Vermont Snow Updates 2008-09

Summary: 7.9” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 10:00 P.M. EST

Friday, December 19th, 2008: 10:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 7.9 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.40 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 19.8
Snow Density: 5.1%
Temperature: 9.0 F
Humidity: 59%
Dew Point: -5.8 F
Barometer: 30.18 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 7.9 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.40 inches
Current snow at the stake: 15 inches
Season snowfall total: 56.2 inches

The snow started at ~1:45 P.M. this afternoon in Burlington, and as others have noted with this system, it quickly ramped up to significant intensity. We were in the Burlington area most of the evening, and snow was beautiful fluffy stuff falling at roughly an inch per hour. Burlington was only under a winter weather advisory for 3 to 6 inches earlier in the day, but they eventually surpassed the 6-inch mark and I noticed that the Burlington NWS upgraded the area to a winter storm warning. The change was discussed in an update put out this evening:

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
652 PM EST FRI DEC 19 2008

.NEAR TERM /THROUGH SATURDAY/...
-- Changed Discussion --
AS OF 650 PM EST FRIDAY...HAVE UPDATED THE FORECAST TO UPGRADE
CHITTENDEN...LAMOILLE...AND CALEDONIA COUNTIES FROM WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY TO A WINTER STORM WARNING. A NARROW BAND OF MODERATE TO
HEAVY SNOW DEVELOPED ACROSS NORTHERN NEW YORK AND NORTHERN VERMONT
EARLIER THIS EVENING ALONG AN AREA OF DEFORMATION ALOFT. SNOWFALL
TOTALS IN THE BURLINGTON AREA HAVE ALSO BEEN ENHANCED AS NORTH
WINDS ARE FUNNELED DOWN AND CONVERGE ALONG THE NARROWING CHAMPLAIN
VALLEY. THIS HAS RESULTED IN SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES IN
JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS. SEE ALBPNSBTV FOR A FULL LISTING OF
SNOWFALL AMOUNTS SO FAR. BUFKIT SOUNDINGS ARE SATURATED TO NEARLY
25 KFT AND INDICATE FAVORABLE SNOW GROWTH EXISTS FROM THE SURFACE
UP TO 10-15 KFT. GIVEN THESE FACTORS...FEEL HEAVY SNOWFALL WILL
CONTINUE THROUGH THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND UPPED STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL
AMOUNTS TO AROUND 8 INCHES IN NORTHERN VERMONT...WITH LOCALLY
HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. NO OTHER CHANGES ARE NEEDED AT THIS TIME.
ALL UPDATED PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN ISSUED.

When I saw that extra area of deformation snow on the radar, it seemed likely that Northern Vermont was going to get in on some bonus snowfall. Moderate snow fell all the way on our drive back to Waterbury, and the roads were actually in decent shape. Much of I-89 was clear pavement, with the biggest issue being visibility when the snowfall intensified or another car passed. Off the interstate, the roads were generally packed snow, but the driving was fine.

Back at the house I found 7.9 inches of new snow on the snowboard, and the snow had stacked up fairly vertically as opposed to creating a trapezoidal shape the way many snowfalls do. So as of now we are right near the top end of the 4 to 8-inch accumulations forecast in our winter storm warning, and we may pick up a bit more snow overnight. I measured 0.40 inches of liquid from my core sample off the snowboard, and as there was a lull in the snowfall not long after my observations, I also brought in the snow/rain gauge. It really looked like the gauge had overflowed, but the liquid it collected (0.36 inches) was only 10% below what I got off the snowboard, so it apparently didn’t miss too much of the precipitation. The new snow is beautiful powder with a water content of ~5%, so it should ski beautifully assuming it wasn’t too hammered by wind in the higher elevations.









J.Spin

Summary: 9.8” storm total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Saturday, December 20th, 2008: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 1.9 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.03 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 63.3
Snow Density: 1.6%
Temperature: 7.7 F
Humidity: 59%
Dew Point: -7.1 F
Barometer: 30.30 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 9.8 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.43 inches
Current snow at the stake: 14 inches
Season snowfall total: 58.1 inches

We picked up a couple more inches of ~2% H2O fluff overnight, to bring the event total to 9.8 inches and 0.43 inches of liquid. We’re planning to head up to the mountain for some skiing this morning, so I’ll report back on what went on in the higher elevations later today.



J.Spin

Summary: 10.7” storm total in Waterbury (495’) as of 3:00 P.M. EST

Saturday, December 20th, 2008: 1:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.7 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.03 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 23.3
Snow Density: 4.3%
Temperature: 20.5 F
Humidity: 58%
Dew Point: 5.4 F
Barometer: 30.24 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Mostly Sunny
Storm snow total: 10.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.46 inches
Current snow at the stake: 14 inches
Season snowfall total: 58.8 inches

It was snowing when we headed up to the mountain this morning, and when we came back we found that we’ picked up another 0.7 inches since the 7:00 A.M. snowboard clearing. The sun came out and the sky was mostly sunny for the middle of the day, but around 2:00 P.M. clouds came back in and we picked up another couple tenths of snow from a snow shower.

Up on the mountain the temperature was 5 F when we arrived a bit after 8:00 A.M., but fortunately there was absolutely no wind and the skiing was comfortable. Bolton is reporting 11 inches of new snow in the past 24 hours, and when I checked I found about 8 to 12 inches of new snow on the main mountain in the 2,100’ to 3,150’ elevation range. The sun came out for the midday, and by the time we left the temperature was up to 15 F in the village (~2,100’) and approximately 20 F down at the house (495’).

Here are the 24-hour accumulations I’ve seen for some of the Vermont ski areas, listed north to south along the Green Mountain Spine:

Jay Peak: 10”
Smuggler’s Notch: 10”
Stowe: 11”
Bolton Valley: 11”
Mad River Glen: 13”
Sugarbush: 12”
Killington: 17”
Okemo: 12”
Bromley: 13”
Magic Mountain: 10”
Stratton: 13”
Mount Snow: 14”

A few pictures from today are included below; I'll have a report later:

























J.Spin

Summary: 11.6” storm total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Sunday, December 21st, 2008: 1:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.6 inches
Liquid Equivalent: N.D.
Snow/Water Ratio: N.D.
Snow Density: N.D.
Temperature: 12.2 F
Humidity: 64%
Dew Point: -0.8 F
Barometer: 30.03 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Cloudy
Storm snow total: 11.6 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.47 inches
Current snow at the stake: 13 inches
Season snowfall total: 58.8 inches

I cleared the snowboard last night at 10:00 P.M. to reveal 0.5 inches of fluffy snow, and this morning at 7:00 A.M. there was another 0.6 inches of the same stuff. I didn’t attempt to take cores on either one of those to get the liquid equivalent, since I knew they’d likely be in the sub 0.01-inch range, but I did melt down the contents in my snow/rain gauge from that period and got a total just shy of 0.01 inches (it looked to me to be about 0.008 inches if I had to round beyond the increments). There was no snow falling at the time, although now we’ve got some flurries. The next storm appears to be on our doorstep however, so I’m going to make this the break point between the events – here are the totals for the 12/19-12/21 event:

Snow: 11.6”
Liquid: 0.47” (cores), 0.43” (rain/snow gauge)

There was decent correlation between the two liquid determination methods this time, and from my observations of the gauge during the event some of the reason for the lower snow/rain gauge value is likely a bit of overflow of snow.



J.Spin

Snowfall for the next system started at ~8:35 A.M. here in Waterbury.

