Vermont Snow Updates 2008-09

[J.Spin]

Summary: 3.9” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Thursday, February 19th, 2009: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 2.5 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.20 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 12.5
Snow Density: 8.0%
Temperature: 32.0 F
Humidity: 97%
Dew Point: 30.9 F
Barometer: 29.21 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 3.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.26 inches
Current snow at the stake: 20 inches
Season snowfall total: 134.6 inches

At 11:00 P.M. last night there was about an additional inch of snow on the snowboard that had accumulated since the 9:00 P.M. clearing, and then another inch and a half fell on top of that between the 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. period. Our temperature is right around the freezing mark down here in the valley, and the accumulated snow wasn’t too dense at 8.0% H2O, but it was still a bit clumpy when I cleared it off the board. I suspect that’s a function of being so close to the freezing mark down at this elevation. Light snow continues and there’s another four tenths of an inch on the board as of 7:00 A.M. I’ve added the usual north to south list of those Vermont resorts that have reported in their accumulations this morning:

Jay Peak: 6”
Stowe: 7”
Mad River: 6”
Sugarbush: 5”
Pico: 7”
Killington: 7”
Bromley: 9”
Magic: 10”
Stratton: 9”
Mount Snow: 5”

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

By the time I’d left the house (495’) at 7:30 A.M. this morning, we’d picked up 0.6 additional inches of snow since the 6:00 A.M. snowboard clearing, bringing the event total to 4.1 inches. It had been snowing lightly at the house when I left, but when I arrived up at the Bolton Valley village area (2,100’) it was snowing moderately and still accumulating. The mountain had reported 7 inches of new snow as of their 6:45 A.M. update, but I suspected I’d find a bit more based on the way it was coming down. The lifts weren’t going to start loading until 9:00 A.M., so I kicked off the morning off by skinning for some turns, taking the route straight up Beech Seal. I first checked the consistency of the snow near the base area; I couldn’t quite make a snowball out of it in my hand, so I guess I’d describe it as medium weight powder. Beech Seal had been groomed at some point earlier, but I found about 2 to 4 inches of additional new snow on top of the groomed base.

When I reached mid mountain (2,500’) I checked the depth of the powder in an undisturbed location and it came in right at 12 inches. That should represent the combination of powder from last week’s midweek system (~6 inches) as well as whatever had come down up to that point with this new event, so that seemed reasonable. Wind doesn’t appear to have been much a factor with this system, so getting measurements was easy. I was thinking of skinning up in the Cobrass area, but there was enough powder to keep me following one of the snowmobile tracks for my ascent. At about 9:00 A.M. I’d reached the top of Vermont 200 (~3,000’), and when I checked the depth of the new snow there I that it was at 9 inches.

I enjoyed first tracks down Vermont 200, and this new round of snow had settled in nicely. The medium-density powder was just what the doctor had ordered in terms of getting the windswept steeps back into shape. I was on my Telemark skis, and found that the consistency of the snow made for really easy turns. After my initial descent I stayed around for some rides on the lift, and unquestionably the trail pick of the day for me was Spillway. Usually I avoid it like the plague between its man-made snow, exposure to the wind, and traffic, but today Spillway offered up some gorgeous steep powder. The fact that it has seen grooming in the past made the subsurface the most consistent and provided lots of nice bottomless turns, and since there didn’t appear to be much wind with this event, there were no issues on that front. I had to hit it twice because it was so good, and I’d say it was better than even Hard Luck or Vermont 200. The Wilderness Lift opened right around 10:00 A.M., and I was fortunate to catch one of the first few chairs. The way the steeper trails had been skiing so nicely, I opted for Bolton Outlaw from the Wilderness summit, and it was in great shape. After that descent I traversed back toward the main mountain. I followed a random set of tracks off New Sherman’s Pass and found a nice region of glades that I’d never explored before.

The mountain definitely had more than its usual midweek handful of people this morning. A lot of the extra folks I saw were children, and I think some of the schools in the Northeast have vacation right now because I heard what sounded like a Boston-style accent on a couple of occasions. It was really nice to see all the visitors getting rewarded with such a splendid day on the slopes.

