E enjoys some of the October powder at Pico after back to back storms set up some great ski conditions.
On Thursday, Vermont got hit with its first major storm of the 2011-2012 winter season. The greatest effects were felt in the central and southern parts of the state, where areas like Killington picked up about a foot of snow. Then yesterday, an early season Nor’easter came through the Northeast, and it turned out be historic for the Mid Atlantic and Southern New England, where some areas picked up more than 30 inches of snow. That’s a good dump of snow for any time during the winter, but it’s incredible for October, and numerous October snowfall records were shattered. Through the combination of the two storms, some areas in the Berkshires of Massachusetts had already picked up over three feet of snow for October. Up in Vermont, the Nor’easter was focused on the central and southern parts of the state, just like the previous storm. We did actually pick up 1.2 inches of snow at our house in Waterbury last night, but with areas south of us getting another good dump of snow on top of the base they already had from the previous storm, our eyes were definitely drawn southward for some potentially great October skiing.
Since Killington had already opened for lift-served skiing, we decided that Pico would be a much mellower option for earned turns, with similarly great snow. Despite many days of skiing at Killington in the past, nobody in the family had actually ever skied Pico, but it’s hard not to admire the way 3,967’ Pico Peak towers well above Sherburne Pass on Route 4. Since the base area of Pico sits at an elevation of ~2,000’, it’s got plenty of elevation to help keep the snow dry if lower elevation temperatures are above freezing.
E hosted a Halloween pumpkin-carving party last night, but I still had plenty of time after clean up to prep some of the gear and put the skins on the skis so that we’d be able to save time this morning. After a hearty breakfast to ensure that the boys were charged up for the mountain ascent, they got dressed very quickly and headed out to play in the snow while we got everything together for the trip. I recorded the final couple of tenths of an inch of snow that had accumulated on our snowboard from the morning’s light snow, and we were on our way southward. To read the details about the skiing and see all the pictures, head to the full report from Pico on October 30th, 2011.
Looking down from the trials of Pico at the base area and Sherburne Pass, October almost seemed like mid winter.
Winter Storm Warnings and Winter Weather Advisories are up in Vermont for our second October snowstorm in three days.
Our second significant snowstorm for October, and in fact our second significant snowstorm of the past three days, is on our doorstep. As with the storm from Thursday, Vermont snowfall will again focused on the southern part of the state, and this is likely to be a record snowfall event for areas of Southern New England, and the Mid Atlantic Region. Although this storm is still focused to our south, it is large enough that even our area is under its first Winter Weather Advisory of the season. The winter weather advisory maps from the National Weather Service Office in Burlington have been added here, and more updates about this historic early-season winter storm can be found at their website.
October 27, 2011: Vermont's first winter weather advisories of the season
The National Weather Service Office in Burlington put up the first Winter Weather Advisory for the state of Vermont today, thanks to a storm that is passing to our south. The southern and central parts of the state have been receiving the snow, with generally just clouds north of I-89. The Killington area picked up a nice shot of snow; adk from Americanwx.com reported up to 14 inches of snow there in his post in the Northern New England thread. You can find more about his trip at Famous Internet Skiers – they’ve got snowy skiing pictures from both October 27th, and October 28th. The great news is that there may be another storm coming in on Saturday night to cover up all the tracks that people have been making and set us up for some great October skiing.
Snow accumulations with this storm have been in the southern and central parts of the state.
October 22, 2011: The fabled stake atop Mt. Mansfield, picking up the first accumulating snow for Vermont's Green Mountains this season
I was reading the Northern New England Thread on the New England Regional Forum at American Weather, and just got the word that Mt. Mansfield received its first accumulating snow of the season. Thanks to Powderfreak for passing along the message, and including a picture of the snow at the Mt. Mansfield Stake, which I’ve included here. As far as I’m aware, this is the first accumulating snow in the Green Mountains of Vermont this season due to the fairly warm October. It does look like the weather is going to cool down this coming week, so there will likely be more chances for snow in the high country. We’ll keep our eyes on the mountains, weather forecasts, and weather boards to see if any of the white stuff shows up in the near future, but as we approach November, the season of snow and skiing is certainly close at hand.
After our initial round of frosty weather back in mid September, more substantial freeze warnings and frost advisories are back for the start of October.
We’ve got another batch of cold air moving in over the next couple of days, so the National Weather Service Office in Burlington has put up freeze warnings throughout the area. Temperatures should be colder than last round with most areas in the 20s F, but since we’re into October now, that’s not all that surprising. For those areas like the Northeast Kingdom and the Adirondacks that don’t have warnings up, it’s because they aren’t needed; for those colder areas with early dates for the typical first frost, the growing season is considered to be over already. This is bad news for farmers in that area. Unfortunately, the weather cannot be changed. This will probably impact the crops of many farmers. To prevent this from happening next year, some farmers may want to take some extra precautions. Some may want to visit https://shrinkwrapcontainments.com/t-reinforcedblackout.aspx, for example, to purchase some light deprivation tarp. This is currently being used by full-time farmers in other areas who are trying to extend the growing season by creating artificial growing conditions. This tricks the crops, allowing them to continue growing for longer. Hopefully, this should help more farmers to have a successful growing season next year.
As the afternoon wore on and the clouds dissipated, images from the Mt. Washington web cams began to reveal the white of fresh September rime and snow in the higher elevations
In association with our coldest weather of the season thus far, the mountains of Northern New England saw some snow today. In Vermont, I heard about the frozen precipitation on Mt. Mansfield in a post from Powderfreak at Americanwx.com, and over in the Presidential Range of New Hampshire there were some visible accumulations above the 3,500’ to 4,000’ elevation level. A great video from TheAutoRoad with scenes of snow falling along the Mt. Washington Auto Road was posted, and can be viewed below. Even in the valleys the weather was quite cool today, with highs only in the 50s F, so the look and feel of fall was all around us. Enjoy the video!
Freeze Warnings and Frost Advisories have been posted for the entire state of Vermont.
The National Weather Service office in Burlington has posted a freeze warning for our area, and indeed the entire state of Vermont is under either freeze warnings or frost advisories, so cover up vegetation as necessary. This may also be a good time to look into local furnace maintenance services as you want to be sure your current furnace can meet the demands of this cold weather. Companies like CJS Heating offer such services. Why now? Well, furnaces have to work much harder when the weather is colder and so some may struggle to keep up. The last thing you’d want is for it to stop working whilst temperatures are so low. Though the first frost for valley locations in the Central and Northern Green Mountains does typically happen in September, the average date for the occurrence is toward the end of the month (September 27th for Morrisville and September 30th for Montpelier) so this is a bit on the earlier side. Yesterday in the Northern New England thread at Americanwx.com, Powderfreak posted the chart from the National Weather Service that shows the average dates and ranges for first frost at some of our Vermont climate locations – mid September is in the 10th – 25th percentile. Take a look at that post for more information about average dates of 32 F temperatures around the state.
Low temperatures are going to be down in the 20s F in some locations overnight as the first frosts and freezes hit the North Country of Vermont and New York.
