February Banter 2026

[WxUSAF]

@Ralph Wiggum @Heisy I’m in Philly today and PennDOT has brined for tomorrow lol

[Ralph Wiggum]

29 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

@Ralph Wiggum @Heisy I’m in Philly today and PennDOT has brined for tomorrow lol

Enjoy.your visit!

They brine in July, its normal we are used to it. I think the auto mechanics have their hand in it somehow. 

 

[dailylurker]

I know everyone here loves snow and if you're like me, you wonder what super snowy places are like in person. I've been mentioning the Tug Hill a lot lately and probably annoying to some lol. While we wait on a cool down i figure I'll share some pics from my 2026 Tug Hill vacation/chase. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hike at night on a snowmobile trail, on 6' of snow, on the Tug during a full moon? I took this picture at 1am. I was standing on at least 5 feet of packed snow. Earlier that day we received 30" of fresh. The groomers keep the trails perfect. 

[Terpeast]

14 minutes ago, dailylurker said:

I know everyone here loves snow and if you're like me, you wonder what super snowy places are like in person. I've been mentioning the Tug Hill a lot lately and probably annoying to some lol. While we wait on a cool down i figure I'll share some pics from my 2026 Tug Hill vacation/chase. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hike at night on a snowmobile trail, on 6' of snow, on the Tug during a full moon? I took this picture at 1am. I was standing on at least 5 feet of packed snow. Earlier that day we received 30" of fresh. The groomers keep the trails perfect. 

Hopefully someday I take my kids there and rent a snowmobile for a snowcation.

[Terpeast]

For now, I don’t see anything in the LR to get excited about.

If winter is over, looking back on the last 4 seasons, only 22-23 was a true dead ratter. In each of the last 3 consecutive seasons, I have had at least 8” of snow depth. Last two winters maintained around 3 weeks of snow cover, which is not half bad considering the persistent -enso/-pdo base state.

Let’s see what the next el nino has in store for us. I suspect it will be a milder winter with no prolonged snow cover, but perhaps we could get more of an active STJ and all we need is a well timed wave with some cold air. Not much to ask considering NC got theirs two winters in a row. 

[Jebman]

Shasta County in northern California will see snow accumulations from 4 to 8 FEET. Mammoth will only get glanced by this, they will see totally manageable accumulations from 2 to maybe 4 feet. I wish Shasta had cameras. It would be amusing to watch 8 feet of snow pile up.

Shasta turns out to have a live cam https://www.skipark.com/winter/mountain-cams

Question is does it have lights at night you can see the dendrites fall by? Because if so I just might end up liking Shasta better then Mammoth. Couple feet of snow on a western resort is so pedestrian.

[Maestrobjwa]

1 hour ago, Terpeast said:

For now, I don’t see anything in the LR to get excited about.

If winter is over, looking back on the last 4 seasons, only 22-23 was a true dead ratter. In each of the last 3 consecutive seasons, I have had at least 8” of snow depth. Last two winters maintained around 3 weeks of snow cover, which is not half bad considering the persistent -enso/-pdo base state.

Let’s see what the next el nino has in store for us. I suspect it will be a milder winter with no prolonged snow cover, but perhaps we could get more of an active STJ and all we need is a well timed wave with some cold air. Not much to ask considering NC got theirs two winters in a row. 

What did NC get last winter?

[Fozz]

 

2 hours ago, Terpeast said:

For now, I don’t see anything in the LR to get excited about.

If winter is over, looking back on the last 4 seasons, only 22-23 was a true dead ratter. In each of the last 3 consecutive seasons, I have had at least 8” of snow depth. Last two winters maintained around 3 weeks of snow cover, which is not half bad considering the persistent -enso/-pdo base state.

Let’s see what the next el nino has in store for us. I suspect it will be a milder winter with no prolonged snow cover, but perhaps we could get more of an active STJ and all we need is a well timed wave with some cold air. Not much to ask considering NC got theirs two winters in a row. 

Yeah the last two winters weren’t great but they weren’t terrible either. They had a solid stretch of deep winter even if it didn’t last as long as we’d like. 2020 and 2023 were awful, similar to 2002 and 2012.

[Jrlg1181]

12 hours ago, dailylurker said:

I know everyone here loves snow and if you're like me, you wonder what super snowy places are like in person. I've been mentioning the Tug Hill a lot lately and probably annoying to some lol. While we wait on a cool down i figure I'll share some pics from my 2026 Tug Hill vacation/chase. 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to hike at night on a snowmobile trail, on 6' of snow, on the Tug during a full moon? I took this picture at 1am. I was standing on at least 5 feet of packed snow. Earlier that day we received 30" of fresh. The groomers keep the trails perfect. 

