New England Daily Snow

Update

It's that time of the year where we wrap for the season. I want to first thank all of our subscribers for following along with these Daily Snows all winter through good forecasts and bad forecasts and through big snows and rain.

Season Summary at Mount Mansfield

The snow stake on Mt. Mansfield does a great job at summarizing the two-faced winter we had. The beginning of the season was not great with below average snowfalls into January rivaling some of the worst winters we've seen in decades. Things picked up after the New Year with a slow ramp into February producing decent conditions. March was where we excelled with one big storm that put us over the climatological average and then a quick drop into April. All-in-All, I'd say this season was better than last winter. 

Seasonal Totals

OpenSnow Seasonal Snowfall Estimates. 

Some estimates from our snowfall history pages:

• Jay Peak: 352"
• Stowe: 173"
• Killington: 205"
• Sugarloaf: 152"
• Waterville Valley: 208"
• Wildcat: 186"
• Blue Hills (Boston): 6" (womp womp)

Monthly Totals and Big Daily Totals

Do you recall the big snows from this past winter? Let's take a closer look at Killington and some of the monthly totals from their snowfall history page:

• October: 0"
• November: 12"
• December: 53"
• January: 40"
• February: 30"
• March: 64"
• April: 6"

March was clearly the big monthly winner capped off by two large storms on 4 March and 14-15 March. Here are the big daily totals (>6"):

• 17 December: 22"
• 23 December: 7"
• 24 December: 7"
• 21 January: 9"
• 26 January: 7"
• 23 February: 8"
• 28 February: 7"
• 4 March: 16"
• 14 March: 13"
• 15 March: 13"

Hard to believe there were only four days this winter at Killington with daily report totals greater than a foot.

17 December 2022: 

National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center Snowfall Analysis

The first big storm that dropped 22" at Killington in December really got the season started bringing most resorts up from ~25% open to >50% open in time for the holidays. The highest snowfall report during this event came in at Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire near Wildcat with 31". There were also several two-foot plus reports over in Vermont with Belmont reporting 30". Relive the storm in the New England Daily Snow post from 17 December here. 

4 March 2023:

National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center Snowfall Analysis

The next big storm for the North Country didn't occur until early March with a widespread 12-18" event from New York through Maine. At this point, most resorts were 100% open after nickel and dimming our way through February increasing coverage. The snow was excellent. This storm was notable in that forecasts were a total bust across Massachusetts; forecasts for 12"+ never materialized for them. 

Following this storm we saw some of the deepest snowpack in the valleys across the North Country. My driveway peaked at 27" depth twice. This storm produced the first depth total to 27" (five-year old for scale). More from this event can be read here. 

14-15 March 2023:

National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center Snowfall Analysis

The big storm of the 2022-23 winter was the kicker in the middle of March that pushed Mansfield up over average for the season (and brought my valley snowpack back up to 27" for the second time). 

NAM model forecast animation from the event. 

The storm responsible for all the snow was a classic Nor'easter that looped off Cape Cod. Upslope snows in southern Vermont topped 40" with several reports >30". Mount Snow reported an incredible 46" of fresh snow from this event. Three-foot totals were reported in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts with nearly three feet in New Hampshire. Just an incredible event. 

And that will do it for the New England Daily Snow this winter. I really do hope that you've enjoyed these forecasts and updates all winter. We'll see you in 7 months.

-Dr. Jay

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