NNE Cold Season Thread 2025-2026

[powderfreak]

10 hours ago, J.Spin said:

 

Saw 6" overnight at Barnes Camp and that 1,500ft elevation saw snowpack go from 23" to 29".

[bwt3650]

Saw 6" overnight at Barnes Camp and that 1,500ft elevation saw snowpack go from 23" to 29".

Was Snowing hard here at 5am. Potent, but short lived. You might have done a bit better in this one. Eyeballing I’d say 4” here.


.

[WxWatcher007]

Love this. Absolutely frigid today. 

[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

Was Snowing hard here at 5am. Potent, but short lived. You might have done a bit better in this one. Eyeballing I’d say 4” here.


.

Yeah, picked up another 1.5" after that for a total of 7.5".  Total fluff on top of like tilted pond ice on the Front Four lol.  Looks great in photos.  Skis like you want to hold on for dear life.

[das]

Nothing of note here in the valley. 0.3” with most of that coming in a burst as the cold front moved through around 5:30 AM.  
December ended up largely average for my location with 17.5” although I have yet to hit average for an entire season in my seven years here so far. Maybe this will be the first year…

Charlotte, VT
44.29°N 73.24°W
2025/26 Season

11/10 5.0
11/11 1.1
11/21 0.2
11/23 0.3
11/28 0.1
11/30 0.2
12/2 4.2
12/4 1.7
12/6 0.5
12/7 2.2
12/10 1.6
12/14 0.1
12/22 0.3
12/23 4.2
12/24 0.7
12/25 0.9
12/26 1.1”
Total:  24.4”

[backedgeapproaching]

14 minutes ago, das said:

Nothing of note here in the valley. 0.3” with most of that coming in a burst as the cold front moved through around 5:30 AM.  
December ended up largely average for my location with 17.5” although I have yet to hit average for an entire season in my seven years here so far. Maybe this will be the first year…

 

Charlotte, VT
44.29°N 73.24°W
2025/26 Season

11/10 5.0
11/11 1.1
11/21 0.2
11/23 0.3
11/28 0.1
11/30 0.2
12/2 4.2
12/4 1.7
12/6 0.5
12/7 2.2
12/10 1.6
12/14 0.1
12/22 0.3
12/23 4.2
12/24 0.7
12/25 0.9
12/26 1.1”
Total:  24.4”

Just curious, what have been your seasonal totals past seasons? Not many posters in the valleys west of the spine. I think myself, you and maybe 1 or two up in NVT maybe also.

[das]

1 hour ago, backedgeapproaching said:

Just curious, what have been your seasonal totals past seasons? Not many posters in the valleys west of the spine. I think myself, you and maybe 1 or two up in NVT maybe also.

Here’s the data dump. I don’t record Traces. The couple of years before, I was splitting time between here and DC so there were big gaps in obs. I’m doing that again now but have deputized (and trained) my daughter. Weather obs are serious business in casa de das.  Ha. 
 

2024/25 Season
12/2 0.1”
12/3 0.4”
12/4 0.3”
12/7 3.8”
12/8 2.3”
12/9 1.3”
12/12 0.1”
12/16 0.1”
12/19 0.3”
12/21 4.1”
12/22 0.1” diamond dust 
12/24 2.2”
1/4 1.2”
1/5 2.1”
1/7 0.2” 
1/8 0.1”
1/9 0.5”
1/11 1.1”
1/19 2.0
1/24 0.3”
1/27 0.1”
1/28 0.3”
1/29 1.1”
2/1 2.5”
2/2 1.1
2/6 3.4”
2/7 0.2”
2/9 5.7
2/13 3.1”
2/16 11.0”
2/24 ~1”
2/27 ~1.5”
3/7 0.1”
3/9 0.1”
3/10 1.5”
3/27 0.1”
3/29 6.3”
4/8 0.7”
Total: 62.4”

2023/24 Season
11/1 0.1”
11/9 2.1”
11/19 0.2”
11/21 3.1”
11/26 0.6”
12/4 0.4”
12/11 0.9”
12/13 0.1”
1/8 8.4”
1/9 3.4”
1/11 0.7”
1/14 0.3”
1/16 6.1”
1/19 0.5”
1/24 2.1”
2/13 1.1”
2/14 0.7”
3/10 1.0”
3/11 1.1”
3/20 0.6” + 0.4”
3/23 8.1”
Total: 42.0”

2022/23 Season
11/17 3.1”
12/12 1.2”
12/13 0.1”
12/17 3.1”
12/18 0.2”
12/23 2.1”
1/12 0.3”
1/13 1.4”
1/20 5.8”
1/23 3.5”
1/26 4.0”
1/30 0.6”
1/31 1.0”
2/2 0.3”
2/17 0.1”
2/24 6.2”
3/1 2.3”
3/4 7.0”
3/15 12.8”
3/25 0.4”
3/31 1.2”
Total:  56.7”