The moderate snowfall had gradually tapered off through the morning, and when I left the mountain around 10:40 A.M. there was just light snow and the temperature at my car (~2,100’) was 34 F. The temperature stayed fairly stable through most of the descent down the access road, but at the bottom (340’) it was up to 35 F. The precipitation was light snow as I drove westward through the Winooski Valley to the center of Richmond. The temperature there was up to 36 F however, and I was surprised to see that Richmond appeared to have picked up little if any snow from this event. When I’d reached the I-89 rest area in Williston, the temperature was up to 37 F and the precipitation was over to rain, which was coming down at moderate intensity for a while. In the South Burlington area the temperature was up to 38 F, and when I finally arrived at the UVM campus it had hit 39 F.

Bolton was officially reporting 8 inches from this event as of their 10:05 A.M. update, so I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting into Scott’s 10-20” inch prediction range with some upslope. It sounds like this is one of the best upslope setups we’ve seen this season, so it should be fun to see how it plays out for the mountains and even the mountain valleys over the next couple of days. It’s expected to start up tonight so I’ll certainly report on whatever makes it down to our elevation in Waterbury.

A few shots from this morning at Bolton Valley are attached below:

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 4.4” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 P.M. EST

Thursday, February 19th, 2009: 6:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.6 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.03 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 20.0
Snow Density: 5.0%
Temperature: 32.4 F
Humidity: 92%
Dew Point: 29.5 F
Barometer: 29.12 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 4.1 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.29 inches
Current snow at the stake: 20 inches
Season snowfall total: 135.2 inches

When I descended to the bottom of the Bolton Valley access road this morning and saw that the temperature was 35 F, I figured it likely that we’d go above freezing at the house as well. I suspect we did, since this morning’s 0.6 inches of snow had settled down and become crusty on the snowboard. I was still able to get core samples from it however, which revealed 0.03 inches of liquid. When I left Burlington this evening the temperature was already down to 34 F, much lower than the 39 F I’d observed when I’d arrived in the morning. I saw a few flakes in the air starting around the Williston exit of I-89, but that was all there was until about the Washington country line, where a steadier light snow had taken over. We had very light snow here at the house until around 7:00 P.M. when it began to come down vigorously with some big flakes of 1 cm plus in diameter. The heavier snow has been on and off, but I’ll try to take some intermediate accumulations measurements this evening to see how the snowfall progresses. It seems that the BTV NWS is on top of the upslope potential with this event, as their point forecast for our location has us down for 3 to 7 additional inches of snow through Friday night. The current snowfall has definitely got that upslope feel, so I suspect the mountains are doing well. Intermediate snowfall accumulations are below:

6:00 P.M.: 0.0”
7:00 P.M.: 0.3”

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 10.5” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 6:00 A.M. EST

Friday, February 20th, 2009: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 6.4 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.15 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 42.7
Snow Density: 2.3%
Temperature: 16.9 F
Humidity: 82%
Dew Point: 10.4 F
Barometer: 29.23 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Snow
Storm snow total: 10.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.44 inches
Current snow at the stake: 24 inches
Season snowfall total: 141.6 inches

Some intermediate snowfall observations yesterday evening went as follows:

6:00 P.M.: 0.0”
7:00 P.M.: 0.3”
8:00 P.M.: 0.8”
9:00 P.M.: 1.0”

We had generally light to moderate snow yesterday evening, but it certainly felt like upslope. Then at around midnight I noticed that the snowfall had really started cranking up, and I did a quick check to find ~2 inches on the snowboard. This morning there was a total of 6.4 inches on the snowboard, and it is certainly Champlain Powder™ dry. I could tell immediately when I walked through it and couldn’t feel it on my legs that the density was going to come in extremely low, and the numbers revealed that it is just 2.3 % H2O. I’m anxious to see how hard the snowfall keeps up today, but in any event the skiing should be off the hook with this stuff on top of yesterday’s medium-weight powder. Only a few resorts have sent their storm totals in to SkiVermont.com so far, but I’ve added them below:

Jay Peak: 18”
Stowe: 15”
Stratton: 12”

J.Spin

 

[flyover]

I could tell immediately when I walked through it and couldn’t feel it on my legs that the density was going to come in extremely low, and the numbers revealed that it is just 2.3 % H2O.

