Summit Winds for Sunday! Blow me down!

[billski]

Did you see this???

RECREATIONAL FORECAST...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BURLINGTON VT
530 PM EST FRI DEC 19 2008

.THE HIGHER SUMMITS FORECAST FOR VERMONT AND NORTHERN NEW YORK...

.TONIGHT...SUMMITS OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. SNOW. LOWS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS
ABOVE ZERO. EAST WINDS 15 TO 30 MPH...BECOMING NORTHEAST 10 TO 20 MPH
AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SATURDAY...SUMMITS OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. SNOW SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE
MORNING...THEN A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS
IN THE SINGLE DIGITS ABOVE ZERO. NORTH WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY UNTIL MIDNIGHT...THEN BECOMING MOSTLY
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS
ABOVE ZERO. SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH...BECOMING SOUTH AT 10 TO 25
MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.
.SUNDAY...SUMMITS OBSCURED IN CLOUDS. SNOW. HIGHS IN THE UPPER TEENS.
SOUTHEAST WINDS 45 TO 60 MPH. WIND CHILL VALUES IN THE SINGLE DIGITS
BELOW ZERO.

 

[JD]

Nice! I'll be skinning the crap outta sugarbush if there's wind hold.

 

[MichaelJ]

Winds out of the southeast? Hmm ... Sugarloaf is mostly north-facing. We might be okay with at least the blue cruisers and glades on the west side of the mountain.

 

[billski]

Updated

Recreational forecast
national weather service burlington vt
249 pm est sat dec 20 2008

.the higher summits forecast for vermont and northern new york...

.tonight...partly cloudy until midnight...then becoming cloudy.
Scattered flurries until midnight...then a chance of snow after
midnight. Lows in the single digits above zero. South winds around
5 mph...increasing to 15 to 30 mph after midnight.
.sunday...summits in and out of clouds in the morning...then summits
becoming obscured in clouds. Snow. Snow may be heavy at
times. Near steady temperatures in the mid teens. southeast winds
50 to 60 mph. wind chill values as low as 10 below zero.
.sunday night...summits obscured in clouds. Snow until midnight...
Then snow and blowing snow after midnight. Snow may be heavy at
times until midnight. Lows in the single digits above zero. West
winds 25 to 40 mph.
.monday...summits obscured in clouds. Blowing snow with snow likely
in the morning...then blowing snow with snow showers likely in the
afternoon. Highs in the single digits above zero. northwest winds
35 to 45 mph. wind chill values in the lower 20s below zero.

 

[MichaelJ]

Northwest winds? Aww, crap. So much for Monday...

 

[hardline]

from what i can tell it looks like stratton would be the best if the winds are nw.

 

[billski]

Northwest winds? Aww, crap. So much for Monday...

If it was a little later in the season, with a tad more base,I'd be reaching for the woods...

 

[billski]

It didn't get any better

Recreational forecast
national weather service burlington vt
327 am est sun dec 21 2008

.the higher summits forecast for vermont and northern new york...

.today...summits becoming obscured in clouds this morning with
snow developing. Snow may be heavy at times. Highs in the mid
teens. Southeast winds 40 to 55 mph. Wind chill values as low as
10 below zero.
.tonight...summits obscured in clouds. Snow until midnight...then
snow and areas of blowing snow after midnight. Snow may be heavy at
times until midnight. Lows in the single digits above zero. west
winds 40 to 55 mph.
.monday...summits obscured in clouds in the morning...then summits
becoming in and out of clouds. Blowing snow with snow likely in the
morning...then blowing snow with snow showers likely in the
afternoon. Highs in the single digits above zero. northwest winds
35 to 45 mph. wind chill values in the lower 20s below zero.

I'm considering Magic on Monday.

 

[KingM]

Winds don't look too horrible here. From MRG's web site:

.Winter storm warning in effect until 1 pm est monday.
Today: Snow developing by late this morning. Snow may be heavy at
times this afternoon. Snow accumulation of 4-6". Highs
around 16. East winds around 10 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph this
afternoon. Chance of snow near 100%.
Tonight: Snow. Areas of blowing snow after midnight. Snow may be
heavy at times until midnight. Additional snow accumulation of 3 to
6". Lows around 5 above. North winds 10-15 mph. Becoming
west after midnight. Chance of snow near 100%.
Monday: Snow in the morning. Then snow showers likely in the
afternoon. Blowing snow. Total snow accumulation of 10-15".
Highs around 14. Northwest winds 15-20 mph with gusts up to
30 mph. Chance of snow 80%.

 

[billski]

Winds don't look too horrible here. From MRG's web site:

Don't mean to argue, but that's the NWS Zone forecast which covers the lowlands. The Recreational/summits forecast is the one to look at.
Higher Summits Forecast Available Year Round (Valid for 3000 to 5000 feet)
As a rule of thumb, take whatever is in the zone forecast and magnify it to guess at the summits (i.e., lower temps, more snow, more wind, etc.). Inversions are the exception.

 

[davidhowland14]

Winds don't look too horrible here. From MRG's web site:

That's what I wanted to hear. Please, God, let the single run.

And let the driving be possible tonight. Oh, yeah, and let the Pats win, too.

 

[roark]

As Bill has alluded to, Magic's red chair does very well in high winds thanks to being relatively low and tucked in to the trees over a fairly narrow trail. And the opening is scheduled for Monday. Stratton's lifts are pretty exposed, even if the direction isn't head on.

 

[billski]

Another good lifts-turning choice in NNE on a windy day is Bretton Woods. It's not on most people's radar due to the drive, but they have well-deserved bragging rights on low winds.

 

[nelsapbm]

These winds are pretty much a given with this kind of storm. Nothing unusual.

 

[polski]

Sounds to me like yesterday wound up being the day for powder quality plus unexpected quantity. Various school/holiday/household responsibilities/commitments/etc make getting out on a weekend real tough for me this time of year though, even to my local feeder hill (Bradford) that's getting fairly dumped on as I write this ... I do plan to earn a few turns this afternoon in 16"+ on a nearby NELSAP hill though.

Tomorrow sounds like the typical day-after-nor'easter/windy wraparound scenario. powderfreak is forecasting difficult travel conditions tonight and wind holds tomorrow a.m. Roger Hill's report on the MRG site also speaks of possible whiteout conditions tomorrow. Unclear to me whether the winds will abate substantially during the day tomorrow but as I weigh various probabilities and logistics I think I'm going to pass on tomorrow and try to get to MRG for a day trip Tuesday (KingM, we'll hook up again some other time). I may be skiing leftovers or maybe not, but lack of cover won't be a problem ...

Meanwhile, do I remember correctly that Cannon tends to fare well/not suffer wind holds in NW winds following a nor'easter? I know I skied there the day after the Valentine's Day 2007 storm in 26" of wind-loaded pow when most other areas had wind holds. (I forget if Bretton Woods had one of its rare wind holds that day or not.) Not that I'm going to try it myself tomorrow but it may be an option worth watching.

 

[billski]

These winds are pretty much a given with this kind of storm. Nothing unusual.

Agreed, but with 1350 registered forum lurkers, I hate to see anybody have a bad day...

 

[MichaelJ]

As it turned out, on Monday the lifts slowly got closed, one by one, at the 'Loaf. Losing the Superquad was bad, but then when *both* Double Runner chairs shut down, the only thing left was to ride a snow cat up to the T-bar. Those who saw this coming and got up high early to just lap the T-bar were the happy souls.