J.Spin

Summary: 6.7” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 4:00 P.M. EST

Sunday, December 21st, 2008: 4:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 6.7 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.39 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 17.2
Snow Density: 5.8%
Temperature: 17.6 F
Humidity: 83%
Dew Point: 11.5 F
Barometer: 29.65 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 6.7 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.39 inches
Current snow at the stake: 18 inches
Season snowfall total: 66.6 inches

The snow started here at ~8:35 P.M. this morning, and began to pick up in intensity after about 10:00 P.M. It has come down in starts and stops as others have noted, and we’ve had some very heavy bouts of 1-2”/min snowfall along with lots of light snow. We went up to Bolton Valley with the boys at around 2:00 P.M. this afternoon to make a few turns in the fresh snow, and couldn’t believe it when we got to the village (2,100’) and found that the resort was devoid of skiers and the lifts weren’t running. It was dead calm, snowing moderately to heavily, and about 17 F so it was hard to ask for more enjoyable conditions. So, with no lifts we decided to hike for a couple runs and had some good skiing anyway. The powder wasn’t quite as light and dry as yesterday’s stuff (my valley numbers suggest we’re in the 6% H2O range vs. the 4-5% H2O range from Saturday) but it was still nice. The powder had in fact settled more than what we skied yesterday, which may have been due to some wind. Before we headed back down to the house, I asked at the skier services desk why the lifts weren’t running. I was informed that the midday had seen incredible winds up on the mountain (~45 MPH) and they’d had to close down the lifts. Apparently the winds had abated not long before we got up there, but they didn’t want to start up the lifts again for just a couple of hours so they called it a day. I emptied my snow/rain gauge and recovered 0.29 inches of liquid, which was a whole tenth of an inch shy of what I recovered on the snowboard.






J.Spin

Summary: 11.7” storm total in Waterbury (495’) as of 10:30 P.M. EST

Sunday, December 21st, 2008: 10:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 3.8 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.28 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 13.6
Snow Density: 7.4%
Temperature: 18.3 F
Humidity: 90%
Dew Point: 14.7 F
Barometer: 29.44 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 10.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.67 inches
Current snow at the stake: 21 inches
Season snowfall total: 70.4 inches

When I checked the snowboard at 8:00 P.M. it had accumulated 1.7 inches of new snow since the 4:00 P.M. clearing, so snowfall was running a bit under 0.5”/hr. I looked outside at around 9:30 P.M. and it appeared to be dumping again in the 1”/hr+ range, so I took a quick measurement and found that the accumulation was up to 2.8 inches. The rate of snowfall had certainly increased. I took a peek at the BTV composite radar (image 1 below) and sure enough, an area of 30-35 db returns was just passing over us (we’re located right about where I-89 crosses the Chittenden/Washington county line). That snowfall slowed down as I was getting set to take my 10:00 P.M. measurements and clear the snowboard, but looking westward on the radar there appeared to be some very juicy stuff coming our way, with even more 35 db returns in the Burlington area. While I was out looking at the stake and clearing the board, the snowfall was already ramping up, presumably as we were on the verge of those strong returns, and I suspected we were going to get into some quick accumulation. We did. I knew the snowfall rate was 1”/hr plus from looking at it, but I wasn’t sure just how intense the snowfall was until I checked the board at 10:30 P.M. and it had a fresh 1.2 inches. So, the snowfall is running in the 2-3”/hr range. On the radar, it really looks like Mother Nature is spraying a fire hose down the Winooski Valley (image 2 below), so I’ll probably stay up a bit longer and see how this plays out because it’s quite a spectacle out there.








J.Spin

A couple more updates on the heavy snowfall here in Waterbury:

Here’s the 11:00 P.M. update on the heavy snowfall here in Waterbury: The accumulation on my snowboard went from 1.2 inches at 10:30 P.M. to 2.6 inches at 11:00 P.M., so that’s 1.4 inches in that 30 minute period for a rate of close to 3”/hr. We’ve passed 13 inches of accumulation now, so this event is threatening to usurp the November 20th upslope event and become our biggest so far this season. The radar suggests that things are slowing down however, and the strong returns are disappearing, but I’ll see where we are at 11:30 P.M.

11:30 P.M. - The heavy snow has slowed right down to light snow as the radar suggested, so just 0.3” in the last 30 minutes to bring the snowboard to 2.9”. It looks like another batch of something might come across Lake Champlain in a bit, but I’ll check the snowboard in the morning.

