirely covered white, and the air is like a thick blanket of white because the huge flakes just block out everything. When visibility is already so low like that, you’ve really got to have your defroster and wipers keeping up with the demands, because any sort of slight obscuring of the windshield basically drops the overall visibility to zero. Add on the fact that the snow is coming down so fast that the plows can’t keep up and you’ve got inches of accumulation on the roadway, so it’s like driving on one of those snow-driving courses. And there’s also that momentary shock when the lights of the car in front of you disappear and you realize you have no idea where the road goes. As always, a fun drive in the Subaru, but you never know if you’re going to get delayed because somebody went off the road and backed up all the cars on French Hill or something. The combination of far fewer cars on the road due to COVID-19/snow day, and the fact that people just really know how to drive in the snow around here, definitely made it an enjoyable run through the maelstrom. I do think the snowfall rate was up near 2”/hr though, because I found 4” on the snowboards when I got home, and my wife said that all that new snow fell in just a couple of hours. Details from the 5:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 4.0 inches New Liquid: 0.21 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 19.0 Snow Density: 5.3% H2O Temperature: 23.7 F Sky: Light Snow (1-5 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 19.0 inches

Event totals: 2.9” Snow/0.17” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.9 inches New Liquid: 0.17 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 17.1 Snow Density: 5.9% H2O Temperature: 17.1 F Sky: Flurries Snow at the stake: 15.0 inches

The text came in today that our area had been put under a Winter Weather Advisory, and as the BTV NWS alerts map shows below, all the Winter Storm Watches in VT have moved on to Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Warnings. On the Event Total Snowfall map, we’re in the 8-12” shading as were in the previous update, but that area of 8-12” projected accumulations has expanded significantly in the updated map to cover a fairly broad area east and west of the spine of the Greens. There are also areas of 12-18” shading appearing in NNY. The map still only covers the period through 7:00 A.M. Wednesday, so it won’t include the potential accumulations for Wednesday, Wednesday night, and Thursday on the back side of the system. The point forecast here calls for roughly 6-12” through Tuesday night, but as with the previous forecast, the additional periods aren’t into the accumulations range yet.

I got a text alert this morning that we’ve been put under a Winter Storm Watch, so I guess it’s time to start checking out the BTV NWS maps. On the alerts map, it’s Winter Storm Watches up and down the state of VT, and they also extend westward into parts of NYS. On the Event Total Snowfall map, we’re in the 8-12” shading for the period through 7:00 A.M. Wednesday. The point forecast here calls for 4-10” through Tuesday, but Tuesday night isn’t into the accumulations range yet, so we’ll have to see what’s expected there as we move forward.

I saw in this morning’s BTV NWS AFD that they’ve seen some northward shift in the anticipated precipitation for that upcoming system (Winter Storm Orlena). As always, an important aspect for up here is noting projections for components of the system to move into the Gulf of Maine or the Canadian Maritimes, where they can keep the precipitation going, vs. quickly heading eastward. Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Burlington VT 937 AM EST Sat Jan 30 2021 .LONG TERM /MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY/... As of 349 AM EST Saturday...The focus for next week continues to be a coastal low that will impact at least portions of the Northeast. There appears to have been a fairly significant northward shift with the precipitation from previous model runs. Main 500mb low now drifts directly over the North Country by Tuesday night, and enhanced lift helps to invigorate low pressure moving into the Gulf of Maine, rather than allowing the more southern low off of the Delmarva to have a more easterly track. Model consensus, including the GFS, ECMWF, and CMC now have the warm frontal band of snow lift northward well into central and northern Vermont, accompanied with increasing moisture and good omega in the DGZ. Hence, have increased snow chances to likely for the Monday night-Tuesday timeframe, especially from the Champlain Valley eastward. The upper low exits to the east by Wednesday morning, while the surface low(s) move into the Canadian Maritimes. The steadier snow will therefore taper off overnight Tuesday, transitioning to mountain snow showers by Wednesday morning on the favored western slopes as we remain under north-northwest flow. Still a bit early to be talking snow amounts; this system is fairly unorganized with any one of several surface lows having the potential to remain the dominant feature. At this time, several inches of snow does look possible across much of eastern Vermont, but any slight change in upper dynamics and associated surface features could mean more or less snow. Stay tuned for later updates.

Event totals: 3.8” Snow/0.14” L.E. The arctic flakes keep rolling along with the moisture on the back end of this system that’s been well off shore. The models suggest this is likely the last day for these effects though. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.1 inches New Liquid: Trace Temperature: 6.8 F Sky: Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 13.0 inches

Event totals: 3.7” Snow/0.14” L.E. The snow density was notably increased with this latest round of snow, consistent with the smaller flakes that we often see with this type of cold air. 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: 0.5 F Sky: Light Snow (1-2 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 14.0 inches

We had snow here at the house most of the morning, and it was generally light, but at times it would pick up with a burst of intensity with larger flakes. Toward the afternoon, the snowfall became a bit more persistent, and we were having longer periods with the large flakes, so it started getting to the point where I was wondering how much the mountains were getting. As it was snowing more heavily here, I checked out the Bolton Valley Base Area Webcam and saw what looked like really heavy snowfall, so I decided to hit the mountain for a couple of runs. The radar showed that another push of moisture was right on the doorstep as well: The radar didn’t look that outrageous, but I got up to Timberline and the snowfall was very heavy, probably 1-2”/hr with visibility of a few hundred feet. It was hard to tell home much had fallen recently, but I was finding 4-6” in many areas on the trails since the previous grooming. In any event, it was definitely a mini powder day up there, with that 4-6” easy to find essentially anywhere that hadn’t been skied recently. Very steep or windblown areas on piste definitely need another synoptic storm or two before they’re in prime shape, but the snow has continued to build up this week in the off piste areas. In areas that haven’t been skied in the past week or two, you’re essentially looking at 30” of unconsolidated snow down to elevations as low as 2,500’ now. There is some dense snow in there form the front end of Winter Storm Malcolm, but since we haven’t had any major thaws, there’s no layer in the snowpack that is fully solidified. My depth checks just went right down through the 30” to what I suspect is the ground, or perhaps a base of a few inches of old snow depending on the location. You really need at least moderate pitch to ski these areas because you’re sinking too deep for shallow slopes. I was on midfats today, so fat skis would help, but pitch is still going to be necessary. I’ve added a couple shots of the snowfall from when I arrived at Timberline today:

Yeah, when your slow periods are like this, you know you’re in a decent winter climate. I was up at Bolton for a bit this afternoon in 1-2”/hr snows. As I mentioned earlier, the slowest periods in the winter are typically when we get pinned under that frigid arctic air for an extended period. Other than that, it’s hard to go a week in midwinter without at least a small event or two.

Yeah, and if you want the epitome of that Northern Greens climate, you really can’t beat being at Jay Peak with some elevation. You’re definitely getting a good dose of it!

Event totals: 3.1” Snow/0.09” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations New Snow: 0.5 inches New Liquid: 0.01 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 50.0 Snow Density: 2.0% H2O Temperature: 15.1 F Sky: Light Snow (1-3 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 13.5 inches