The Official 3/11 - 3/12 Storm Discussion Thread

[Zand]

Storm stalled. I'm in the middle of the heavy stuff right now just west of Worcester and it's not going anywhere anytime soon. At 10 AM the snow was already over in Hartford. The western edge is 15 miles NE of Hartford currently and the storm is moving W at 2 MPH according to a local weather station. This will REALLY help NH and ME ski areas and give a hand to eastern MA hills. There's a major storm on the way Friday.

 

[Terry]

3-12 storm thread

looks like we have about 14 inches so far, and still coming down hard. Expecting about 2 feet before it is done. Went out skiing today and it was SWEET!!!!!!!!!!! Haven't had that much fun with my clothes on for a long time!! Can't wait to get out in the morning!!!!
:beer:

 

[awf170]

the storm seemed to of died at sugarloaf, it was snowing so hard last night then i woke up and there wasnt much at all. Website claims 14-16 if u cut that in half it is about right 7-8. Was still very good skiing

 

[Greg]

They're calling for up to 2 feet at Loon by the time all is said and done tomorrow. Checking in tomorrow to ski the week. Not bad timing, eh? :beer:

 

[riverc0il]

Re: Saturday morning snow storm...

It snowed all night and right now it is coming down very heavy.....

Cannon/Mittersill is going to be good tommorow...

good? charlie, what an understatement! it's going to be epic, it's going to be the best ski day of the year! i was at cannon today and it was snowing hard when i left. during my last run, i noticed the snow was already filling in the tracks for boot deep untracked tomorrow morning.
:beer:

 

[Lostone]

Don't know how much we got, but whatever it was was great! The front of my car is now below the snow.

There were a lot of people at the early lift when it opened, this morning.

How many? I had skied down Murphy's Glades. As I crossed under the lift, I could see that the solid line of full chairs were still above me and yet to get to me.

 

[Bumpsis]

This "storm" may be a bust

Saturday night - just came back from Cannonn.
In summary: what snow storm?

Drove out on Friday evening, grabbed a hotel room hoping that the weather people will get it right this time and I'll wake up to a foot of powder. Rrrright.
I woke up to a dusting, at best.
The snow did start to flurry a bit around noon, but nothing significant.
Finally at about 2 pm it started coming down and by the time I left the mountain, they picked up about two inches and the snow was abating a bit.

So the weather folk missed the actual timing (delayed onset by 12 hours) and I'm willing to bet they will mis-call the totals too.
Looks like the precipitation is moving out and the Franconia notch area will pick up tatal of maybe 6-8 inches, max.
Still, not bad, but certainly it did not live up to the hype.
Overall, I'm happy with a nice day out, but a bit dismayed that my dream powder day will remain a dream.

 

[Greg]

Re: This "storm" may be a bust

So the weather folk missed the actual timing (delayed onset by 12 hours) and I'm willing to bet they will mis-call the totals too.
Looks like the precipitation is moving out and the Franconia notch area will pick up tatal of maybe 6-8 inches, max.

Hmmm. So no 2'? Oh well. Still should be a great week. BTW, the storm totals varied a lot around here. We had close to a foot (a lot melted and compacted today) while at my sister's about 15 minutes away, they had 4 or 5" tops.

 

[skintowin]

What a winter this turned out to be!

Escaped to Mt. mansfield today to ski an undisclosed line on the underhill side. Wow! Winter doesn't get any better. Deep snow, no wind, warm temps (relatively speaking, of course) and not a track in sight.
Mad river is talking smack about a possible 30 inch storm total by monday. It would be nice if the mountain would fill in after the inevitable beating it will take on sunday.

 

[riverc0il]

the weathermen were definitely off on the timing but whether they were off on the totals remains to be seen. cannon web site says as of 4pm saturday they had gotten 5-8" since friday. that is 100% legit, it wasn't much of a powder day on cannon proper but there was tons of great shots in the woods. when i left saturday it was snowing to beat the band and i would guess cannon is getting about a foot additional since saturday 4pm when i left. sunday is definitely the powder day and choice of the weekend.

 

[Brn4353]

snowstorm...

