This crazy weather of ours...

[Serafina]

We decided to hold off until Wed, give them a full day and two nights to pamper the runs, clean things up. Locals confirmed that both Cannon and Loon are going to be u-g-l-y icebergs tomorrow - I know Mount Snow would be if they hadn't been in some weird pocket of snow instead of rain this afternoon.

Going to go snowshoeing, because, hey, crampons...and pay a visit to the New England Ski Museum, one of those things I've always wanted to check out but never made the time for. Local authorities confirmed Wed morning should be a "go" for Loon - I'm stoked. Never skied New Hampshire before!

 

[mustski]

Canadians often wonder what they would talk about if not for the weather!

Oddly enough, Californians talk about the weather all the time too ... and, at the beach at least, we really don't have "weather" ... but we still talk about it!

 

[MaineSkiLady]

.and pay a visit to the New England Ski Museum, one of those things I've always wanted to check out but never made the time for.

Totally worth it. All kinds of very cool stuff in that region that seldom finds its way into our schedules, either. Go out and explore! (But drive carefully!!) Temps will crash, groomers will get busy. It's amazing how quickly these places can recover. But--you knew that.

 

[PowderKat]

I generally ski Jay Peak, which I always say is actually closer to Canada than the States--so not too far south of you segacs! The arctic blast isn't that unusual, but the duration of it mixed with the warm ups is bizarre. It's like the mountain is going through some vicious mood swings!!

 

[segacs]

Mood swings indeed!

And if you ever decide to hop over the border to ski Owl's Head or Sutton, let me know. I get out east once or twice a season, generally.

 

[water.rat]

Our season has been up and down, too. Kind of a late start but was looking good. Then lost a lot of base with rain and melt. How-ever.... snow in the forecast for the next week plus. Here's hoping for some biiiig dumps! Planning on going up Friday.

 

[mustski]

Stay safe during this crazy cold spell everyone!

 

[contesstant]

CA is dry as a bone. It is getting scary.

 

[skibum4ever]

This is one of the worst winter starts that I can remember. Last winter wasn't very good; this continuing drought has got to lead to water rationing this summer.

 

[Jilly]

I'm getting tried of the Frost Quakes!!

 

[vanhoskier]

We had a great start to the season here in PA, with some natural powder days. But then more-bizarre-than-normal warm ups, now this brief arctic blast, followed by another warm up. Ski areas here do a remarkable job of recovering, and to help things, we are used to challenging conditions here.

I think the biggest concern anyone should have -more than ski conditions- is the CA drought. Implications of that are far more serious than winter recreation desires.

 

[Jilly]

The wind and ice is playing havoc with my satellite TV. Things were fine on Sunday night, but last night and tonight.....

 

[mustski]

I think the biggest concern anyone should have -more than ski conditions- is the CA drought. Implications of that are far more serious than winter recreation desires.

Indeed. Fire season is always the worst outcome of a couple of dry winters.

 

[num]

We had lots of wonderful snow last week. My niece was in town and I couldn't take any time to ski, so general playing in the snow had to suffice. Then temperatures dropped and Monday was really cold, in my neighborhood (on the lake) is was -50 with wind chill, yesterday -35. We're warming back up, and it's currently -15 with wind chill.

Wind chill sidenote, did you know that our standards for measuring wind chill changed in 2001? What the old standard would call -45, the current standard would call -22. Here's a chart for anyone interested https://www.crh.noaa.gov/ddc/?n=windchill , and an article https://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/old-wind-chill-new-wind-chill-20140106.

 

[deannatoby]

Climate change is real, folks. :(

And maybe things are getting colder? Winter certainly is. Yea!

My daughter got some frostbite on her face Friday. The tissue eventually just stayed red after the swelling went down, so there's no damage. But, when Saturday morning dawned at -24 degrees we kept her in till it warmed up…to closer to zero!

Pretty awesome weather for somebody who grew up in Alabama!

 

[jellyflake]

And maybe things are getting colder? Winter certainly is.

Maybe "over there" …. Europe is having the warmest January in quite some years :(
No joke: we had more than +15°C yesterday, and first flowers start growing whereas we usually expect some snow and freezing weather now.
Weather experts explain the unnatural warm weather here is the down- (up-??) side of the real cold weather in the East of the US.

 

[Jilly]

News was reporting that things don't look good in Sochi either!!

 

[HeidiInTheAlps]

It seems there is a second Polar Vortex coming next week over Russia and Scandanavia, which promises very cold weather, so Sochi will rebound in time, presumably. What that means for the Alps is unclear and when and where these two weather patterns butt heads-converge and fight with each other, and if that happens over your favorite ski resort, then it could mean a major dumping...but indeed spring skiing conditions through the weekend in Europe.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Wind chill sidenote, did you know that our standards for measuring wind chill changed in 2001? What the old standard would call -45, the current standard would call -22. Here's a chart for anyone interested https://www.crh.noaa.gov/ddc/?n=windchill , and an article https://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/old-wind-chill-new-wind-chill-20140106.

Interesting - and bookmarked!

 

[vanhoskier]

And maybe things are getting colder? Winter certainly is. Yea!

Not necessarily colder overall, but more extremes in weather. So, yes, more extreme cold snaps in some places, but in others, just the opposite. It's cold here now, but it's very hot in Australia - up to 120 Fahrenheit! And, our weather here in the East will soon be above normal again. These flips are common when the climate is changing.

A lot of people (and I'm not targeting you, Deannatoby, I'm just making a general statement) forget that weather is NOT climate. Climate is weather averages over a very long (hundreds - millions of years) time period. A single weather event is NOT indicative of climate change.

If we follow the established pattern of climate change due to solar/planetary cycles, (Milankovitch cycles) we should be going into a cooling period. Some schools of thought believe this is happening instead of overall warming due to CO2 increases. However, even that change in climate would be preceded by extreme swings in weather that we are seeing now.

SO, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on...the only thing we seem to know is that there is SOMETHING going on!