J.Spin

Current Storm Summary: 13.4” snow, 0.78” liquid equivalent

Monday, December 22nd, 2008: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 2.9 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.11 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 26.4
Snow Density: 3.8%
Temperature: 15.4 F
Humidity: 77%
Dew Point: 7.1 F
Barometer: 29.59 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Flurries
Storm snow total: 13.4 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.78 inches
Current snow at the stake: 22 inches
Season snowfall total: 73.3 inches

There’s no new snow to report beyond what came down in the blitz last night, but I did empty my snow/rain gauge and it has accumulated a total of 0.65” of liquid vs. the 0.78” obtained off the snowboard.

J.Spin

Here’s a quick update from Bolton Valley this morning. It was ~15 F when I left our house in Waterbury (495’) and 10 F up in the village parking area (~2,100’). There was some wind, which only seemed to be in the 10-20 MPH range at that elevation, but another guy in the parking lot said that the whole mountain was on wind hold. I hadn’t brought any skins, but I did have a backpack in the car so I figured I’d strap my skis to it and do some hiking. When I got up to the base lodge I found that the Mid Mountain Lift was actually running, so I rode that up to Mid Mountain (2,500’) and then started hiking from that point. There were several other people doing the same thing, some hiking up toward Upper Glades, some hiking over toward Cobrass, and another guy heading up Sherman’s Pass. I was thinking of hitting Vermont 200 since it has some wind protection, so I strapped my skis to my pack and followed his tracks. The hiking was fine, since Sherman’s was groomed, but it was a lot more work if you hit a drift or tried to go off trail. The mountain was reporting 15 inches of new snow, and there was some drifting and a few scoured places, but that seemed about right from what I saw and the fact that we had 13.4 at our house down in the valley. The top part of Vermont 200 was drifted and wind-slabby, but by the middle section it got good and I had first tracks through there. I checked the snow depth in the middle of the trail where it hadn’t been affected by wind, and generally found 18 inches of accumulation in that area. Overall, the powder was decent, but even where it hadn’t been affected by wind it was nothing too spectacular by Northern Vermont standards. It seemed to be in the light to medium density range, with my data from down in the valley indicating ~6% H2O, but it probably didn’t have the greatest dendrites because it seemed to settle more than some 6% H2O powder. It certainly paled in comparison to the spectacular 4-5% H2O stuff from Saturday, even if it was a bit deeper this time around. I added an image of tracks from Upper Glades to provide a general idea of the powder consistency.



J.Spin

Summary: 0.4” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 8:00 A.M. EST

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008: 8:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.4 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.03 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 13.3
Snow Density: 7.5%
Temperature: 24.4 F
Humidity: 86%
Dew Point: 19.4 F
Barometer: 30.27 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Flurries
Storm snow total: 0.4 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.03 inches
Current snow at the stake: 17 inches
Season snowfall total: 73.7 inches

I looked outside at around 1:30 A.M. this morning and noted some flurries, and that was the first I saw of any snowfall for this event. At some point the snowfall must have picked up to give us a little accumulation, but this morning there have just been a few flurries out there. Looking at the radar, most of the activity seems to be well off to the south of us in southern New England at this point.

J.Spin

Summary: 1.0” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 3:00 P.M. EST

Wednesday, December 24th, 2008: 3:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.6 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.10 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 6.0
Snow Density: 16.7%
Temperature: 32.5 F
Humidity: 92%
Dew Point: 29.6 F
Barometer: 30.00 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Cloudy
Storm snow total: 1.0 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.13 inches
Current snow at the stake: 17 inches
Season snowfall total: 74.3 inches

