The Annual Pre-Thanksgiving “What the F@!K is up with this weather/when will it snow/is winter dead” Discussion

November 18, 2011 11:03 am | Category: Weather | 9 Comments | Permalink

About this time every year, or so it seems, the skier in all of us starts to get antsy. We’ve had a taste, we’re tired of hiking and we’re ready to ski. Amazingly in a completely unrelated phenomenon my email inbox fills up with some version of the following emails I may have taken a few creative liberties in translation)

Email 1:
From: City Dwelling Dad/Father of 2
To: Lionel Hutz
Re: Conditions on my pre-planned, very pricy holiday vacation to ski resort X.

Lionel, I know it’s a ways away but with this warm weather do you think ski resort X will be open? Do you think it will have good powder snow? Which days will have the best conditions? I’m only asking because my wife needs to know which of her 7 pairs of uggs to bring. I mean u know me I’m joe cool, I’m not worried. I can ski anything and if it wasn’t for my bad knees, back, prostate problems, and 37 work related phones calls I get that I answer on the chair lift, I’d be right there with you shredding the backcountry bowls (P.s. If it’s not far from Hunter can I tag along?). But seriously I’m just asking U cause you’re cool and I repeat your weather forecasts at the office to impress my other day traders/financial consultants/partners. Well that and I need to know in the next 48 hours whether it’s going to be worth the 4k I spending on the condo, in order to get my deposit back. So yea…man…whatever advice you can give would be appreciated.

– City Dwelling Dad/Father of 2

Email 2:

From: Bro
To: LH
Re: WHAT’S UP DOG…WHERE’S MY SNOW.

Yo HUTZ…what’s up dude. We gonna get some snows in des partz? Ja know i’m ready to shred da gnar? me and my boys were up in yo woods and we took down all your lines last year and we gonna do it again. U know it. HOLLA. No for real, my trust fund runs out after this year so it needs to snow good this winter. When’s it starting? Oh and how much snow is resort X going to get out the storm everybody is talking about on the GFS at 380 hours.

Email 3:
From: Guy Who Thinks he Knows
To: Lionel Hutz
Re: Thoughts?

I read/heard/saw somewhere that a storm/maybe/possibly/kinda could be heading our way in the next day/two days/five days/month. Is this true? Where and When? I love following you to the goods but I gotta make plans now. I know this weather sucks but it’s coming. Any idea when? I have a trip planned to Mt. Snow with DA Boys Dec. 16-17th and we’d love to hit the pow and then the hot tubs. Chances? Stay cool dog.

-Guy who thinks he knows.

So first of all, thanks for reading and I appreciate the support. In paraphrasing above, I’m just messing around and having some fun at your angst. I’m the same way. In truth, it’s one of the reasons I got into weather. I got tired of my dad being wrong all the time when I asked him what it would be like on our annual vacation to Lake Placid – so I totally am with all of you. And look, we all get antsy when it’s warm in November. But that’s not something we should be surprised by. It’s not cold in November anymore. I’ve given up that thought. However, this is when you start to seriously consider when is it going to get there. And this year, we have a crappy synoptic pattern for sustained east coast cold and snow. This however doesn’t mean we’re stuck in the woods without a paddle.

Here’s why.

First of all we’re in store for a cool weekend. Looking at forecasted soundings it appears that across the N/E upper elevation snow guns should be able to blaze away almost all weekend long. Following that I think it stays seasonably cool.

I like the presence of a weak disturbance to slide across a frontal zone around Tuesday. It should work through as show below:

The area circled in blue will have the best chances for some higher elevation snows. Thinking it’s possible this pulls a 6-7 out of its hat somewhere along the central green spine. As such I’ll call it Winter Weather Event Charlie. It’s similar to little wave that spawned Wither Weather Event Able and that was fairly nice to K-Mart. So this could be as well.

Now, after that wave passes, some cool air builds south and this is where things get interesting. Another wave will move through the center of the country and into the mid-Atlantic. It should interact with the cold front Charlie pulled south. This interaction, location and timing has the potential to spawn a decent coastal low. Let me make 1 thing clear. There are similarities in this pattern to the pattern that spawned Major Winter Storm Baker. Not that this will be another 20-30 inch storm. But I do think coastal N/E areas should pay attention late on Wednesday for the potential for snow, heavy across higher elevations.