2.3% ! Cold smoke in No. Vt? Take that Alta! http://www.alta.com/pages/snowhistory.php :wink:

I’m anxious to see how hard the snowfall keeps up today, but in any event the skiing should be off the hook with this stuff on top of yesterday’s medium-weight powder.

I'll say. Can't wait to hear all about it.

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 14.6” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 10:00 P.M. EST

Friday, February 20th, 2009: 8:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 2.8 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.15 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 18.7
Snow Density: 5.4%
Temperature: 18.3 F
Humidity: 83%
Dew Point: 12.2 F
Barometer: 29.44 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 13.3 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.59 inches
Current snow at the stake: 24 inches
Season snowfall total: 144.4 inches

When I arrived in Burlington this morning it appeared as though they’d picked up just a dusting of snow overnight, which was quite a contrast from Waterbury where we’d received more than half a foot. During the morning in Burlington there wasn’t much going on, and I could even see the Green Mountains a bit in the early hours. As the morning wore on however, I saw the snow move back into the mountains and they disappeared from sight. In the late morning I saw the wall of white expand westward and engulf the foothills, and by around noon it actually started to snow in Burlington. We had some bouts of heavy snow in Burlington in the afternoon, and the ground was covered with white. I figured it had to be puking snow in the mountains if we were getting hit in Burlington. When I left Burlington at around 7:00 P.M. or so, there was just some very light snow, but it gradually increased all the way through to Waterbury where it was snowing moderately. We picked up another 0.15 inches of liquid equivalent with our snow today at the house, just as we did last night. However, today’s flakes didn’t appear to be as big as last night’s and this snow accumulated to less than half the depth with the same amount of liquid. As of 10:00 P.M. there’s another 1.3 inches of snow on the snowboard that has accumulated since the 8:00 P.M. clearing, so we’ve been running a bit over a half inch per hour for the past couple of hours. The average flake size seems a bit bigger now than earlier this evening, so that is likely helping to boost the accumulation. As of that latest reading, this is officially our largest snowfall event of the season so far at 14.6 inches and counting. The 14.2-inch event from November 20-23 has now been pushed to second place. Up in the local mountains they were approaching the two foot mark with this event as of this evening, and the Northern Vermont resorts should easily be past that point by tomorrow morning. Here are the latest accumulations I’ve seen for the Vermont resorts along the spine, listed north to south:

Jay Peak: 23” (7:00 P.M.)
Smugg’s: 20” (4:56 P.M.)
Stowe: 15” (2:30 P.M.)
Bolton: 23” (8:15 P.M.)
Mad River: 19” (3:30 P.M.)
Sugarbush: 17” (1:35 P.M.)
Pico: 15” (4:00 P.M.)
Killington: 15” (3:00 P.M.)
Okemo: 11” (2:49 P.M.)
Bromley: 14” (6:00 A.M.)
Magic: 13” (6:00 A.M.)
Stratton: 12” (2:31 P.M.)
Mount Snow: 7” (6:00 A.M.)

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 15.2” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 6:00 A.M. EST

Saturday, February 21st, 2009: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 1.9 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.07 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 27.1
Snow Density: 3.7%
Temperature: 19.2 F
Humidity: 73%
Dew Point: 9.5 F
Barometer: 29.74 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 15.2 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.66 inches
Current snow at the stake: 25 inches
Season snowfall total: 146.3 inches

The snow appeared to slow down pretty quickly after about midnight last night here in the lower elevations, but it looks up on the hill they did pretty well with another foot overnight at Bolton Valley. That brings the resort to three feet of accumulation from this event. We’ve still got light snow falling so there might be a touch more snow to report for this event before moving on to the next one. I’ve added the updated storm totals for the resorts on the Green Mountain spine, which are listed from north to south below:

Jay Peak: 25”
Smugg’s: 23”
Stowe: 21”
Bolton: 36”
Mad River: 28”
Sugarbush: 33”
Pico: 18”
Killington: 18”
Okemo: 11”
Bromley: 17”
Magic: 14”
Stratton: 15”
Mount Snow: 8”

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 1.7” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 8:30 A.M. EST

