Friday, March 16th, 2007

Pre-Storm Update - March 16th, 2007: 7:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New Snow: 0.0 inches
Temperature: 15.4 F
Humidity 54%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Mostly clear/a few high clouds
Cumulative storm total: 0.0 inches
Current snowpack depth: 18 inches
Season snowfall total: 108.2 inches

After a thaw this week, we dropped below freezing yesterday evening, and it looks like we're going to stay that way for the immediate future, so presumably the snowpack has stabilized. I went out this morning for some post-thaw/pre-storm weather and snowpack readings, and also had time to take a few pictures. The last snowpack measurement I recorded was on March 8th, when the snowpack in the yard was at 28 inches. Now we're down to between 18-19 inches, so we lost about 10 inches during that period. The snowpack is pretty solid after the thaw/freeze, but snowshoes are still the way to travel around because there are many areas of rotten snow where you can fall right through and end up post-holing around. There's a dramatic difference in snow cover to the west in the Champlain Valley, where a lot of bare ground is showing and many places are down to just snowbanks. The NWS Winter Storm Warning for our area calls for 12-20 inches through Saturday evening, but there is more snow in the forecast out through Tuesday, so I'm not sure what we'll end up with by next week. One interesting aspect to this storm is that we're actually starting out with a deeper snowpack than that Valentine's Day storm, (18 inches this time vs. 12 inches last time) so we may have a shot at ending up with our deepest snowpack of the season. The snowpack topped out back in mid-February at 37 inches, so we'll have to see where we end up after this round. The Mt. Mansfield snowpack at the stake has gone down from 89 inches to 69 inches after the thaw, so although I've seen some estimates of as much as 2 to 3 feet of snow expected from this storm for the mountains, some forecasts are more conservative so I'm not sure if the mountain will reach the 100-inch snowpack level or not.

Saturday, March 17th, 2007

March 17th, 2007: 12:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New Snow: 2.5 inches
Temperature: 22.8 F
Humidity 88%
Wind: 5 MPH
Sky: Snow
Cumulative storm total: 2.5 inches
Current snowpack depth: 20 inches
Season snowfall total: 110.7 inches

We were over in Burlington this evening and the snow started there around 7:00 P.M. We arrived in Waterbury at around 9:30 P.M. and found about an inch of new snow at that point. There hasn't been much in the way of heavy snowfall so far, but the radar suggests we'll get some more intense precipitation overnight.

March 17th, 2007: 6:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New Snow: 7.6 inches
Temperature: 21.0 F
Humidity 92%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Snow
Cumulative storm total: 10.1 inches
Current snowpack depth: 28 inches
Season snowfall total: 118.3 inches

Well the snowfall did pick up overnight, and it's been running at over an inch and hour for the past 6 hours. I've only seen a few ski area reports so far, but here's what I've found to this point:

Stowe: 18 inches
Burke: 18 inches
Okemo: 12 inches
Bolton Valley: 11 inches

The radar suggests there's maybe another hour or two of snowfall for the northern resorts in this wave of snowfall.

March 17th, 2007: 1:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New Snow: 1.1 inches
Temperature: 32.7 F
Humidity 62%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Cloudy
Cumulative storm total: 11.2 inches
Current snowpack depth: 28 inches
Season snowfall total: 119.4 inches

We headed up to Bolton Valley this morning and found about a foot of snow as their report indicated. One of the ski patrollers from the Burlington area said that he actually had more new snow at his house (14 inches on his deck) than they got at the mountain. It continued to snow on the mountain during the day, so they may have accumulated a bit more than the 11 inches they reported at 6:00 A.M. In terms of ski areas, the highest total I've seen so far for this storm is Jay Peak with 20 inches, but that was at 7:00 A.M. and they were still reporting heavy snowfall. I'm sure they've picked up more by now. Many other places are reporting 18 inches, so it looks like a decent dump. It's started snowing here again, and the radar suggests another shot of precipitation may be coming through.

