Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,509
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    joxey
    Newest Member
    joxey
    Joined

Massive Nor'easter Disco 10/21-25


Damage In Tolland

Recommended Posts

I think it's fair to say the storm overperformed. We didn't even have gale warnings on the Sound a few hours before the start of the event and wound up with storm conditions. Same deal in E Mass where they went from nothing to advisory to high wind warning mid-event. It was easy to bash them for hyping prior to the storm (where their own story/forecast didn't match the headline hyperbole) but once the storm happened... it turned out that headline was not far off.

Then they should acknowledge their earlier post. Let's face it, they wrote the article because it's cool to pig-pile on them. Then they should bash ABC for reporing on millions threatened every night it seems, bash SPC for using the millions threatened headline in the first place. I don't like the hype at all from the media, but it's also fair to point out their earlier article after posting another article acknowledging a powerful nor'easter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Haha if anything you are correct...inflation from finding the most sheltered spot where flakes can stack up with great efficiency that has trouble occurring on other parts of the mountain exposed to wind.

 

I think the 3,000' site, while accurately recording snowfall/snowpack most of the time, might extend snowpack persistence in spring.  My experience in the woods is that small open patches within otherwise dense evergreens are usually the last to melt out, thanks to near-complete shade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the 3,000' site, while accurately recording snowfall/snowpack most of the time, might extend snowpack persistence in spring. My experience in the woods is that small open patches within otherwise dense evergreens are usually the last to melt out, thanks to near-complete shade.

Oh it most certainly does. Under a dense canopy the snow actually reaching the ground can be like 40-60% less than out in the open.

Here are some quotes from a paper I recently read on it:

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/JI_Lopez-Moreno/publication/227522141_Influence_of_canopy_density_on_snow_distribution_in_a_temperate_mountain_range/links/0fcfd50d05e49069e4000000

"Maximum snow water equivalent (SWE) was reduced by more than 50% beneath dense canopies compared with clearings, and this difference increased during the melting period.

Thus, spatial variations in the density of the forest canopy can lead to significant variations in the spatial distribution of snowpack, which in areas beneath a dense forest canopy can be as little as 40–50% of the snowpack thickness in open areas (Bernier and Swanson, 1992; Pomeroy and Gray, 1995; Pomeroy et al., 1998; Koivusalo and Kokkonen, 2002; Murray and Buttle, 2003; Lundberg et al., 2004). Recently, Talbot et al. (2006) reported that snow dynamics are more highly dependent on stand density than on aspect."

They were basically looking at spring snowmelt and how much snow sublimated off of trees throughout the winter and how open areas or thinned forests were better at retaining SWE for the spring melt. The small clearings in the forest allow for 1) the entire winter's snow to find the ground and not get hung up in the trees, exposed to faster sublimation and not get blown away or wind-packed like a open field while 2) are still able to reap the benefits of the enhanced shade. It makes sense over large cleared areas that get more direct sunlight and wind transport, that small forest clearings (no matter what elevation or location, be it a mountain or suburban backyard) will be some of the last places to lose snow cover in the spring. It's not necessarily that more snow falls there or drifts there, just that it's not hung up in the trees while at the same time being shaded.

I think we all subconsciously notice this in the spring, as holes open up under trees, but the gaps in the woods hold snow while your yard melts out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah epic mess. Won't touch that until Sunday. I even have leaves plastered to side of house and windows.

 

Tough autumn leaves, too.  Only time I ever saw that was in NNJ after Hazel zoomed by to our west.  Had leaf-plastered walls at a camp on Donnell Pond (west of Ellsworth) in June 1975 after a SE gale, but those were tender spring leaves, not as impressive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jealous of your wind, haha. High wind events with leafed trees are fun. Totally different sound than the bare tree winter winds.

The roar of winter winds is such a different pitch though, sounds gritty and tough, especially with super strong CAA. Having lived on the coast for years the sounds of high winds in the summer and fall rustling through the trees was cool but I really like the winter roars much more. deep and bellowing type, don't know why.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah epic mess. Won't touch that until Sunday. I even have leaves plastered to side of house and windows.

since I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark I won't get a full appraisal until Sunday but just by the flood lights its ugly. I picked up 10-15 branches ranging in size from 2 inch to about 4 inch diameter some rotted but some very green.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...