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 1.2 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.13 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 9.2
Snow Density: 10.8%
Temperature: 24.8 F
Humidity: 89%
Dew Point: 20.8 F
Barometer: 29.80 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 1.2 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.13 inches
Current snow at the stake: 24 inches
Season snowfall total: 147.5 inches

Yesterday was the end of the last storm cycle, so here’s the local snowfall/liquid summary. Down in Waterbury (495’) we wound up with 15.2 inches of snow comprised of 0.66 inches of liquid and up in the summit area at Bolton (3,150’) they finished off with 36 inches. Yesterday was certainly the break between systems, with blue skies in the afternoon and mild temperatures. This upcoming system looks to be another substantial one, with our current NWS point forecast for the valley calling for 3 to 7 inches today, 5 to 9 inches tonight, 3 to 5 inches Monday, and perhaps some more on Monday night. That sums to 11-21 for this area. So far the snow from this system has been in the form of small flakes in the 1-2 mm range, so it’s come in quite dense (10.8% H2O) compared to our recent upslope snowfall.

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Bolton Valley picked up a solid three feet of snow from our latest storm cycle, with the final 12 inches of upslope fluff coming in overnight to set the table for a fantastic Saturday. The day started off a little cloudy and breezy, but by midday we were left with warm sunshine to make for one of the best ski days of the season. We arrived up at the Timberline Lift for the 8:30 A.M. opening, and in classic Bolton Valley style the powder day lineup was comprised of a whopping three chairs worth of people. The first hour or two of the morning were pretty quiet in the Timberline area, at least in terms of numbers of visitors, although generally not in the voices of those of us that were there. By 10:00 or 11:00 A.M. more visitors started to arrive.

While the trails only contained about a foot of powder in areas that had seen skier traffic over the past couple of days, many off piste locations that hadn’t seen visitors on Thursday or Friday held the entirety of the storm in and undisturbed stack. Before heading up to the mountain yesterday morning we joked about losing Dylan in the deep snow, but fortunately that didn’t happen. The good thing about the snow was that it was quite dry (my analysis on the overnight accumulation at the house was 3.7% H2O); even the boys could get down in it and really have a fun time experiencing the depth. We met up with Dave and his friend Jo at 10:00 P.M., and my colleague Stephen and his son Johannes early in the afternoon, and all eight of us managed to do a couple of great runs on Twice as Nice together.

For Ty it was a day of notable improvements in his skiing. With the fantastic depths of powder in the off piste, he was able to start charging steep slopes more aggressively than I’ve seen up to this point. E and I had indicated to both boys that they would want to ski steeper terrain than usual today because the deep powder would be slowing them down. They weren’t very receptive to this idea at first. However, by the end of the day Ty had really changed his tune and was actually seeking out some of the steepest line so he could tackle them. Dylan had quickly picked up on the idea as well.

The deep powder also let Ty engage in his own personal huck fest ’09. I’d been saving up a nice 5 to 10 foot drop with a sloped landing that Dave and I had discovered in the Villager Woods a couple weeks back, and with feet of new powder it was ready to be plundered again. Ty likes to do jumps on his skis, but this type of a drop was in a league he’d never really tackled before, so I was curious to see his reaction. When we arrived at the top of the drop, he was certainly intimidated by the height and confirmed that he didn’t want to hit it. We didn’t want to force him, but we had Mom drop it and demonstrate how easy it was with such deep powder. After seeing that, he didn’t immediately change his tune, but we could see that the wheels were turning. Later in the day we were in the Wood’s Hole glades and Ty somehow found himself atop a rather big rock. He dropped a pretty rugged looking line, and with that his confidence was building. I asked him if he’d be interested in joining Dave and I in dropping another small cliff on the next run and he said yes. We gave him first shot at the drop in the freshest powder, while E shot pictures from below. He wasn’t willing to carry a lot speed going into it, but he dropped right off and did an awesome job. At the end of the day when we were in the lodge, he indicated that he wanted to go out for one more run. He insisted that we hit the first drop that we’d shown him earlier in the day, the one that Mom had done. He said he was now ready for it. He had no trepidation this time around, and dropped it as soon as I was in position with the camera and gave him the go ahead. When we got back to the lodge he even told E that he’d done a better job on it than she had.

