I was at Mount Snow for the second half of last week for annual PSIA education staff training. While it wasn't my first time on-snow, it was the first 3 full days on snow that I have had. One day was in the rain (Wednesday) and the other two were colder with a little snow (Thursday and Friday). To say that the coverage and amount of terrain open was a bit depressing would be an understatement, however I will also admit that it's just good to be on any snow this time of year, regardless of the quantity and quality. I will also say that I was impressed with the amount of snow that Mount Snow has been able to lay down given the recent weather, so kudos to them for keeping things going as well as they have. Anyway, on to the weather...

The Short Term

Yet again, I wish I could give you some hope, but I can't. The unseasonably warm weather pattern will continue over the next several days, with highs generally in the 40's. The good news is that there will continue to be some snowmaking opportunities at night for resorts in the north and at higher elevation that choose to take advantage of those opportunities. Like I said last week, any resorts that are open will have no problem staying open, and resorts that want to make snow to get open will likely be able to do so. The amount of terrain available will continue to be limited though and any terrain expansion will be slow. Also, the quality of snow being made (and efficiency, for that matter) will continue to be relatively low though, as snow made at more marginal conditions tends to be wetter and more dense.

The Long Term

I tend to try to be optimistic whenever possible, so here's an optimistic spin on the long range for you...iIf you like spring skiing conditions, you'll like what's coming for this weekend. Temperatures will soar into the 50's and maybe even touch 60 at some resorts in the southern portion of the region. There will likely be some light precipitation leading into the weekend on Friday, with the only resorts having any chance of seeing snow being the northern high elevation resorts. Even there, don't expect anything to add up if precip even falls in frozen form to begin with. The near record warmth will last through the weekend and into early next week.

And Now For Some Hope...

I don't normally talk too much about events this far in advance, but I know that I personally need some glimmer of hope to hold onto right now and I'm sure you share that sentiment. So, around the middle of next week, there are some signs of a slight pattern shift with the jet stream perhaps finally shifting eastward and offshore. If this were to happen, it would allow more seasonable air to come in, and there is also the chance for a coastal storm later in the week next week. Again, this is more than 10 days out and model guidance is not in agreement on anything yet, so confidence is low here but at least it's something to keep an eye on.

Looking even further into the future for hope...many of you know that I don't personally do long range forecasting. It's just not my thing. I do keep an eye on the folks that do, and one person that is actually quite good in the long rage forecasting business is a guy that my father used to work with at AccuWeather for many years, and I also had the opportunity to work with a bit while I was there as an intern. His name is Joe Bastardi, and early today he tweeted this graphic. A pretty decent size portion of New England is cut off in that graphic, but you get the idea that some of the warmest El Nino winters have actually ended up with average to below average temperatures in January, February, and March.

So get out on whatever snow is out there and available for you to slide on and just enjoy what we have, keeping in mind that it's still early and things can turn around really fast.