Sunday Snowstorm, 1/18/09

Lynnio · 01-19-2009, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveA

What a beautiful morning. Just about 12" of fresh snow.

This is the Gunstock River this AM, just behind the house. When my flatlander friends ask "How can you stand living in NH in the winter", I'm going to show them this picture!

I'm coming out of a year and a half of lurkdom to make my first post and say WOW -- that is an absolutely gorgeous photo. If all goes as planned, within the next year my husband and I will be NH Lakes Region residents. Looking forward to the gorgeous year-round scenery up close and in person!

CanisLupusArctos · 01-19-2009, 01:36 PM

Incredible photo, SteveA! You should submit that to MVSB's calendar contest for next year.

This'N'That, thanks for bringing up the unusual snow-water ratio. Much more common for out west than for here. Out west, they get a Pacific moisture feed plus dry continental air merging over the mountains. Here, we just had the Atlantic feed merging with dry continental air. Usually the Atlantic feed wins because it's so close. Not this time!

We ended up with 13.5 inches on Black Cat.

Once more I noticed the lake's effect on bringing the ocean's influence inland. This happened last winter a couple times when a southeast wind reached Center Harbor and made a changeover to sleet, even when Moultonborough and Laconia were still snowing.

In the storm snow totals I saw that the amounts along the immediate shores of the lake, as far NW as Center Harbor, were all in the jackpot together. I think the lake acted as a runway for bringing the ocean moisture farther inland than it otherwise would've reached.

The lake is aligned NW-SE and has mountains on its north and south sides as well as the NW end. Alton Bay is open to the SE. I am guessing the ocean's influence enters around there, and blows along the main part of the lake until it reaches the Squam Mountains at the other end.

One more localized effect we had today: There were some very nice fog-and-light effects on the lake this morning around sunrise. I checked the obs around the area and they were all in the 20s. We were 9 degrees on the island. My guess is, the lake ice was absorbing heat from the "warmer" air mass above it, thus keeping the islands and immediate shores colder than the rest of the area -- just like what happens in spring.

01-19-2009, 01:36 PM	#2
CanisLupusArctos Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Center Harbor Posts: 1,049 Thanks: 15 Thanked 472 Times in 107 Posts	Incredible photo, SteveA! You should submit that to MVSB's calendar contest for next year. This'N'That, thanks for bringing up the unusual snow-water ratio. Much more common for out west than for here. Out west, they get a Pacific moisture feed plus dry continental air merging over the mountains. Here, we just had the Atlantic feed merging with dry continental air. Usually the Atlantic feed wins because it's so close. Not this time! We ended up with 13.5 inches on Black Cat. Once more I noticed the lake's effect on bringing the ocean's influence inland. This happened last winter a couple times when a southeast wind reached Center Harbor and made a changeover to sleet, even when Moultonborough and Laconia were still snowing. In the storm snow totals I saw that the amounts along the immediate shores of the lake, as far NW as Center Harbor, were all in the jackpot together. I think the lake acted as a runway for bringing the ocean moisture farther inland than it otherwise would've reached. The lake is aligned NW-SE and has mountains on its north and south sides as well as the NW end. Alton Bay is open to the SE. I am guessing the ocean's influence enters around there, and blows along the main part of the lake until it reaches the Squam Mountains at the other end. One more localized effect we had today: There were some very nice fog-and-light effects on the lake this morning around sunrise. I checked the obs around the area and they were all in the 20s. We were 9 degrees on the island. My guess is, the lake ice was absorbing heat from the "warmer" air mass above it, thus keeping the islands and immediate shores colder than the rest of the area -- just like what happens in spring.