NNE Spring Thread

[tamarack]

Had 0.48" from last night's TS (10:30-11 PM), and dumped 0.69" last evening, for 1.17" total.  Sandy is rising and muddy; ice was holding this morning but I think it will clear out during today as the flow increases and erodes ice from beneath.
 

March stats:

Avg high: 32.0  -6.5  
Highest was 45, on the 9th, which was 9F cooler than Feb's max - don't think I've ever had it get milder in Feb than March before this.  Coldest "official" max was 9, on the 4th.  (Actually set at 9:01 the previous evening.)  The afternoon high that day was 6, and on 3/11 the afternoon high of zero was spoiled by the 14F reading the previous evening.

Avg low:  10.7   -5.3 
Lowest was -11 on the 17th.  Low on the 1st was 31, and like Feb's mildest min, in the fog.

Avg mean:  21.4  -5.9 
Mildest mean was 36.5 on 3/8, and low mean was 2.5F on the 11th.  Would've been -4.5 but for the cheap evening high.

DJFM were all relatively close in avg temp:  18.4; 20.6; 20.8; 21.4.  Compared to my 19-yr avg, those months were -3.8; +5.9; +3.5; -5.9.  The 4-month period was -0.17F.

Precip was 3.45"  +-0.24" 
Biggest day was 1.90" on 13th, 4th greatest in March. 

Snowfall:  18.8"  +2.0"
The 14.0" on 3/14 is my largest calendar day snowfall in March, though the storm total  of 15.5" ranks 3rd, behind the 19" and 16" snowfalls late in March 2001.    2000-01 was the only other winter I've measured 3 storms of 15"+.    2nd biggest snowfall last month was just 1.2", recorded in 2 different events.   The 14-15 event included 5 hours (4-9 PM) during which blizzard criteria were met, winds gusting to 40, 5-hr total of 10" snow with visibility 1/8 mile between gusts, 50 feet at times in the wind.  Last storm here to have 3+ hours of blizz was Dec. 21-22, 2008.  Oddly, that storm also totaled 15.5".

Snowpack ranged from 22" to 33", peaking on the 14th, and averaged 26". 

[Ginx snewx]

1 minute ago, tamarack said:

Had 0.48" from last night's TS (10:30-11 PM), and dumped 0.69" last evening, for 1.17" total.  Sandy is rising and muddy; ice was holding this morning but I think it will clear out during today as the flow increases and erodes ice from beneath.
 

March stats:

Avg high: 32.0  -6.5  
Highest was 45, on the 9th, which was 9F cooler than Feb's max - don't think I've ever had it get milder in Feb than March before this.  Coldest "official" max was 9, on the 4th.  (Actually set at 9:01 the previous evening.)  The afternoon high that day was 6, and on 3/11 the afternoon high of zero was spoiled by the 14F reading the previous evening.

Avg low:  10.7   -5.3 
Lowest was -11 on the 17th.  Low on the 1st was 31, and like Feb's mildest min, in the fog.

Avg mean:  21.4  -5.9 
Mildest mean was 36.5 on 3/8, and low mean was 2.5F on the 11th.  Would've been -4.5 but for the cheap evening high.

DJFM were all relatively close in avg temp:  18.4; 20.6; 20.8; 21.4.  Compared to my 19-yr avg, those months were -3.8; +5.9; +3.5; -5.9.  The 4-month period was -0.17F.

Precip was 3.45"  +-0.24" 
Biggest day was 1.90" on 13th, 4th greatest in March. 

Snowfall:  18.8"  +2.0"
The 14.0" on 3/14 is my largest calendar day snowfall in March, though the storm total  of 15.5" ranks 3rd, behind the 19" and 16" snowfalls late in March 2001.    2000-01 was the only other winter I've measured 3 storms of 15"+.    2nd biggest snowfall last month was just 1.2", recorded in 2 different events.   The 14-15 event included 5 hours (4-9 PM) during which blizzard criteria were met, winds gusting to 40, 5-hr total of 10" snow with visibility 1/8 mile between gusts, 50 feet at times in the wind.  Last storm here to have 3+ hours of blizz was Dec. 21-22, 2008.  Oddly, that storm also totaled 15.5".

Snowpack ranged from 22" to 33", peaking on the 14th, and averaged 26". 

You keep such awesome stats, thank you

[tamarack]

Just now, Ginx snewx said:

You keep such awesome stats, thank you

Pure weenie-ism on my part.     Plus I've stolen Dendrite's format.

Continuous records go back thru 1/1/1976, some intermittent records from BGR 1973-75.  My 1962-onward numbers from NNJ were lost but the memories remain.

[Ginx snewx]

Looks like its on at Stowe

[CoolMike]

What do you guys think about the overnight and morning weather tomorrow for the spine of the green mountains?  3km NAM shows snow shower activity all along the spine.  Does it add up at all?  What do the surface temps look like?  Again, the NAM has the 2m temps below freezing throughout most of the day but I'm not sure that's real.

Thanks!

Edit: NWS by point and click has reasonable accumulations (4-8) at mid-mountain for a few of the ski resorts I clicked on.  Very low accumulations near the parking lots or base areas for example, for Stowe or Sugarbush.  This seems logical to me.  Cheers!

[Ginx snewx]

15 minutes ago, CoolMike said:

What do you guys think about the overnight and morning weather tomorrow for the spine of the green mountains?  3km NAM shows snow shower activity all along the spine.  Does it add up at all?  What do the surface temps look like?  Again, the NAM has the 2m temps below freezing throughout most of the day but I'm not sure that's real.

Thanks!

Edit: NWS by point and click has reasonable accumulations (4-8) at mid-mountain for a few of the ski resorts I clicked on.  Very low accumulations near the parking lots or base areas for example, for Stowe or Sugarbush.  This seems logical to me.  Cheers!

12Z Models amped up the upslope in the spine, could be a pretty decent event

[wxeyeNH]

.90" of rain between yesterday and so far today.   Mid 30's yesterday.  Upper 30's last night.  Just made it up to 42F with occ. rain showers and some bright spots.  Just can't seem to warm up.  Now cool air is coming back in.  Wonder if we go back to snow showers tonight.  Snowcover is around 80% in my open areas, 100% in wooded area...

[Ginx snewx]

Piling up at Sugarbush

[J.Spin]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

12Z Models amped up the upslope in the spine, could be a pretty decent event

 

I just checked the Bolton Valley Web Cam and it’s already snowing down to 2,000’ there.  Not sure how much lower the snow line has gone at this point, but the radar nicely shows that moisture turning into snow as it hits the spine:

 

[CoolMike]

Thanks Jinx and JSpin!

I've pulled the metaphorical trigger and am driving up tonight!  Should be a sweet day tomorrow at the Bush!

[wxeyeNH]

Snowing 33F  Coles Pond Vt  elevation around 2000?

[eyewall]

Changeover line as of 4pm at Bolton is 1600ft or so at Timberline.

Sent from my VS987 using Tapatalk

[powderfreak]

Been snowing for at least a half hour down to the Mansfield base (base of Gondola).

Grooming reporting it is "snowing aggressively" on the mountain.

 

Textbook upslope radar.  When those 30dbz get near the county line between Stowe and Burlington, that's usually 1"+ per hour snowfall rates on the mountain.  Also with NW winds, remember this precip is falling a bit further downwind than the echos show.  That's why when I see 30dbz hit the county line I know its on in Stowe.  Raining steadily in town.

[J.Spin]

9 minutes ago, eyewall said:

Changeover line as of 4pm at Bolton is 1600ft or so at Timberline.

 

That’s awesome info eyewall, thanks!  I wish they had a second camera like the one at the main base down at 1,500’ at the Timberline Base.  Something around 1,000’ at their Bolton Valley Welcome Sign would be another good intermediate elevation, and then I’ve got my web cam at 500’ and it would make it really easy to follow the snow line down in this area.  Anyway, I was just traveling the east side on Route 100, and looking back toward the spine, you could definitely see the snow falling.  It looked like the snow line was still in the 1,500’ elevation range.  We’ve dropped into the 30s F now here at 500’ at the house, and there were just starting to be some cat’s paws on the windshield when we were getting home.

[alex]

Just turned to snow here at 1550 ft

[J.Spin]

9 minutes ago, alex said:

Just turned to snow here at 1550 ft

 

Nice, I just checked out back and it’s already starting to mix in down here at 500’ now – the temperature has been dropping pretty quickly over the past 30 minutes or so, 2 to 3 degrees F.  The local high terrain is probably doing well if we’re already mixing in down here at the valley bottom.  It certainly looks like it’s snowing nicely on the Bolton Valley Web Cam now.  This type of event on top of deep snowpack is why March and April are so awesome, but the awesomeness can get pretty drowned out by the general disdain for these months on the forum.

[Ginx snewx]

40 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

Nice, I just checked out back and it’s already starting to mix in down here at 500’ now – the temperature has been dropping pretty quickly over the past 30 minutes or so, 2 to 3 degrees F.  The local high terrain is probably doing well if we’re already mixing in down here at the valley bottom.  It certainly looks like it’s snowing nicely on the Bolton Valley Web Cam now.  This type of event on top of deep snowpack is why March and April are so awesome, but the awesomeness can get pretty drowned out by the general disdain for these months on the forum.

Skiing should be fantastic tomorrow and spring besties Sunday.  Super jealous,  glad it worked out for you guys. My high end of 12 up top might be conservative considering it looks like SB already surpassed 9 up top. Bolton can looks awesome.

 

[powderfreak]

16 minutes ago, Ginx snewx said:

Skiing should be fantastic tomorrow and spring besties Sunday.  Super jealous,  glad it worked out for you guys. My high end of 12 up top might be conservative considering it looks like SB already surpassed 9 up top. Bolton can looks awesome.

 

Eh, that snowstake is cringe worthy.  You know enough about weather observations not to take those values.  Its in a 3-4 foot hole that just fills in.  Precip has not been heavy enough for sustained 1-2"/hr rates that thing has been showing...its had roughly 500" of snow this winter.  The NWS guys joke about that one, haha.  One reason they don't trust ski area measurements for the most part.

[eyewall]

1 minute ago, powderfreak said:

Eh, that snowstake is cringe worthy.  You know enough about weather observations not to take those values.  Its in a 3-4 foot hole on a roll-over east side.  The NWS guys email me all the time about that one, haha.  One reason they don't trust ski area measurements for the most part.

Drifty McDriftface

[powderfreak]

50 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

 

Nice, I just checked out back and it’s already starting to mix in down here at 500’ now – the temperature has been dropping pretty quickly over the past 30 minutes or so, 2 to 3 degrees F.  The local high terrain is probably doing well if we’re already mixing in down here at the valley bottom.  It certainly looks like it’s snowing nicely on the Bolton Valley Web Cam now.  This type of event on top of deep snowpack is why March and April are so awesome, but the awesomeness can get pretty drowned out by the general disdain for these months on the forum.

Yeah we've been mixing with snow when it comes down and then lightens up to -RN or white rain.

Snowing nicely at the resort...was just up there 90 minutes ago.

[eyewall]

1 hour ago, J.Spin said:

 

That’s awesome info eyewall, thanks!  I wish they had a second camera like the one at the main base down at 1,500’ at the Timberline Base.  Something around 1,000’ at their Bolton Valley Welcome Sign would be another good intermediate elevation, and then I’ve got my web cam at 500’ and it would make it really easy to follow the snow line down in this area.  Anyway, I was just traveling the east side on Route 100, and looking back toward the spine, you could definitely see the snow falling.  It looked like the snow line was still in the 1,500’ elevation range.  We’ve dropped into the 30s F now here at 500’ at the house, and there were just starting to be some cat’s paws on the windshield when we were getting home.

It was a pretty abrupt change too. Enjoy the snow!

[Ginx snewx]

13 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Eh, that snowstake is cringe worthy.  You know enough about weather observations not to take those values.  Its in a 3-4 foot hole that just fills in.  Precip has not been heavy enough for sustained 1-2"/hr rates that thing has been showing...its had roughly 500" of snow this winter.  The NWS guys joke about that one, haha.  One reason they don't trust ski area measurements for the most part.

Pretty much yes but with wet snow not drifting and looking at the snow fall behind the stake this time looks good.  Guess you will let us know tomorrow. I was watching the Heavens gate cam and there was easy 4 inches there by 5 pm judging by the skiers.

 

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Ginx snewx said:

Pretty much yes but with wet snow not drifting and looking at the snow fall behind the stake this time looks good.  Guess you will let us know tomorrow. I was watching the Heavens gate cam and there was easy 4 inches there by 5 pm judging by the skiers.

 

4" sounds closer to reality than 9" at that point in the storm... but who knows.

Its been ripping on the mountain...here's a photo sent to me from our grooming supervisor.

 

[klw]

Snowing lightly here

[alex]

Moderate snow but it's only started sticking recently. 1/4" or so. 

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 1.2” Snow/1.71” L.E.

 

Down here at 500’ snow started mixing in with the rain by roughly 6:30 P.M. this evening, and it was fully over to snow by probably 8:00 P.M. or so.  We’re still a bit above freezing, so it’s not accumulating too fast down here, but there’s certainly a lot of liquid equivalent falling out of the sky right now so the resorts should be doing quite well.  This round of measured snow contains the liquid associated with the transition from rain, so as the data would suggest, the overall stack is still pretty dense.

 

Details from the 12:00 A.M. Waterbury observations:

 

New Snow: 1.2 inches

New Liquid: 0.29 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 4.1

Snow Density: 24.2% H2O

Temperature: 33.3 F

Sky: Snow (2-10 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 1.5 inches

[powderfreak]

7.5" at the base of the mountain (1,500ft) overnight.

This is nuts.  It is snowing so hard out and its a QPF paste bomb.  The trees are just plastered. 

Upslope comes through.  Grooming estimating 10-12" up above mid-mountain. 

Ginxy was right.

[powderfreak]

Thing of beauty.  All night.  This is what I like to see...pixels of 30dbz just chilling on the county line and just on the east side of county line.  Just pouring snow.

[J.Spin]

Event totals: 4.6” Snow/2.13” L.E.

 

Snow is definitely pouring down out there – watching the rate of accumulation at my observations time it was >1”/hour, so I called it heavy snow.  I would think that we could have gotten a Winter Weather Advisory for this with way the roads look, but the BTV NWS did put out a Special Weather Statement.

 

 

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT

National Weather Service BURLINGTON VT

338 AM EDT Sat Apr 8 2017

 

NYZ029>031-034-VTZ003-004-006>008-016>019-081300-

Southeastern St. Lawrence-Southern Franklin-Western Clinton-

Western Essex-Orleans-Essex-Lamoille-Caledonia-Washington-

Eastern Franklin-Eastern Chittenden-Eastern Addison-

Eastern Rutland-

Including the cities of Star Lake, Saranac Lake, Tupper Lake,

Dannemora, Lake Placid, Newport, Island Pond, Johnson, Stowe,

St. Johnsbury, Montpelier, Enosburg Falls, Richford, Underhill,

Bristol, Ripton, East Wallingford, and Killington

338 AM EDT Sat Apr 8 2017

 

...Areas of snow covered and slippery travel expected this morning

across the higher terrain...

 

Persistent upslope snow showers overnight has resulted in

accumulating snowfall across the northern Adirondacks and western

slopes of northern and central Vermont. Motorists traveling

across the higher elevations and passes should be alert for snow

covered and slippery travel through 9 AM this morning. Additional

snowfall of 1 to 2 inches expected with localized amounts up to 3

inches possible.

 

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

 

New Snow: 3.4 inches

New Liquid: 0.42 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 8.1

Snow Density: 12.4% H2O

Temperature: 31.5 F

Sky: Heavy Snow (2-12 mm flakes)

Snow at the stake: 5.0 inches

[powderfreak]

Full on Winter Storm Warning worthy stuff for the localized upslope zone.