2021/22 Season
11/3 1.5”
11/25 0.5”
12/8 0.6”
12/9 2.9”
12/17 3.5”
12/20 0.7”
1/2 3.8”
1/3 0.7”
1/5 0.2”
1/16 3.1”
1/18 1.5”
1/20 0.8”
1/27 1.1”
2/2 7.5”
2/3 0.7”
2/5 1.1”
2/7 0.4”
2/9 2.7”
2/16 4.3”
2/19 1.2”
2/22 0.6”
2/25 0.5”
3/1 0.2”
3/3 0.2”
3/13 0.2”
04/01 0.2”
Total: 40.7”

2020/21 Season
11/26 0.5”
11/28 0.4”
12/1 0.4”
12/4 0.3”
12/8 1.1”
12/09 0.2”
12/19 5.6”
12/25 0.2”
12/26 0.2”
1/2 2.1”
1/7 2.8”
1/9 0.2”
1/10 0.2”
1/11 0.1”
1/14 0.3”
1/17 7.4”
1/23 0.2”
1/28 0.2”
2/4 17.8”
2/14 0.6”
2/18 2.0”
2/25 9.2”
2/27 0.5”
3/2 0.1”
3/3 0.2”
3/9 0.1”
3/12 5.1”
4/19 4.1”
Total: 62.1”

[powderfreak]

Ended up with a 7.5” measured total in 24 hours at 1500ft.  Gondola was on wind hold so never got to the High Road plot.

Skiing was fluff on top of pond ice or slick hardpack.  Steeper stuff was very sporty.

[J.Spin]

On 1/1/2026 at 6:59 AM, powderfreak said:

Saw 6" overnight at Barnes Camp and that 1,500ft elevation saw snowpack go from 23" to 29".

That overnight snowfall played out similarly here at our site – the underlying snowpack is currently consolidated enough that we picked up 4 inches of snow, and the snowpack depth went up the same amount. We’ve had a lot of continuously settling snowpack over the past couple of months with the types of systems we’ve been seeing, so each round of new snow has typically been compressing the underlying snow. This snow from this recent clipper was fairly dry down here (4 to 6% H2O), so it’s already settled an inch since yesterday.

[J.Spin]

Data collection for December 2025 is complete, so we can see how it played out via the red trace in the updated snowfall progression plot below. Around mid-month, December had accumulated about 30 inches of snow, but the productive bread and butter pattern from the first half of the month slowed down a bit, and we hit that relative lull you can see after the 15^th for about a week. That lull broke for the last week of the month though, which delivered roughly another 20 inches and ensured that December snowfall ultimately wound up above average.

This season, the combo of November and December delivered between 70 and 80 inches of snow, which is solid, but still at the end of that +1 S.D. range. The plot nicely shows how the last week of the month allowed 2025-2026 to pull away from 2018-2019 (green trace). It looked like it was making a run for some of those top seasons, but it ultimately fell short of surpassing 2008-2009 (orange trace) and well short of catching 2007-2008 (blue trace). Overall though, this season has certainly had a solid start relative to average as the plot shows.

[J.Spin]

With the mountains picking up several inches of additional snow from our most recent clipper system, the family along with some friends headed up for some holiday season turns at Bolton Valley yesterday. Temperatures were cold – it was in the upper single digits F on the mountain for the start of the day, and it was only expected to get colder as the day went along. With that in mind, we decided to just head up for a quick tour in the morning via the Wilderness Uphill Route before the Wilderness Chair started loading. Up at the resort it was quite windy in exposed areas, and snow was still falling, so here was certainly a January feel.

Based on my reconnaissance tour on Wednesday, I recommended we just stick to lower-angle terrain because even with the new snow, I didn’t think there were be enough liquid equivalent to support good turns on anything steeper than that. So the six of us toured up to ~2,700’ on Cougar and descended from there. Despite the additional snow for yesterday’s tour, I think that turns might have been a bit better on Wednesday. We were actually one of the first groups hitting that terrain for the day, so we had access to plenty of untracked snow, but the perceived slight drop in ski conditions might have been due to additional traffic on the earlier snow. Temperatures in the single digits F meant that the snow was somewhat slow as well, so that was kind of a knock against the skiing – you just didn’t glide that well, and that can be important on lower-angle terrain. After our tour, my younger son and his friends decided to hop on the Wilderness Chair for a lift-served run while the rest of us hit the base lodge, and they had fun, but the conditions weren’t good enough that it was worth hanging around to brave more of those cold temperatures and winds.

