Wednesday, February 18th,
2009
J.Spin
----
Summary: 0.7” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 6:00
P.M. EST
By roughly 3:45 P.M. the entirety of
the Green Mountain spine that I can see from the UVM campus (roughly Lincoln
Peak through to north of Mt. Mansfield) had disappeared behind snowfall, but
the foothills were still visible. It was
right around 4:00 P.M. when I saw the initial flakes in my area of the UVM
campus (380’). When I next had a chance
to look outside at around 4:45 P.M. I saw moderate snowfall driven by some
strong south winds, and the snow was just starting to accumulate on the ground. The snowfall had become less impressive by
the time we hit the area of the Richmond exit for I-89 (300’) and stayed at
that light intensity right through to Waterbury (~500’). I suspect we were just outpacing the front
edge of the snow however, since as I drove from the park and ride to the house,
the snow seemed to be intensifying. I
used my odometer to get a distance measurement on the visibility, and it was
around 0.20 – 0.25 miles, but it was also starting to get dark which could
affect the visibility. We had
essentially a dusting of snow on the snowboard at around 5:40 P.M., but when I
looked outside at 6:00 P.M. the snow was coming down furiously with a mixture
of flakes sizes, some up to ~ 1 cm in diameter.
I went out and checked the snowboard and found 0.7 inches of
accumulation as of 6:00 P.M., and the air temperature was 30.4 F.
J.Spin
----------------------
Thursday, February 19th, 2009
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
----
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
---------------
6:00 P.M.: 0.0”
7:00 P.M.: 0.3”
8:00 P.M.: 0.8”
Overall we've had moderate
snowfall over the past hour, but lots of fluctuation between light and heavy
intensity.
J.Spin
-------
7:00 P.M.: 0.3”
8:00 P.M.: 0.8”
9:00 P.M.: 1.0”
-----------
Friday, February 20th,
2009
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
--------
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
---------------
Saturday, February 21st,
2009
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