Last nite I shoveled about 9 inches...and there is another 2-3 out there this AM. Heading to Tenney. They are reporting 12+.

 

[Greg]

From this AM's reports, it looks like central and southern New Hampshire areas were the big winners with around a foot:

http://skiing.alpinezone.com/conditions.htm?state=NH

 

[ALLSKIING]

Lower Vt got around 8 to 12. Skied Stratton with bumps and powder..how often does that happen.Report on the way with pics.

 

[Bumpsis]

when i left saturday it was snowing to beat the band and i would guess cannon is getting about a foot additional since saturday 4pm when i left. sunday is definitely the powder day and choice of the weekend.

I'm almost certain that Cannon did not pick up much from Saturday to today. Definitely not a foot.

It really didn't start to snow up there until 2 pm yesterday.
Their website does indicate that they picked up 8 inches max and that's exactly what I thought was going happen when I left yesterday.
The mountain is in decent shape, although the ice sheets on some of the mogul runs as well on top, coming from the tram, won't be helped much.
Still, I'm sure that there is plenty of fun to be had today.

Interestingly enough, Loon reports 14 inches !!(????)
Can anyone verify that? I'm just curious.

 

[carvemeister]

Sunday River is claiming 20-24" in the past 24hrs. http://www.sundayriver.com/conditions.html Sounds questionable to me. Can anybody confirm this??

 

[swade2469]

Just got back from Pat's Peak - I think they got about 15" Epic morning. First chair, first tracks. By anout 11:45 the crowds were getting think and the snow was getting slushy. For only being 45 min away, it was a sick morning. Hardly anyone there to start. Permagrin today Already back home and got one cracked open. Hope y'all had the same fortune! :beer:

 

[DJAK]

The title of this thread should change to "the official 3/12-3/13 snow total verification operation of high importance."

If you go tomorrow and see half as much as what was reported, say hello to the March sun which did a number on the light and dry stuff today.

Or just come here and blame hard working folks. Trust me they're not in it for the benjamins.

FYI when an event is 36 hours long resorts will typically report two numbers, and overnight and a storm total. The storm total may have fallen but because much of it was skied the day before its not there in the am.

Think about this...resorts do more "snow garauntee" type vouchers when they're is fresh snow and conditions are prime. When conditions are bad they do way less if any. The public likes to hear about snow but as a whole, they can't ski in it and come in for a refund/voucher. Most will say "why didn't you groom?"

They don't have the slightest idea as to why there is fresh snow on a trail, they think if it was groomed it would be without fresh snow. What are resorts supposed to groom simultaneously at 8:59 am? Impossible. This is an example of how the public interprets ski area operations (and complains about them) even though 9 out of 10 trails might have been groomed.

I know that folks in these chat rooms are WAY more informed about how things work then the general public but the resorts still have to speak to the public whether they get it or not. Bottom line, they are not out to get you!

They are out to serve you and not go out of business in the process.

Sorry about the devil's advocate stuff but it's how i can best contribute to a forum i enjoy reading.

 

[riverc0il]

i blew the call on the cannon snow forecast for sunday. they hardly got much, a few inches overnight. a three day total of 8-10 sounds about right, but distributed over three days worth of skiing it hardly adds up too much.

to be fair, almost every trail on the mountain started forming mini-bumps as there was still some snow coming down from time to time. the dreaded ice between the bumps was in full effect. (and yes, i do mean ice. i'm normally the first to cry foul when people over use the word ice when referring to new england hard pack... but that frozen groomer track crap is ice, imo).

what a loonly weekend for snow activity and horrible forecasting. a lot of people give weathermen crap, but honestly, they are usually pretty close 4/5 times and dead on more often than not. this weekend, everything was wrong except maine ski areas getting dumped on from what i have seen.

 

[Lostone]

They are out to serve you and not go out of business in the process.

But when the next resort is liable to claim a foot, do you think any of them will say they got 6", or that they got a foot, with a lot of rain after, and that now there is no reason to go there?

I battle this all the time, especially the second part. They tell the good news. They are giving a marketing report.

I take it all with a grain of salt, and when there is a forum that talks about the mountain I'm planning on going to... I check it out.

Usually, the people posting from there will tell it like it is. :wink: