NNE Cold Season Thread 2025-2026

[J.Spin]

22 hours ago, tamarack said:

We'll hope 24-25 isn't repeated - early peak followed by meh.  On 12/5/24 we had 15" OG, the most for that date in our 27 winters.  We finished with well below snowfall and well below SDDs. 
That's what happens when the winter's 2 biggest snowstorms occur on 11/28-29 and 12/4-5.

That’s very interesting. I didn’t specifically recall those two snowstorms, so I went to my data, and I can see why – they were definitely not the 2 biggest snowstorms of the season over here at our site. They were both fairly small, and well down in the hierarchy of the 61 storms on the season – they weren’t part of the top 10, and they didn’t even make the top 20. The 11/28-29 snowstorm (potent low pressure tracking across southern New England) brought 2.3 inches of snow and ranked 29^th, and the 12/4-5 snowstorm (Clipper system racing eastward from southwestern Quebec to northern Maine) brought 2.9 inches of snow and ranked 23^rd. It’s always amazing how two NNE sites at similar latitudes can have such different winter regimes. The largest snowstorms of the season over here were in January and February, and in terms of the 24-25 winter as a whole, most skiers/mountain recreation types in this area would probably take a repeat if push came to shove. It wasn’t a perfect winter, with a fairly weak November in the lower elevations and a relatively slow period leading into the first half of December and again near the holidays, but with all the local ski resorts in the Northern Greens ultimately recording 350”+ of snow and Jay Peak hitting 475”, combined with a very stable period in midwinter without any huge rainstorms, it was a solid performer.

[tamarack]

2 hours ago, J.Spin said:

That’s very interesting. I didn’t specifically recall those two snowstorms, so I went to my data, and I can see why – they were definitely not the 2 biggest snowstorms of the season over here at our site. They were both fairly small, and well down in the hierarchy of the 61 storms on the season – they weren’t part of the top 10, and they didn’t even make the top 20. The 11/28-29 snowstorm (potent low pressure tracking across southern New England) brought 2.3 inches of snow and ranked 29^th, and the 12/4-5 snowstorm (Clipper system racing eastward from southwestern Quebec to northern Maine) brought 2.9 inches of snow and ranked 23^rd. It’s always amazing how two NNE sites at similar latitudes can have such different winter regimes. The largest snowstorms of the season over here were in January and February, and in terms of the 24-25 winter as a whole, most skiers/mountain recreation types in this area would probably take a repeat if push came to shove. It wasn’t a perfect winter, with a fairly weak November in the lower elevations and a relatively slow period leading into the first half of December and again near the holidays, but with all the local ski resorts in the Northern Greens ultimately recording 350”+ of snow and Jay Peak hitting 475”, combined with a very stable period in midwinter without any huge rainstorms, it was a solid performer.

We were in SNJ for the T-Day storm, had cold rain there.  Neighbor said, "about 8 inches" but the co-op 3 miles south and 90' higher reported 11".  He usually reports less than I do, in part to one-a-day measuring, so I may have underestimated.  Ratio was 5.6-to-1, a real branch breaker.  The Dec clipper grew up faster than expected - forecast was 3-6 and we had 9.3" from less than half the SWE of T-Day, 0.71" vs, 1.44".

[Boston Bulldog]

The developing pack is definitely taking a hit, but in high elevations it should survive the warm up. An extended upslope period is still showing up in guidance and it looks like there will be 2 (or 3) vorticity packets moving through the area through the end of next week to shake the upslope snowglobe. Hopefully soon we're talking about Froude numbers and critical flow, when those terms enter the conversation it's always a sign of a great pattern.

[WxWatcher007]

59 minutes ago, Boston Bulldog said:

The developing pack is definitely taking a hit, but in high elevations it should survive the warm up. An extended upslope period is still showing up in guidance and it looks like there will be 2 (or 3) vorticity packets moving through the area through the end of next week to shake the upslope snowglobe. Hopefully soon we're talking about Froude numbers and critical flow, when those terms enter the conversation it's always a sign of a great pattern.

Things I’ve never had to pay attention to. Looks wintry up at SLK for the next week. Just about perfect timing for my trip up. 

[Boston Bulldog]

11 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Things I’ve never had to pay attention to. Looks wintry up at SLK for the next week. Just about perfect timing for my trip up. 

https://www.weather.gov/btv/froude

The paper by BTV NWS linked above is a fantastic overview of the role the froude number plays in orographic precipitation. When cyclonic flow sets up over the mountains, flakes are flying somewhere

[bwt3650]

What a snowmaking window as far as the eye can see. Light em up tonight and it’s off to the races. Lots of chances for natural and great temps. Could be a real nice start to the season.


.

[WxWatcher007]

Might be a good burst of snow tonight in VT and northern NH. Hoping for a good week when I head up to SLK tomorrow.

[mreaves]

38 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Might be a good burst of snow tonight in VT and northern NH. Hoping for a good week when I head up to SLK tomorrow.

BTV agrees

[J.Spin]

Over in the Adirondacks they’ve already had some advisories from one of our recent storm systems, but I think these are the first notable winter weather alerts over on this side of the lake. I’m seeing a lot of 2-4” snowfall forecasts for the valleys around here in the Chittenden County area on the west side of the Greens, and the shading on the projected accumulations map seems in line with that, but the projections increase as you head north toward the international border. The current BTV NWS maps are below.

[Ginx snewx]

25 minutes ago, J.Spin said:

Over in the Adirondacks they’ve already had some advisories from one of our recent storm systems, but I think these are the first notable winter weather alerts over on this side of the lake. I’m seeing a lot of 2-4” snowfall forecasts for the valleys around here in the Chittenden County area on the west side of the Greens, and the shading on the projected accumulations map seems in line with that, but the projections increase as you head north toward the international border. The current BTV NWS maps are below.

