J.Spin

Yeah, I’ve seen that showing up on the various models. Great timing for a weekend refresher of the slopes, and it gets the February snowfall started. AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Burlington VT 321 PM EST Thu Jan 31 2019 .SHORT TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT/... As of 304 PM EST Thursday...A quick moving low pressure clipper system will move across the North Country on Saturday along with some shortwave energy. Will have chance for light snow showers with this feature, though generally only light snowfall totals expected, generally a dusting to three inches. A strengthening low level westerly jet will develop, keeping best accumulations along the western slopes of the Dacks and Greens. Champlain valley will be shadowed as is typical with westerly flow. Bulk of light snow will end by Saturday evening, though some lingering mountain snow showers are possible.

Event totals: 1.8” Snow/0.11” L.E. I captured the rest of the accumulation from the cold front and squalls in this morning’s observations, so I’m passing that along now. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.4 inches New Liquid: 0.02 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0 Snow Density: 5.0% H2O Temperature: -9.4 F Sky: Partly Cloudy Snow at the stake: 33.0 inches

Event totals: 1.4” Snow/0.09” L.E. We picked up a final 0.2” of snow this morning from the back side of Winter Storm Jayden, and then there was a lull before the snowfall from the arctic cold front and squalls came through this afternoon. Details from the 7:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.4 inches New Liquid: 0.09 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 15.6 Snow Density: 6.4% H2O Temperature: 10.2 F Sky: Light Snow (1 to 5 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 33.0 inches

There’s been some fairly heavy snowfall this morning in the Burlington area – driving through Williston mid-morning the visibility was down to about a tenth of a mile at times. It’s starting to clear out to blue skies now though.

Event totals: 7.7” Snow/0.36” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.0 inches New Liquid: 0.05 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 40.0 Snow Density: 2.5% H2O Temperature: 19.9 F Sky: Light Snow (1 to 4 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 32.0 inches

Event totals: 5.7” Snow/0.31” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 4.2 inches New Liquid: 0.09 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 19.1 Snow Density: 5.2% H2O Temperature: 21.4 F Sky: Snow (2 to 10 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 31.0 inches

At 6:00 P.M. observations we had quite a mix of flake sizes, anywhere from 1 to 10 mm diameters, but the mean flake size has definitely trended higher recently. Snow density was 6% H2O at 6:00 P.M. observations, but I’d say the next one will be drier if the flakes continue to be what we’ve currently got. I hadn’t been watching the snowfall too closely this evening, but with the way things started out fairly slowly after the 6:00 P.M. clearing, I’d say snowfall was in the 1”/hr. range with those echoes you saw. Storm total was around 3” as of ~8:00 P.M.

Event totals: 1.5” Snow/0.09” L.E. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.5 inches New Liquid: 0.09 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 16.7 Snow Density: 6.0% H2O Temperature: 20.8 F Sky: Snow (1 to 10 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 28.5 inches

I didn’t see any changes to the BTV NWS advisories map, and the projected accumulations map seemed to change very little, but there are some numbers tweaked up or down an inch or two here and there, so I’ve got the latest version below.

My next phone alert came through around 3:30 PM indicating that that we’re now under a Winter Storm Warning. The latest BTV NWS advisories and projected accumulations maps are below.

I just got a phone alert that we’re under a Winter Storm Watch, so I’ve added the latest BTV NWS advisories and projected accumulations maps below.

Event totals: 4.1” Snow/0.15” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 2.5 inches New Liquid: 0.07 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 35.7 Snow Density: 2.8% H2O Temperature: 18.5 F Sky: Flurries Snow at the stake: 29.0 inches

Snowfall was the name of the game today at Stowe – a few images:

Event totals: 1.6” Snow/0.08” L.E. Additional snowfall in the past couple of hours has been quite heavy, with another 2.4” as of 8 P.M. Details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 1.6 inches New Liquid: 0.08 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0 Snow Density: 5.0% H2O Temperature: 30.7 F Sky: Snow (5 to 15 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 27.5 inches

Yeah, we were at Spruce Peak and a little bit of Mansfield this afternoon, and there was snow all afternoon, but after 3:00 P.M. or so, it really started to blitz. Heading to the car around 4:30 P.M. the snowfall was probably in the 2”/hr. range with the huge flakes. I tried to grab some images, so we’ll see if I got any representative shots when I get a chance to look at them later.