March 17th, 2007: 11:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New snow since previous measurement: 3.9 inches
Temperature: 21.9 F
Humidity 90%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Snow
Cumulative storm total: 15.1 inches
Current snowpack depth: 32 inches
Season snowfall total: 123.3 inches

We're definitely into the wraparound/upslope portion of the storm now. It's been snowing on and off since the initial portion of the storm wound down this morning. During the day it wasn't really accumulating much, but this evening there has been a real resurgence in snowfall. This storm just blew past our 12.8-inch event from January 19th and 20th to become the second biggest storm of the season. We were at my sister's place in South Burlington this evening, where they had about an inch or so of new snow from the evening surge. It was very pretty outside there, with huge quarter-size flakes falling down with little wind. I was surprised to see how much more snow we had when we got back to Waterbury. We've pretty much got the same thing going on here as at my sister's place, just with more intense snowfall. I walked out to check the snowboard and couldn't even feel any resistance from the new snow as I was walking through it. It's not the lightest stuff possible, but I'd guess it's in the 4-6% H2O range; still pretty blower stuff that should be fun to ski tomorrow. It's still snowing pretty steadily outside and the radar returns look good for the snow to continue for a while, so I'm sure I'll have another report tomorrow morning.

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

March 18th, 2007: 8:00 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New snow since previous measurement: 5.4 inches
Temperature: 19.9 F
Humidity 90%
Wind: 5-10 MPH
Sky: Snow
Cumulative storm total: 20.5 inches
Current snowpack depth: 36 inches
Season snowfall total: 128.7 inches

The wraparound/upslope continued strong last night. We've picked up 5.4 additional inches since the 11:00 P.M. update, and it continues to be feather light stuff in the 4-6% H2O range. We're threatening to reach our highest snowpack of the season in the yard. I'll have some pictures in a subsequent update, but right now I've got to get out and ski. Bolton Valley is now up to 26 inches for the storm, as is Stowe. Mad River Glen and Sugarbush are up to 27 inches and counting. The radar is still looking strong, and the NWS says it should continue through early afternoon, so we'll see where we end up.

March 18th, 2007: 2:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New snow since previous measurement: 2.1 inches
Temperature: 28.8 F
Humidity 69%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Snow
Cumulative storm total: 22.6 inches
Current snowpack depth: 37 inches
Season snowfall total: 130.8 inches

We were up at Bolton Valley this morning and it was really dumping there. I'd say they're probably close to 30 inches of accumulation from this storm, but I haven't seen any updated snowfall totals since this morning. We still picked up a couple more inches down in the valley, and I'll have another update tonight because we've accumulated more since then. The yard snowpack has now returned to 37 inches, matching the highest point for the season that was set back in February.

March 18th, 2007: 8:00 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT.

New snow since previous measurement: 0.6 inches
Temperature: 26.2 F
Humidity 55%
Wind: Calm
Sky: Mostly Cloudy
Cumulative storm total: 23.2 inches
Current snowpack depth: 35 inches
Season snowfall total: 131.4 inches

It looks like this storm is finally coming to a close here in Waterbury, so this may be the last update for this one. At this point we've reached 23.2 inches with this system in the valley, so in terms of snowfall it comes in second to the Valentine's Day storm, and well ahead of the third place storm from January 19th and 20th that brought us 12.8 inches. The snowpack rose from a pre-storm level of 18 inches to tie the season high of 37 inches today, but the very light and airy snow has already settled back down to 35 inches. After reporting only a foot of new snow by Saturday morning, Bolton's snowfall absolutely went off Saturday and Sunday. You could see the area getting pounded with wraparound/upslope on the radar, and they wound up with a storm total of 39 inches. Jay Peak even cracked the 40-inch mark. Here's a storm total summary for some of the Vermont ski areas with the higher totals:

Jay Peak: 42 inches
Bolton Valley: 39 inches
Stowe: 36 inches
Mad River Glen: 36 inches
Sugarbush: 36 inches
Killington: 34 inches
Smuggler's Notch: 32 inches

Now it's time for a breather before the Monday/Tuesday clipper system comes through.

Monday, March 19th, 2007