# The Official 12/14 - 12/15 Storm Discussion Thread



## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

10:00 AM and 19* and the snow just began flying here in Watertown, CT!

I hope we have a lot of threads like these this winter!


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## pepperdawg (Dec 14, 2003)

Just popped into work for a "preemptive strike" on a few tasks which will allow me to play  in the snow tommorow     

Looks like storm later in the week is shaping up nicely as well...........gotta love this cycle!!!!!


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## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

Up to a solid inch and a half, as of 1 PM. Ground and roads are white!

The forecasts I'm seeing for Wed/Thu calls for rain/mixed. I took Thursday off (Fridays have been bad luck) so it better be more frozen stuff than not. Still too far out to tell, and I'm determined to ski regardless.  :-? 

Any way, today's storm is shaping up nicely. Does this season remind anyone of last season, but perhaps 3 weeks later?


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

1/2 inch in 1/2 hour in Spingfield...big band coming up


expect a change to sleet/rain in all of ct and southern mass tonight


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## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

jfg15 said:
			
		

> 1/2 inch in 1/2 hour in Spingfield...big band coming up


Yeah, really. Snowing *HARD* now. I don't remember it snowing as hard at any point during last weekend's storm. Up to 2" now!


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

stronger mesoscale dynamics in this storm, more banding, deeper low, more lift...all that good stuff


however, stronger means more flow from the somewhat warm atlantic, so a changeove is to be expected down here


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## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

jfg15 said:
			
		

> so a changeove is to be expected down here


Any chance of this _not_ happening?


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

1)  Dynamics of the storm can cause the atmosphere to cool itself even though warmer air works into it, and this could happen when most of the precip falls thus giving some good amounts of snow before a changeover.  This is what the NWS thinks will happen


2) Storm stays east of boston....not sure about that one, although pressure falls look good off the coast....


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

for what its worth, 7.5 millibar pressure drops off the coast of Jersey, indicating bombogenesis, the rapid development and intensification of a storm

this could cause snow fall rates in the next 4 hours easily at or above 1-2 inches an hour


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## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

Seems like we're getting a break in the precipitation right now. Still a very fine snow and it's struggling to reach 20 degrees. About 4 1/2" so far this afternoon.


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

done here in Springfield, just light rain now


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## RichC (Dec 14, 2003)

Just starting to flurry here in northern NH. The ski areas sure could use a good dumping of snow after last week.


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## Greg (Dec 14, 2003)

Just received another inch or so of fine snow/sleet after a couple of hours of nothing...


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## Joshua B (Dec 14, 2003)

At least 5 inches in Acton, MA at 7:30 PM Sunday night.


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## Joshua (Dec 14, 2003)

2 inches in spfield, all rain now


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## jlangdale (Dec 14, 2003)

I left the bush at around 3 or so and headed out for Lebanon, NH around 4. Got there around 5. From around 4 or 430 the snow started up I89 coming on strong. There was quickly a few inches of snow on the ground. Just got back to Waitsfield now 830pm with a good 8" of snow on my deck and on the local roads. Snow appears to be increasing now and the wind is picking up. Should be an interesting morning especially if we get high winds. Blizzard time.

Thank God for my Jeep and snow.


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## Joshua B (Dec 14, 2003)

jlangdale, Whaleback must've looked nice huh?


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## jlangdale (Dec 14, 2003)

Joshua B said:
			
		

> jlangdale, Whaleback must've looked nice huh?



Damn, if it wasn't dark out might be a nice little hike for some right off the freeway powder runs.  But I actually didn't go past Lebanon, Nh though.  Just went there to pickup my daughter and came back to Waitsfield.

Speaking of hiking, I went to get a new helmet with headphones at the local apline shop near the bush.  Brought my Dakine backpack in to to see about rigging my pack to carry my snowboard or skis.  Come to find my backpack already has the straps to carry my board.  I was so hyped.  I'm hopeful maybe Tuesday morning if I get some snowshoes or something tomorrow I might be able to do some hiking early morning after the storm to get some pictures and take a pow run.


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## Greg (Dec 15, 2003)

Well, we wound up with about 5 inches of snow and another inch of sleet/ice. It warmed up to 30 degrees late last night. How are conditions up North?


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## Joshua (Dec 15, 2003)

Same here Greg, quite a little ice storm

Looks like the resorts did well


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## jlangdale (Dec 15, 2003)

Well, what can I say.  I have 33" tires on my 88 Jeep Wrangler with shackles and extra lift and the snow was well over my tires nearly up to the door!  So, you do the math for how much snow we got.  I'm on a west facing mountain slope in the Waitsfield valley.

To test my Jeep I put my video camera on my tripod, put the Jeep into 4WD and tried to get out of my driveway without shoveling first.  My Jeep has a smallblock chevy 350 V8 and it didn't make it.  I got stuck with snow in my axels and springs solid all up to the top of the front tires where the snow plows piled up the really heavy stuff.  Took me about an hour to shovel out, I got to work late.

I'm expecting to go skiing tomorrow at Sugarbush or Mad River Glenn, or both.  Or I may just take two early half-days if my boss will let me.  No reason for the Bush to not have more trails opened save for cutting back on staff.  I'm hoping they'll have NASTAR up or the teams stuff going but last I heard was the 20th for that.

