Greetings all,

Snow Curmudgeon here. Well we were screwed by the last storm front to move through the region, I guess it decided to stay off shore and roll into California where they are getting dumped on. However due to my undying commitment to giving everyone the best possible snow information possible I did brave the conditions on Christmas Day and Boxing Day to check it out for myself.

The report: Awesome!!! Man the packed powder (translation: ice) was great for carving!!! Really workde those edges. Just look out for unmarked obstacles :) And swing by the shop on the way out for some P-tex. I also learned thatgrass is pretty fun to ski on! Sunday there was 2" of frshies on top of an inclined ice rink, it seems me, my firend, and boarders were the only ones dumb, I mean smart enough, to ski and take advantage of the killer conditions. I love the new lift too, the frsh breeze at the top is very refreshing and invigorating!

The most ironic sight of the weekend for me was seeing the lines for the tubing hill longer than all the lines at meadows combined! And this hill is nothing more than that hill between the upper and lower fields at Katlin Gable. Sad, so sad....Or actually maybe THE saddest sight was the "snow maker" at meadows that blew a pathetic amount of snow into the air and then floated off into the woods behind the lift, there must be an awesome stash in there! too bad it's flat!!

So I keep being asked "where's the snow, snow curmudgeon?" I think the information below will answer all your questions: (read all the way down for the lay persons translation)

EXTENDED FORECAST DISCUSSION NWS HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL PREDICTION CENTER CAMP SPRINGS MD 135 PM EST TUE DEC 28 2004 VALID 12Z FRI DEC 31 2004 - 12Z TUE JAN 04 2005 FINAL MEDIUM RANGE DISCUSSION... PREFERENCE OF MORNING UPDATE AND AFTN FINALS REMAINS TOWARDS THE ECMWF OVER E PAC AND CONUS BASED ON CONTINUITY/RECENT MODEL PERFORMANCE/GOOD SFC AGREEMENT OF BOTH ECMWF AND GFS ENSEMBLES AND AND CONSENSUS OF SUPERENSEMBLES. GFS APPEARS TO AGAIN BE IN ERROR TAKING DEEP CLOSED LOW OFF PAC NW COAST INTO THE NRN INTERMTN REGION INSTEAD OF DOWN THE COAST LIKE ECMWF WHICH VERIFIED VERY WELL WITH CURRENT EVENT SUPERIOR TO ITS AND GFS ENSEMBLE MEANS. OP GFS PUSHES ITS LARGE DOME OF HIGH PRESSURE OVER STRONG PLAINS RIDGING RIGHT INTO THE GULFMEX BY DAY 6 MON IN SPITE OF STRONG RIDGING. PREFER ECMWF HOLDING THIS WELL NWD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. A DAY 6-7 ADJUSTMENT OF THE 12Z AND 00Z ECMWF RUNS MADE OVER ERN CANADA AND THE NERN U.S. BRINGING A FRONTAL BOUNDARY SWD TO NR THE MASON DIXON LINE INSTEAD OF WELL NWD ERN LAKES/ST LAWR RVR VLY AS PER OP ECMWF AS KEEPING MID LEVEL TROF ALONG CA COAST AND PLAINS RIDGING MORE WWD ALLOWS MORE ROOM FOR LOWER HTS EWD INTO ERN CANADA AND THE NORTHEAST AS OCCURED YTDA. DGEX LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM GFS RUNS AND NOT AN ACCEPTABLE SOLUTION.

LATEST NOGAPS CLOSE TO ECMWF WITH WEAKER PLAINS/OH VLY SYSTEM BUT REMAINS TOO FAR INLAND WITH THE WRN TROF/CLOSED LOW. 12Z GFS CONSISTENT WITH ITS PREVIOUS RUN BUT TRENDING WEAKER WITH ITS PLAINS/LAKES SYSTEM SUN. NEW 12Z CANADIAN SLOWER AND WEAKER THAN GFS LIFTING OUT A SFC LOW INTO ONT DAY 6 FASTER THAN ECMWF AND SLOWER THAN GFS....UKMET FAIRLY SIMILAR. LATEST 12Z ECMWF REMAINS CONSISTENT WITH ITS PRIOR 00Z AND 12Z RUNS AND REMAINS HPC MODEL OF CHOICE FOR TODAY.

LONGER TERM D+8S OF ECMWF AND GFS QUITE SIMILAR TDA...DEEP CLOSED LOW ALONG NRN/CNTRAL CA COAST...RIDGING OVER GULFMEX AND SOUTHEAST WITH STRONG SRN STREAM CONNECTION BAHA THRU MID ATLC REGION. UPSTREAM AN ERN PAC RIDGE PERSISTS WITH A SEPATE NRN STREAM THAT COMES OVER THE RIDGE ALONG THE CANADIAN/CONUS BORDER WITH STRONG CONFLUENCE OVER NEW ENG AND MARITIMES.

...EAST... ECMWF PREFERENCE SHOWS SIG WARM UP FRI/SAT EXCEPT FOR FRONTAL PASSAGE INTO NEW ENG WITH ARCTIC HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING OVER SERN CANADA AND NEW ENG. STRONG SFC HIGH TO BUILD OVER THE EAST WITH NE FLOW DOWN THE COAST NEW ENG INTO FL BUT WITH WITH ARCTIC AIRMASS REMAINING WELL N OVER NEW ENG. STRONG GULF RETURN WITH HIGH HTS WILL KEEP MDT/MILD TEMPS OVER THE EAST INTO NEXT WEEK. N OF MASON DIXON LINE/OH RVR HIGH PRESSURE WILL NOSE OVER INTO THE NORTHEAST BY DAY 7 TUES.

...CENTRAL... ECMWF REMAINS PREFERENCE HERE WITH MUCH WEAKER SHORTWAVE AND ESP SFC LOW REFLECTION LIFTING NEWD FROM THE CENTRAL PLAINS TO THE LAKES REGION WITH MUCH LESS FRONTAL PENETRATION SWD THAN GFS SERIES DAYS 5-7 SUN-TUES.

...WEST... AGAIN HERE STRONG PREFERENCE OF THE ECMWF DUE TO PAST MODEL PERFORMANCE...BETTER THAN ENSEMBLES OF BOTH GFS AND ECMWF. STRONGER MID LEVEL AND SFC LOW MUCH FARTHER SWD AND WWD THAN GFS.

...ALASKA... STRONGER NERN PAC RIDGING CONTS HERE WITH THE RIDGE AXIS ALONG 140W KEEPING WARM CONDS OVER THE STATE. ROSENSTEIN

Layperson Translation: Find a new sport, we're screwed!!!!

Happy New Year

Snow Curmudgeon