MRG starting to get lit up.

[Ginx snewx]

Nice Burlington 

 

[WxWatcher007]

4” reported NW of SLK. 

[das]

Greetings from the Champlain Valley (well, I’m in DC for work this week). 3.2” at the house in Charlotte this evening with multiple reports of 5+” Burlington and north. 

Nice to get the first measurable on the books. 

 

[Boston Bulldog]

Classic blocked flow this AM. Substantial upslope into the west slopes on radar. Looks like echos stop at the top of the spine, is this beam blockage?

No! Clear skies over the Stowe base right now as shown on the webcam, but the eastern extent of the snow showers is very visible over the top of the spine. As froude numbers increase this will push eastward.

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Classic blocked flow this AM. Substantial upslope into the west slopes on radar. Looks like echos stop at the top of the spine, is this beam blockage?

No! Clear skies over the Stowe base right now as shown on the webcam, but the eastern extent of the snow showers is very visible over the top of the spine. As froude numbers increase this will push eastward.

Yeah, blocked early then becomes unblocked later today.

[powderfreak]

3 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Classic blocked flow this AM. Substantial upslope into the west slopes on radar. Looks like echos stop at the top of the spine, is this beam blockage?

No! Clear skies over the Stowe base right now as shown on the webcam, but the eastern extent of the snow showers is very visible over the top of the spine. As froude numbers increase this will push eastward.

It’s crazy, the mountains didn’t seem to get into the mid-level banding as much.  I had 3” in my yard and 2” at all elevations of the mountain.

Everyone showed up from BTV and valley to skin and ski and found 2-3” of wind-blown snow on dirt up to about 2,500ft at Stowe.  Parking lot was full.

Which still surprises me people get caught off guard with so many live cams.

Heard it was similar at Jay Peak and their web cams seemed to look like Stowe’s mower half trails… just 2-3 inches of wind-swept on top of dirt.  While the Champlain Valley is caked..

 

Even Smuggs looked a bit better on west side but seemed like 3-4” west slopes instead of 2-3” east slopes.

Maybe Bolton got lit up a bit better?  But overall looked like the synoptic round missed the Spine with a lake jackpot.

[J.Spin]

4 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Classic blocked flow this AM. Substantial upslope into the west slopes on radar. Looks like echos stop at the top of the spine, is this beam blockage?

No! Clear skies over the Stowe base right now as shown on the webcam, but the eastern extent of the snow showers is very visible over the top of the spine. As froude numbers increase this will push eastward.

 

2 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah, blocked early then becomes unblocked later today.

We’d picked up about another 1½” of snow at our site this morning by the time I headed out, so being right along the spine in the Winooski Valley, we appeared to be getting in on a bit of that blocked flow as often happens. You can definitely see those echoes sneaking through the Winooski Valley on the radar image.

[J.Spin]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

It’s crazy, the mountains didn’t seem to get into the mid-level banding as much.  I had 3” in my yard and 2” at all elevations of the mountain.

Everyone showed up from BTV and valley to skin and ski and found 2-3” of wind-blown snow on dirt up to about 2,500ft at Stowe.  Parking lot was full.

Which still surprises me people get caught off guard with so many live cams.

Heard it was similar at Jay Peak and their web cams seemed to look like Stowe’s mower half trails… just 2-3 inches of wind-swept on top of dirt.  While the Champlain Valley is caked..

 

Even Smuggs looked a bit better on west side but seemed like 3-4” west slopes instead of 2-3” east slopes.

Maybe Bolton got lit up a bit better?  But overall looked like the synoptic round missed the Spine with a lake jackpot.

I had time for a quick ski tour up at Bolton today, so I can pass along a bit of beta with regard to this latest storm and conditions. I’d seen that with the warm front end of this storm, the snow had melted out in the lower elevations of the mountain, so the depths that are there now in the roughly 2,000’-2,500’ range are only from this latest event. Seeing that Jay Peak webcam image above that you posted, I’d say Bolton got hit just a bit better as you surmised – it’s probably similar to what Smugg’s saw. Here’s the elevation-based snow depth profile I observed this morning in the Bolton Valley area:

340’: 4”

500’: 4”

1,000’: 4”

1,200: 4”

1,500’: 4-5”

2,000’: 4-6”

2,500’: 4-6”

2,700’: 5-8”

You can see what a weird snow depth profile that is compared to the usual – the snow depth even in the Village at ~2,000’ is basically that same as it is at 340’ at the base of the Bolton Valley Access Road or at our house at ~500’. I only had time to tour up to ~2,700’ this morning, but the snow depths don’t really start to increase until you get above ~2,500’ into the elevations that have pre-existing snowpack, so it looks like the snow accumulations from the front end of this system were pretty consistent over quite a broad range of elevations.

In terms of the quality of the turns, today was more like the skiing from the Halloween/November 1^st system vs. the much higher quality turns from the November 5^th system. This snow was drier than the Halloween/November 1^st system, so it skied better in that regard, but going with meadow skipping terrain was definitely the optimal choice for fun turns. The number of folks that I saw out touring today at the resort wasn’t outrageous – the top tier of Bolton’s Village parking area was ~1/3 full, but you could tell the ski touring activity was a bit livelier than the past couple of systems with the way the lower valleys got in some substantial accumulations.

I’ll put together a bit more of a report with a few photos as soon as I get a chance.

[powderfreak]

Been snowing hard for a while but windy and hard to really tell if it’s accumulating much.

Kind of funny, visibility has been under 1/2 mile or even 1/4 mile for a while (can’t see across Over Easy) but it just seems a bit too windy to really tell or stack.

Its like whiteout snows but doesn’t necessarily seem to be verifying ground truth… though it has to be ending up somewhere.