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Looking For Snow? Head North!

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We've sure had plenty of rain falling from the sky this month, but not many have seen that rain turn to lovely winter dendrites. Well, at least here in Southern New England. Interior New England is a whole different story where near-record snow has been flying since November. So while we stare at our green lawns and (snow lovers) groan over a Christmas Eve rainstorm, feast your eyes upon the great white north of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

notch

Pinkham Notch frosted to the max on December 12th. Courtesy: Dan Houde

This photo is absolutely breathtaking, and was sent in by Dan Houde. Pinkham Notch utterly decked out in its winter finest (photo was taken on Friday, December 12th). Many Mt. Washington Valley locations have seen 40-60" of snow so far this season! Many ski areas are working with a pretty decent base for this point in the season. Seasonable temps have helped to keep fresh and man-made snow from melting away too quickly, and many higher peaks have been operating at least a couple trails since Thanksgiving. Not too shabby! Fresh POW fell at just about all of these Thursday morning.

Attitash - Open daily. 21 trails. 5 lifts. Base depth: 12" - 24". Season snowfall total: 24."

Black Mountain - 3 trails. 1 lift. Base depth: 12" - 24". New snow in the past 24 hours: 3-5."

Bretton Woods - Open daily. 41 trails. 4 lifts. Base depth: 12" - 24". New snow in the past 24 hours: 5-6;" new snow in the past 7 days: 9-11;" Season snowfall total: 50."

Cranmore - Open daily. 22 trails. 4 lifts. Base depth: 12" - 20." Season snowfall total: 26."

King Pine -Open daily. 9 trails. 3 lifts. Base depth: 12" - 24."

Shawnee Peak - Re-0pening 12/20 for daily operations. Base depth: 10" - 24."

Wildcat - Open daily. 45 trails. 2 lifts. Base depth: 18" - 32." New snow in the past 24 hours: 5"; new snow in the past 7 days: 6." Season snowfall total: 60."

How about Maine? The glades are full with powder as 6-12" of snow came down across a wide swath of the state Wednesday PM - Thursday. Below is an analysis of Northeast snow cover by the NOHRSC. Always amazes me how you can look out the door in Boston and feel like snow is so far away, while it blankets towns just a few dozen miles up the road.

snowdepth

Snow analysis at 06z (1am) Thursday (More snow fell in Maine after this analysis) Source: NOHRSC

In Caribou, the National Weather Office has been busy forecasting and shoveling. With today's snow, the total for the season-to-date is up to 54.5"! That's the 3rd most snow ever recorded through this point in the season (1972 and 2007 rank number 1 and 2 respectively with 63.1" and 57.4" (season through 12/17).

November was a blitz of early-season snow in Maine as well. Check out these figures from the NWS:

Bangor, ME

Top 3 snowiest Novembers on record:

2014: 25.9" *
1962: 24.6"
1968: 17.1"

Caribou, ME

Top 3 snowiest Novembers on record:

1974: 34.9"
1949: 33.2"
1986 & 2014 tied: 28.1" *

 

tempanom

Great for those who aren't fans of shoveling, not so much for those rooting for a snowstorm. GFS (and most models) calling for an insider-runner on Christmas Eve flooding the eastern U.S. and Canada with milder air. Source: Weatherbell

Will we get in on the action? 'Fraid not. At least not anytime soon. There's a chance for *some* wintry precip in the days to come, but most of the focus looks to be a Christmas Eve torch bringing milder air into the region and possibly even some record high temps if the track is far enough west (the record high on next Wednesday is 61º set in 1996).

This weekend an onshore flow should be able to produce some areas of light snow/freezing drizzle near the coast (within approximately 20 miles or so...the farther N/W you go the brighter and drier this upcoming weekend will be). Temperature profiles feature mainly subfreezing air in the column except for right near the surface. Most of the light precip that should fall will be right near the ground, not high up in the clouds. For that reason we may end up with some light icing/freezing drizzle and slick travel late Saturday into Sunday. That's the only part of the forecast to keep an eye on for Saturday/Sunday.

Next week there's another interesting setup in the works for Tuesday. As another fairly weak storm moves in for Tuesday, there should be enough cold air aloft to bring wintry mix into the forecast, especially for the interior. We should eventually change over to all rain and we're not expecting anything too significant, but it's something to keep an eye on as we get closer.

The main storm for Christmas Eve still looks like an inside runner which would bring rainfall all the way up into northern New England. The track may swing a little farther east with time, but in general I think our chances for some snow in southern New England are pretty slim. Main issues from this low should be strong gusty winds, localized flooding if heavy elements of rain can develop, and possibly some coastal flooding as astronomical tides are VERY high early next week (up to 11.7').

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