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Memorial Day Weekend Coastal/Snow


Damage In Tolland

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The flakes I saw in the wee hours were 8 straight months of seeing snow fall from the sky. I think that's a first for me.

 

 

There was snow in October this past year? I don't remember that, but perhaps there was a stray flake or two that fell up that way.

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Great stuff PF...maybe we should have looked at this aspect a bit closer before the past event. I figured big deformation with low level NW flow would be great for upslope...but the problem is the low level flow never really backed NW enough until late and the deformation did end up a bit west. I'm looking back at some Euro runs now, and I am noticing a slight shift in the final few runs of the low level winds a bit more northerly than some of the runs a bit before that. Something that probably got overlooked but certainly was important.

 

Perhaps looking at the 850mb flow in these types of setups is better than relying on the modeled BL flow which can be more finicky and subject to model biases. The 850 flow is probably pretty accurately modeled and the 900mb flow is going to be similar to 850 usually.

 

 

I think the climo benchmark of the low being up in N ME proved more accurate than the modeled NW flow in the lower levels. If I had more knowledge on the model biases during upslope events, this is something I probably would have been more concerned about on the western spine.

 

Yeah I should've thought harder about that.  I'll admit to getting a bit excited about the "potential" in these events and sometimes over-look the smaller details... sometimes I get accustomed to any storm being east of us as to giving the Spine upslope, but that's not the case in some events as we have seen.  As much as Tippy likes to mock emotions getting involved in weather, I'll admit that getting excited about an event can occasionally make you look past small details that you don't look to notice.  I should've caught the more northerly looking H85 winds.  I've always thought that level to be the most important to have NW because then even if you have a veering profile (which the Froude/upslope study by Muccilli shows a veering profile can be very good to the western slopes) the low level flow is more westerly which is still perpendicular to the Spine. 

 

Essentially what I've learned is to really continue to pay attention to the H85 winds... northerly (and they were even NEly for a good bit of the event) is not optimal, even if surface winds are NW on models.  Ideally we would actually have WNW at SFC and NW at H85 and H7. 

 

I found this composite also on the Muccilli paper on Froude numbers and upslope.... this was the mean surface pressure of all the upslope events studied...makes sense with mid-level lows over northern ME/FVE area that the SFC low would be slightly east of that location.

 

Figure3.png

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Anyway, this is a great learning experience and awesome event still for the amount of snow produced at the summits, as well as the snow in inhabited areas of E.VT and parts of NH. 

 

Always sweet when you take away a good piece of information on New England climo from an event.  This was a fun event to analyze and watch unfold. 

 

Unfortunately it'll probably be October (at least) until we get another good synoptic event that's worth watching closely.

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Anyway, this is a great learning experience and awesome event still for the amount of snow produced at the summits, as well as the snow in inhabited areas of E.VT and parts of NH. 

 

Always sweet when you take away a good piece of information on New England climo from an event.  This was a fun event to analyze and watch unfold. 

 

Unfortunately it'll probably be October (at least) until we get another good synoptic event that's worth watching closely.

 

 

Yeah even though I failed to see a monster event which I was somewhat hopeful for, it was still awesome seeing snow and still awesome to track a winter event this late. Sometimes the excitement of tracking the model runs can be more exciting. It will make the wait until next winter feel that much shorter.

 

Heck, in 2012 I think I saw my last flakes in late March. This year, I had snowpack wire to wire in March, saw sleet ad freezing rain during midday on April 12th and then saw snow on May 26th (even if I was up north).

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There was snow in October this past year? I don't remember that, but perhaps there was a stray flake or two that fell up that way.

 

My bad, I should have clarified that the Oct. snow I saw was up in NEK VT not MA.  7 straight months with flakes  at home in Greenfield.  Still the latest I've ever seen flakes anywhere. 

Sept 18th of I think 2000 (?)  in Franconia Notch was the earliest I've seen snow.

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The Co-Op though never reported a snow depth at the stake of greater than 6", which I find interesting/hard to believe.  The 4pm depths were 4" yesterday and 6" today.  I find it hard to believe there was only 6" on the ground even this afternoon at the 3,800ft stake.

 

Oh!  Then that definitely doesn’t jive with my observations from my tour on Saturday.  I measured 15” at 3,300’ on the final landing below the Nosedive switchbacks:

 

26MAY13I.jpg

 

Those low depth readings are strange, because the stake is sheltered and usually pretty reliable.

 

I’ve also added another shot from over at the Gondola at 3,600’.  I already showed the picture of the 22” measurement at the center of the trail, and I’ve got another shot from the edge of the trail in that same area, where the picnic tables are currently located.  Although the picnic tables themselves didn’t accumulate much snow, you can get a sense of the snow depth on the ground by the relative coverage of the table’s seats.  I measured between those two tables and got a depth of 18”:

 

26MAY13N.jpg

 

We were out and about a lot today from Waterbury to Vergennes to Cambridge for various activities, so we got to see the Greens and Adirondacks from numerous vantage points – the snowy peaks were stunning with the green foliage and late may levels of sunshine.  We passed through Smuggler’s Notch on the way back from Cambridge, and the road is now snow-free, but you can still see plenty of snow up on Mansfield.  It looks like the skiing is from 3,000’ on up now.  I’ve added a couple of shots from today’s travels below, and I’ve added additional images and details in the full report at our website.

 

26MAY13P.jpg

 

26MAY13O.jpg

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