Snow just started up here at the house in association with this next system coming through the area. The BTV NWS says this is a low pressure system rapping up over the western side of Lake Erie that is expected to track up through the Saint Lawrence Valley later today, and a notable feature is the cold front coming through with snow squall potential.

You aren’t kidding about the snow. I was sort of content to spend a relaxing day at home, waiting for tomorrow’s snow, but when I saw you mention the 8” in the Stowe report it got me thinking. I checked Bolton’s report and saw 7” in the past 72 hours, as well as the powder tracks on their web cam and I decided to go for a tour. There’s definitely an increase in depths – I found about 6” at 2,000 and 8” to 9” near 3,000’ at Bolton Valley. A few shots from today’s tour:

We picked up 0.7” from the band that was hitting us here in the Winooski Valley, and that next one was a bit north of here, but I was thinking it would be a nice one for your area. Nice to hear you got in on some of those LES flakes!

Event totals: 1.7” Snow/0.03” L.E. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.7 inches New Liquid: 0.02 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 35.0 Snow Density: 2.9% H2O Temperature: 11.1 F Sky: Partly Cloudy Snow at the stake: 26.5 inches

We’ve had one of the LES streamers aimed at us for about the past hour, so snowfall has been a bit more robust during that time:

Event totals: 1.0” Snow/0.01” L.E. It’s been on and off flakes today around the area with pulses of LES. We picked up another 0.5” of snow today from the current event, and this time I was able to get 0.01” of liquid out of the core. 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: 23.9 F Sky: Light Snow (1 to 3 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 26.0 inches

Yeah, it’s super fluffy stuff. This morning’s accumulation at our place came in at somewhere north of 50:1 because there was a half inch and I couldn’t even get 0.01” of liquid out of it. I can see on my webcam that there’s another half inch down now, which will probably be of the same consistency. With ratios like these you need a ton of it to really get the resurfacing going, but we did have that nice dense accumulation at the tail end of Indra that should help cushion things a bit. We’re thankful for any help the lakes want to give us though – this morning Stephanie Abrams on The Weather Channel was pointing out some of the cool triple lake linkage that was feeding into some of the Ontario flow. These initial accumulations after a warmer storm certainly help with the aesthetics for the locals and visitors alike though as Alex noted.

Event totals: 0.5” Snow/Trace L.E. The backside snow from Winter Storm Indra really seemed to be complete last night, and there was an obvious break between that snowfall and the new batch that has appeared this morning, so I’d say we’re on to a new event. The BTV NWS hadn’t been talking about the snowfall much, but I see that they just updated their discussion with some comments: AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION National Weather Service Burlington VT 946 AM EST Fri Jan 25 2019 .NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/... As of 946 AM EST Friday...Band of moisture from Lake Ontario that moved across northeast New York and northwest Vermont this morning has decreased in areal coverage and some breaks in the overcast have developed. Will see scattered to numerous snow showers over this area and across central and northeast Vermont for the rest of the day. A more definitive lake effect snow band is becoming established now across the east end of Lake Ontario and the southern portions of Saint Lawrence and Franklin counties of New York will have the best potential of seeing accumulations from the Lake Effect snow band today. Going forecast has this band handled well. Snowfall was actually quite robust from Williston to Burlington when I was driving in this morning, with visibilities under ½ mile at times. The big flakes certainly obscured visibility at times and had folks reducing their driving speeds. Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.5 inches New Liquid: Trace Temperature: 24.6 F Sky: Light Snow (5 to 20 mm flakes) Snow at the stake: 26.0 inches

Event totals: 0.5” Snow/1.21” L.E. Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations: New Snow: 0.4 inches New Liquid: 0.05 inches Snow/Water Ratio: 12.5 Snow Density: 8.0% H2O Temperature: 29.7 F Sky: Flurries Snow at the stake: 26.0 inches

That’s a pretty good way to put it with respect to snowpack depth here in the mountains, but in terms of snowpack water content, you actually have to speak of it as a bump. The snow at our stake went from 29.5” yesterday morning to 28.0” this morning to 26.0” this evening, and now it’s snowing. I haven’t cored the pack, but the NOHRSC plot for our site indicates that the total liquid in the snowpack went from roughly 6.3” yesterday to roughly 7.5” today, so the snowpack actually got a nice shot in the arm. Now we just need that Northern Greens magic to keep putting down the powder for resurfacing.