Marc_C":25l9p2xy said:
rfarren":25l9p2xy said:
But by tomorrow night most of the mountains in the East Coast are looking at 20-30 inches!
According to those who have become pretty good at predicting ski mountain weather, that's an optimistic amount.
In 30 hours we shall see what happens.
Marc_C":25l9p2xy said:
rfarren":25l9p2xy said:
The most important factor to this all has been the lack of rain since december. We've gotten many storms but none of the events have been in liquid form.
That would be after all the rain in November and early December that took most areas back to a 0" base.
That was a long time ago. It has been consistently cold since. Normally, it's rain that degrades the conditions around here and that hasn't happened. My original statement wasn't that "I think that the east coast skied better in November or December." I said: "I think right now is one of the very few times in a ski season where the snow conditions are superior on the EC than in Utah." Many of the ski areas around the EC have gotten 60 or so inches since the last rain event. Plattekill during MLK weekend was much softer than the week before when I was in Utah, and the trees were just setting up. This storm should make everything in the trees very skiable. I will plead ignorance when it comes to N'VT as I've not followed their snow conditions and the storm track seems to have been further south this year. Nonetheless, this might be one of the great Januarys in the history of S'VT the Berkshires and the Catskills.
Marc_C":25l9p2xy said:
rfarren":25l9p2xy said:
I had thought that the past storm cycle had covered up the ice layer, but I kept reading about how scratchy it was from visitors. My guess is this storm is enough to wipe that completely from memory...
It is *very* dependent on where you go. The MLK ice layer varies from a thin crust to 3"; it's now completely covered by over a foot or two of new snows since then, or it's still totally exposed from wind scouring. New snow hasn't bonded well, so scratchy/icy or soft depends on aspect, elevation, and wind protection - and it can vary greatly in a single run. Given the resistance of the layer and the plunge in temps., I'd definitely stay off of the south and west aspects, esp. above about 9800'.
Interesting... This statement only confirms what my hunch was. Utah probably needs another storm right after this present one to make sure that ice layer is completely covered up. It's a long season so I'm sure by the end of February the world turn upside right again, and Utah will indisputably have superior conditions.
Alas, it's now gone, but here's the gist of what you wrote:
