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NNE Winter. Will it ever snow again?


mreaves

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I threw up in my mout a little bit at the sight of those pics Eyewall and that's no comment on your photography.

Lava Rock, I was just thinking the same thing about the trails around here. Worst season since 2005-06, maybe even worse. 2006-07 started out awful too but we know how that ended.

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I threw up in my mout a little bit at the sight of those pics Eyewall and that's no comment on your photography.

Lava Rock, I was just thinking the same thing about the trails around here. Worst season since 2005-06, maybe even worse. 2006-07 started out awful too but we know how that ended.

 

It can't get any worse that is for sure.

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I threw up in my mout a little bit at the sight of those pics Eyewall and that's no comment on your photography.

Lava Rock, I was just thinking the same thing about the trails around here. Worst season since 2005-06, maybe even worse. 2006-07 started out awful too but we know how that ended.

 

It's pretty bad outside of the far north, but I think 2006 was much worse.  Have not heard of folks scavenging mall snowpiles to patch lower elevation snomo trails to allow access to higher terrain that still had snow.  Folks in The Forks and Greenville did a lot of that in 2006.  Hope conditions don't descend to that abyssal level.

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The similarities to another strong El Nino in 1982-83 is fairly impressive.

 

I know some of us were joking about that winter because it was the only year with 0" snow depth on December 31st...but then this year put up a 0" spot on Christmas Day which is now second for all-time latest 0" reading at the stake.

 

Anyway, fairly remarkable comparison to me.  The good news is that the second half had some good storms and a big meteorological "spring" snowfall season (March, April, May).

 

So although 1982-83 was a rough winter, there was a fun period in March/April/May.

I don't think we'd complain at the ski areas with several good storms mixed in between nickels and dimes.  Even these types of storms wouldn't save the winter, but it would at least make for a fun couple months.

 

Spring storms in 1983:

March 12-15...18"

March 28-29...15"

April 11-12...16"

April 17-21...26" (including 15" in 24 hours on the 17th)

May 9-10...16"

 

01FEB16A.jpg

 

 

Wow, I thought ‘06-‘07 was a lot like this season, but the similarity between those profiles uncanny; thanks for putting up the analysis.  I’ve got the comparison with ‘06-‘07 below, and you can see the similarities there, but the ‘06-‘07 snowpack was already starting take off by this point.

 

01FEB16B.jpg

 

Who can say if we’ll have a second half like ’82-’83 or ‘06-‘07, but the models do suggest at least a return to our typically snowy NNE regime.

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January precipitation totals: 26.2” Snow/2.43” L.E.

 

January is over, and total snowfall at our site was 26.2” for the month.  That’s still well below average of course, but actually somewhat respectable among the rather pitiful snowfall we’ve had for Januarys as of late.  It’s only a few inches behind last season (29.5”), and it easily surpassed the previous two seasons of ’12-’13 (21.9”) and ’13-‘14 (15.8”).  It also came very close to ‘07-‘08 (27.6”), and all in all was quite the improvement over what we experienced this past December, which was by far the lowest in my records.

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Wow, I thought ‘06-‘07 was a lot like this season, but the similarity between those profiles uncanny; thanks for putting up the analysis.  I’ve got the comparison with ‘06-‘07 below, and you can see the similarities there, but the ‘06-‘07 snowpack was already starting take off by this point.

 

01FEB16B.jpg

 

Who can say if we’ll have a second half like ’82-’83 or ‘06-‘07, but the models do suggest at least a return to our typically snowy NNE regime.

'06-'07 turned out fine because the snowpack went above average in early february.  '82-'83 not until late April.

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'06-'07 turned out fine because the snowpack went above average in early february.  '82-'83 not until late April.

 

Yeah there's a big difference between the two in that regard.  The storms may still come but like ADK was saying, at some point it just seems to be too little too late.  But heck, we'll all take everything we can get, who are we kidding.

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Yeah there's a big difference between the two in that regard.  The storms may still come but like ADK was saying, at some point it just seems to be too little too late.  But heck, we'll all take everything we can get, who are we kidding.

I have a vivid recollection of the **** eating grin on my face after Vday '07.  that was some epic skiing.  I'm holding out hope.

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28/21F as of 8:30pm.   Will be curious to see what happens on the front end tomorrow AM.  Models always warm me up to quickly at the surface.  Don't know how much will be snow, sleet or freezing rain before we crack 32F. Gray has me at 1" of snow/sleet and between .10 and .25" ice accum.

 

Deer all over the pastures this evening enjoying the grass.  

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19F with freezing rain at the summit.

 

23F at 2,600ft.

 

Bouncing between 27-29F in the base area with mostly sleet.  Aggregates of sleet at that.  Like rock candy falling from the sky.

 

Winds near 50mph upper mountain.

 

This is at least the second time this season we've been making snow while sleet and freezing rain is falling.  Its that cold on the upper mountain that adding compressed air is making snow, but Mother Nature can't even figure out how to get it to snow.

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19F with freezing rain at the summit.

 

23F at 2,600ft.

 

Bouncing between 27-29F in the base area with mostly sleet.  Aggregates of sleet at that.  Like rock candy falling from the sky.

 

Winds near 50mph upper mountain.

 

This is at least the second time this season we've been making snow while sleet and freezing rain is falling.  Its that cold on the upper mountain that adding compressed air is making snow, but Mother Nature can't even figure out how to get it to snow.

 

Just took a peek at our sounding so far, and there is a warm layer near the surface, but another around H7. Not quite saturated over GYX yet, but not dry either. So I'm not surprised it's sleet to start given that all the dry air is at H8, and warmth at H7. 

 

Also makes sense that the summit is FZRA given that profile.

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Just took a peek at our sounding so far, and there is a warm layer near the surface, but another around H7. Not quite saturated over GYX yet, but not dry either. So I'm not surprised it's sleet to start given that all the dry air is at H8, and warmth at H7. 

 

Also makes sense that the summit is FZRA given that profile.

 

Great info, which is also why the cloud level is so high.  Its sleeting but the base of the clouds have been well above the top of the mountain.  Good visibility at all levels.  Normally when it precipitates, the cloud level drops into that 3,000-4,000ft range...so the dry air at H8 makes sense from that standpoint.  Also in these CAD situations, the clouds will be at like 2,000ft and above.  But it is efficiently precipitating from whatever layer is saturated.

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Event totals: 0.1” Snow/0.01” L.E.

 

The tenth of an inch of accumulation on the board this morning was mostly sleet, but there seemed to be some granular flakes in there as well.

 

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

 

New Snow: 0.1 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 10.0

Snow Density: 10.0% H2O

Temperature: 34.9 F

Sky: Light Sleet

Snow at the stake: 2.5 inches

 

This event will kick off the month with regard to frozen accumulation, and it looks like the next potential storm would come through the area on Sunday.  It looks like more exciting weather times are on the way according to the BTV NWS:

 

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT

630 AM EST WED FEB 3 2016

 

.LONG TERM /SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...

 

BY SUNDAY THE EXCITEMENT STARTS TO PICK UP AS A DEEP UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL CROSS THE NORTH COUNTRY AND AN ASSOCIATED SURFACE SHORTWAVE WILL BRING A GOOD CHANCE FOR SOME SNOW SHOWERS TO DEVELOP. BASED ON CURRENT GUIDANCE THERE WILL BE A VERY SHARP THERMAL GRADIENT WITH THE SHORTWAVE SO THERE WILL BE SOME CONCERN WITH CONVECTIVE SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOPING. BEHIND THE FRONT AT 925MB THE TEMPS DROP FROM -8C TO -20C OVER ABOUT 100 MILES. EVEN THOUGH WE WILL BE LOOKING AT A GLANCING BLOW, GIVEN HOW TIGHT THAT GRADIENT IS I DO EXPECT THE AREA TO SEE SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOPING ESPECIALLY ALONG THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER IN NEW YORK FROM MASSENA THROUGH THE VT/NY BORDER.

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Great info, which is also why the cloud level is so high.  Its sleeting but the base of the clouds have been well above the top of the mountain.  Good visibility at all levels.  Normally when it precipitates, the cloud level drops into that 3,000-4,000ft range...so the dry air at H8 makes sense from that standpoint.  Also in these CAD situations, the clouds will be at like 2,000ft and above.  But it is efficiently precipitating from whatever layer is saturated.

 

Being farther west, you're probably above freezing at that H7 layer aloft. Partial melt there, then refreeze through that dry layer around the summits. 

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Being farther west, you're probably above freezing at that H7 layer aloft. Partial melt there, then refreeze through that dry layer around the summits. 

 

Still cold.

 

4,000ft...22F

3,600ft...21F

2,600ft...25F

1,500ft...30F

 

Just wind-whipped sleet.  Lovely.  Gusting to 72mph at the summit right now.  Its like getting shot in the face with a pellet gun if you catch it wrong, ha.  Facemask required.

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