This Weekend Might Be Best Of Season For New England Winter Sports

If you are into any northern New England winter activities outdoors, skiing, riding, snowshoeing, skating, whatever, this is likely the best weekend of the winter to do it.

Lynn Monty of the Burlington Free Press on Friday took
this beautiful photo of Mount Mansfield in Vermont
The photo helped signal the start of an almost
perfect winter sports weekend.  

Up until now, there was something "wrong" with the weather almost every weekend this winter.

There was too much ice. Or it was bitterly cold. Or there was a huge thaw. Or not much snow on the ground. Or the roads were bad.

Finally, now we're starting a "Goldilocks weekend" where it's not too hot, not too cold, snowy enough without being ridiculously blizzardy.

We got that fresh snowfall on Wednesday in much of the region, so conditions are good for just about any snow sport.

It's true the snow isn't particularly deep, but it is enough to cross country ski on. Plus, it's been cold for the past couple of weeks, so ski areas have been making snow, so the base depth is pretty good on the slopes.

The weather is cooperating, too. It'll be cold this weekend, but not extreme. High Saturday and Sunday will be in the upper teens and low 20s in the valleys, and in the single numbers on the high mountain peaks of the Adirondacks, Green Mountains and White Mountains.

Winds won't be too bad, either, especially on Sunday, when they will be relatively calm.

Some areas, especially in the mountains, got a fresh, light dusting of snow last night. I noticed there's about a half inch of new powder outside my house in St. Albans, Vermont this Saturday morning, and I'm better some mountain areas in New York, Vermont and New Hampshire picked up an inch or two.

Some sun will come out today. It'll be cloudier Sunday, with some snow showers around to freshen things up once again. It won't amount to much, maybe an inch or two in the mountains.

So it's a classic winter weekend in the North Country. Get out and enjoy it.

Bad Weather At Sporting Events Suddenly Fascinates Americans

Two (sort of) weather related quirks this week have me scratching my head a bit at sporting events affected by storms.

Fans wait out bad weather at the 49ers-Seahawks
game.  

The first case is the notion that the nation's second most watched TV show last week was people waiting for rain and lightning to stop at an NFL game.

According to Deadspin, the  NFL lightning delay at a 49ers-Seahawks game outscored "60 Minutes" and "America's Got Talent."  (and even "Duck Dynasty"!) according to Neilson ratings.

Was it that fascinating watching fans and players wait for bad weather to improve? I guess that helps explain the ratings success of The Weather Channel. People will watch all kinds of things weather related, apparently. 

Of course, the designation of the NFL lightning delay as the second most watched show last week is a bit of a quirk.  I'm sure most of those viewers were just people who left their TVs on, so they could hear when the actual game started. 

NFL games are always played in bad weather, of course. But lightning is an exception. The 49ers-Seahawks game was delayed until after thunderstorms passed. 

The importance of delaying or cancelling sporting events due to lightning was driven home by a video of a football game half time performance in Florida that has gone viral.

The marching band was just finishing up when a lightning bolt hit a tree just off the field. Luckily, nobody was hurt, but the video demonstrates why most high schools and colleges stop games at the first rumble of thunder.

Supposedly, the bolt of lightning at the Florida high school game was the first indication a storm was brewing.  The game was eventually called at half time as the lightning danger lingered.

Here's the video of the close call: