Nittany88 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 What kind of ratios were the Feb 2012 upslope blitz? I remember ripping my pole through like 3' of snow with barely any resistance. Also was bit by a few snow snakes lurking under the fluff. I believe Jeffersonville came in with 40:1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I believe Jeffersonville came in with 40:1. That sounds about right...3 feet of champagne powder. Made for excellent deep pow photos cause you ski in that stuff, vs on top of it like a lot of synoptic snows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Lots of hometown pride in this thread. My personal preference would be what Will mentioned...Pinkham toward SR. I like my CAD, snow retention, and lower ratios. yep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I think MQE reported over 30:1 ratios in the fluff storm we had on 1/21 this year. That was the fluffiest snow I've ever seen I think. I almost ripped my knee cap apart when my foot went through calf deep powder. Totally did not expedt such little resistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimetree Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Used to ski as a kid up in Rangeley, ME...snowed to some extent just about every day up there. Deep, deep snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginx snewx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I think MQE reported over 30:1 ratios in the fluff storm we had on 1/21 this year. That was the fluffiest snow I've ever seen I think. I almost ripped my knee cap apart when my foot went through calf deep powder. Totally did not expedt such little resistance.fluff is cool, the first day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 fluff is cool, the first day When you get it almost every day to build on, it's probably awesome. But, no thanks to it disappearing in hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryslot Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'll take my 7-10:1 all day long and the occasional 12-15:1 once we have established a good base Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 What kind of ratios were the Feb 2012 upslope blitz? I remember ripping my pole through like 3' of snow with barely any resistance. Also was bit by a few snow snakes lurking under the fluff. I’m guessing the Feb 24-26 Storm is the one you are thinking of? That’s cool that you remember that one, I hadn’t, but it looks like another good example of how Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care about what limits people place on snow ratios. My observations from the 25th indicate that in the 4:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M. period, 8.4 inches of roughly 45:1 snow fell. I encounter a lot of high-quality fluff in my measurements at our site, and that one even surprised me, so I ran the liquid analysis twice from totally different areas. Some details of the analysis are in the text below, and the full account of that storm is available through the linked text. “During the six hour period from 4:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M., 8.4 inches of snow accumulated on the snowboard here at the house, so the snowfall rate has averaged just a bit shy of 1.5 inch/hr. In the 4:30 P.M. analysis, the snow density came in at 3.8% (26.3 to 1 ratio), and because there was a bit of denser snow at the bottom of the stack, I figured this round of accumulation might come in even drier. Well it did. The 8.4 inches that I sampled at 10:30 P.M. contained just 0.18 inches of liquid, indicating that the snow is at 2.1% H2O (46.7 to 1 ratio). I don’t believe I have ever had a stack that tall come in at such a high snow to water ratio, in fact, I was surprised enough that I went out and ran an entire independent analysis from a different location. That second analysis came in at 2.3% H2O (44.4 to 1 ratio), which I’m sure is within the error of this analysis, so I’m very confident in the numbers. Anyway, Mother Nature is producing some extremely stackable dendrites out there, and there are probably going to be a lot of Vermont skiers in the white room tomorrow.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Used to ski as a kid up in Rangeley, ME...snowed to some extent just about every day up there. Deep, deep snow. They get a ton of mood snow up in that area, but usually just dustings to an inch or maybe two. They don't get all those random 3-6" events that the N Greens do or the occasional 2-3 foot event nearly every winter. But they sure as hell hold the snow that does fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 We had close to 50 to 1 snow ratios in Ithaca on an LES event from late January 2000 I think it was. It's rare but they do happen. But I also think there is some truth to the idea that when you are dealing with snow that fluffy, its easy to lose some moisture when you try and melt it down. The flakes almost want to sublimate in the ambient temps as it is. So sometimes those reports might