Weather

[lowangle al]

It’s only just today dropping below freezing.
It’s killing me!!
A week before Christmas I back country skied in 24” of untracked powder and then ppfftt warm temps followed by rain, cold for a day or so and then wet and warm again.
I wait all year for good snow for back country skiing, this is depressing.
There’s still some snow pack in my favorite BC spots but it’s bulletproof. Gotta wait for new snows.

I had a pretty good run down here in Pa. before the thaw. I skied 14 out of a possible 16 days. I covered almost 85 miles and climbed 7000'.

My lake had about 10" of ice. It's still mostly frozen, but it opened up enough around the shore that I was able to cover about 1.5 miles. I had to use a pole, an ice hook, and a little getting out to push over some solid patches. Good fun.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Not this week, but historically:

Discover the Coldest Place in New York (-52°F!)

New York is known as a cold place, but most don't know just how cold it can get! Let's discover the coldest place in New York (-52°F!)

a-z-animals.com

And we cryo-masochists paddle in the two coldest places ever recorded: -52° F (-47° C).

I remember a fire in Russell NY back about 1966, It was -51, I was a student at St Lawrence University in Canton and my car battery froze.

 

[yknpdlr]

I grew up in Lewis County NY, near the Black River "flats" on the shoulder of Tug Hill intensive lake effect snows, There were years when we had December and January rains such that the river flooded as if it was spring. Not all that unusual, as people talked about the expected annual "January thaw" before a hard sudden freeze. Then as now. With any kind of luck, the flooded flats froze over smooth as if it was a lake with smooth solid ice. Rare, but it happened sometimes in this area of normal heavy snow cover. Even though we were in the area of exceptional snowfalls, sometimes the ice remained snow free long enough to enjoy for a few days of clear solid ice before it snowed on it again. I could have ice skated all the way from Lyons Falls to Carthage (40 miles) if I wanted to and I was that capable. But I enjoyed staying much closer to home within a couple of miles of available ice right across the road from my home.

At the same place I remember we could almost every year always count on a couple of periods of cold February days when the temperature would dip to -40F & C (-40 is the same value in both systems). As a kid I pushed for it to go even lower. Stillwater Reservoir (-52F) is about 25 miles due east of my then home. That is when scientists warned us that the earth was going to enter a global deep freeze within a few years. My how things change, mostly depending on who you are inclined to listen to.

 

[stripperguy]

Winters here in the capital district of NY are measurably milder than when I grew up in the 60’s.
Any November snows would still be on the ground in April
Yes there was the expected January thaw, and an occasional ice storm, but no snowless times.
We had an unusually cold fall and I remember skating on thin ice (ha ha) the day before Halloween.

And lowangle Al, I only had 1,600 vert in the BC in blizzard like conditions. I was also out 3 other times lift served but none of that was really very nice

 

[billconner]

Winters here in the capital district of NY are measurably milder than when I grew up in the 60’s.
Any November snows would still be on the ground in April

Ditto, in Fingerlakes in 50s and 60s.

 

[riverstrider]

This winter has had its moments so far, but it is still a pretty warm winter (he says from southeast New England, lol). I don't know if anyone else gets the Allagash updates from Maine DEP, but I'm starting to wonder if the Allagash Lakes are ever going to freeze over this winter. They keep issuing unsafe ice advisories.

 

[billconner]

Water in small streams, ditches, fields, etc. is very high around here and little ice cover. Took this today at Chaumont Falls. Couldn't walk in on trail because a lot of water was covering trail!

PS - made me want to paddle - all those streams usually too low to paddle.

 

[ppine]

I live in Nevada and we are on the dry east side of the Sierra. The 7th winter storm since Christmas has hit the area. Three more are stacked up and ready to hit. Everything is soaked. The rivers are right below flood stage. This is unusual in a big way.

We average only around 9 inches of precip a year, but the mountains nearby are more like 20-45 inches.

 

[Boreal Birch]

I left Northern Minnesota for Alaska many years ago because winter was not long enough. I stayed here because the weather was better. Mostly calm, low humidity, easy to dress for the cold temperatures when you don’t have to fight a cold damp wind. Last couple of weeks, the mercury was right around 0 degrees F. Which isn’t bad for the darkest part of the year. We have gained over a hour more sunshine since the Winter Solstice.

 

[Odyssey]

We enjoyed/endured a very olde fashioned white Christmas (depending on your wintry perspective), but it was soon gone in time for New Year's. It was a good excuse to take the snow shovel out for a walk up and down the city sidewalk, otherwise I would've looked foolish scraping bare concrete. But here we are, temperatures tempting us into thinking about spring with every new morn. However, I'm not fooled. The bags of salt are staying right where they are, close and handy, because I know the winds will shift just so, and before we know it, we'll be enjoying more of that olde fashioned winter others have come to endure. I can hardly wait.

 

[clemency]

I made lemonade out of that thaw after the snow and wind in New England before Christmas. Was trying out a new boat storage solution, and determined it wasn't going to work. Much easier to reset without everything being frozen solid, and now the boats are happily secured until soft water season. Meantime, I'm indulging in my lift-assisted winter habit, which does have some nice views.