Thursday, January 8th, 2010
On January 8th, 2010 at 9:45 AM, J.Spin wrote:
“As far as the clipper goes, after not much going on in the early morning, we've now got steady, light snowfall here in Burlington.”
Over the past hour or so, the snow has really picked up here in Burlington - we've now got light to moderate snow comprised of big flakes in the 0.5 to 1 inch range. Previously it was snowing, but not accumulating, but that has changed with this intensification, and a substantial coating has been put down on the vehicles here. The roads are starting to show a little accumulation as well. Looking at the northerly flow from the radar makes me wonder if the lake has a hand in this snowfall.
Summary: 3.6” snow total in Waterbury (495’) as of 11:00 P.M. EST
I was very impressed with the way the snowfall picked up and actually started to accumulate this afternoon in the Burlington area, and it’s been interesting to watch the radar with that northerly flow as Powderfreak mentioned in the Northern New England Thread at EasternUSwx.com. We were at my sister’s place in South Burlington this evening, and the huge flakes up to 1-inch in diameter continued to come down the entire time we were there. By the time we left, I’d say there were at least a couple of inches in her driveway, and the Burlington area actually had some of the more intense snowfall we encountered on the entire route back to Waterbury. The more intense snowfall in the Burlington area dropped off immediately as we began to descend French Hill into Richmond, where it was noticeably lighter. Then, it began to slowly intensify as we worked our way through Jonesville, Bolton, and then to our place in Waterbury, but it wasn’t quite up to what we’d seen in South Burlington. It initially seemed like we hadn’t picked up much snow near the house based on what was on our road, but they must have plowed, because once I got to our driveway and saw the tracks my wife had left, it looked like we’d picked up around 3 inches. The accumulation on the snowboard confirmed that, with 2.6 inches as of 9:30 P.M.
Friday, January 8th, 2010: 9:30 P.M. update from Waterbury, VT
New Snow: 2.6 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.04 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 65.0
Snow Density: 1.5%
Temperature: 16.9 F
Humidity: 79%
Dew Point: 9.3 F
Barometer: 1014 mb
Wind: 5-10 MPH
Sky: Light Snow (2-6 mm flakes)
Storm snow total: 2.6 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.04 inches
Current snow at the stake: 18 inches
Season snowfall total: 63.2 inches
Here are the 24-hour totals I’ve seen for some of the Vermont mountains in association with this clipper and the tail end of the previous event:
Jay Peak: 4”
Smuggler’s Notch: 6”
Stowe: 3”
Bolton Valley: 5”
Mad River Glen: 4”
Sugarbush: 3”
We’ve picked up another inch of snow in the last 90 minutes and the flake size and rate of snowfall are up since my 9:30 P.M. observations, so I’d say it’s certainly coming down with at least moderate intensity. I’m not sure how far into the evening this snowfall will last, but if the local mountains are getting in on this like we are, then there could be a nice fresh coating of fluff for turns tomorrow morning.
J.Spin
Friday, January 9th, 2010
Waterbury Event Totals: 4.8” snow/0.07” liquid equivalent
The sky is entirely clear now, so apparently this event it complete. We picked up 2.2 inches of snow overnight since the 9:30 P.M. snowboard clearing, and it seems to be of the same ilk as yesterday’s accumulation – both extremely dry in the 1.4% -1.5% H2O range.
Friday, January 9th, 2010: 6:30 A.M. update from Waterbury, VT
New Snow: 2.2 inches
Liquid Equivalent: 0.03 inches
Snow/Water Ratio: 73.3
Snow Density: 1.4%
Temperature: 8.1 F
Humidity: 75%
Dew Point: -0.9 F
Barometer: 1019 mb
Wind: Calm
Sky: Clear
Storm snow total: 4.8 inches
Storm liquid equivalent total: 0.07 inches
Current snow at the stake: 18 inches
Season snowfall total: 65.4 inches
Bolton Valley is reporting 4 inches of snow yesterday and 5 inches overnight, for an event total of 9 inches, which is just about twice what we picked up down here. However, due to the tail end of the long-duration system and the way the numbers are broken out by the resorts, it’s not easy to figure out numbers for many of the other areas; the 72-hour accumulations totals aren’t correct for just this event, and some 24-hour totals seem to include just the overnight numbers. For those resorts that have updated this morning and were specific with regard to their yesterday and overnight accumulations, here’s what I’ve seen for totals with the clipper:
Jay Peak: 4”
Bolton Valley: 9”
Mad River Glen: 8”
At SkiVermont.com, 72-hour totals for the ski areas in the northern part of the state range from 5 to 15 inches, with the most northerly resorts (Jay Peak, Smuggler’s Notch) coming in at the high end with 15” and 14” respectively.
J.Spin