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NNE Winter 2012-13 Thread IV


klw

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Had 3.7" as of 7 AM, with 0.25" LE, almost 15:1 thanks to light winds and (much of the time) decent dendrites.  Probably another 3" since then, in light-mod snow.  Trees are well-loaded, and the slightest breeze unloads so0me, causing mini-whiteouts.  Temp still a bit under 30.  This is a far nicer 4-8" result than last Tuesday night's rainout.  GYX statement as of 1:23 shows up to 10" reported in Maine, 11" in NH, both in places with more to come - might see some 15" totals in those locations by the end of things.

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1.7" last night and .8" this morning. Snow just started up again

 

Ok I was going to ask you what you got so far and last night.

 

The Stowe Village CoCoRAHS observer is usually pretty good, but this morning came in with only 0.8".  I don't know if he forgot a 1 or a 2 in front of the 8? 

 

I cleared the board last night at like 7pm and had received around 1.5" by that time, then got almost another inch overnight.  I was around 2.5" and didn't really have anything else when I got home this afternoon except some slush on the board.

 

Then I saw the Stowe Village CoCoRAHS guy had only 0.8" which just seemed off to me by at least an inch, if not an inch and a half, especially with ~2" reports north of Stowe, and 3" amounts south in Waterbury. 

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Event totals: 3.3” Snow/0.23” L.E.

 

We were making turns at Stowe today, and while it snowed most of the time at all elevations, the intensity was often very light and the flake structure was typically a lot of needles, so I don’t think there was much in the way of accumulation.  I’ve got to say though; the skiing is simply fantastic right now in both a qualitative and quantitative sense.  The snow from the current storm was denser than fluff, and even though it hasn’t been a huge storm, it’s contributed quite a resurfacing when combined with the midweek storm.  For me, today’s skiing at Stowe had a bit of a Whistler Blackcomb feel to it; the peaks were shrouded in clouds, snow was falling, and the snow underfoot was semi-dense with plenty of meat to it that covered up the subsurface.  I’d say the part where the experience differed was that you could head all the way down into the village elevations and you wouldn’t get into that sticky snow that can so often be an issue as you get down toward Whistler Village.  While dense, there wasn’t any stickiness from top to bottom – at least down to the 1,500’ elevation.  Part of the Whistler Blackcomb issue of course is that they’re covering 5,000’+ of vertical, but today’s snow was like a good slice of 2,000’+ from somewhere up in the higher elevations.  In terms of quantity, the stake is at 65”, so right around that average mark, and average for this time of year is pretty sweet.  These last two storms have clearly pushed things to another tier of coverage off piste; we were skiing and seeing lines that we’ve yet to this season, and the skiing in many areas has taken on an entirely new dimension.  Anyway, now is the time to go if you’ve been waiting to ride the Northern Greens.  I’ve added one shot from today below – it’s the sort of snow that you shred it as hard as you want, and you’re not touching a thing:

 

24FEB13C.jpg

 

I’ve updated the north to south storm totals list for the Vermont ski areas to add a couple evening additions; generally the storm is in the 3-6” range at this point up and down the state:

 

Jay Peak: 4”

Burke: 5”

Smuggler’s Notch: 6”

Stowe: 5”

Bolton Valley: 3”

Mad River Glen: 3”

Sugarbush: 5”

Pico: 5”

Killington: 5”

Okemo: 4”

Bromley: 4”

Magic Mountain: 4”

Stratton: 3”

Mount Snow: 4”

 

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

 

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 10.0

Snow Density: 10.0% H2O

Temperature: 32.5 F

Sky: Light Snow (<1 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 8.0 inches

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Jay Peak: 4”

Burke: 5”

Smuggler’s Notch: 6”

Stowe: 5”

Bolton Valley: 3”

Mad River Glen: 3”

Sugarbush: 5”

Pico: 5”

Killington: 5”

Okemo: 4”

Bromley: 4”

Magic Mountain: 4”

Stratton: 3”

Mount Snow: 4”

 

Good to the mountains got at least some fresh snow. BTW, introduced myself in SNE thread, but I've been lurking since 2005. Just spend too much time on board-related forums to get into posting here, but have learned a lot and it's a great central repository for all things weather, especially storms, which I track for water-based and snow-based pursuits. Decided to at least post obs from here in Brattleboro, partly because there does not seem to be anyone else in this area. I'm right in between SNE and NNE, but climate is closer to Northwestern Mass. We got about 1/2 inch here, maybe three in West Marlboro, where my father lives. I was up there this afternoon. Also, to J.Spin I always have really enjoyed your reports and pix. Thanks for sharing!

Edit: I know how this works, but screwed up the quote on this. Obviously, I said the above, not J. Spin. And that was three inches by 6pm and it was coming down at a pretty good clip. He's on a ridge top at 2000 feet, so they should get their forecast six inches.

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Edit: I know how this works, but screwed up the quote on this. Obviously, I said the above, not J. Spin.

 

Thanks for the introduction – as I saw mentioned, we really have been deficient in SVT info so it’s really great to have some observations.  As you can see from Kevin’s American Weather New England snowfall map – there’s quite a gap in observations in Southern Vermont:

 

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=210765485628029925693.0004d01c44d7a34856663&msa=0&ll=42.395066,-72.235107&spn=3.19251,4.938354

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J.spin- Well said. The consistency of the snow could not have been better for what we got. susbtantive enough to really have some fun especially in the trees. A shot in the arm for the base.

Fwiw- drove back to ny from 3-7:30. Pretty much snowed the whole way but the only road surface with any accumulation was on vt 7 approaching bennington.

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J.spin- Well said. The consistency of the snow could not have been better for what we got. susbtantive enough to really have some fun especially in the trees. A shot in the arm for the base.

Fwiw- drove back to ny from 3-7:30. Pretty much snowed the whole way but the only road surface with any accumulation was on vt 7 approaching bennington.

 

Were you at Sugarbush today?  I saw a guy and his kid ripping through the woods way off Paradise after lunch and was wondering if it was you.

Totally agree with J. Spin about the dense snow.  Just excellent for bringing natural features into play.   

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These last two storms have clearly pushed things to another tier of coverage off piste; we were skiing and seeing lines that we’ve yet to this season, and the skiing in many areas has taken on an entirely new dimension.  Anyway, now is the time to go if you’ve been waiting to ride the Northern Greens.  I’ve added one shot from today below – it’s the sort of snow that you shred it as hard as you want, and you’re not touching a thing:

 

Nice report, J.  This past week's significant upslope event, now coupled with a dense layer, has certainly taken things up a big notch.  This is the best shape the mountains have been in this year, and I'm not sure about down at Sugarbush (maybe Hitman can comment) area where they got really hammered in late December, but I'm positive Mansfield (east side at least, I hear west side is lacking) is in the best condition yet this year. 

 

 

After yesterday's ~5" (4.8" on my 3,000ft snow board), my settled depth up at that elevation finally crested 50" for the first time this season.  The fabled historic stake is 65" up at 3,800ft but that's more like true ridgeline-never-sees-sun depth.  I like comparing them but I've really felt over the years that 3,000ft gives a good indication of upper mountain skiing (sort of like the elevation of the Nosedive Glades, the top of Angel Food, etc), and to finally have a solid 4 feet+ on the ground really opens up the off-piste options.  Also, there's 24" of depth at 1,550ft, and that's a durable 24 inches down there, so for off-piste skiing a widespread 2-4+ feet of hefty natural snowpack (containing like 7-14 inches of liquid) makes for some pretty nice conditions.

 

 

If we can continue to avoid thaws and add more snow going forward into March, we'll be in great shape for a nice spring skiing season, too.  Just need to avoid the week long 80/55 type days we had last March, haha.

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Were you at Sugarbush today?  I saw a guy and his kid ripping through the woods way off Paradise after lunch and was wondering if it was you.

Totally agree with J. Spin about the dense snow.  Just excellent for bringing natural features into play.   

I was there but not after lunch. I did a few laps in there between 9:30 and 11. Fun. Or you still there?

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Nice report, J.  This past week's significant upslope event, now coupled with a dense layer, has certainly taken things up a big notch.  This is the best shape the mountains have been in this year, and I'm not sure about down at Sugarbush (maybe Hitman can comment) area where they got really hammered in late December, but I'm positive Mansfield (east side at least, I hear west side is lacking) is in the best condition yet this year. 

 

 

After yesterday's ~5" (4.8" on my 3,000ft snow board), my settled depth up at that elevation finally crested 50" for the first time this season.  The fabled historic stake is 65" up at 3,800ft but that's more like true ridgeline-never-sees-sun depth.  I like comparing them but I've really felt over the years that 3,000ft gives a good indication of upper mountain skiing (sort of like the elevation of the Nosedive Glades, the top of Angel Food, etc), and to finally have a solid 4 feet+ on the ground really opens up the off-piste options.  Also, there's 24" of depth at 1,550ft, and that's a durable 24 inches down there, so for off-piste skiing a widespread 2-4+ feet of hefty natural snowpack (containing like 7-14 inches of liquid) makes for some pretty nice conditions.

 

attachicon.gifuntitled1.JPG

 

If we can continue to avoid thaws and add more snow going forward into March, we'll be in great shape for a nice spring skiing season, too.  Just need to avoid the week long 80/55 type days we had last March, haha.

Sugarbush is not yet back to where we were at the beginning of january. There are spots in the woods where danger lurks beneath. Need another 6-12". And the lower elevations (1500-2000') are thin. The latter is a big problem skiing through slidebrook down to the bus on german flats road.

I may be nuts but i thought yesterday the snow was deeper at about 3000' than from 3500' up.

Meanwhile, very quite here about the prospects for later this week. Do those in the know, not want to jinx us?

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Sugarbush is not yet back to where we were at the beginning of january. There are spots in the woods where danger lurks beneath. Need another 6-12". And the lower elevations (1500-2000') are thin. The latter is a big problem skiing through slidebrook down to the bus on german flats road.

I may be nuts but i thought yesterday the snow was deeper at about 3000' than from 3500' up.

Meanwhile, very quite here about the prospects for later this week. Do those in the know, not want to jinx us?

 

 

Ahh interesting.  Yeah Sugarbush (and south of I-89) had like two feet more snowfall than this area during that late Dec/early Jan blitz, whereas lately north of 89 has been running a bit higher, so that makes sense.  I feel like we've got a lot more covered than back in early January and the snow depths would indicate that as well.

 

I found some highly variable snowfall amounts yesterday, and you may be right about the mid-elevations seeing more than the summits.  I found what seemed to be an inch or two less off our FourRunner Quad than the Gondola & Spruce lifts.  But also seemed like there was less snow up higher, or it didn't stack up (seemed a lot more dense the higher you got) with better flake stacking lower, haha.  If that makes any sense.

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PF is right about the stake. VERY non-representative this year.  Upper elevations (above the ski area and out of the ski area boundary) need more snow. They just haven't recovered from two thaws, and some extremely high east wind events.  I think the best snow this year is in the 3000-2000ft band.  Seems like that has been the most protected from the wind and seen the best temperatures.  Strange year. 

 

Good thing it is going to snow again for five days this week.  Wondering though what a crazy s/e wind for a period on Wed. is going to do...hopefully it's over and done with before the snow starts....

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Finished with 9.7" on 0.78" LE, for 12.4 ratio. Due to light winds, the trees are Beautifully filled (glad I'm not bushwhacking thru spruce-fir doghair today!) though the snow wasn't particularly wet. Up to 19" at the stake, and my 65.2" for the season is exactly at my avg thru the end of Feb, and the forecast suggests a fair bit more for 27-28th. 32 hr continuous accum 4P Sat thru last midnight, and that doesn't count 6-7 hr weenie flakes during the day Sat.

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PF is right about the stake. VERY non-representative this year.  Upper elevations (above the ski area and out of the ski area boundary) need more snow. They just haven't recovered from two thaws, and some extremely high east wind events.  I think the best snow this year is in the 3000-2000ft band.  Seems like that has been the most protected from the wind and seen the best temperatures.  Strange year. 

 

Good thing it is going to snow again for five days this week.  Wondering though what a crazy s/e wind for a period on Wed. is going to do...hopefully it's over and done with before the snow starts....

 

You're pretty much talking about the above treeline stuff on the Chin right?  I think aside from that, everything is business as usual, even down the Kitchen Wall.  I mean the Rock Garden and that stuff really doesn't get ok till the stake hits 80 inches, so give it another storm or two, but it does depend on the year.  I haven't spent much time up high at all, but to me the stake seems to be representative of the rest of the mountain if you understand that's going to be one of the higher snow depths on the mountain.  Its at about average right now to date and I think the mountain is skiing about average (or like it should) for late February (ie, pretty much everything is fair game down to RT 108 except shots that require those "bigger snow year" totals).

 

Anyway, here was this past event's storm total that I listed as 6".

 

Yesterday was 4.75" (of course it is not the 5.5" the snow climbed to, lol)

 

 

And this morning there was another 1.75" on the board.

 

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How much did you end up with?

 

Well, it must have finally shut off not long after my last post last night (went to bed shortly after).

 

6" on the nose for the whole long duration event.

 

The meat of it for us was late Saturday afternoon into Saturday night.  Yesterday was much lighter--it snowed all day but only added up to 1.6" from 7am Sunday to 7am today.

 

20" at the stake right now and there are a lot of strata in the pack from December till now.

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Event totals: 3.4” Snow/0.24” L.E.

 

There was another tenth of an inch of snow on the snowboard this morning, which was a continuation of this most recent event, so I’ve added that on to the totals.  We were up at Bolton Valley this afternoon for some media work – the hope was for some outside work if any peeks of sun chose to appear, but that wasn’t the case so everything was indoors.  We arrived around midday and basically drove right up into the thick clouds in the Village.  The clouds showed no signs of pulling out, and in fact in the mid afternoon it started snowing hard enough that it was easily accumulating.  I can see that it’s still lightly snowing up there on their live web cam.  Back down here at the house we’ve got an assortment of big, lazy flakes falling ever so slowly, but they’re not accumulation at this point with the temperature a bit above freezing.  It looks like this is moisture trapped under the ridge based on the BTV NWS discussion:

 

NEAR TERM /UNTIL 6 AM TUESDAY MORNING/...

AS OF 259 PM EST MONDAY...THE CLD COVER OVER THE CWA THIS AFTNOON WILL PERSIST THRU THE OVERNGT HRS...AS SFC RIDGE TRAPS ABUNDANT LL MOISTURE OVER THE REGION. THRU THE OVERNGT PERIOD...CWA WILL SEE MCLDY/CLDY SKIES. WK UPPER VORT MVG OVER THE AREA THIS AFTNOON IS AIDING IN LGT --SW OVER NORTHERN ZONES...ESPECIALLY IN THE CVLY. TREND TO CONTINUE THRU THE OVERNGT HRS W/ LITTLE TO NO ACCUM EXPECTED.

 

I’ve updated the north to south storm totals list for the Vermont ski areas for those areas that I could figure out; generally the storm is in the 4-8” range now, up and down the state:

 

Jay Peak: 6”

Burke: 7”

Smuggler’s Notch: 6”

Stowe: 6”

Bolton Valley: 4”

Sugarbush: 5”

Pico: 8”

Killington: 8”

Okemo: 6”

Bromley: 5”

Magic Mountain: 5”

Stratton: 4”

 

Details from the 6:00 A.M. Waterbury observations are below:

 

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 10.0

Snow Density: 10.0% H2O

Temperature: 32.4 F

Sky: Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 8.0 inches

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Boy no one seems to be talking much about the next storm but I think it will be the biggest of the season for me with big impacts with tree damage.  Long term, wet snow, tons of QPF.  Elevation will be key.

 

Most of the chatter is of course in the pinned 'threat' thread.

 

But yeah, could be an interesting one and I wouldn't be surprised to see results similar to what we just had--maybe more.

 

At 72.3" for the season now and might break 80" with this next shot.  We ususally do pretty well at my locale with this kind of set-up, getting nice lift with a southeasterly fetch.

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