Greg, if you're thinking about going Thursday you might want to re-think that.  If you ask me, based on what I've heard I would head out tomorrow or Wed by the latest.  If you end up going Thursday you might want to make sure you have your hood for your jacket and something to wipe off your goggles.


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## Greg (Dec 15, 2003)

jlangdale said:
			
		

> Greg, if you're thinking about going Thursday you might want to re-think that.  If you ask me, based on what I've heard I would head out tomorrow or Wed by the latest.  If you end up going Thursday you might want to make sure you have your hood for your jacket and something to wipe off your goggles.


Yeah, I know...I know. Thursday looks crappy, but Tuesday and Wednesday are booked for me at work.  :roll:

I will get out at _some_ point this season...


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## Joshua B (Dec 15, 2003)

Another great Mad River Valley snowfall indicator (like we need one after jlangdales's story!) is Mad River Glen is 100% open today!

On a side note, I still feel sad when I see Sugarbush unable to be at full operation like in their '80s glory days.


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## jlangdale (Dec 15, 2003)

Joshua B said:
			
		

> On a side note, I still feel sad when I see Sugarbush unable to be at full operation like in their '80s glory days.



It is a shame to have skiable terrain but not have the resources to open it.  Then again, this is a Monday.  You can't fault them too much because these recent dumps are dropping so much snow in a short period.  Add to that the terriable losses we had and ice.  There is only so much you can open in one day.  The winds today don't make it worth having the whole thing 100 open either.  Although it would be interesting to see the summit right now.  Not sure I'd want to take the lift up there though.   Maybe once this Lodge is done and hopefully is profitable they will be able to increase staff or something.  Expect this coming weekend to be a good one, I hope.  I want a 100 percent open blue sky day for the start of NASTAR.  Easier to take pictures with some sun to brighten things up.


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## Joshua B (Dec 15, 2003)

jlangdale, I'm glad you responded to my thought about Sugarbush. Too often I can make a sweeping statement and I'm glad you're there to fill in the facts. It sure does seem that in recent years they haven't been able to compete with similarly-sized ski areas and open terrain quickly. But as you pointed out, there are good reasons for that.


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## MtnMagic (Dec 15, 2003)

I just returned from outside and used a metal ruler. It shows 16-18" of snow  in this area. Plenty enough for 'shoeing or skiing.


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## ChileMass (Dec 15, 2003)

Greg - 

Any chance the big rainstorm predicted for Wed/Thurs will be snow up north?  It will be a serious bummer if this latest 16-18" gets washed away like last week.  What have we heard.....?


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## Joshua (Dec 15, 2003)

looks like rain to heavy upslope snows, so it wont be all bad

just think of it as solidifying the base and then putting some more pow on top


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## Greg (Dec 15, 2003)

jfg15 said:
			
		

> looks like rain to heavy upslope snows, so it wont be all bad
> 
> just think of it as solidifying the base and then putting some more pow on top


I was just gonna reply and suggest waiting for our resident weather gurus (jfg15 or Jim) to comment.......and you beat me to it. 

Intellicast.com (my default weather info site - not sure how good they _really_ are) has two forecasts for Killington:

Forecast 1
Forecast 2

I assume one is for the base and one for the summit (?). Anyway, one calls for 39* and rain and the other 35* and mixed. So I guess anywhere south of Central VT/NH will probably seen unfrozen precip. I'm still aiming for Jiminy on Thursday, but maybe I'll make the 3.5 hour haul to Killington if conditions are significantly better. We'll probably have a better gauge on what we'll get tomorrow...


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## jlangdale (Dec 15, 2003)

I'm thinking/guessing we will see a wintery mix ending with snows and it won't be as bad as last week.  I mean last week was really bad.  I'm talk'n bad.  Like soo bad.  In case you're wondering, I mean bad.  If it's that bad again, I may have to slit my wrists.


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## Joshua B (Dec 15, 2003)

Seems like all the great skiing opportunities so far have been mid-week. My four vacation days are coming up soon!


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## skijay (Dec 22, 2003)

We had 24 inches of snow in Sherbrooke (Canada) where I was staying.  When I went to Mont Orford on Tuesday (12/16) it looked to be 32 inches, but that could of been some drifting.

I purchased 4 snow tires as a result of this storm!


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## ChileMass (Dec 22, 2003)

skijay said:
			
		

> We had 24 inches of snow in Sherbrooke (Canada) where I was staying.  When I went to Mont Orford on Tuesday (12/16) it looked to be 32 inches, but that could of been some drifting.
> 
> SkiJay - what did you think of Mt. Orford?  Where did you stay?  Did you bring any kids with you and if so, how was Orford for them?


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## skijay (Dec 22, 2003)

I have been skiing Orford on a regular basis since 1996.  I love the area.  They have just completed their hybrid gondola/chairlift.  According to their website it is now in operation!   I have no kids.  The place is kid friendly by the amount of small children there with their parents.  I have been staying in Sherbrooke due to a major discount I receive at the Govenuer chain of hotels, however that property will be closing on 1/16/04.  When we stay near the mountain we stay at the Auberge Estrimont.  http://www.estrimont.qc.ca
If you check out Orford's website http://mt-orford.com their is a lodging link.  I have stayed at all of the Hotels listed at least once.  I can give you comments and my not so favorable opinion on one property, but email me for that.


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