Dylan also had quite a day, blasting lots of powder lines with the most consistency that I’ve seen from him all year. He plowed through every mellow or steep nook and cranny that we dragged him into, and his powder skiing is now becoming reliable enough that we don’t have to worry much about bringing him into any of the typical areas that we’d ski as a family. It appears as though a mounting topic with Dylan is the use of ski poles. Ty didn’t start using poles until his 4/5-year old season (last year), but it looks like Dylan is about ready. After I broke a wayward stick off of a tree yesterday in the Wood’s Hole Glades, Dylan proceeded to bring it with him for the rest of the run and use as a pole. Back on the trail, E told Dylan how he should be using the stick in terms of planting, and he easily coordinated the timing of planting and turning. We may have to start phasing in poles for him the way we did with Ty. Dylan also skied what was perhaps his biggest day to date, racking up over 8,000’ of vertical. He was clearly on his last legs when we came down through the Twice as Nice glades near the end of the day though; he just couldn’t handle the steepest pitches anymore and I had to help him down the final one.

When I finally downloaded the images from my camera yesterday evening, I discovered that I’d taken 479 shots throughout the day, but I managed to whittle it down to 21 that made the final cut. In some cases, the culling process involved skipping over some really nice waist-deep powder shots in favor of some even better chest and neck-deep ones, but sometimes that the way it goes! Images from the day are below:

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 7.8” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 9:00 P.M. EST

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009: 5:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 3.2 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.27 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 11.9
Snow Density: 8.4%
Temperature: 32.4 F
Humidity: 92%
Dew Point: 29.5 F
Barometer: 29.50 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Snow
Storm snow total: 4.4 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.40 inches
Current snow at the stake: 25 inches
Season snowfall total: 150.7 inches

After I cleared the overnight accumulation off the snowboard this morning at 7:00 A.M., there were 1.3 additional inches on it when we headed off to Stowe late this morning. At that point the snowfall had tapered off to very light in intensity, our temperatures were right around freezing, and one could feel the heat of the sun as the clouds seemed thin. On Mt. Mansfield and Spruce Peak today we were in the ~1,500’ to ~3,700 elevation range. It snowed all day, but the flakes were really pretty small in the 1-3 mm diameter range, and we never got into those big upslope-style flakes. I’m sure the snow still added several inches throughout the day though, and the skiing was excellent. The temperatures at the base elevations (~1,500’) were around 30 F when we left the mountain this afternoon at around 4:30 P.M., and a couple degrees higher at the house (495’). The snowfall wasn’t all the impressive at the house when we initially arrived home around 5:00 P.M., but it quickly jumped up this evening. At times we’ve had a few bouts of larger flakes, but for the most part we’ve been getting those same 1-3 mm diameter flakes that seem typical for this event so far. There must be a ton of moisture coming down out of the sky right now though, because even with those small flakes, we’re still getting snowfall in the inch per hour range at times. We’ve also started to get some wind down here at the house over the past hour, so there may be some serious winds in the higher elevations at this point. Here are some intermediate snowfall observations from this evening:

Time – Snow on board
5:00 P.M. – 0.0”
6:00 P.M. – 0.7”
7:00 P.M. – 1.8”
8:00 P.M. – 2.8”
9:00 P.M. – 3.4”

J.Spin

 

[Tony Crocker]

I've made numerous comments about JSpin's kids, but none necessary here. Those amazing pics say it all. =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 8.7” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 11:00 P.M. EST

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009: 11:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 4.3 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.36 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 11.9
Snow Density: 8.4%
Temperature: 26.1 F
Humidity: 93%
Dew Point: 23.6 F
Barometer: 29.53 in. Hg
Wind: 5-10 MPH
Sky: Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 8.7 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.76 inches
Current snow at the stake: 28 inches
Season snowfall total: 155.0 inches

The density of the snow we received between 5:00 P.M. and 11:00 P.M. was exactly the same as the previous batch that fell today at 8.4% H2O. The snow is certainly quite dry, but the flakes are still relatively small so there aren’t any incredible accumulation rates. The event has put an additional 0.76 inches of liquid into the snowpack so far however.