Overall, it was great to get out for the tour, but even with the couple rounds of snow we’ve seen in the past few days, there’s just hasn’t been enough liquid equivalent set down yet to be anywhere near a real resurfacing. That, and the relatively cold temperatures mean that the skiing is there, but it’s just not back to anything great yet. The snowpack is quite robust though, so as soon as we get that resurfacing, the local resorts should be set up for some excellent skiing again.

[J.Spin]

On 1/1/2026 at 9:22 PM, powderfreak said:

Ended up with a 7.5” measured total in 24 hours at 1500ft.  Gondola was on wind hold so never got to the High Road plot.

Skiing was fluff on top of pond ice or slick hardpack.  Steeper stuff was very sporty.

Thanks for the update PF – and well put with regard to explaining what’s out there. As you can see in my Bolton report from my post above, our experience was very much the same yesterday, but we didn’t even go near any high-angle terrain because I knew it just wasn’t really worth it. The base is clearly there, and there’s plenty of terrain available, but we’re going to need a solid resurfacing to get back to the generally excellent conditions we’ve seen over the past several weeks. That will require a solid large storm cycle, or a good number of bread and butter systems based on the subsurfaces I’ve encountered. We’ll need a system or two with some meat in them. There are some storms out there in the models, but it doesn’t look like a real slam dunk bread and butter pattern for the next couple of weeks as far as I can see, so it might be a little while before the mountains get back to pleasant surfaces.

I’m OK with a bit of a slow down in conditions though – looking at my records I see that I’ve had almost 30 ski outings so far this season, and that’s a lot to pack into a couple of months with everything else going on in life. That’s well ahead of my typical November/December pace, since the seasons don’t always take off quite this fast with such prodigious snowpack. It’s easy to get out during the holiday period but packing it during the fall takes a lot of planning. We’ll roll with whatever Mother Nature decides to give us though, and having that fantastic snowpack in place means that conditions should be good to go as soon as that liquid equivalent comes along.

[mreaves]

It’s been snowing most of the day here. Did I miss that in the forecasts?  I spent the morning over in Washington and was surprised at how persistent the snow has been. It’s been light to moderate at times and no real accumulation but I really didn’t expect it at all. 

[WxWatcher007]

20 minutes ago, mreaves said:

It’s been snowing most of the day here. Did I miss that in the forecasts?  I spent the morning over in Washington and was surprised at how persistent the snow has been. It’s been light to moderate at times and no real accumulation but I really didn’t expect it at all. 

A surprise 2” here overnight. Still lightly snowing. 

[powderfreak]

43 minutes ago, mreaves said:

It’s been snowing most of the day here. Did I miss that in the forecasts?  I spent the morning over in Washington and was surprised at how persistent the snow has been. It’s been light to moderate at times and no real accumulation but I really didn’t expect it at all. 

We are getting like an inch every 10 hours at 3,000ft in this persistent flurry, ha.

[WxWatcher007]

3” and counting 

[powderfreak]

5 minutes ago, WxWatcher007 said:

3” and counting 

Saw some moderate snow obs out of SLK… along with the persistent 1.5-3.0sm vis -SN… that’s a nice snowy winter day out of nowhere.

[WxWatcher007]

13 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Saw some moderate snow obs out of SLK… along with the persistent 1.5-3.0sm vis -SN… that’s a nice snowy winter day out of nowhere.

Yep, out of nowhere. It’s perfect fluff—glistening everywhere under spotlights. 

[powderfreak]

1 minute ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Yep, out of nowhere. It’s perfect fluff—glistening everywhere under spotlights. 

You just gotta bring some with you to SNE.

[bwt3650]

Single digit, snow covered, breezy deep winter new years weekend. Exactly how it should be in northern Vermont.


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[powderfreak]

1 hour ago, bwt3650 said:

Single digit, snow covered, breezy deep winter new years weekend. Exactly how it should be in northern Vermont.


.

Yup.  Only thing I could do without is that ice crust from last Monday.  That’s not going away easily.

[bwt3650]

There’s actually pockets of the woods that are ok…but the traffic and wind has done its thing on a lot. I still try and remember that it wasn’t too long ago this week was 10 snowmaking trails and a muddy backyard, so I’ll take it.
All lifts were running the last two days, so short life lines and the trail count was favorable. I’d like to see weds trend colder with a decent upslope afterward so we can get a good thurs/fri before the rain. Seems like long range has been trending better so maybe the warm up is short lived. It def wants to snow this year.


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[Boston Bulldog]

Interesting trend with the warm system late next week. Some OP runs had clean warm sectoring up to the St Lawrence Valley, now the mix line has collapsed substantially south.

Honestly I was initially hoping for this thaw to be potent enough to open up a window of soft snow in the Presidentials alpine next weekend. If it's going to get warm, why not prime up some big mountain terrain? Suddenly dreams of spring skiing under gusty SW winds have shifted back to winter mode with hopes of salvaging surfaces on VT honey holes.