Awesome picture , reminds me of nighttime trips up to the Blue Ridge Parkway after a snow storm ... Road is always closed after a winter storm but you can still get up there and walk...

[Jrlg1181]

3 hours ago, Fozz said:

 

Yeah the last two winters weren’t great but they weren’t terrible either. They had a solid stretch of deep winter even if it didn’t last as long as we’d like. 2020 and 2023 were awful, similar to 2002 and 2012.

This past 15 day run following the mega sleet storm down here was pretty dang epic (deep winter wise)  .... It could've been better with the Carolina storm just to our south... But without the sleet bomb it would have been a disappointing winter with the potential that we had...

[Jebman]

Things are improving for the Sierras for the Sunday night thru Thursday storm cycle.

Models now printing out at least 8 to 9 inches of pure water for much of the Sierran Cordillera. There are some areas of near 10 inches of the water.

Snow to water ratios will start out at 8 to 11 to 1, then improve to 13 to 16 to 1 when the colder air gets in. You do the math.

This is a very serious storm brewing, even for the Sierra. It's conceivable that quite a few Sierran communities will end up with seven or eight FEET of fresh snow by Thursday. This enormous snowpack will be blown around by very strong winds. This could be a particularly dangerous situation for travelers beginning Monday morning when snow rates will explode. People trying to walk to shelter in these conditions will be confronted by prohibitively deep snow and whiteout conditions caused by tremendous snow rates plus high winds and epic masses of blowing snow.

This is no time to be trying to enjoy a holiday in the Sierran ski resorts.

Mt Bachelor in Oregon is already beginning to see snow  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF9f7hsdlJg

[Jebman]

2 hours ago, Jrlg1181 said:

This past 15 day run following the mega sleet storm down here was pretty dang epic (deep winter wise)  .... It could've been better with the Carolina storm just to our south... But without the sleet bomb it would have been a disappointing winter with the potential that we had...

That is just what I wanted for the sub: Deep sleet/snowpack into a deep glacier then the Bombcyclone dumping about 16 inches of fresh snow on top of the greenland-like glacier.

It would have taken weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks to melt. It would have been EPIC!

[BlizzardNole]

I have to call it disappointing with only about 10 inches of snow total despite so much cold.  It could have been so much better if not for that damn warm nose on Jan 25.

Now on seven straight winters of way below normal snow and 11 years since a big (12-inch plus) storm.  Terrible.

[Chris78]

Never good to wake up to Chuck posting by himself in the long range thread 

[clueless]

It can still snow in March. 

[Jebman]

The trend is toward higher amounts of pure water in the Sierra Sun night thru Thursday. More communities are expected to receive the snow equivalent of ten inches of pure water with about 12 to 1 snow to water ratios, but those ratios could be 14 to 1. Though its true that high winds will knock the accums down some, that's still a fairly Brobdingnagian amount of snow. The specter of eight feet of snow from this is looming for many more Sierran communities.

It's going to be a fun storm to watch on webcam, especially during the day. Not so much if you happen to be a tourista caught out in this in a car in high winds and milkshake-like froth visibilities, in single digit cold with wind chills down to negative 40 degrees at times and crazy snow rates.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

2 hours ago, Chris78 said:

Never good to wake up to Chuck posting by himself in the long range thread 

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

You know it's bad when the medium range thread has several plots of the 300+ hour deterministic GFS showing warmth, and relative silence about that.  If it were a major snowstorm being shown, everyone would be saying "looks great, but it's the GFS and at 300 hours, no way that happens!"

[snowfan]

Nice to see the usual suspects engage in CC disco on valentines day and then others trying to tell wxusaf it should be allowed despite being told for years its not allowed. Love the rules don't apply me crowd nowadays. 

[Mrs.J]

This system is causing some serious sinus pain. My whole left jaw is painful to the touch. Gums and teeth have that copper taste due to swelling. Left eustachian tube is plugged. And pressure in my left cheek and temple. Tea did not help so broke down and took Ibuprofen. Should hopefully clear out when the rain pushes through. 

[Fozz]

1 hour ago, snowfan said:

Nice to see the usual suspects engage in CC disco on valentines day and then others trying to tell wxusaf it should be allowed despite being told for years its not allowed. Love the rules don't apply me crowd nowadays. 

Rules can change especially when people push for change.