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 9.8” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 6:00 A.M. EST

Monday, February 23rd, 2009: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 1.1 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.12 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 9.2
Snow Density: 10.9%
Temperature: 24.4 F
Humidity: 96%
Dew Point: 23.0 F
Barometer: 29.47 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Light/Moderate Snow
Storm snow total: 9.8 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.88 inches
Current snow at the stake: 29 inches
Season snowfall total: 156.1 inches

It appears as though we got more wind than snow last night, so based on my measurements that would suggest at least 1.1 inches of wind at our location. In all seriousness though, it did blow much of the night, based on what I heard and what I saw this morning. We’re quite sheltered at our location, and even we had a little drifting, so I suspect the mountains got a bit of a blast. At 10.9% H2O, the overnight round of snow was even a little denser than the stuff we received throughout the day yesterday (8.4% H2O), and the wind may have contributed to that. With this more substantial density snow (vs. the Champlain Powder™ upslope variety) we’ve now attained our highest measurement of the season at our back yard stake (29 inches). The snow depth in the yard has been slow to increase throughout this system, since I suspect the new dense snow has simply been crushing the 2-4% H2O snow from the last storm cycle that lies underneath it. I think that the underlying snow is pretty compressed now though, because the snowpack seems to be rising. My standard snow gauge only goes up to 30 inches, so this evening I’ll probably install my longer four foot one. If we get some upslope on the back of this event as the NWS suggests, it will probably overtop my regular gauge.

In terms of the mountain totals at the resorts, it’s getting a little tough to separate out this system’s snowfall from that of the previous one, since for many places there was only a brief lull and their reports are by the day, not the storm. It looks like most of the resorts in the northern half of the state are past the 1-foot mark for this individual event at least. Bolton Valley is indicating 52 inches from the two events so far, so with the first event at 36 inches, that would suggest 16 inches from this one for now. I only had time to estimate the storm totals for some of the Northern Vermont resorts, but here’s what the totals appear to be, based on the information from their websites. The list is north to south along the Green Mountain spine:

Jay Peak: 14”
Smugg’s: 13”
Stowe: 16”
Bolton 16”
Mad River: 24”
Sugarbush: 18”

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 17.4” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 10:00 P.M. EST

Monday, February 23rd, 2009: 8:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 4.7 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.18 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 26.1
Snow Density: 3.8%
Temperature: 16.2 F
Humidity: 82%
Dew Point: 9.7 F
Barometer: 29.74 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Heavy Snow
Storm snow total: 14.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 1.06 inches
Current snow at the stake: 31 inches
Season snowfall total: 160.8 inches

It snowed some today in Burlington, but visibility wasn’t all that low and I could see that it was really cranking in the mountains. We also picked up several inches during the day here in Waterbury, which brought us easily over a foot of accumulation for the event. I haven’t run the snow thrower yet for this storm, so blasting through the 3 to 4-foot berm at the end of the driveway and getting up to the garage was even a challenge for the Subaru. Having the snow cascading over the hood and up the windshield is always fun though. Over the past few hours the snow has really come on at a rate of 1-2”/hr in the form of huge, fluffy, upslope flakes that are settling as that sub 4% H2O Champlain Powder™. I’m surprised that there aren’t stronger echoes on the local radar with the snowfall rates we’re getting, but I’ve made some intermediate snowfall measurements from the board after the 8:00 P.M. clearing:

Time – Total snow on board
8:00 P.M. – 0.0”
8:30 P.M. – 0.8”
9:00 P.M. – 1.5”
9:30 P.M. – 2.0”
10:00 P.M. – 2.9”

I thought that the snowfall was slowing down a bit after 9:30 P.M., but then it seemed to go nuts again not long before I went out to check the snowboard at 10:00 P.M. The 0.9 inches in that half hour period certainly suggests it came on strong.

As of earlier this evening, snow totals in the local mountains were already pushing past 5 feet over the last several days, so apparently February is trying to make up for its slow start. With the way it’s currently snowing around here, I suspect totals could be close to 6 feet by tomorrow. Here are some of the local resort snow totals for the two combined storms, listed north to south along the Green Mountain spine:

Jay Peak: 61”
Smugg’s: 49”
Stowe: 49”
Bolton 61”
Sugarbush: 62”

This storm has already reached 17.4 inches of accumulation down here in the valley and bumped the one before it (15.2 inches) into second place. Our valley total for the two events is thus 32.6 inches and counting. In terms of snowpack, this event has brought the snow at our stake to its deepest for this season at 33 inches, and as of this evening the snow depth at the stake on Mt. Mansfield has also reached its season high at 86 inches. If the winds in the mountains have settled down and the snow is falling like it is down here, the skiing should once again be off the hook tomorrow.

