Too Bad The Ski Areas Are Closed.......

Brookfield, Vermont yesterday

As the cool spring weather continues in Vermont, the snow periodically keeps coming. For  most of us, when it has snowed in the past couple of weeks, the snow cover has melted pretty fast.

For instance, you saw that snowy scene in yesterday's post from a web cam grab along Interstate 89 in Brookfield. As of early this morning, almost all that snow was gone, and the remainder will have disappeared by this afternoon, I'm sure.

I bet yesterday's snow winner in Vermont, a fairly high spot in Ludlow, with 4.8 inches of fresh, albeit wet powder, will lose the remaining snow today.

It's harder to melt the snow above say, 2,500 or 3,000 feet, so the high elevations are still pretty deep in winter.   If you look toward the Green Mountains and Adirondacks during today's sunshine, you'll see a lot of snow up there.

As of yesterday, the summit of Mount Mansfield still had 70 inches of snow on the ground. Spring is a long way off there.  Believe it or not, while that amount of snow at that 3,900 foot elevation measuring site is above normal, compared to the average of 53 inches, this is nowhere near a record depth for the end of April.

All this is according to a cool, useful, interactive site by Matthew Parilla. You can compare the current snow depth up there to this date in past years. (And other dates).  Probably the latest arrivin and worst spring up on Mount Mansfield was the notoriously wintry spring of 1971.  On this date that year, there was still 106 inches of snow near the Mount Mansfield summit, according to the data Parilla has.

Right about now is when the snow depth atop Mount Mansfield just begins to crash.  It normally falls very fast through May, and by early June, it's all gone .

And Brookfield, Vermont this morning. Doesn't take long for
snow to melt this time of year, except on the mountain peaks

True to form, the next good storm, coming at the end of this week, looks like it will be rain, even at the summits.  The relatively warm weather during this expected half inch to an inch of rain will melt high elevations snows, for sure. Not all of it, but a lot of it.

That's why the National Weather Service in South Burlington is keeping an eye out for some minor flooding possible Friday or Saturday.

They're saying there will be sharp rises in river levels in Vermont due to the rain and melting high elevation snow. At this point though, if there is any flooding, which is iffy, it will be pretty much minor, nuisance stuff.

Believe it or not, there could well be a period centered around May 12 and 13 in which the snow cover goes back up in Vermont's mountains.

Long range forecasts are notoriously dicey, but if these are to be believed, another near record spell of cold weather and snow could strike Vermont then.  I'm definitely NOT saying it will happen, but unfortunately, it's possible.  Ma Nature might just have it in for our gardens, huh?

Mount Mansfield Reaches 100 Inches Of Snow; Meltdown About To Start

My snowy commute to work Friday morning. I'm really hoping I don't have
to experience this again until November at the earliest. 

UPDATE:

Some interesting snow data and dangers from Mount Washington, New Hampshire have come to light.

There's an avalanche warning up there today, including in the ever-popular Tuckerman's Ravine. A bunch of snow over the past few days falling on deep, previous layers has created a high risk of human-induced and naturally caused avalanches

So if you were going to go to Tuckerman's on this nice weekend for backcountry skiing, don't bother. Too dangerous.

By the way, I imagine there's a risk of avalanches to back country skiers atop Mount Mansfield, Vermont, too.

Meteorologist Tim Kelley, of NBC10 and NECN fame in Massachusetts (he's also a noted ski and surf forecaster) noted some interesting stats from the summit of Mount Washington.
Today was the 21st day in a row in which at least a trace of snow fell on Mount Washington. They've had a foot of snow in the past week and 52 inches so far this month.

PREVIOUS DISCUSSION:

All but five of Vermont's ski resorts are closed for the season, but certainly not for a lack of snow, which is usually the case this time of year.  

It's just that few people are in the mood to ski this time of year, being late April and all.

The high elevations of Vermont, New York and New Hampshire are still deep in snow after this snowy March and April. 

A meltdown is finally going to start over the next few days, and I would assume it will continue almost uninterrupted until it's all gone. 

The summit of Mount Mansfield had 100 inches of snow on the ground as of yesterday, the most this winter, and an unusually high amount for late April. 

If you want some great late season skiing, go for it. Jay Peak is going to stay open into early May. Why not? They've had 11 inches of snow in the past week and 378 inches (31.5 feet!) for the season.

Killington always is the first or among the first to open for the season and is the last to close in the spring or close to it. They expect to stay open into May as well. 

Even some populated areas of Vermont still have plenty of snow on the ground. The high elevation town of Sheffield in the Northeast Kingdom had a snow depth of 18 inches as of yesterday.  Granby had a snow depth of 15 inches. 

Still some snow in my yard Friday evening in St. Albans,  Vermont
making spring gardening a challenge. Remaining snow do disappear today

As I've been saying for the last few days, we in the valleys looked to be finally pretty much done with snow. 

I had to tiptoe around remaining areas of snow in my yard last evening to get some garden work done. But that snow will be completely gone by later today. 

It won't be particularly warm today and Sunday (40s and low 50s) for highs, but sunshine both days will feel great after all the clouds we endured. 

St. Albans, Vermont today will break its seven consecutive day streak of days with snow or freezing rain. Burlington will end its nine consecutive day streak of measureable precipitation.  

With the warming temperatures on the way, either spring skiing or spring gardening look like great options, especially Monday and Tuesday under sunshine and valley high temperatures near 60 degrees. (At the moment,  Burlington, Vermont's forecast high on Tuesday is 66 degrees. Ahhhh.)

Also, there's no change to the forecast for the type of precipitation we'll get with the next storm system, which will be here mostly on Wednesday and Thursday. Expect rain, not snow.

Which will be an enjoyable change of pace, huh?