[CanisLupusArctos]

At the northwestern end of the lake the damage was about the same as it is after a typical summer thunderstorm. A tree down here, a wire down there, a big pool of water over there. A few hours later it's mostly cleaned up.

The WeatherCam got a wind gust to 60 mph at 12:33 am. This was the highest gust since a thunderstorm on July 2, 2008 produced a 60. Last night's was the highest non-thunderstorm wind gust since the April 16 storm of 2007 produced a 64 mph during sustained winds of 45.

Last night we didn't have the sustained winds of that storm. We got into the mid-20s (mph) for sustained wind and it was just really gusty.

Checking damage reports from all over New England, it looks like the greatest damage was near New England's southeast-facing coast, from the North Shore of MA up to the mid-coast of Maine.

The ocean wind blew mild ocean air inland many more miles than it normally goes in such a storm, resulting in a change to rain as far inland as I-93. Normally the rain-snow line is well east of there. But normally, the wind off the ocean doesn't produce gusts of 90+ mph like it did at Cape Elizabeth ME and Isles of Shoals NH.

So that wind forced the mild air inland. The shape of the Big Lake's valley drew the milder air inland farther than it was otherwise going, on the first day of the storm. Areas to the north and south of the lake were having snow, while the lake itself was like a finger of rain coming from the ocean. On radar it looked like the mild air was running right between the Ossipees and Belknaps, and its inland progress was getting stopped by the hills behind Center Harbor. That effect has happened before. The lake doesn't do well with snowfall in any situation where there's an east wind bringing milder air in from the ocean. The lake's valley is open to the east and acts as a runway for that ocean air to come inland farther than it otherwise is. This should be factored into future forecasts for the lake.

The WeatherCam ended up with an inch of snow, total, for the storm.

West of I-93, there was snow in places like Alexandria and Danbury. North of the Ossipees, there was snow. Randolph, NH has reported 39.6 inches of snow. Wildcat Mountain has been facebook-posting about similar amounts there. There were also photos posted (from White Mountains NH) of Kancamagus Pass with cars parked next to snowbanks higher than the cars.

It should also be mentioned that the snow was very much a spring-type snow, highly dependent on elevation. On Wednesday, I drove through Meredith downtown where there was rain. At the top of the hill by McDonalds there was snow accumulating on the road. In the valley beyond that, rain. At the top of the next rise, snow.

Places above 1000 feet got a lot more snow out of this. Today in Moultonborough the landscape looked the way it often does after a heavy summer thunderstorm: Twigs and small tree debris everywhere. But overlooking town, Red Hill and the Ossipees were very, very WHITE.