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Old 02-27-2008, 02:03 AM   #11
CanisLupusArctos
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Default Update on the storm...and winter

R2B, I hadn't noticed the ratios part... I was looking more at the rain/snow line which you said would be tracking farther south than forecast. In the end this is what I watched on radar all day, as all of MA except the South Shore and Cape were snowing this afternoon.

At Black Cat this storm is now up to 9.3 inches which is fast closing on the biggest of the winter (the first storm of the season, Dec. 3, still owns that title.)

Snowfall for February 2008 has just reached 44.1 inches, which beats December's incredible total of 42.1 inches.

The season snowfall is now up to 101.9 inches. We reached the 100-inch mark around 11 p.m.

The snowpack is now up to 36 inches, the highest it's been all winter, and the stake (a yard stick) is now buried.

Damage is occurring with this storm. The area's fire departments have been responding to trees on wires burning, etc. The lights have been flickering all evening. The wires and trees are *caked* with snow. Not a good time to be under them.

...flood issues...

With this much snow on the ground, with as much water as it holds (thanks also to the number of times it's been rained on) any fast melting of this snowpack could be disastrous. We've had 6.11 inches of precipitation (liquid and melted) this month, and 7.57" for the year so far. A good portion of December's 3.47 inches of precip still remains on the ground as a layer of ice at the very bottom of the snowpack.

That's just here, right around the lake. The mountains have been getting pounded with snow all winter, and that's going to be heading this way... and every other way... when it starts melting. I think the dam's opening shows planning for more than just this lake. If spring were to come quickly, we'd have so much water flowing from the mountains to the ocean that a lake-wide 'no-wake' order would be the least of anyone's problems. We'd probably see no-wake signs humorously strapped to stop signs and Main St. signs.... again. Before the state's water system will even be able to handle an influx of snowmelt, the ice on all the rivers must clear first (preferably slowly) or else it would create jams. And it's still February.

Any rain we get will likely be absorbed by the giant white sponge on the ground, and will wait for a later, warmer date to come out and flow.

...good news in the allergy and wildfire end of things...

The past few years we've had a lot of springtime brush fires due to lack of a snowpack. This year we have quite a snowpack. There are also many types of allergen-producing plants that go into overdrive when the winter season doesn't humble them enough. My guess is that this winter has humbled them into submission, which means a better spring & summer for people allergic to those plants.
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