NW_of_GYX Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, powderfreak said: Looping the full radar today, wouldn’t surprise me if like Appalachian Gap and MRG elevations did best today. Or west side of Camels Hump even. Per Jay's webcam it looks like the snow moved in their about 30 min ago. I'm gonna keep an eye over the next 3-4 hours but as of now I'm planning to make the drive over in the morning. Man I've made the trip to NVT more than ever this season, speaks to the haves and have nots this winter. Hopefully next winter I can drive less 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwt3650 Posted April 16 Author Share Posted April 16 Per Jay's webcam it looks like the snow moved in their about 30 min ago. I'm gonna keep an eye over the next 3-4 hours but as of now I'm planning to make the drive over in the morning. Man I've made the trip to NVT more than ever this season, speaks to the haves and have nots this winter. Hopefully next winter I can drive less It was grapple all day; nothing spectacular…started dumping right around last chair. Very firm on groomers, woods had enough fresh to make them decent…only Bonnie from lunch on. The glades off power line and upper milk run were very good, but keep your eyes open as there’s stuff popping up. tmrw will be good. Tons of base for mid April. If you remember that it’s mid April, it should be a great day.. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1 hour ago, bwt3650 said: It was grapple all day; nothing spectacular…started dumping right around last chair. Very firm on groomers, woods had enough fresh to make them decent…only Bonnie from lunch on. The glades off power line and upper milk run were very good, but keep your eyes open as there’s stuff popping up. tmrw will be good. Tons of base for mid April. If you remember that it’s mid April, it should be a great day. . Yup! I think yesterday’s warmth did cause a decent bit more stuff get exposed, especially under like 2500ft. I noticed some accelerated melt yesterday that had been missing for quite some time. Given the moisture feed, would imagine Jay would be favored tonight. To be honest, some of the pics I saw from high up on Sugarbush today looked like the best I saw from anywhere. Sort of matched the radar too. Most models have the real stuff tapering off by 10pm or so, with more persistent flurries after that. Favoring the northern Mtns now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 Storm total of 9” at High Road (3,000ft) in past 36 hours with this overnight snow. Depth back up to 69”. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted April 21 Share Posted April 21 Yesterday was relatively warm with temperatures in the 60s F, but it was cloudy with on and off showers and even some rubles of thunder. Today the temperatures cooled back down into the 40s F, but with clear skies that was easily warm enough to set up for some excellent corn snow and step up as the better ski day of the weekend. I was thinking of heading to Stowe for some ski touring this afternoon, but by the time the family was done with the day’s Easter activities it seemed more practical to pop up to Bolton Valley instead. I was hoping that the Timberline area would still have enough snow for touring, and indeed it does, with fairly deep snow on the Showtime trail all the way down to the Timberline Base at 1,500’. I toured up to roughly 2,200’ to the Showtime Headwall below the Timberline Mid Station, and immediately above that point the snow had been scoured and melted out. There were only a couple of tracks around from previous skiers, and we’re nowhere near the point of dealing with sun cup issues yet, so the snow surface was a beautiful sea of perfect peel-away corn. With temperatures in the 40s F, there were no issues with stickiness, so it skied really well. The only weather issue of note was that there was a stiff westerly breeze at times, but the combination of air temperatures, sunshine, and the breeze came together to produce some fantastic snow surfaces. Based on the numbers from the Mt. Mansfield Stake, there’s still 6 to 7 feet of natural snowpack in the higher elevations of the Northern Greens, so that snowpack should be there for quite a while. The spring thus far has been fairly cool and snowy, so it really feels like the corn snow spring skiing season is just getting started. Barring any abnormal warmth, there should be several weeks to go and hopefully many chances to hit the slopes at Stowe as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Several days back, it looked like today held the potential to be one of those warm, sunny ski days with spring corn snow. Mother Nature appeared to have other plans though, and the weather modeling quickly started to show the potential for fresh snow