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NNE Cold Season Thread 2020-2021


wxeyeNH
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33F  Partly cloudy.   Occ.  flurries are making it over and down to here.

Snow depth at stake   11"

Saturday is the Newfound Fishing Derby and Winterfest on the lake.  Hopefully it will be snowing not raining.  Usually cold air overperforms so hope most precip is out of here before any warmup

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Just now, wxeyeNH said:

Phin,  your webcam has been really interesting this season.   For some reason I always thought on upslope snow days the sky would be gray, like a synoptic storm.  It's more like just passing clouds and dim sun  but snow just keeps falling without thick clouds.  

Upslope is definitely interesting. Different than the snow I am used to for sure. I love days like today with the waves of endless snow.

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1 hour ago, wxeyeNH said:

Phin,  your webcam has been really interesting this season.   For some reason I always thought on upslope snow days the sky would be gray, like a synoptic storm.  It's more like just passing clouds and dim sun  but snow just keeps falling without thick clouds.  

Yea just watched a snownado dance cross his field

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1 hour ago, ChasingFlakes said:

Crush job at Jay.  Feels like 10+ inches easy.

I'd believe it.  We are over 8" now at Stowe above like 2,000ft.  Last night grooming department reported a period of -RN at 1,500ft around midnight or just prior... then it went to paste and finally to fluff.  Bet we still have 6" at 1,500ft just eyeballing it.

As usual, "Snow showers likely" forecast brings in more inches of snow than the Winter Storm Warnings do, lol.

It's finally tapering off it seems, the radar echo seemed to have slinked one ridge to the south near Dewey Mtn and then towards the three county line.

WUNIDS_map.gif.61c488a221be29996b800e470e4343a4.gif

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Event totals: 1.5” Snow/0.11” L.E.

 

I found 1.5” on the boards this morning, and from our webcam I see that there’s been a bit more today that I’ll measure when I get home.  There definitely was some dense stuff on the front end of this because it started out with fairly warm temperatures.

 

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

New Snow: 1.5 inches

New Liquid: 0.11 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 13.6

Snow Density: 7.3% H2O

Temperature: 28.4 F

Sky: Mostly Cloudy

Snow at the stake: 20.0 inches

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1 hour ago, wxeyeNH said:

Phin,  your webcam has been really interesting this season.   For some reason I always thought on upslope snow days the sky would be gray, like a synoptic storm.  It's more like just passing clouds and dim sun  but snow just keeps falling without thick clouds.  

That's how it is east of the crest axis... we get the same in Stowe Village.  

I bet Alex's area sees a lot more slate gray upslope days with clouds locked in.  I feel like he mentions that quite a bit too.  Just like the western slopes around here can be locked in low clouds all day on upslope flow while we are more squally to the east.

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1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

I'd believe it.  We are over 8" now at Stowe above like 2,000ft.  Last night grooming department reported a period of -RN at 1,500ft around midnight or just prior... then it went to paste and finally to fluff.  Bet we still have 6" at 1,500ft just eyeballing it.

As usual, "Snow showers likely" forecast brings in more inches of snow than the Winter Storm Warnings do, lol.

It's finally tapering off it seems, the radar echo seemed to have slinked one ridge to the south near Dewey Mtn and then towards the three county line.

Sun mostly out now with clouds ripping off the peak.  Flurries but probably deposition from the windward slope.  I hiked the peak and my gopro died 20 seconds into my run skiers right off the ridge lol. I got some great footage though, stashes all day.  I checked the zone where the icefall/cliff on the face that my avatar was taken at, it looks perfect.  But im solo and its not worth doing sketchy stuff alone, tree riding itself is dangerous enough solo.  I met the social media photog on the lift and we traded instagrams so I sent him a message to see if he's willing to shoot that with me tomorrow.  He'll probably just poach my line tho haha.l2c5abs.jpg

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nKAHLKI.jpg

 

 

 

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I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

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4 hours ago, wxeyeNH said:

Phin,  your webcam has been really interesting this season.   For some reason I always thought on upslope snow days the sky would be gray, like a synoptic storm.  It's more like just passing clouds and dim sun  but snow just keeps falling without thick clouds.  

