Wtf!
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The Jay Cloud
- Thread starter Nick
- Start date
More like ftw!
jaysunn
New member
So awesome.
mbedle
Well-known member
WOW - is that really Jay?
Tin
Active member
What is the science behind it?
twinplanx
Active member
I think, basically it's so far North and at the tip of the spine of the Green Mountains that they get these types weather events. When fronts move from the West to the East the meet the mountains that ring moisture out like a sponge. At least that's what I gather...
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St. Bear
New member
Very basically, Jay gets the love from both Atlantic storms and Alberta Clippers. They're also not as protected as some other peaks. Throw in the fact that they're the furthest north. So not only do they get snow instead of rain (occasionally), but their snow ratios are going to be higher if it's colder.
No, Jay is not related to the Green Mountains. It's more accurate to group it with the White Mountains. The mountains of the Eastern Townships, Quebec, Jay and Burke in Vermont, and the White Mountains in New Hampshire and Maine were all created by the New England hotspot.
The Green Mountains are related to the Catskills, Adirondacks, and mountains in the Mid-Atlantic. They are the eroded remains of the Taconic and subsequent Acadian orogenies. That is why the Green Mountains, like the Appalachians, have a "spine" whereas the Whites are isolated mountains.
As for the "Jay Cloud", it is mostly from uplift of cold air advection. There is some seeder-feeder action during storms too.
twinplanx
Active member
^Interesting I assumed that because Rt. 100 is so close to Jay that it was part of the Greens... I also might have heard somewhere that Jay is a Mohangandic (sorry my phone does not speak allgoncquin)
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C-Rex
New member
You don't need to understand it. Just know that it is a generous and benevolent god of winter, and worship it accordingly.
twinplanx
Active member
Huck_It_Baby
Active member
I'm no weather expert so I could be wrong on this but:
I'm not convinced Champlain produces all that much lake effect snow. It's not that wide of a lake, just long, so the West to East winds are traveling over a small surface area of water. I grew up a couple miles from Lake Ontario and now live a couple miles from Champlain and it's not the same.
Champlain is very different than the Great Lakes. For example Lake Ontario hammers Tug Hill because the winds are traveling for miles and miles across the lake. Same with Lake Erie and Holiday Valley.
I think the Champlain could impact Orthographic snow fall to a degree but not bring Jay traditional LE snow.
WWF-VT
Well-known member
St. Bear
New member
Like most things in life, it's not as simple as one thing, it's a combination of things.
So Jay may get a little extra snow from lake effect (but honestly not as much as Stowe or Smuggs would), plus a little extra from an Alberta clipper that tracks north and doesn't hit any resort further south, plus a little extra from an Atlantic storm where Jay gets a higher liquid snow ratio because it's further north. All these things add up to the "Jay Cloud".
I am a bonafide weather expert. While there is a little lake-effect off of Champlain near Mt Mansfield, there is even more in the Green Mountains coming from the Great Lakes than from Champlain. Neither really impacts Jay. It bet if you look at the wind direction on a big "Jay Cloud" day it is not coming from Champlain.
As for the Tug Hill plateau, I discussed this at length with colleagues at a conference over the summer. Some of my trust worthy colleagues really believe that the hill itself enhances snowfall. I am not yet convinced that the elevation has a significant influence vs just being in the right spot downstream of the lake.
^ this is certainly a factor
Puck it
Well-known member
A crude map. 
Huck_It_Baby
Active member
I think you might be incorrect about some of this but am not sure.
I always understood the ADKs are geologically different from the Greens and Catskills and are from the Grenville Orogeny.
The Greens ARE part of the Appalachian mountains. Greens, Whites, Cats, Chic-Chocs, Blue Ridge...all Appalachians.
I should point out though that I didn't exactly Ace Earth Science in 9th grade.
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