We headed up to the mountain for some turns this afternoon, so here’s a combined valley and mountain weather update. It wasn’t really snowing at the house (495’) when we left, but it was snowing on the mountain when we got up there at around 11:30 A.M., and the temperature was 30 F in the Bolton Valley Village (~2,100’). Bolton indicated that they’d received 1 inch of new snow in their morning report, and I’d say they probably got another inch while we were up there. The snowfall on the mountain was generally moderate, probably in the 0.5”/hr range. There was only minimal if any wind for most of the time we were there, but there were a few stronger periods with gusts when some of the heavier snowfall would come through. It sounds like part of that bout of snow hit the valley and deposited the accumulation I found on the snowboard, because my wife said it had started snowing pretty hard at the house not long after we’d left. The snow on the mountain had stopped by the time we were heading home, and the air had warmed a bit as well. My car thermometer read 34 F at the village (2,100’) and bumped up to 35 F as we descended to ~1,000’, but then was back to 34 F when we hit the bottom of the access road (340’). Then as we headed a few miles east toward the house, it dropped some more, hitting 33 F and then 32 F as we got within the last half mile to the house where my household thermometer was reading 32.5 F. So, the higher elevations were a bit warmer than our spot in the valley, but not dramatically so at around the 2,000’ mark.

In terms of the ski conditions, all I can say is that they were fantastic on the lower mountain terrain we hit. With feet of new snow falling in the past week, the conditions were already soft, and the couple new inches from today just added a little icing on the cake. We didn’t hunt down too much powder today with Dylan along and Ty working on Telemark technique, but where we did jump into the powder it was nice. The powder wasn’t as light and airy as Saturday; it was more like the light to medium density stuff from Sunday/Monday. The temperatures were great at right around the freezing mark, and I guess the holiday rush doesn’t start quite yet because there was hardly anyone there. Even arriving at close to noon we were able to park halfway down in the top tier of the lot. We skied with my colleague Stephen and his children Helena and Johannes, and everyone agreed that the conditions were stellar. We skied the Mid Mountain Chair (Snowflake wasn’t running) and the snow in the Forest was an awesome mix of soft packed powder and powder off to the sides. I also spoke with patroller Quinn, and he said that the latest news he’d heard on Timberline and Wilderness was that the resort planned to open them Friday. I’m sure the openings will be a bit weather dependent since they are essentially on all natural snow, but as Quinn indicated and numerous others have mentioned in trip reports, Timberline is skiing very well. I can see what look like a few spots with vegetation sticking out each time I go by, but obviously they feel there will be enough coverage (perhaps they’ll touch up with snowmaking over the next couple of days?) to open.

J.Spin

Summary: 1.6” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 11:00 A.M. EST Thursday

Thursday, December 25th, 2008: 11:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.6 inches
Liquid Equivalent: N.D.
Snow/Water Ratio: N.D.
Snow Density: N.D.
Temperature: 35.6 F
Humidity: 58%
Dew Point: 20.5 F
Barometer: 30.21 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Partly Cloudy
Storm snow total: 1.6 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.13+ inches
Current snow at the stake: 13 inches
Season snowfall total: 74.9 inches

I didn’t have a chance to get these data out yesterday due to various holiday activities, but here are some weather updates.

After Wednesday’s snowfall during the midday, I didn’t encounter any precipitation for the rest of the day in the Bolton/Waterbury/Burlington areas. I did hear mention of some other types of precipitation in the greater Burlington area at some point on Wednesday, but if we got anything else in Waterbury it must have been brief because there wasn’t any material on the snowboard but some dense snow. We were in the Burlington area overnight Wednesday night, and when we arrived there in the late afternoon on Wednesday, the temperature was 37 F and there was a decent south wind. It was interesting to note that the Burlington area has quite a substantial snowpack right now after the back to back weekend storms, and a quick glance Wednesday evening suggested that there was over a foot at my parent’s place in South Burlington. The weather seemed rather benign in the Champlain Valley during the Wednesday overnight, but the temperature remained above freezing. I suspect the area snowpack settled somewhat, but it wasn’t obvious from what I saw Thursday morning. Early to mid morning on Thursday we had about an hour’s worth of snow showers and heavier squalls (seemed like a frontal passage) that deposited a new coating of snow.