instead of sunshine. Indeed, the snow came to fruition, and as of this afternoon, snow levels had dropped all the way to the bottoms of the valleys. Down at our site in the Winooski Valley, it snowed much of the afternoon, with decent intensity at times, but temperatures were a bit too warm to see any substantial accumulations. Accumulation was easy at higher elevations however, and after a quick look at the thick white coating visible on Bolton Valley Main Base Webcam, I popped up to the mountain for a ski tour. Heading up the Bolton Valley Access Road, snow accumulations began to appear around the 1,200’ elevation. I found 2 to 3 inches of new snow in the Village at ~2,000’ where I started my tour, and my ascent revealed that the 2,000’-2,500’ elevation band saw the most rapid accumulation gains. I found 5 to 6 inches of new snow at 2,500’, with only modest gains above that up to ~3,200’. The elevation profile for accumulations in the Bolton Valley area today were as follows: 340’: 0” 500’: 0” 1,000’: 0” 1,200’: T 1,500’: T-1” 2,000’: 2-3” 2,500’: 5-6” 3,000’: 6-7” 3,200’: 6-8” By the time I was out for my tour in the late afternoon, temperatures were above freezing at all elevations of the resort, so the new snow was already wet. And it definitely skied like wet snow at that point, but there was plenty of liquid in there to keep you off the old base at most elevations above 2,000’. In any event, it’s always great to get out for a tour in fresh snow, and the sun had quickly come out as the storm pulled away to make for some excellent views. The weather modeling suggests we may get another shot at snow in about a week or so, so we’ll keep an eye on the potential for more touring in fresh accumulations as we head into May. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted April 29 Share Posted April 29 This is probably the end of the cold season. Might be time for a warm season thread. We didn't get to the High Road plot yesterday due to wind, but this morning a snowcat went up to check the snowfall at sunrise... and retrieve the snowboard and depth stake. The porcupines love to eat them in the spring as the sun warms the wood. 5" of refrozen snow sat on the board. The seasonal measured total rises to 362". That's often a 24 hour total, so there's some settling. It looks like we move on to the warm season rapidly now. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxeyeNH Posted April 30 Share Posted April 30 Scott, this picture came up on my Facebook "remember" feed. 10 years ago this week. I remember that this picture made me happy. How time flies! Gene 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mreaves Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 6 hours ago, wxeyeNH said: Scott, this picture came up on my Facebook "remember" feed. 10 years ago this week. I remember that this picture made me happy. How time flies! Gene @powderfreak wow, your dog is 10 now. Like Gene said, time does fly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powderfreak Posted May 1 Share Posted May 1 The local newspaper showing some love and throwing some shade too, ha, for the scientific approach to snowfall observations. To be fair it’s not scientific… it’s just actually measuring the snow in the same spot and not deviating from that. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted May 2 Share Posted May 2 The forecast for the coming days looks fairly unsettled and showery, so I decided to take advantage of the sunny conditions yesterday to get out for a ski tour up at Bolton Valley. I expected that I’d need to head up to the main base at 2,000’ because the Timberline area would be too melted out to offer decent touring opportunities, and indeed that was the case. On the way up the Bolton Valley Access Road, I could see that the Timberline terrain was down to just patchy snow. There are still some continuous routes of snow up at the main mountain though, so that worked out well to get in some afternoon touring. Enough areas of terrain above the main base have melted out to make it practical to go with either hiking or skinning on the ascent. I just had my skis on my pack to simplify things without the need to bring skins, and indeed I found plenty of grassy areas for hiking. The snowpack at Bolton is certainly developing sun cups/melt cups in many areas now, so the turns weren’t as smooth as my past couple of outings, but with the warmth and sun, the snow was definitely soft enough for some decent spring turns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted May 16 Share Posted May 16 The weather was so nice yesterday that I thought about hitting the trails for a bike ride, but then I realized there was still snow and a ski tour was probably the way to go. There will be plenty of riding in