This storm + L.E.S. event may have saved the n.VT (and elsewhere) season

[BenedictGomez]

This snuck up on us. It's like when your favorite hockey or basketball team is treading .500, and you go away on vacation or business a few weeks & they rattle off 10 games in a row to be back in playoff contention.

This 28"'ish storm put us from a 10" below-average season, to a 18" above average snow-depth.

MOUNT MANSFIELD SNOW STAKE


So I was curious how we now stand versus recent history, and I decided to look at the last 25 years as a barometer. There are only 7 years (72nd percentile) better than this at this date. And 4 of the 6 are merely 1" increments (i.e. very close). There will be a warm-up next week & rain in which we're expected to lose some of this, but the "buffer" this storm created should help to hopefully increase the likelihood of a season extension.

I wasnt going to bother posting this, but will all the negativity this season, I thought some positivity could be helpful.

EDIT: I should note, this may be "off" a very small bit, as I learned the MMSS is not equipped to handle leap year.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Well the summit of Mansfield has done well, as has Smuggs and Jay. Cannon has plenty of snow but it needs to thaw out.

I've been pondering a slightly different angle. Has all the wet precipitation / thaw / backend snow / refreeze cycles made a more durable base than we might have otherwise?

In other words, will it take longer than normal for the frozen ice sheet under a little bit of snow to thaw/melt than if it were all dry packed powder?

Probably yes, although there is less to work with, we have also avoided a late season catastrophic blow torch.

I always hold out hope for fresh snow in NoVT late March into early April anyway... I've got my fingers crossed for this year as it's been tricky to ski as often as I planned for, still sitting on a gold mine of passes.


edit... we had a TON of precip this year, the problem has been they have all been accompanied by south winds and moisture coming up from the Gulf or just straight across SoCal. My impression has been that the oceanic oscillations have been working against us the entire season. People think "temperature swings" are a sign of climate change but it's been pretty easy to observe and explain the pattern this year.

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

Well the summit of Mansfield has done well, as has Smuggs and Jay. Cannon has plenty of snow but it needs to thaw out.

I'm thinking of skiing cannon this wednesday. I've never been. 20-30 mph west winds predicted. Hows it handle wind? seems pretty exposed....

 

[bdfreetuna]

I'm thinking of skiing cannon this wednesday. I've never been. 20-30 mph west winds predicted. Hows it handle wind? seems pretty exposed....

was there a couple weeks ago and it was more hard pack and ice than I enjoy

They've had more snow since then, but I couldn't tell you. I have 2 more passes I'm waiting for corn snow.