After 3-4 months, it seems like it's not quite the upslope haven compared to say Alex and obviously northern greens western slopes. It certainly is a great synoptic system spot though. It seems the moose fart short waves dont quite produce over there the same as in NVT.  Im sure if a wound up LP moved into eastern Canada and slowed down it could hit that area hard with backside upslope, don't think we have really had one of those though this season. Like PF said, more like squally in nature as opposed to those radar shots PF posts of the precip slamming into a wall. Always good to refreshers though.

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1 hour ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

LOL this is like me leaving Randolph to go to Ski Liberty in southern PA “for fun.” :) 

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1 hour ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

Grew up there skiing on Sunday afternoons/evening under the lights.  We had cheap passes from like 12pm-8pm on Sundays at Jiminy.  We get quite spoiled up north when I think about the difference on days like this... skiing 8" of upslope blower up north or chattering down ice cube sized granular.  As a kid I feel like I didn't know any better and I loved it... as an adult it's like "I could be doing something else right now..." ha.

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Just now, powderfreak said:

Grew up there skiing on Sunday afternoons/evening under the lights.  We had cheap passes from like 12pm-8pm on Sundays at Jiminy.  We get quite spoiled up north when I think about the difference on days like this... skiing 8" of upslope blower up north or chattering down ice cube sized granular.  As a kid I feel like I didn't know any better and I loved it... as an adult it's like "I could be doing something else right now..." ha.

Granular would be great compared to this. It was literally a glacial sheet. Tricky too because it looks like corduroy, but it's petrified lol

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10 minutes ago, backedgeapproaching said:

After 3-4 months, it seems like it's not quite the upslope haven compared to say Alex and obviously northern greens western slopes. It certainly is a great synoptic system spot though. It seems the moose fart short waves dont quite produce over there the same as in NVT.  Im sure if a wound up LP moved into eastern Canada and slowed down it could hit that area hard with backside upslope, don't think we have really had one of those though this season. Like PF said, more like squally in nature as opposed to those radar shots PF posts of the precip slamming into a wall. Always good to refreshers though.

I don’t get the 7-10 in a day or two upslope stuff that NVT can get. After the mid Jan storm I racked up over a foot of upslope after the storm passed, over the course of a week. So a good setup can produce. Usually I get 1-3” refreshers with good regularity. There are definitely several synoptic setups where Randolph can stack up to any place in NNE. My totals kept up with the Northern Greens ski peaks in the mid-Jan storm for example. Just one winter here but my read is that I am in the game for basically everything from any direction but due south. I get downsloped from that direction. I lag behind a little in upslope (although I am fairly similar in totals to Alex most times) but have an edge over NVT with many synoptic setups and possibly retention (at the 1500 and below level). Obviously the ski peaks at 3000+ are a different beast).

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1 hour ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

AQW hit 38 but low dews and OVC meant no softening after yesterday's cornfest.  Reports from the east slope were mixed... more sun, exposed low angle trails softened, the rest stayed firm.

I will say however that yeah, I've experienced plenty of those days over the years in NNE, spring days you're cheering hard for sun but it just ain't happening.  Or most days at Cannon.

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1 hour ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

Those conditions were pretty common in the southern PA ski areas where I learned, especially Liberty and Roundtop. Lots of very icy days.

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Event totals: 1.8” Snow/0.12” L.E.

 

We’ve mostly cleared out now, so I’d say the above totals are the final numbers for this system at our site.

 

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

New Snow: 0.3 inches

New Liquid: 0.01 inches

Snow/Water Ratio: 3.3

Snow Density: 30.0% H2O

Temperature: 24.1 F

Sky: Mostly Clear

Snow at the stake: 19.5 inches

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3 hours ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

To be fair, it was in the mid 40’s there yesterday.

pleasantly surprised how good the ski surface was at Lincoln peak, even down towards the base.  The upper mountain is in great shape.

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7 minutes ago, Hitman said:

To be fair, it was in the mid 40’s there yesterday.

pleasantly surprised how good the ski surface was at Lincoln peak, even down towards the base.  The upper mountain is in great shape.