Traveling back to Waterbury Thursday morning, I was surprised to see that the intervening towns in the Richmond, Jonesville, and even Bolton areas seemed to have similar or even slightly less snow than Burlington, and then at around Waterbury the snowpack started to increase again. Back at the house I found 0.6 inches of new snow on the snowboard, presumably from the squalls that passed through with the front. There was a thin layer of melted/refrozen material below the new snow, possibly from either snow that had melted in the above freezing temperatures or some sort of mixed precipitation. I didn’t have time to check the water content of the snow since we were quickly heading out of town, but as there was so little snow on the board I suspect there were just a few tenths of liquid at most. I looked at my snow/rain gauge and there was minimal material in there as well, indicating the same thing.

We headed down into Southern New England yesterday, and here’s a brief update on what we saw in terms of snowpack. From Waterbury we traveled south on I-89, and there was a substantial snowpack throughout the entire stretch of I-89 to New Hampshire, especially in the higher elevations around Northfield etc., but even the lower elevations like the White River Valley around Bethel and the Connecticut River Valley in the White River Junction/Lebanon area. As we passed the Whaleback ski area outside Lebanon, NH, we could see that the lift was running and a few people were skiing, although there were some bare spots visible on portions of the steeper terrain. The snowpack was sustained all the way into Massachusetts, although it gradually decreased. We’re in Boston’s South Shore area now and the snowpack is in the 4-6 inch range.

J.Spin

Thanks for the report , the snow amounts are holding up its just the quality ! Just received a email from Jay Peak offering discounted tickets ( this during prime time for the industry). A check on the Jay sight advises they are operating at less than 20% . So far a boom or bust season .

Anthony":3hkfc16o said:

Thanks for the report , the snow amounts are holding up its just the quality ! Just received a email from Jay Peak offering discounted tickets ( this during prime time for the industry). A check on the Jay sight advises they are operating at less than 20%.

Click to expand...

I've been off the slopes for a couple of days, but from what I've seen it's got to be a quality thing as you say. I don't think there was much in the way of liquid precipitation (I've heard people talking about rain but I haven't seen any, or heard any hard numbers to suggest there was much):

The Mt. Mansfield numbers for the past three days:

Tuesday, Dec 23: 0.5" snow, 0.1 liquid equivalent, high temp 9 F, 41" at the stake
Wednesday, Dec 24: 2.0" snow, 0.24" liquid equivalent, high temp 29 F, 43" at the stake
Thursday, Dec 25: 0.0" snow, 0.00" liquid equivalent, high temp 37 F, 39" at the stake

So at least on Mt. Mansfield, any liquid precipitation must have fallen on Wednesday and couldn't have been too extensive if there was only 0.24 inches of liquid including 2.0 inches of snow.

But clearly there was some warm air at elevation based on the Thursday Mansfield data. I'm guessing areas will have closed some terrain after the snow froze because it's icy, but my daily Bolton Valley reports and today's snow report indicate the following for trail counts:

Tuesday, Dec 23: 34 trails
Wednesday, Dec 24: 33 trails
Thursday, Dec 25: 33 trails
Friday, Dec 26: 33 trails

From what I heard they were thinking of opening up the rest of the mountain today, but perhaps they held off due to the weather. It looks like they closed some of the steep, natural snow terrain, and must have opened a couple of other trails for the numbers to be near the same.

Personally I'm not planning to hit the slopes until we get some new snow, although I'm wondering if Sunday might be warm enough to warrant getting out for a bit. I'll keep that option open and provide a report if it's nice enough to head out.