If we continue to trend to a more forceful push of colder air undercutting the ridge, a decent front ender could be possible OR the longitudinal gradient sags south during the storm (if we have a weaker cyclone and more overrunning look). I'm not declaring an early Feb 2022 like event which neutralized a warm longwave pattern in the Greens, but the plausibility of colder solutions is better than it was yesterday. Either way, I hope the pattern goes all in on either a quick and clean warm spell next weekend, or somehow keeps hammering the cold trend. Getting stuck in the middle seems like a very undesireable scenario

[mreaves]

Alright my skiing friends, I’ve been going down a ski resort ranking video rabbit hole. Peak Rankings videos on YouTube. I’ve done Jay Peak, Stowe, Sugarbush and a couple of overall ones. I’ve never been a skier but I’ve always been fascinated by it. I keep thinking I should try some sort of beginner package but at 57 it may not be wise. 

[Boston Bulldog]

2 hours ago, Boston Bulldog said:

Interesting trend with the warm system late next week. Some OP runs had clean warm sectoring up to the St Lawrence Valley, now the mix line has collapsed substantially south.

Honestly I was initially hoping for this thaw to be potent enough to open up a window of soft snow in the Presidentials alpine next weekend. If it's going to get warm, why not prime up some big mountain terrain? Suddenly dreams of spring skiing under gusty SW winds have shifted back to winter mode with hopes of salvaging surfaces on VT honey holes.

If we continue to trend to a more forceful push of colder air undercutting the ridge, a decent front ender could be possible OR the longitudinal gradient sags south during the storm (if we have a weaker cyclone and more overrunning look). I'm not declaring an early Feb 2022 like event which neutralized a warm longwave pattern in the Greens, but the plausibility of colder solutions is better than it was yesterday. Either way, I hope the pattern goes all in on either a quick and clean warm spell next weekend, or somehow keeps hammering the cold trend. Getting stuck in the middle seems like a very undesireable scenario

0Z GFS continues the trend big time with a SFWE look that halts the warm front’s advance northward. Good to see deterministic guidance showing a cold look is possible. 

[vortex95]

CoastalWx knows what's wrong with this map!  

"Why is it...?!" 

 

[bwt3650]

Alright my skiing friends, I’ve been going down a ski resort ranking video rabbit hole. Peak Rankings videos on YouTube. I’ve done Jay Peak, Stowe, Sugarbush and a couple of overall ones. I’ve never been a skier but I’ve always been fascinated by it. I keep thinking I should try some sort of beginner package but at 57 it may not be wise. 

Completely addicting and a great way to get outside and stay in shape in the winter when everyone else is stuck inside getting fat. First time out will suck, second time you’ll question if it’s worth it, third time you’ll be hooked for life. And if you love snow, it adds a whole new dimension to that passion.

Shameless plug for my spot, but every year preseason Jay offers a deal for $199, you get 4 lessons, 4 rentals, 4 lift tix and a season pass once you complete the 4 lessons for $199. They also give away that package free to the first 50 or 100 people. And I’ve had friends who have gotten it free, so it’s not just a gimmick.

Jump in…never too old!


.

[das]

19 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Saw some moderate snow obs out of SLK… along with the persistent 1.5-3.0sm vis -SN… that’s a nice snowy winter day out of nowhere.

I got just a dusting from the clipper last night here in the valley. But, did score 0.5” on 16 straight hours of -SN obs from the blocking all day yesterday. Nice midwinter day. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

16 hours ago, mreaves said:

Alright my skiing friends, I’ve been going down a ski resort ranking video rabbit hole. Peak Rankings videos on YouTube. I’ve done Jay Peak, Stowe, Sugarbush and a couple of overall ones. I’ve never been a skier but I’ve always been fascinated by it. I keep thinking I should try some sort of beginner package but at 57 it may not be wise. 

I watch those videos as well. Nicely laid out videos. I’m hell bent on getting back. I’ll be 52 this summer and I feel like I still have it in me to strap them on. Boots have been ordered. Been contemplating getting skis or doing a seasonal rental. Still plenty of time to decide as I don’t think I’ll hit slopes till next year. If I were in your position, I would hit up one of the local places for lessons. It is an addicting sport.

[WxWatcher007]

2 hours ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

I watch those videos as well. Nicely laid out videos. I’m hell bent on getting back. I’ll be 52 this summer and I feel like I still have it in me to strap them on. Boots have been ordered. Been contemplating getting skis or doing a seasonal rental. Still plenty of time to decide as I don’t think I’ll hit slopes till next year. If I were in your position, I would hit up one of the local places for lessons. It is an addicting sport.

I thought you were 40!