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Tuesday, November 30th 1999
Snow pack and denisity
Posted By: Greg Gordon in Weather Conditions
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Report to Burlington Weather Service Office Hydrologist, Gregory Hanson, on Feb 20th for East Haven Mountain:
Yesterday at 0915:
45” on top contained 12.5” of water,
40” at 2500’,
37” at 2000’,
30” at 1500’ and
22” at 1000’
Freezing rain events earlier in the month (and held over from January by persistent below freezing temps--temperatures--above 2,800’) together with lots of snow and rime ice loading on trees resulted in many softwood tops (and some hardwoods) breaking off in the wind of Sunday night, Feb. 17th above 2,700’ (little damage occurred below that elevation because there was less ice in the tree tops). Much small debris came down in the storm as well; this occurred above 2,500’ and the surface of the snow is completely littered with it. Winds were from the southwest and exceeded 70mph at times on the summit late Sunday evening and early Monday morning. All the snow, ice and rime was cleared from the trees long before the rain ended Monday afternoon. Temps on top went to 46 degrees F prior to the fropa (frontal passage) at about 1500 Monday. Precip (precipitation) for this event totaled about .8” and began as IP (sleet) at 1600 Sunday but changed to ZR (freezing rain) within 30 minutes even though temps on top at the time were in the mid teens. Temps went above 32 just after midnight. A trace of snow followed the fropa.
The ground remains unfrozen, top to bottom; the snow is corned from the surface to the ground again and the soils are sodden once again as well. The brooks were running briskly at 0930 yesterday and snow cover had been undermined by the heavier torrents draining the high terrain on Monday. The beds are now exposed in many places. In some instances, water crested so quickly that it broke out and ran over collapsed snow cover above the bed levels. Chicks are happy to have so much food exposed once again, though they are still well pleased with the sunflower seeds too! We went from one of the finest mid-February winterscapes I have ever seen to April 10th or thereabouts in under 8 hours. Talk about a variable climate! Hope we recapture some of lost snow and rime before April 10th arrives in deed.
See you in 2!
Greg Gordon
Report issued on March 4th;
Hi Greg,
Wow…20” of new snow between Tuesday morning of last week and this past Sunday morning with 57” on top by the time it was over. 14 degrees when I got there late Sunday and calm but it warmed up all night and winds became SW and began to freshen about 5am, Monday. Over riding warm air spawned some light ZR showers by mid morning. Winds continued SW 40-60 mph through early this morning. Fropa following the showers yesterday saw temps climb to 37 degrees with accompanying hazy sunshine through broken clouds. (Air was exceptionally clear and clean before sun rise Monday with some inversion-induced looming in evidence to the south. After sunrise, the atmosphere was perfectly stable…not a trace of shimmering as I studied distant peaks with a 60 power scope).
The primary front slipped through about 6:30 this morning with a fairly rapid wind shift to the West and slowly dropping temps. Wind and warmth eroded some of the snowpack which was mashed potatoes when I left at 8:30 this morning, though the trail treadway remained firm enough to support me well with snow shoes. Brooks definitely mirrored the brief thaw but remain largely snow covered. Flow was still quite low. Naturally, the ground remains unfrozen. Probably not a whole lot of room for rain and melt water, given the brooks’ rapid rise in response to a mere 18 hour thaw and only a few hundredths of an inch of precip!
At 8:30 today:
51” at 3,000’ contained 14.7” of water (only a little over 3” below where we were in late March of 2001. How much do you suppose a square foot of that stuff weighs, anyhow? 76.6 pounds, I reckon; that works out to over 3.3 million pounds per acre…well over a million tons per square mile. It’s a wonder it doesn’t trigger an earthquake),
49” at 2,500’,
46” at 2,000’,
38” at 1,500’ and
28’ at 1,000’.
The spread in those upper values should begin to increase markedly in the next couple weeks. Chicks are lovin' the open woods and navigate my deck balusters and the dense spruce canopy effortlessly in 50mph winds (albeit, not without ruffled feathers!). What a trip that must be! I suppose a nice plump sunflower seed is worth nearly any risk.
