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NNE Heart of Winter


Allenson

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Event totals: 3.1” Snow/1.29” L.E.

It was pouring when I got back to Waterbury this evening around 5:45 PM., and I was thinking it would be nice if all that moisture was in the form of snow. When I got in the car though, I could see the occasional flake in the headlights, and noticed that the large drops on the windshield were full of crystals – often a sign that the mountains are getting a pounding of snowfall. I stopped in at the Cider House to pick up some food, and when I came back out it seemed like it was close to changing over to snow in the valley. It was – by the time I got to the house it was snowing moderately, albeit with a little sleet and rain still in there. When I checked the rain/snow gauge I found that we’d received quite a shot of precipitation during the day today, there was 0.68” of additional liquid, bringing the total for the event to well over an inch. My wife said that the precipitation today at the house was actually a combination of rain and sleet, but it was clearly a bit too warm for any additional accumulation. This event has put a huge shot of liquid into the snowpack down here though – I suspect it’s pretty saturated after all that liquid. The temperature has taken its time getting down to freezing, but it’s close now and there’s 0.3” of additional snow on the snowboard as ~9:00 P.M.

Some details from the 6:00 P.M. Waterbury observations are below:

New Liquid: 0.68 inches

Temperature: 35.6 F

Sky: Moderate Snow (2-10 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 9.0 inches

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Pretty good ice storm today. Couple of inches of snow and sleet last night and a good freezing rain event today. Lost power and phone but just got it back. High was 32.5F and now down to 32.0F Trees just hanging on. Any more QPF and we would have had major problems.

A few pictures.

Gene

Awesome pics Gene, The Birches, Poplars and Willow trees always bear the brunt on the ice..

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One of those days with a pretty good snowfall variation between the village and mountain... I think it has to do with elevation more than anything.

800ft had 0.3-0.4" (less than half inch, greater than quarter inch) but the temp was 32.5F.

1,500ft had 2.2" since 4pm and the temp up here is 29F.

Light snow is falling here at Mtn Ops and you can tell we had some high winds (still gusty) due to fresh drifts in places I usually don't see them. Also the building got plastered white from what only could have been wet snow and high wind at the change-over last night.

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Radar loop wasn't that impressive. It looks like that cold front dried things out very fast and thus cut off the upslope snow period. Though looking at the models the next few days are going to feature a series of weak waves and continued snow showers. This is one of those periods where seemingly out of nothing exciting the Greens - above 2000/2500 feet- end up with 8-9 new inches of fluff.

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Radar loop wasn't that impressive. It looks like that cold front dried things out very fast and thus cut off the upslope snow period. Though looking at the models the next few days are going to feature a series of weak waves and continued snow showers. This is one of those periods where seemingly out of nothing exciting the Greens - above 2000/2500 feet- end up with 8-9 new inches of fluff.

Today is going to be interesting skiing... not sure if you're coming up but I'll keep an eye out for you guys.

Last night's snowfall insulated the wet snow from yesterday and it never really dried out or froze up. Groomers say its not powder, but its not granular. Its not ice but its not packed powder. Its like damp packed snow with variable amounts of drying and freezing.

Even still... with last night's 2.2" on my base area snow board, I'm estimating 3" up high, and that puts us over 100" on the season at 3,000ft. 102" to be exact. This is the longest its taken to hit 100" up at summit level since 2001-2002.

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Amazing that with over an inch of water and only two inches of snow at the front end, we actually gained an inch of snowpack. Stuff is like mortar for the bricks now.

Thanks guys for the kidos on the pictures. I just hope all my birch trees recover. Sometimes once they bend so much they never come back. We'll see!

Great shots, man. We had some stuff like that here yesterday morning but it warmed to the mid-30s during the day so by the time I got home last night, all the ice had fallen or melted off the branches. Not sure those birches of yours will straighten back out or not. That's what ya call birchy-bending.

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Some nice snow totals up in toot ville...