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 18.2” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 3.7 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.09 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 41.1
Snow Density: 2.4%
Temperature: 13.6 F
Humidity: 78%
Dew Point: 5.7 F
Barometer: 29.91 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Flurries/Light Snow/Mostly Cloudy
Storm snow total: 18.2 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 1.15 inches
Current snow at the stake: 33 inches
Season snowfall total: 164.5 inches

Our snowfall tapered off down here at around midnight after some fairly heavy upslope snowfall; here are some intermediate accumulations from last night at the house:

Time – Total snow on board
8:00 P.M. – 0.0”
8:30 P.M. – 0.8”
9:00 P.M. – 1.5”
9:30 P.M. – 2.0”
10:00 P.M. – 2.9”
11:00 P.M. – 3.6”
12:00 A.M. – 3.7”

That brings our total for this event to 18.2 inches, and our total for the back to back storms is 33.4 inches. As I suspected, some of the mountains have now hit six feet of accumulation from the last six days of snow. My daily email from Bolton Valley this morning had this to say:

Six Feet of Snow.

“Looking back at the log we keep of snowfall totals for the year I can hardly believe the last six days. It seems as if I am dreaming. We have measured snow of a foot or more on four of the last six days. We have a six day total of six feet. That's taller than most people. That's two yards of snow.”

Here are some of the two-storm totals for local areas on the Green Mountain spine, listed north to south:

Jay Peak: 68”
Smugg’s: 54”
Stowe: 52”
Bolton 72”

Our back yard stake is now at 33 inches as of this morning, and the Mt. Mansfield stake is at 86 inches as of yesterday evening. It will be interesting to see if the Mansfield stake report goes up with last night’s accumulation or down due to settling when they check it this evening. For now here’s the current snowpack plot for our stake and Mt. Mansfield’s:

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Here’s a quick update from Stowe on Sunday afternoon. In terms of weather, it was the start of storm cycle #2 of the back to back events. It snowed all day, at times moderately, but the flakes were fairly small and the snow settled with moderate density. I’d say they still picked up a few inches during the day down on the lower half of Spruce Peak, where temperatures were around 30 F.

Dylan and I joined up with E’s instruction group, spending most of our time on Spruce Peak. The conditions there were excellent, with mostly tracked powder around, but it was still possible to find icy subsurfaces – we skied the bumps of West Smugglers and found firm areas between the moguls. We did take one trip over to the main mountain and skied Perry Merrill – that was great fun and the snow surfaces below the gondola waterfall level were just an awesome mix of powder and packed powder.

I didn’t take any on slope pictures since we generally stayed on the trails and worked with E’s usual kids, but I did get a few shots in the afternoon when we were introduced to a neat activity that the resort is offering. From what we were told, there are free s’mores and hot chocolate every Sunday over at the fire pit in the Spruce Peak base area. It’s really a fun scene, and there were other vendors giving away stuff like packets of granola and bottles of Cholula hot sauce. I’m not sure if the s’more/hot chocolate area is supposed to be just for the kids in the local school programs, since it seemed like other people were joining in with the fun, but I figured I’d pass that along in case anyone finds themselves over at Spruce on a Sunday afternoon. A few shots from the s’more session are below:

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

E and the boys are off from school this week, so I joined them for a day up on the mountain yesterday. Heading up to ski was pretty much a no brainer - it looked to be almost a carbon copy of Saturday, with another foot or so of upslope Champlain Powder™ overnight to finish off another three-foot storm cycle, and the clouds pulling away to leave blue skies and perfect temperatures. Bolton had just finished off a run featuring six feet of snow in six days, which doesn’t happen all that often… anywhere.