Once that storm passes, Thursday and Friday should be seasonably cool with good snow making conditions. Friday will see a high build in and start to scour out the cold air from west to east and we start to warm up again over the weekend.


The Joys of Meadow Skipping

By: Ben
November 15, 2011 2:52 am | Category: Quick Update, Skiing | 2 Comments | Permalink

It finally started snowing in Utah. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, the snow is falling on a pretty rotten layer left over from the great early October Storm. Powder that brought huge, uncontrollable giddy grins to our faces a month ago is turning on us with a vengeance. It’s easy to get caught up with powder fever with all the new snow around, but avalanches don’t care that it’s not December yet.

This is the problem. The fracture from a tiny test slope we set off on Saturday

Fortunately, there are plenty of meadows to skip. The low angle trees have been skiing great, and there’s no shortage of snow. Look back here later this week for a full trip report, but here are some pictures from the past few days.

Tom showing that you can get deep even on rocker in wind slab

The faceshot machine got turned up to 11 on Metal Day and seems stuck there.

By late Sunday afternoon we finally started to get our first view of the Wasatch's new blanket

Tom "Meadow Slayer" Collier

Finally, a little snowpack beta – we toured up Grizzly Gulch Monday morning and dug a pit on a low angle, north facing slope near Twin Lakes Pass. The new snow had stiffened up overnight into a solid wind slab about 15″ deep, resting on top of a rotten layer of old snow. There is a bit of upside down layering within the wind slab from the different stages of the storm, but the old snow is by far the more worrisome layer. We performed an extend column test and observed a Q1 failure on 14. Some pictures:

The very clean shear

Enjoy the new snow, but stay safe out there! It’s a long season, and we’ve already had one tragic avalanche fatality. Let’s not rush the next one. RIP Jaime Pierre.


AKP Presents: Dreaming of Winter in the NEK

By: Greg
November 3, 2011 2:42 pm | Category: General Interest, Skiing, WebiGNARs | 10 Comments | Permalink

Halloween Costumes, full size candy bars, and shot glasses are all now safely back in the closet until next year, it’s time to start dreaming about winter.title card Luckily for ALL of us, friend of FIS, Adam Klein Productions, made just what the doctor ordered when he tossed together this great flick featuring some shots from the peak ski period of last winter. I’m not really sure how he got such killer shots, but I’m pretty sure that Adam produced this one by hooking his dreamscape up to his VHS recorder. Pretty revolutionary if you ask me. Anyway, it totally rocks, and note well his judicious use of FIS Weather; well played Adam… well played indeed.

This is the latest in our Local Film Series that we’re running in order to feature and promote small, independent, non-commerical ski flicks. Why spend piles of dollars to go see a glorified commercial when there’s “flickering-light-stoke” that’s not trying to sell you anything available free from the comfort of your office chair? Enjoy!


TR: Halloween Costume

By: Greg
October 31, 2011 9:15 pm | Category: Full Trip Report, Skiing | Comment | Permalink

As you surely know by now, October came up with a great Halloween costume this year: mid-winter. See how good the charade was by clicking the picture to read the full TR!
click the picture to read the full TR!!
Click the picture or here to read Halloween Costume


Cochran’s Ski Swap!

By: Greg
October 31, 2011 1:22 am | Category: General Interest, Site News, Skiing | 2 Comments | Permalink

Well, it’s that time of year again. No, not time for October Pow Skiing (well, maybe it is, actually). It’s time for the Cochran’s Ski Swap. This is one ski swap not to be missed.

Cochran’s ski area is famous for many things; owned and operated by the famous Cochran family, its slopes have produced several prestigious skiing alumni including former snowmakers/rope tow operators, and current Famous Internet Skiers Sam and Allen. (I know what you’re thinking: “Greg, WHERE did you get that picture?” Answer: DEEP in the FIS Archives.)
Sam and Allen

There’s also been a few other good skiers who have come out of there too, but “whatever.” ;)

All joking aside though, this ski swap is a huge source of revenue for a great organization in the Burlington area that has been providing an extremely affordable way to get kids into the sport of ski racing for ages. Please turn out and support Cochran’s Ski Area! So get up early next Saturday, November 5th, grab a coffee, and go wait in line out side the Richmond Elementary School at around 7am, and score some sweet deals on gear you need for the RAPIDLY approaching season! Full details are HERE. (And if you want to sell something, be sure to drop it off Friday, November 4th) Git sum!


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