000

NOUS41 KCAR 281509

PNSCAR

MEZ001>006-010-011-015>017-029>032-290309-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT

SPOTTER REPORTS

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME

1009 AM EST SAT JAN 28 2012

THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST 24

HOURS FOR THE STORM THAT HAS BEEN AFFECTING OUR REGION. APPRECIATION

IS EXTENDED TO HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS...COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS...CWOP

OBSERVERS...SKYWARN SPOTTERS AND MEDIA FOR THESE REPORTS. THIS

SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR HOME PAGE AT WEATHER.GOV/CARIBOU

********************STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL********************

LOCATION STORM TOTAL TIME/DATE COMMENTS

SNOWFALL OF

/INCHES/ MEASUREMENT

MAINE

...AROOSTOOK COUNTY...

ASHLAND 14.0 745 AM 1/28

WOODLAND 12.0 924 AM 1/28

CARIBOU 4 E 12.0 900 AM 1/28 ELEVATED SURFACE

STOCKHOLM 2 W 12.0 900 AM 1/28

ASHLAND 2 SSE 11.5 816 AM 1/28

SQUA PAN 11.5 1230 AM 1/28

VAN BUREN 11.0 700 AM 1/28

CONNOR 10.2 200 AM 1/28

CARIBOU 2 WSW 10.0 838 AM 1/28

CASTLE HILL 10.0 700 AM 1/28

MAPLETON 10.0 715 AM 1/28

LILLE 5 SSE 10.0 448 AM 1/28

LILLE 9.5 736 AM 1/28 CO-OP OBSERVER

VAN BUREN - COOP 9.5 816 AM 1/28 CO-OP OBSERVER

WOODLAND 1 E 9.0 800 AM 1/28

MADAWASKA 9.0 953 AM 1/28

MONTICELLO 3 NW 9.0 702 AM 1/28

CARIBOU 1 NNW 8.6 700 AM 1/28

PERHAM 1 NNE 8.0 657 AM 1/28

ALLAGASH - COOP 8.0 636 AM 1/28 CO-OP OBSERVER

PRESQUE ISLE 8.0 700 AM 1/28

PRESQUE ISLE 1 ENE 8.0 816 AM 1/28

HOULTON 1 E 8.0 929 AM 1/28

FORT KENT 7.5 1035 PM 1/27

SAINT AGATHA 2 WNW 7.3 534 AM 1/28

ISLAND FALLS 7.2 827 AM 1/28

FORT KENT - COOP 7.0 631 AM 1/28 CO-OP OBSERVER

HOULTON 1 S 7.0 644 AM 1/28

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Event totals: 3.5” Snow/1.38” L.E.

We picked up 0.4” of snow yesterday evening/overnight from the back end of the current storm. Since the precipitation was just changing over to snow around 6:00 P.M. yesterday, I squeegeed the liquid off the snowboards to get a value on the liquid equivalent from the snowfall from that point onward. There was still mixed precipitation in the snow at first, but it looks like most of the liquid that subsequently fell was captured in the new snow, 0.08” of liquid was obtained off the board and 0.09” was caught by the gauge.

A quick look through my records suggests that for this location, the 1.38” of liquid equivalent received during this event is the greatest of any winter storm so far this season, with the December 27th storm (9.7” Snow/1.24” L.E.) coming in second, the November 23rd storm (11.0” Snow/1.19” L.E.) third, and the January 12th storm (11.7” Snow/0.91” L.E.) fourth. In this neck of the woods, that’s it for the list of most notable storms so far this season in terms of either snow or liquid equivalent; the next largest snowfall behind those is under a half foot for the December 25th storm (5.1” Snow/0.32” L.E.). This season is interesting in how it’s been somewhat lean on both synoptic and orographic storms, but it is still well ahead of 2006-2007, which had only one storm in the 1-foot range (12.8” from the 1/19/07 storm) all the way through to the Valentine’s Day Storm. Also, snowfall is still running ~15” ahead of 2006-2007 as we approach the end of January. While 2006-2007 did redeem itself somewhat with a strong spring, looking at the data, it’s amazing just how low it was on storms and snowfall through much of the winter.

I just updated my Waterbury snowpack plot for this season, and added it below. It’s riddled with peaks and valleys with all the ups and downs in temperature and precipitation this season, but a linear regression of the data since the start of continuous snowpack on 12/23 still reveals an increase of 1.2”/wk.