be slightly inflated on the ratios...that doesn't mean they aren't still very high though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 When you get it almost every day to build on, it's probably awesome. But, no thanks to it disappearing in hours. STATION: BURLINGTON VT MONTH: JANUARY YEAR: 2010 LATITUDE: 44 28 N LONGITUDE: 73 9 W TEMPERATURE IN F: :PCPN: SNOW: WIND :SUNSHINE: SKY :PK WND ================================================================================ 1 2 3 4 5 6A 6B 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 12Z AVG MX 2MIN DY MAX MIN AVG DEP HDD CDD WTR SNW DPTH SPD SPD DIR MIN PSBL S-S WX SPD DR ================================================================================ 1 32 27 30 10 35 0 0.14 2.3 5 2.4 10 190 M M 10 1 13 180 2 30 10 20 0 45 0 0.70 18.9 8 11.0 21 330 M M 10 128 28 320 3 20 9 15 -5 50 0 0.31 16.4 26 4.8 21 310 M M 10 1269 29 310 4 21 17 19 0 46 0 T T 23 6.5 14 330 M M 9 16 17 330 5 22 16 19 0 46 0 0.04 0.5 19 2.0 9 310 M M 10 18 12 300 6 25 21 23 4 42 0 T T 17 9.8 17 280 M M 10 18 25 290 7 26 17 22 3 43 0 T 0.1 15 7.7 15 350 M M 10 1 20 350 8 19 15 17 -2 48 0 0.08 5.6 15 6.8 15 330 M M 9 1 20 350 9 18 -3 8 -11 57 0 0.01 0.7 19 9.2 21 340 M M 3 1 29 340 10 18 -6 6 -12 59 0 0.00 0.0 16 5.3 13 190 M M 7 16 180 11 29 17 23 5 42 0 0.02 0.5 14 6.4 14 310 M M 10 1 18 300 12 26 1 14 -4 51 0 0.01 0.9 13 9.1 20 340 M M 7 189 26 330 13 18 -3 8 -10 57 0 0.03 0.8 13 3.3 12 200 M M 7 1 13 200 Never above freezing and yet it just vaporized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radarman Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I’m guessing the Feb 24-26 Storm is the one you are thinking of? That’s cool that you remember that one, I hadn’t, but it looks like another good example of how Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care about what limits people place on snow ratios. My observations from the 25th indicate that in the 4:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M. period, 8.1 inches of roughly 45:1 snow fell. I encounter a lot of high-quality fluff in my measurements at our site, and that one even surprised me, so I ran the liquid analysis twice from totally different areas. Some details of the analysis are in the text below, and the full account of that storm is available through the linked text. “During the six hour period from 4:30 P.M. to 10:30 P.M., 8.4 inches of snow accumulated on the snowboard here at the house, so the snowfall rate has averaged just a bit shy of 1.5 inch/hr. In the 4:30 P.M. analysis, the snow density came in at 3.8% (26.3 to 1 ratio), and because there was a bit of denser snow at the bottom of the stack, I figured this round of accumulation might come in even drier. Well it did. The 8.4 inches that I sampled at 10:30 P.M. contained just 0.18 inches of liquid, indicating that the snow is at 2.1% H2O (46.7 to 1 ratio). I don’t believe I have ever had a stack that tall come in at such a high snow to water ratio, in fact, I was surprised enough that I went out and ran an entire independent analysis from a different location. That second analysis came in at 2.3% H2O (44.4 to 1 ratio), which I’m sure is within the error of this analysis, so I’m very confident in the numbers. Anyway, Mother Nature is producing some extremely stackable dendrites out there, and there are probably going to be a lot of Vermont skiers in the white room tomorrow.” Thanks. That's pretty incredible. It was easy for me to remember that one because it provided the bluebird day of the year, and one of the rare occasions I went to Stowe the night before, crawling up 89 once north of Montpelier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Does anyone know if there's a way to get SDD info from CoCoRAHS sites aside from manually adding up all the values? PF, just go to the CoCoRaHS water year summaries, pick the site and year that interests you, download the Excel file, and sum the snow depth column: http://www.cocorahs.org/WaterYearSummary/ Check on the value in “Days Covered By All Reports” though, because you’ll find that a lot of those sites are nowhere near complete in their annual coverage, and any winter days with missing data will naturally reduce the SDD result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 We had close to 50 to 1 snow ratios in Ithaca on an LES event from late January 2000 I think it was. It's rare but they do happen. But I also think there is some truth to the idea that when you are dealing with snow that fluffy, its easy to lose some moisture when you try and melt it down. The flakes almost want to sublimate in the ambient temps as it is. So sometimes those reports might be slightly inflated on the ratios...that doesn't mean they aren't still very high though. Nittany would probably know what the precip gauge was, but those low density dendrites are tough to get into a precip gauge with the consistent 20-25mph winds they had during it. I'm guessing it was an AWPAG with the wind shield around it at BTV. edit: Like this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 When you get it almost every day to build on, it's probably awesome. But, no thanks to it disappearing in hours. Fluff in the woods is nice, it does stay around longer than people think. Fluff in an urban setting is no good when you have all the dark surfaces, concrete, and other ways to make it disappear. Especially in the coastal plain cities...40:1 upslope fluff that's a foot deep up here and 15F is one thing, but being in Boston where it's sunny and 30F and the fluff gets melted from below and above is no good. In the cities I'm sure you want as much paste as possible to be able to fight off the urban heat factor and those mid-30s type afternoons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 STATION: BURLINGTON VT MONTH: JANUARY YEAR: 2010 LATITUDE: 44 28 N LONGITUDE: 73 9 W TEMPERATURE IN F: :PCPN: SNOW: WIND :SUNSHINE: SKY :PK WND ================================================================================ 1 2 3 4 5 6A 6B 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 12Z AVG MX 2MIN DY MAX MIN AVG DEP HDD CDD WTR SNW DPTH SPD SPD DIR MIN PSBL S-S WX SPD DR ================================================================================ 1 32 27 30 10 35 0 0.14 2.3 5 2.4 10 190 M M 10 1 13 180 2 30 10 20 0 45 0 0.70 18.9 8 11.0 21 330 M M 10 128 28 320 3 20 9 15 -5 50 0 0.31 16.4 26 4.8 21 310 M M 10 1269 29 310 4 21 17 19 0 46 0 T T 23 6.5 14 330 M M 9 16 17 330 5 22 16 19 0 46 0 0.04 0.5 19 2.0 9 310 M M 10 18 12 300 6 25 21 23 4 42 0 T T 17 9.8 17 280 M M 10 18 25 290 7 26 17 22 3 43 0 T 0.1 15 7.7 15 350 M M 10 1 20 350 8 19 15 17 -2 48 0 0.08 5.6 15 6.8 15 330 M M 9 1 20 350 9 18 -3 8 -11 57 0 0.01 0.7 19 9.2 21 340 M M 3 1 29 340 10 18 -6 6 -12 59 0 0.00 0.0 16 5.3 13 190 M M 7 16 180 11 29 17 23 5 42 0 0.02 0.5 14 6.4 14 310 M M 10 1 18 300 12 26 1 14 -4 51 0 0.01 0.9 13 9.1 20 340 M M 7 189 26 330 13 18 -3 8 -10 57 0 0.03 0.8 13 3.3 12 200 M M 7 1 13 200 Never above freezing and yet it just vaporized. I saw it back in January for myself. It was probably 40% lower in terms of depth the morning after, compared to the evening prior. I couldn't believe it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Fluff in the woods is nice, it does stay around longer than people think. Fluff in an urban setting is no good when you have all the dark surfaces, concrete, and other ways to make it disappear. Especially in the coastal plain cities...40:1 upslope fluff that's a foot deep up here and 15F is one thing, but being in Boston where it's sunny and 30F and the fluff gets melted from below and above is no good. In the cities I'm sure you want as much paste as possible to be able to fight off the urban heat factor and those mid-30s type afternoons. I'm just talking about pure compaction and sublimation on existing snow lol. It just vaporized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 STATION: BURLINGTON VT MONTH: JANUARY YEAR: 2010 LATITUDE: 44 28 N LONGITUDE: 73 9 W TEMPERATURE IN F: :PCPN: SNOW: WIND :SUNSHINE: SKY :PK WND ================================================================================ 1 2 3 4 5 6A 6B 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 12Z AVG MX 2MIN DY MAX MIN AVG DEP HDD CDD WTR SNW DPTH SPD SPD DIR MIN PSBL S-S WX SPD DR ================================================================================ 1 32 27 30 10 35 0 0.14 2.3 5 2.4 10 190 M M 10 1 13 180 2 30 10 20 0 45 0 0.70 18.9 8 11.0 21 330 M M 10 128 28 320 3 20 9 15 -5 50 0 0.31 16.4 26 4.8 21 310 M M 10 1269 29 310 4 21 17 19 0 46 0 T T 23 6.5 14 330 M M 9 16 17 330 5 22 16 19 0 46 0 0.04 0.5 19 2.0 9 310 M M 10 18 12 300 6 25 21 23 4 42 0 T T 17 9.8 17 280 M M 10 18 25 290 7 26 17 22 3 43 0 T 0.1 15 7.7 15 350 M M 10 1 20 350 8 19 15 17 -2 48 0 0.08 5.6 15 6.8 15 330 M M 9 1 20 350 9 18 -3 8 -11 57 0 0.01 0.7 19 9.2 21 340 M M 3 1 29 340 10 18 -6 6 -12 59 0 0.00 0.0 16 5.3 13 190 M M 7 16 180 11 29 17 23 5 42 0 0.02 0.5 14 6.4 14 310 M M 10 1 18 300 12 26 1 14 -4 51 0 0.01 0.9 13 9.1 20 340 M M 7 189 26 330 13 18 -3 8 -10 57 0 0.03 0.8 13 3.3 12 200 M M 7 1 13 200 Never above freezing and yet it just vaporized. It's just another way to get it to snow...maybe it sublimates but still doesn't bring down the excitement of the storm while it's happening. That year we were all struggling for snow, so having a big fun event come out of nowhere was enjoyable. The funny thing is I think BTV had one of the highest snow depths or days of 12+ OTG in New England that January, sublimination or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dendrite Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 It's just another way to get it to snow...maybe it sublimates but still doesn't bring down the excitement of the storm while it's happening. That year we were all struggling for snow, so having a big fun event come out of nowhere was enjoyable. Trust me...I know I'd love it up there. Fluff is beautiful and you get loads of it. I'd love to be in the Tug for one of their patented 60"+ events...even if the depth doesn't get over 30-40". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nittany88 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Nittany would probably know what the precip gauge was, but those low density dendrites are tough to get into a precip gauge with the consistent 20-25mph winds they had during it. I'm guessing it was an AWPAG with the wind shield around it at BTV. edit: Like this... Yeah thats what it is (at least now and since I got here). Not entirely sure when we switched from the heated tipping bucket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Yeah thats what it is (at least now and since I got here). Not entirely sure when we switched from the heated tipping bucket. You intern there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Fluff is awesome when it happens...snow is snow no matter what. I highly doubt anyone would snub there nose at it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damage In Tolland Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 You intern there? He's a met at BTV NWS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Yeah thats what it is (at least now and since I got here). Not entirely sure when we switched from the heated tipping bucket. Wait, do you guys at the NWS core from a snowboard for liquid analysis, or is a snowboard used for depth and other instrumentation used for liquid? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I am sure this question has been asked before, but what are folks thoughts on the most ideal place in New England to have a small house in the woods (likely in the mountains) that is optimally positioned to cash in on major snowfall (most important part lol) , in or close to a nice town with good bars/restaurants, close to skiing and other amenities, is beautiful in the summer, convenient to get to from major interstate highways etc and isn't going to cost a small fortune!??? I always hear that the east slopes of the berkshires is a good option but curious to hear what people think.... One area which has not been mentioned yet is the area near Vershire/ Corinth Vermont. It is close to 89 and 91 so access is good from NYC/ Boston/ SNE. Hanover and W. Lebanon are close and it isn't too bad to get to Montpelier/ Stowe/ Burlington as well. skiing is close and there is the skating on Lake Morey. Hanover is a really great little town and the high ground near it really does well in coastal events. Allenson registered 126" in Corinth this past year. He could chime in one the area's attractions even more. Here are the current Corinth listings: http://nneren.com/listings/?t%5B%5D=648&Town_State%5B%5D=Corinth+VT&s=-Date+Listed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radders Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 One area which has not been mentioned yet is the area near Vershire/ Corinth Vermont. It is close to 89 and 91 so access is good from NYC/ Boston/ SNE. Hanover and W. Lebanon are close and it isn't too bad to get to Montpelier/ Stowe/ Burlington as well. skiing is close and there is the skating on Lake Morey. Hanover is a really great little town and the high ground near it really does well in coastal events. Allenson registered 126 in Corinth this past year. He could chime in one the area's attractions even more. Thanks, yes I stopped at Hanover for brunch on the way back from the White Mountains on Sunday. It looked like a great place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Just checked out (again) the co-op sites in NW Maine, and the situation is worse than I thought. According to the CLIMOD site, Clayton Lake's last reports were for March 2011, and Allagash reports ended with March 2012. There is a station at Churchill Dam, 15 miles SE of Clayton, but obs there are rather sporadic. Thus the area west of Ft. Kent and north of Pittston Farm, 5000+ square miles, is a blank space. Of course, apart from the Rt 161 corridor from FK to Allagash, there are essentially no permanent residents in that area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dryslot Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Just checked out (again) the co-op sites in NW Maine, and the situation is worse than I thought. According to the CLIMOD site, Clayton Lake's last reports were for March 2011, and Allagash reports ended with March 2012. There is a station at Churchill Dam, 15 miles SE of Clayton, but obs there are rather sporadic. Thus the area west of Ft. Kent and north of Pittston Farm, 5000+ square miles, is a blank space. Of course, apart from the Rt 161 corridor from FK to Allagash, there are essentially no permanent residents in that area. That was the area i mentioned yesterday, Always a ton of snow to ride back country, But not easily accessible or have fuel available Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoastalWx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 He's a met at BTV NWS I didn't see a red tag all this time so I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.