Sunday, March 16, 2008

3/14/08 front page photo

A pair of ski patrollers head around the back side of the snowfields at Sugarloaf/USA Thursday afternoon to check out the terrain. With nearly zero wind at the top and bright sunny skies, conditions were perfect not only for riders and skiers, but also for workers getting the mountain ready for next week's US Alpine Championships.


3/16/08 Meteorology Prognostication Errors

I've been impressed up here how often the weather predictions are right. You can almost count on them. That hasn't been my experience in most cities. But this past week, they've really been off. The prediction for Tuesday night was snow--a dusting to two inches. My concern was that it wouldn't happen until after I got back from Dixfield so I wouldn't have to drive in it. But in fact, it didn't happen at all. I woke up Wednesday morning and there was nary a new flake on the ground or in the air.

The prediction after that was for clear skies through the weekend. So imagine my surprise when waking up Saturday morning to a good inch of snow already on the ground and more flakes falling. It stopped by 10am and because it went up to 37, you couldn't find any signs of it by afternoon, but it was still quite a surprise.

This morning, I look out my window at 7:30 and there's snow falling! As late as 10pm last night there was no mention of snow in the forecast, yet here it is. There's no accumulation so far but those big fat fluffy flakes that I like so much are slowly falling from the sky.

I still love snow but now I'm learning that I especially love surprise snow. :-)