the coming months, but ski options are winding down. I headed to Stowe and figured that I’d likely have to ski on the Mansfield side because the south-facing Spruce Peak terrain was melted out, and indeed that was the case. There were only a few patches of snow visible from afar when I looked at Spruce Peak. I’d expected to ski in the Nosedive area, since its orientation and protection from the sun make it a common late-season holdout, but I was surprised that I didn’t see much snow there. I’m sure it still has some snow, but not being able to see obvious areas of good coverage had me looking elsewhere. Liftline had a section of snow in the low to mid-elevations for fairly easy access, but the terrain over by the Sunrise Six seemed to offer the most lower elevation options by far. There were definitely plenty of sun cups and groomer ruts in sections of the snow, but temperatures were warm enough to keep the snow soft enough for some decent turns 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prismshine Productions Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 The weather was so nice yesterday that I thought about hitting the trails for a bike ride, but then I realized there was still snow and a ski tour was probably the way to go. There will be plenty of riding in the coming months, but ski options are winding down. I headed to Stowe and figured that I’d likely have to ski on the Mansfield side because the south-facing Spruce Peak terrain was melted out, and indeed that was the case. There were only a few patches of snow visible from afar when I looked at Spruce Peak. I’d expected to ski in the Nosedive area, since its orientation and protection from the sun make it a common late-season holdout, but I was surprised that I didn’t see much snow there. I’m sure it still has some snow, but not being able to see obvious areas of good coverage had me looking elsewhere. Liftline had a section of snow in the low to mid-elevations for fairly easy access, but the terrain over by the Sunrise Six seemed to offer the most lower elevation options by far. There were definitely plenty of sun cups and groomer ruts in sections of the snow, but temperatures were warm enough to keep the snow soft enough for some decent turnsLegit question, there ever been a year where a mountain spot stayed snow covered for the entire calander year?Sent from my SM-S156V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted May 17 Share Posted May 17 13 hours ago, Prismshine Productions said: Legit question, there ever been a year where a mountain spot stayed snow covered for the entire calander year? Sent from my SM-S156V using Tapatalk Doubtful in New England. Even when the 1968-69 super-snow winter had folks predicting a Mt. Washington glacier, Tucks finally melted out 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted May 18 Share Posted May 18 On 5/16/2025 at 10:24 PM, Prismshine Productions said: Legit question, there ever been a year where a mountain spot stayed snow covered for the entire calander year? Sent from my SM-S156V using Tapatalk On 5/17/2025 at 11:47 AM, tamarack said: Doubtful in New England. Even when the 1968-69 super-snow winter had folks predicting a Mt. Washington glacier, Tucks finally melted out It has happened, but only naturally in Tuckerman Ravine. I’ve never heard of it happening at a ski area with manmade snow (although I’m sure they could pull it off it they wanted to by simply making enough snow and using blanketing techniques, etc.) It looks like the last time it happened was 1926, and that appeared to be unusual, but it may have happened more in the preceding century. Regarding the snow in Tuckerman Ravine from the link below: “It lasts longer here than in any other area in the eastern United States. During recent years it has disappeared, on the average, during the first week in August, but it persisted through the summer of 1926, “for the first time in the memory of the old timers” and new snow fell on the old in October.” I think it’s much more about the spring/summer temperature, humidity and precipitation regime and how soon temperatures cool down in the autumn vs. total snowfall for the previous season. And for Tuckerman Ravine, I bet the season’s avalanche patterns would have an effect as well. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-glaciology/article/an-historical-survey-of-the-lateseason-snowbed-in-tuckerman-ravine-mount-washington-usa/9A5964D0AA6C9D6E9D5A2C55493F4F1C 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted June 4 Share Posted June 4 We’re into June and the snow season should be complete here in the valley, so I’ve put together the summary snow data for the 2024-2025 winter season at our site. It was another solid season, right up there with 2007-2008, 2010-2011, and 2018-2019 in terms of snowfall as the plot below shows. These types of seasons are in that top 20% of the data set for snowfall, so something that happens roughly every 5 years on average. The three big midwinter months of December, January, and February were above average on snowfall, but the rest of the months were below average or close to average at best. That meant the season didn’t really break away from the rest of the pack, but if you’re going to have only three months be above average on snowfall, those midwinter months are the ones to do it and still get a solid season. It wasn’t a season for huge storms with only two storms over 18 inches, but it felt like a decent season for upslope snow. Total Snowfall: 204.1” October Snowfall: 0.5” November Snowfall: 4.0” December Snowfall: 45.1” January Snowfall: 59.5” February Snowfall: 62.1” March Snowfall: 23.6” April Snowfall: 9.3” May Snowfall: 0.0” Total Days with Snowfall: 116 October Days with Snowfall: 2 November Days with Snowfall: 7 December Days with Snowfall: 25 January Days with Snowfall: 28 February Days with Snowfall: 25 March Days with Snowfall: 19 April Days with Snowfall: 10 May Days with Snowfall: 0 Snowstorms: 61 October Storms: 1 November Storms: 5 December Storms: 14 January Storms: 14 February Storms: 14 March Storms: 10 April Storms: 3 May Storms: 0 Average Snowfall per Storm: 3.3” Largest Storm: 22.7” 2nd Largest Storm: 18.8” 3rd Largest Storm: 9.3” 4th Largest Storm: 9.1” 5th Largest Storm: 8.2” Sum of 5 Largest Storms: 68.1” Storms ≥10": 2 Date of Largest Storm: 1/6/25 Earliest Frozen Precipitation: 10/16/24 Earliest Accumulating Snowfall: 10/27/24 Earliest 1" Storm: 11/28/24 Earliest 2" Storm: 11/29/24 Earliest 3" Storm: 12/2/24 Earliest 4" Storm: 12/3/24 Earliest 6" Storm: 12/7/24 Earliest 8" Storm: 12/7/24 Earliest 10" Storm: 1/8/25 Earliest 12" Storm: 1/9/25 Latest Accumulating Snowfall: 4/17/25 Latest Frozen Precipitation: 4/17/25 Length of Snowfall Season: 173 days Start of Season Snowpack: 11/28/24 October days with Snowpack: 0 November days with Snowpack: 3 December days with Snowpack: 31 January days with Snowpack: 31 February days with Snowpack: 28 March days with Snowpack: 31 April days with Snowpack: 15 May days with Snowpack: 0 Days with >0" Snowpack: 139 Days with >0.5" Snowpack: 122 Days with ≥1" Snowpack: 116 Days with ≥2" Snowpack: 107 Days with ≥3" Snowpack: 103 Days with ≥4" Snowpack: 99 Days with ≥6" Snowpack: 82 Days with ≥8" Snowpack: 66 Days with ≥10" Snowpack: 54 Days with ≥12" Snowpack: 48 Days with ≥24" Snowpack: 11 Days with ≥36" Snowpack: 0 Max Snow Depth: 34.0” Date of Max Snow Depth: 2/17/25 End of Season Snowpack: 4/13/25 Continuous Snowpack Season: 137 days Snow-Depth Days: 1346.0 inch-days Total liquid equivalent: 22.51” Frozen liquid equivalent: 12.31” % Frozen L.E.: 54.7% Total Snow/Total Liquid Ratio: 9.07 Total Water Content: 11.0% Total Snow/Frozen Liquid Ratio: 16.58 Frozen Water Content: 6.0% 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted 15 hours ago Share Posted 15 hours ago Following up on the 2024-2025 winter summary, I’ve put together the season’s storm list for our site. The number of storms was above average, but below the 64 storms we had in the 2018-2019 season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamarack Posted 14 hours ago Share Posted 14 hours ago 37 minutes ago, J.Spin said: Following up on the 2024-2025 winter summary, I’ve put together the season’s storm list for our site. The number of storms was above average, but below the 64 storms we had in the 2018-2019 season. It's always surprising how few SDDs you accumulate, given the snowfall. My 75.6" produced 1,319 SDDs, 98% of your total, despite having only 37% of the snowfall. Days 1"+: 128, 127 cons. Days with 10"+: 57, 43 cons. Days with 20"+: only 3, deepest 22" on Feb. 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Spin Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago 7 hours ago, tamarack said: It's always surprising how few SDDs you accumulate, given the snowfall. My 75.6" produced 1,319 SDDs, 98% of your total, despite having only 37% of the snowfall. Days 1"+: 128, 127 cons. Days with 10"+: 57, 43 cons. Days with 20"+: only 3, deepest 22" on Feb. 16. That’s always an interesting comparison, and a big factor in the difference is the very disparate snowfall climatology between the two areas. The two prominent components that go into that SDD/snowfall ratio are the density of the snowfall and the snowpack preservation. Snow preservation here at our site doesn’t appear to be an outlier in either direction locally; between the west side climates and the east side climates along the spine of the Northern Greens, our site’s snow preservation seems to be relatively average. But the east side climate