See you in 2,
Greg Gordon
wwwShilohNH.com
Yesterday at 0915:
45” on top contained 12.5” of water,
40” at 2500’,
37” at 2000’,
30” at 1500’ and
22” at 1000’
Freezing rain events earlier in the month (and held over from January by persistent below freezing temps--temperatures--above 2,800’) together with lots of snow and rime ice loading on trees resulted in many softwood tops (and some hardwoods) breaking off in the wind of Sunday night, Feb. 17th above 2,700’ (little damage occurred below that elevation because there was less ice in the tree tops). Much small debris came down in the storm as well; this occurred above 2,500’ and the surface of the snow is completely littered with it. Winds were from the southwest and exceeded 70mph at times on the summit late Sunday evening and early Monday morning. All the snow, ice and rime was cleared from the trees long before the rain ended Monday afternoon. Temps on top went to 46 degrees F prior to the fropa (frontal passage) at about 1500 Monday. Precip (precipitation) for this event totaled about .8” and began as IP (sleet) at 1600 Sunday but changed to ZR (freezing rain) within 30 minutes even though temps on top at the time were in the mid teens. Temps went above 32 just after midnight. A trace of snow followed the fropa.
The ground remains unfrozen, top to bottom; the snow is corned from the surface to the ground again and the soils are sodden once again as well. The brooks were running briskly at 0930 yesterday and snow cover had been undermined by the heavier torrents draining the high terrain on Monday. The beds are now exposed in many places. In some instances, water crested so quickly that it broke out and ran over collapsed snow cover above the bed levels. Chicks are happy to have so much food exposed once again, though they are still well pleased with the sunflower seeds too! We went from one of the finest mid-February winterscapes I have ever seen to April 10th or thereabouts in under 8 hours. Talk about a variable climate! Hope we recapture some of lost snow and rime before April 10th arrives in deed.
See you in 2!
Greg Gordon
Report issued on March 4th;
Hi Greg,
Wow…20” of new snow between Tuesday morning of last week and this past Sunday morning with 57” on top by the time it was over. 14 degrees when I got there late Sunday and calm but it warmed up all night and winds became SW and began to freshen about 5am, Monday. Over riding warm air spawned some light ZR showers by mid morning. Winds continued SW 40-60 mph through early this morning. Fropa following the showers yesterday saw temps climb to 37 degrees with accompanying hazy sunshine through broken clouds. (Air was exceptionally clear and clean before sun rise Monday with some inversion-induced looming in evidence to the south. After sunrise, the atmosphere was perfectly stable…not a trace of shimmering as I studied distant peaks with a 60 power scope).
The primary front slipped through about 6:30 this morning with a fairly rapid wind shift to the West and slowly dropping temps. Wind and warmth eroded some of the snowpack which was mashed potatoes when I left at 8:30 this morning, though the trail treadway remained firm enough to support me well with snow shoes. Brooks definitely mirrored the brief thaw but remain largely snow covered. Flow was still quite low. Naturally, the ground remains unfrozen. Probably not a whole lot of room for rain and melt water, given the brooks’ rapid rise in response to a mere 18 hour thaw and only a few hundredths of an inch of precip!
At 8:30 today:
51” at 3,000’ contained 14.7” of water (only a little over 3” below where we were in late March of 2001. How much do you suppose a square foot of that stuff weighs, anyhow? 76.6 pounds, I reckon; that works out to over 3.3 million pounds per acre…well over a million tons per square mile. It’s a wonder it doesn’t trigger an earthquake),
49” at 2,500’,
46” at 2,000’,
38” at 1,500’ and
28’ at 1,000’.
The spread in those upper values should begin to increase markedly in the next couple weeks. Chicks are lovin' the open woods and navigate my deck balusters and the dense spruce canopy effortlessly in 50mph winds (albeit, not without ruffled feathers!). What a trip that must be! I suppose a nice plump sunflower seed is worth nearly any risk.
See you in 2,
Greg Gordon
wwwShilohNH.com