The upslope mountain enhanced snowfall in Northern Vermont over Stowe and Jay Peak went ballistic on Saturday. While resorts to the South picked up 5-15 inches of snow Stowe and Jay picked up over 3 feet over the weekend. Add in 3-6 inches last night and snow from last Thursday and 7 days totals are up to 51 inches at Stowe and 56 inches at Jay Peak. Season totals are now up to 182 and 208 inches respectively which is 100 inches more than the 106 at Killington just to the South.
The next storm is approaching from the West and will bring 2 days of snow to the Northeast Wednesday and Thursday. This storm looks like it will focus the heaviest snow further South than the last storm, down across the Adirondacks and Southern VT & NH. The snow will begin to fall in NY and some Southern zones during the day on Wednesday and then will push further North Wednesday night. A low will move off the coast of New England Wendesday and then a second low will move through New England Thursday keeping the snow going before tapering off by Thursday evening.
The latest model runs look like 6-9 inches will fall in Northern VT & NH on the mountains, and then a foot or more in the Southern half of the states over to Maine. Here is TWC’s snowfall forecast for the base elevations. The resorts that got the most last storm may get the least this time but still a nice shot of snow.
Here is the snowfall forecast off the GFS forecast model. It sees a heavier band move through Northern VT on Thursday. You can see 12-15 inches down near Mt. Snow and 15-18 in Eastern NY state. It has 6-9 up across the North and into Maine.
It’s better late than never for all of this snow and this should be the best conditions of the season by Friday. Get out on Friday though and enjoy it because a stronger storm moving up through the Great Lakes on Saturday will bring heavy rain and then snow on the backside, similar to a lot of storms this season. With the cold air and strong winds on the backside of the storm we could see some upslope snows again for Stowe and Jay.
There is a clipper that will dive through the Northeast on Monday reinforcing the cold air and bringing the chance for a dusting of snow. Then the weather pattern looks to change as mild air moves in by Wednesday. The second half of next week we could see highs in the 40’s and 50’s which will bring some spring skiing conditions. We could see another storm through the lakes the weekend of the 10th bringing more rain with some snow on the back side. It looks like we are going to go from a Winter pattern this week to a spring storm pattern next week and beyond.
Here is a look at the snowcover map from the GFS model as of Friday after the snowstorm showing 6-12+ inches on the ground for most areas.
Here is the snowcover forecast map for March 7th a week later showing only a few inches except along the border and over Northern Maine. Looks like the snowcover takes a beating from the rain on Saturday and mild temps moving in next week.
It will be March though and as Spring tries to move in and the cold fights back we have been known to see some big storms in the Northeast. Get out this week and enjoy the great conditions, and let’s hope there will be some more good snowstorms in March to finish out the season. BA