areas, and moving beyond Vermont, areas just east of the Appalachians in general, hold onto cold air the longest and that can help to maximize snow preservation. At our site I’d say it’s the snowfall that has the biggest impact on the SDD/snowfall ratio. And it’s not as if there’s some sort of outrageously high average snow ratio here at our site; it seems right in line with what studies report for the area (see the map and further discussion below). It looks like the high snowfall/SDD ratio here at our site arises from a combination of the area having reasonably strong average snowfall ratios to begin with, and those ratios being elevated even more in seasons with decent amounts of LES/upslope snow. The Northeastern U.S. does represent one of the more dramatic gradients in average snowfall density as one can see from the map. With 6 to 7 snowfall density zones across the region from west to east, the gradient around here is almost as extreme as it is along the west coast of the U.S. There are various studies and maps out there that compare average snowfall ratios across the country, but Weather.com has a nice discussion bringing in data from the 2005 study by Marty Baxter of Central Michigan University, and that’s where I grabbed the map posted above. The mapping of the results from that study shows how the bulk of the BTV NWS forecast area is in that mauve pink shading, which is the 13-14 to 1 range for snowfall ratios. For the period of record in my data set, the mean snowfall ratio is 13.7 ± 1.8, and the median is 13.3, so those data represent what appears to be a strong, normal distribution that is exactly in line with the snowfall ratio range determined in that study. This is the first time I’ve checked on the ratio numbers in a while, but that comparison does give me strong confidence in the methodologies I’m using for both snowfall and liquid equivalent measurements here at our site. The snow to liquid ratio for this past season was 16.6 to 1 (i.e., the water content was 6.0% H2O), which is higher than the average, but quite consistent with this season feeling like we had a decent amount of upslope snow relative to some seasons. If you look at the map, that’s a solid Montana/Northern Rockies style winter right there, with snowfall ratios corresponding to that large area of orange shading. The highest snowfall ratio we’ve recorded here at our site across an entire season is 17.25 (5.8% H2O) in 2020-2021, and the full data set for seasonal snowfall ratios is listed below. Season: Snowfall Ratio ’10-’11: 14.54 ’11-’12: 14.20 ’12-’13: 16.41 ’13-’14: 13.44 ’14-’15: 13.26 ’15-’16: 11.53 ’16-’17: 13.26 ’17-’18: 13.08 ’18-’19: 11.45 ’19-’20: 13.05 ’20-’21: 17.25 ’21-’22: 13.60 ’22-’23: 11.92 ’23-’24: 12.28 ’24-’25: 16.58 Mean: 13.7 ± 1.8 For mountain areas with continental or intermountain snow climates that see minimal melting or winter rainstorms, I often think of the 3 to 1 snowfall to snowpack ratio that I’ve seen PF use for Mansfield (i.e., 300 inches of snowfall produces a snowpack depth of ~100 inches). I’d think a maritime snow climate would be more like 2 to 1, but I’m sure it can vary a lot. This past season, PF recorded 362” of snowfall at his Mt. Mansfield snow plot and the snowpack reached a depth of 103”, so that’s a ratio of 3.5 to 1, which is certainly in that 3 to 1 range. In winter seasons around here without heavy rainstorms, the snowfall climate seems quite intermountain/transitional, but the average snowfall ratio I recorded here at our site this past season would certainly be pushing well into a continental climate. These snow climate classifications are really dialed into the ranges of the western U.S., so there’s not going to be an exact fit for the specific climate of the Northern Greens, but they’re helpful for discussion. We get more rain and temperatures fluctuations here than in the highest elevations of the western U.S., but many of the mid to lower elevation mountain areas out there can get rain and temperature fluctuations above freezing as well, so that’s still part of the climate. These different ratios of snowfall to liquid equivalent, SDD to snowfall, snowfall to snowpack depth, etc. don’t all correlate to each other exactly of course, but they’re still informative. Below was an interesting Reddit discussion I found about the snowfall to base depth correlation – I think some of the people’s numbers are way off from reality, but it sounds like some of them are from personal experience, so that’s potentially useful: https://www.reddit.com/r/skiing/comments/1hi5rr8/how_does_snowfall_translate_into_increase_in_base/ https://avalanche.org/avalanche-encyclopedia/weather/snow-climate/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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