Boston Bulldog

With the Mid-March thaw delivering a hefty blow to the low elevation snowpack across New England, the window for enjoying peak depths in the Presidential alpine was coming to an abrupt end. Ultimately the thaw provided some spectacular spring skiing up high from 3/9 to 3/11, with report after report filtering out of the Presidentials showing cobalt blue skis and just enough overnight firm ups to fold conditions into a superb corn surface across the Gulfs, Ravines and Snowfields. My schedule did not allow me to time up the best conditions, but with a marginal weather window available on Sunday 3/8, I decided to take it despite no guarantee of success. Having already been turned around in the alpine due to avalanche danger in January, I was wary that a second disappointment would be the result.

The crux of the day was clear, trying to time the clearing of elevation fog before the snowpack up high froze solid. Saturday night's (3/7) cold front cleared New England of much of the low level moisture that enveloped the region in dense fog for much of Saturday. The lone holdout were the high peaks of the Presidentials, with just enough moisture and orographic forcing to shroud the summits in clouds. Forecasts indicated that gradual clearing of summit fog would occur through midday, perhaps opening up a window for sunshine to peek through. At the same time, colder air was beginning to filter across the higher elevations, threatening to lock the snowpack into ice by the afternoon. Pulling into the Pinkham Notch parking lot at 9:30, I checked the temperature profile across Mount Washington, the summit had quickly plummeted from the upper 30's to 34. Fortunately, temperatures at 4000 feet held firm in the mid 40s. The gradient was tightening but the window to try and steal a descent was still there.

Racing up the TRT there was the constant roar of meltwater raging down the Cutler River.

The evidence of the thaw was everywhere. Just a few days prior Andrew Drummond had tagged a rare descent of Empress in mid-winter conditions, while Dutchess and Dodge's were wide open for the taking for those looking for exposure. These snow packed lines had thinned out considerably only 24 hours into the thaw. Cruxes of these lines had receeded to cliffs, rocks and brush, their now hanging snowfields filled with rain runnels.

By the time I reached Hojos much of the high alpine was still shrouded in fog, much to my dismay. The summit continued to inch closer to freezing, now down to below 33 degrees. It was going to be a one run type of day. Hillman's Highway appeared to be the best option as 2/3 of it's length remained in the clear and only the snowfields above the choke were obscured. Additionally, the Hillman's bootpack is one of the easier pitches in the zone and features plenty of platforms for transitioning. If the freeze came faster than anticipated there would be plenty of options to turn around and descend from. With the clearing trend forecasted, we hoped that perhaps the fog would burn off during the climb.

While climbing, it was clear that wishful thinking regarding visibility would not pay off. The cloud deck actually began to lower, now fully obscuring the view once we reached Hillman's right choke.

Despite the poor visibility, the snow in the couloir was a pleasant surprise. The lack of a pure refreeze overnight rendered the surface a bit heavy but wind affected enough that it wasn't pure slop. Outside of a few punchy spots the booter was drama free. Approaching the top of the line, some aspects were beginning to harden - we had just beaten the freezing line to the top of Boott Spur.

The heavy snow on the descent was a substantial workout, though while shrouded in cloud cover the surface was very workable and pleasant. Once we punched through the overcast about 1/2 down, temperatures spiked quickly and the snow gained a noticible grab to it. Fortunately the sustained pitch of Hillman's helped negate the impact of the sticky snow until we reached the apron. The ski down to the car was slow going, the Sherb was melting fast and rocks were everywhere on "coreshot corner". Despite conditions not truly aligning, it was a fantastic day up high on the eastern slopes of the Presidentials! I still jealously watched footage of bluebird skies, huge linkups, and perfect corn snow all over the mountain emerge over subsequent days, but I was thrilled to not view from afar with sour regret. Sometimes you just have to go and make it happen.

42 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

It's been very bad...disastrous for the ski industries out there.

2.9 inches for KSLC all winter… they average 47” by now. The low to mid elevations of the Wasatch are probably even more anomalously horrible. Major major water supply and wildfire concerns across most of the American SW this summer/fall

Just now, powderfreak said:

Upslope band is cranking.  Just ripping snow on the mountains.

Over 5" so far for the event.

Been a long time since there’s been a radar like this!

10 hours ago, GCWarrior said:

Great trip to the southern part of the white mountains this past weekend. Skiing was excellent all around!

Thursday hit Sunapee on the way up. Place is fairly flat but still some good woods skiing.



Friday was perfect spring corn at Waterville valley. Natural was the choice of the day. Managed several great tree runs off of the Green peak chair. And some great natural runs under the old north chair.





Saturday we skied Tenney. It was my first time there and the place is an absolute blast. Awesome trees and a few fun natural trails. Coverage was still decent and they were almost 100% open. Temp was great but fog was out of control. Woods were the best choice.





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Sunapee can be a bit flat, but the Sunrise Glade/Hawes Hideout area is pretty fun. Well timed trip right before the meltdown!

5 hours ago, The 4 Seasons said:

it's the same cocorahs station that reported 21" in the blizzard that i tossed violently away. All the surrounding totals were far less. So that seems like its possibly a slanter/over measurer. Of course thats the highest report so far in that area. So i woulnd't trust it personally...

 

Seems like our guy in Lunenberg has moved...

10 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

I will say it's too early to really use guidance...need to get past the spring predictability barrier....I just don't like the periodicity for a super-event....they usually occur about Avery 15 years or so and we aren't there yet.

The predictability barrier really is a humbling beast. All of the advancements in modeling technology and yet we still can't get around it! Hard to ignore how hard the models are driving warmth across the 3.4 as we push forward though

Nuking huge aggies in BOS

NAM backed off at 0z. Significantly 

NAM was the first to find the 1/17 storm…

This line is a very prominent scar visible from I-89 for those traveling back to Boston from NNE. Despite its eye catching location it is infrequently skied, partially due to the fact it takes a ton of snow to fill in. There isn’t a ton of compelling backcountry in “Congrats Dendrite” land, but sometimes this punchy fall line shot can do the trick. Decided to give it a go in slightly low-tide conditions this morning before work and was pleasantly surprised!

The powerline has some good pitch and some serious teeth across its main cliff band. There’s a couple hundred vertical of good fall line turns. What caught my eye though were the wide open glades adjacent to the main line!

Still need to see more cross guidance agreement, but NAM/GFS kind of remind me of the 1/17 advisory event that really popped up out of nowhere within 72 hours or so

Are they just not going to do a 7pm Central Park update?

The zookeeper is really leaving us in suspense 

5 minutes ago, mob1 said:

Any updates for NYC, JFK, and LGA (all saw snow after their last measurement)?

They all should drop momentarily 

14 minutes ago, RI Rob said:

Underwhelming in Boston for some reason! 

Yeah light-moderate. Goods are just east.

4 minutes ago, RI Rob said:

Does Boston cross the 12" mark?

With ease. Logan likely crosses it at the 1pm report

Just now, wxsniss said:

Wish it was just like 10 miles further west but we're still getting 1"/hr+ at minimum

What are your totals? I have no idea precisely what we have, shoveled earlier guesstimating 10-12" around 9am

Similar conditions here. Just on the fringe of an all-timer, but still a fantastic storm 

Easterly firehose look is beginning to set up over Massachusetts Bay

Central Park releasing new totals at 7am?

4 minutes ago, wxsniss said:

Still light snow at best just outside Boston, barely a coating... ground truth has not matched radar so far

Philly thread is a great read... the H7 / H85 fronto off of Delaware is amazing

4z HRRR cut back even more here

Total dud so far. Cannot shake the dry air and it appears to be continuing to eat upstream echos 

Finally steady light-moderate snow, now we go

Dry air is incredibly stubborn right now, not a flake currently despite radar looking solid overhead. Tilt 4 looks amazing, but tilt 1 is shoddy which is a classic dry air signature. It should flip to a wall of white shortly, but the wait has been pretty agonizing

3 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Moderate snow with excellent snow growth right now 

Pretty good illustration of the dry air eroding thanks to easterly flow providing the boost necessary to get the column saturated. That said, still sputtering in the South End, let's get this going ASAP

Flakes coming down in fits and starts, struggling to get going. Dry air still doing a good number in Boston