-J

We headed back from Boston’s South Shore area to Vermont this afternoon, so here’s some weather and snowpack information from along the route. We’ve been in Norwell, MA for the past couple of days and the daily highs were in the 30s F, which I’m guessing is pretty seasonable for the area. When we arrived there on Thursday there were about 4 to 6 inches of snow on the ground in undisturbed areas, and when we left today I quickly checked the snowpack and it was about 3 to 4 inches. There was no precipitation in the early morning, but by the time we left around 12:30 P.M. it was raining steadily and heavily, and the temperature was 42 F. As we drove through the immediate Boston area there was only patchy snow on the ground, and the temperature was 45 F. The rain continued fairly steadily until the I-93/I-89 junction area, where it was more inconsistent and only in the light to moderate range, and the temperature was down to 37 F. By the New London/Sunapee area on I-89 in New Hampshire, the temperature was down to 34 F and the precipitation had stopped except for a bit of mist and low clouds. At Whaleback ski area near Lebanon, New Hampshire, the snowpack looked about the same as when we’d passed it on Thursday, with generally good coverage on the trails except for some bare areas on the steeper terrain. In general I’d say the snowpack in NH and VT seemed to change little over the past couple of days, although in most areas it’s just too deep to notice if there were slight decreases without measurement. After getting on I-89, the temperatures fluctuated in the 34 to 38 F range through to Waterbury, where our house thermometer was reading 36.5 F. There was no accumulation on the snowboard, but I did empty my snow/rain gauge and found 0.62 inches of liquid in there. Some 4:00 P.M. observations are below:

Saturday, December 27th, 2008: 4:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

Temperature: 36.5 F
Humidity: 97%
Dew Point: 35.4 F
Barometer: 30.18 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Cloudy
Current snow at the stake: 13 inches

J.Spin

You were down in my neck of the woods. Here's what the snowpack looked like in Duxbury on Friday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtn3mt4v ... annel_page

Just viewed Norm's weather page that has a camera looking west over the fields towards the Monroe skyline ( MRG Surgarbush ) , nothing but green fields ! What a difference a day makes. On a positive note the approaching cold front should start up the snow showers and more snow is on the way . Hope this our January thaw , then were over and done with it.

sitting here at work in the middle of the urban decay/concrete jungle , looking at the filthy dirty brown snow remnants left from the rain, reading jspin's post about leaving here to go home to there ( VT ) my only comment is... you're a lucky man there Jspin.... ](*,)

Summary: 1.7” new snow in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 1.0 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.05 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0
Snow Density: 5.0%
Temperature: 33.4 F
Humidity: 84%
Dew Point: 27.6 F
Barometer: 29.56 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 1.0 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.05 inches
Current snow at the stake: 8 inches
Season snowfall total: 75.9 inches

I looked outside around 11:00 P.M. or so last night and we didn’t have any snow falling here in Waterbury, but it looked like it was getting close based on the radar. The snow that is falling is a mixture of flakes sizes, with some flakes close to 1 inch in diameter, and I even saw a little graupel in there. The accumulated snow on the board is actually fairly dense in terms of H2O, which is not too surprising based on our air temperature. I’d put it at >10% H2O, and it compacts very nicely into those airy style snowballs that you can throw without worrying about hurting someone. I stacked 3 cores off the board to get the snow’s water content, and I’m very confident in the number, but the 5% density is probably a bit misleading in terms of overall texture since the huge snowflakes stack up on top very readily and give it a bit of fluff. In that same vein, there’s already another 0.7 inches on the board as of 7:00 A.M. because of the huge flakes stacking up.

In terms of the local valley snowpack, it seems to be doing well east of the Green Mountains, but as usual I was surprised to see how quickly it had disappeared on the west side and Champlain Valley. After returning from Southern New England on Saturday, I first headed west of the Greens on Sunday afternoon, and as soon as I traveled a few miles west and passed the Green Mountain spine the snowpack quickly disappeared. In the Bolton/Jonesville area, coverage was probably in the 10-20% range, and that decreased to mostly snowbanks in the Champlain Valley. I’ve added a copy of my Waterbury snowpack chart below for reference on our local area.



UPDATE – Since about 7:05 A.M. we’ve got a raging graupel storm going on out there. It would have to qualify as heavy snow because I can stick my arm out the window and it becomes coated in white in just a few seconds. It will be interesting to see how much liquid equivalent that graupel throws down.

J.Spin