We hit up many of our usual haunts in the Timberline area, but also got in a few runs in the Adam’s Solitude/Wild Woods out of bounds areas, which we’d yet to visit this season. I don’t visit those areas all that often, but I was absolutely floored by how protected the accumulated snow was over there. Amazingly delicate accumulations of Northern Vermont’s famed upslope snow had settled on everything, apparently defying gravity by even accumulating laterally and growing off the sides of trees. All it seemed to take was the slightest imperfection on a surface to catch a few crystals, and then they would apparently grab hands and just go nuts. I’m not sure if the area is always protected like that, but I’ll sure be on the lookout with future storms. My final overnight accumulation of snow down at the house for that event had come in at 2.4% H2O, which is not all that uncommon for upslope snow in our sheltered valley location, but there really were areas up near the top of Adam’s Solitude where the snow was like air. I’d be skiing along through the usual bottomless powder and I’d hit pockets where it would feel like the bottom had literally dropped out because the snow became so airy. It almost felt like I was hitting small tree wells, but it was just the settling pattern of the powder. Anyway, it was quite an experience. I’ve skied a lot of cold smoke snow between Vermont and our years out in Montana, and yesterday snow now sets the standard. I can remember a day at Smugg’s several years back that featured snow as airy as yesterday’s, but it was only about 6 to 12 inches deep and not bottomless, so the experience wasn’t quite the same.

I wanted to bring E and the boys over to explore some areas on the main mountain, but the day at Timberline was so packed we just never had the chance to get over there. We did manage to meet up with Stephen and his kids for a final run down Adam’s Solitude. It was a first time out there for them, so it was quite an introduction to that terrain. I worked a bit with Ty and E on getting their body positioning more compact when they are in the air. They’ve still got some work to do, but it was one of those days where you didn’t mind having to try, try again on those kinds of tasks. Some images from yesterday are below:

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 1.0” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 8:00 A.M. EST

Thursday, February 26th, 2009: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.5 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.02 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 25.0
Snow Density: 4.0%
Temperature: 28.4 F
Humidity: 80%
Dew Point: 21.2 F
Barometer: 29.85 in. Hg
Wind: 0-5 MPH
Sky: Light Snow
Storm snow total: 0.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.02 inches
Current snow at the stake: 28 inches
Season snowfall total: 165.0 inches

I hadn’t had a chance yet to check on the forecast details of today’s snowfall event too closely, but last night on the Weather Channel’s graphical forecast intervals for our area I noticed that the early morning block had some snow in it. Looking at the BTV NWS page discussion, they indicate that the snow is breaking out in association with a mid level shortwave and a surface warm/occluded front. It was only snowing lightly when I took my observations at 7:00 A.M., but as of ~7:45 it’s up to moderate intensity comprised of lots of decent flakes with diameters of ~1 cm, and a few with diameters almost twice that size.

J.Spin

 

[J.Spin]

Summary: 0.5” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 7:00 A.M. EST

Saturday, February 28th, 2009: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT

New Snow: 0.5 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.01 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 50.0
Snow Density: 2.0%
Temperature: 12.6 F
Humidity: 71%
Dew Point: 2.2 F
Barometer: 29.88 in. Hg
Wind: Calm
Sky: Light Snow/Mostly Clear
Storm snow total: 0.5 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.01 inches snow/0.31 inches rain
Current snow at the stake: 22 inches
Season snowfall total: 166.0 inches

I didn’t get a chance to send in a report on Thursday’s snow after the morning update, but the end result was 1.0 inches of snow comprised of 0.03 inches of liquid equivalent. The Friday/Saturday system had some rain with snow on the back end, 0.5 inches of fluff accumulated down here in the valley, and the local Vermont ski area accumulations along the Green Mountain are listed north to south below. The accumulations from this system were generally north of the I-89/Route 2/Winooski corridor.

Jay Peak: 4”
Smuggler’s: 2”
Stowe: 2”
Bolton: 3”
Mad River: 0”
Sugarbush: 0”
Pico: 0”
Killington: 0”
Okemo: 0”
Bromley: 1”
Magic: 0”
Stratton: 0”
Mount Snow: 0”

J.Spin

 

[Anthony]

The NOAA has upgraded the next system having it track more inland with the potential for heavy snow in VT. Have been watching this one for few days and the news keeps getting better. We are going to go for it as heading to Bolton Valley (later today) where they posted A Canadian Special to stay on hill. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the gamble will pay off.