1112waterburysnowpack.jpg

Some details from the 7:00 A.M. Waterbury observations are below:

New Snow: 0.4 inches

New Liquid: 0.08 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 5.0

Snow Density: 20.0% H2O

Temperature: 32.7 F

Sky: Partly Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 9.0 inches

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Awesome day on the mountain... much better than expected and was great because we were packed at the resort today.

2.2" on the 1,500ft snow board, and someone skied across the 3,000ft snow board but best estimate was 3-3.5" there.

48 hour storm totals were 5.3" at 1,500ft and 7.6" at 3,000ft. Net gain in snowpack was 4" at 1,500ft and 6" at 3,000ft.

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The next 48 hours looks pretty good for continued nickel and dime snowfall to add to the seasonal totals. Sunday Night's cold front and squalls should deliver nicely for Monday morning's crowdless skiing. I like seeing H85 temps of -10C moving through with the squalls... great snow growth and orographic enhancement with 0.1-0.25" of QPF could spell a nice 3-6" for Monday morning skiing.

Tonight: Snow showers likely, mainly before 2am. Cloudy, with a low around 15. Wind chill values as low as zero. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 16 and 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

Sunday: A slight chance of snow showers between 1pm and 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 25. Wind chill values as low as -2. Breezy, with a southwest wind between 14 and 21 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Sunday Night: Snow showers, mainly before 4am. Low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -2. South wind 11 to 17 mph becoming northwest. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

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The next 48 hours looks pretty good for continued nickel and dime snowfall to add to the seasonal totals.

Thanks for the heads up PF, I went and checked the point forecast for our area, and even down here in the valley the graphics are looking wintry:

28JAN12A.jpg

On that seasonal totals note, for this location, the January 2012 snowfall total so far is 27.2”. That’s well below average (40”+), but, it’s actually only 0.4” away from moving past January ’08 (surprisingly poor January for a 200”+ season), and 3.3” from moving past January ’07, so January '12 hasn’t been all that bad. The point forecast here calls for 3-5” through tomorrow night, so even the low end of that would be just about enough to move past those January totals.

P.S. – just noticed that it’s snowing, so round one is already here.

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Still looks good for several inches of snow tonight... BTV still calling for 2-4" type event.

A COLD FRONT MOVING EAST FROM THE GREAT LAKES TODAY AND MOISTURE

OFF OF LAKE ONTARIO WILL COMBINE TO BRING SNOW SHOWERS AND BRIEF LOCALLY

HEAVY SNOW SQUALLS TO PORTIONS OF NORTHERN NEW YORK THIS AFTERNOON

AND TONIGHT...AND TO PORTIONS OF VERMONT TONIGHT. SEVERAL INCHES

OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE BY TONIGHT.

Tonight: Snow showers, mainly before 1am. The snow could be heavy at times. Low around 11. Wind chill values as low as -2. West wind between 8 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

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0.4" again at my place last night at 800ft.

1.25" here at the 1,549ft snow board. Based on groomers reports will call it 1-2" overnight from base to summit. Not hard to imagine the summit getting an additional 3/4ths of an inch as a first guess before I check the 3,000ft snow board later.

Incredible wind right now and last night... out of the south or southeast almost. I've never seen drifts where they are this morning... its like opposite of where it usually ends up.

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I'm starting to dislike these windy snowfalls... so hard to judge snowfall but I gotta trust the snow boards in the sheltered woods. Just looking outside my office it doesn't look like it snowed at all last night as its swept clean all around the base area, but there's like a 3 foot drift up the side of the building from 1" of snow. Some folks yesterday thought there was less than 2-3" while others said there was more. Probably going to be the same today with 1-2". Someone will find a boot deep woods line while his friend is chattering away on another line.

Skiing today should be like yesterday... sheltered woods and trails were skiing very nice and filled in, while all the big wide open trails were scoured clean. Most of the woods off the Front Four trails (side of Goat, Lookout, Starr) all offered sheltered soft turns, and skiers left of Goat, Starr, and Lookout were skiing sweet and filled in. Those double fall lines really like to catch the snow in the low side of the trails. That's where I'm heading again today, haha.

Winds were dying down, but now they are ramping back up... pushing around 50mph up top now.

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