Nothing that a good grooming team couldn't fix though. Instead of going by what makes sense, they groom by the time of the day. Oh - it's 5 pm, temp is 42 and I should probably wait until it goes below freezing to groom but since I'm supposed to do it at 5, I'm doing it. If they had groomed this morning it would have been a different world. It takes flexibility and sensibility and not every resort is willing to do that. For all their faults, it's one thing that Bretton Woods does seem to get right

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2 hours ago, PhineasC said:

I don’t get the 7-10 in a day or two upslope stuff that NVT can get. After the mid Jan storm I racked up over a foot of upslope after the storm passed, over the course of a week. So a good setup can produce. Usually I get 1-3” refreshers with good regularity. There are definitely several synoptic setups where Randolph can stack up to any place in NNE. My totals kept up with the Northern Greens ski peaks in the mid-Jan storm for example. Just one winter here but my read is that I am in the game for basically everything from any direction but due south. I get downsloped from that direction. I lag behind a little in upslope (although I am fairly similar in totals to Alex most times) but have an edge over NVT with many synoptic setups and possibly retention (at the 1500 and below level). Obviously the ski peaks at 3000+ are a different beast).

I’m not very familiar with your area but I have looked in the past at a bunch of the data on xmacis. There used to be another reporter down the road from your area a few years back. They were located around the Bowman inn and Jefferson notch snowmobile rentals area I believe. I think that area was discussed in here before and people thought it would be very snowy as the mountains converge around there. Elevation there is still around 1500-1600 and it seems to be the crest of rt-2. Anyways the data was a bit spotty and definitely not as good as the reporter in your neighborhood but they seemed to always measure For the bigger storms. I noticed a trend that, that location always reported more backside snow during the storms than your reporter did. Maybe they do a bit better a few miles west there with upslope snow than you but the retention at your spot is better I bet. 
One example of an upslope storm was January 2010. I believe Burlington area got a lot with that also. The 4.0wsw Randolph reporter had over 30” with almost 40 on the ground, and the one 1.4ne had around 20” with about 30 on the ground. 

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3 minutes ago, alex said:

Nothing that a good grooming team couldn't fix though. Instead of going by what makes sense, they groom by the time of the day. Oh - it's 5 pm, temp is 42 and I should probably wait until it goes below freezing to groom but since I'm supposed to do it at 5, I'm doing it. If they had groomed this morning it would have been a different world. 

Use to go night skiing there all the time, I think the guy meant to say this is Berkshires skiing, used to be like that a lot.

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4 hours ago, alex said:

I’m down in the Berkshires. Skied Jiminy Peak today - skiing is a bit of a stretch, as it is more of an ice skating experience than skiing. Absolutely awful. Talked to a ski patrol guy - “it’s just New England skiing.” Hmm, no, it isn’t lol. Never in 5 years have I seen conditions this bad in Bretton Woods. 

I did some night skiing up at catamount last Friday after they got some snow and it was all completely skied off by then. I had skied just a week earlier up at Pico and the conditions were incredible there. Jiminy, catamount area to me is glorified southern New England type skiing and the conditions can change drastically just as you go up into vermont from my experience. Back in Mid-December I skied Magic after the 3 foot storm they got and stopped at Jiminy to night ski a bit on the way home. The difference in conditions were incredible. 2-3 feet of ungroomed powder all day at Magic to Machine groomed not even great packed powder conditions at Jiminy even tho they reported 15”-18”. They definitely cater to the crowds they get a lot of young families and vacationers there not a ton of locals I think. Still a fun place tho and not too far from me. 

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54 minutes ago, alex said:

Nothing that a good grooming team couldn't fix though. Instead of going by what makes sense, they groom by the time of the day. Oh - it's 5 pm, temp is 42 and I should probably wait until it goes below freezing to groom but since I'm supposed to do it at 5, I'm doing it. If they had groomed this morning it would have been a different world. It takes flexibility and sensibility and not every resort is willing to do that. For all their faults, it's one thing that Bretton Woods does seem to get right

Grooming above freezing is hard and typically is t done on snowmobile trails. The snow is sticky and doesn’t roll through the drag. I know ski slope grooming uses different equipment but I’d imagine it’s still hard to work snow at those temps. 

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1 hour ago, alex said:

Nothing that a good grooming team couldn't fix though. Instead of going by what makes sense, they groom by the time of the day. Oh - it's 5 pm, temp is 42 and I should probably wait until it goes below freezing to groom but since I'm supposed to do it at 5, I'm doing it. If they had groomed this morning it would have been a different world. It takes flexibility and sensibility and not every resort is willing to do that. For all their faults, it's one thing that Bretton Woods does seem to get right

Sounds like Wildcat. I think that place tries to cultivate a "natural" vibe but it just comes across as lazy to me.

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