Tuesday, December 18, 2007

TRIP REPORT (Tue 12/18) and Weather Update

Did I really say in my previous blog that this week's new snow would be of excellent quality (meaning light & fluffy)? I guess I did... so I guess I need to issue a correction.

It got much warmer today (Tuesday) than I thought it would... the snow level jumped to about 4,000 feet, and wet & heavy snow fell on me most of the day at Mt. Hood Meadows. It was one of those days when your goggles get foggy, your butt gets wet from wet chair seats, and you are generally wet with sweat on the inside because you've overdressed. Yep, that was my day. It won't go down as one of my top 10, that's for sure. But the good news is that the snow base is increasing steadily, and by Christmas day, there should be a lot fewer stumps, rocks and small trees poking through the snow.

Another storm is due Wednesday morning. This next storm should be a little colder than Tuesday's storm, so instead of it being 32 degrees at the base of Meadows, it should be more like 28-30 degrees. And this next storm will produce the most snow so far in this storm cycle. Look for 8-14" Wednesday, and another 8-14" Wednesday night through Thursday.

Thursday looks great -- a lower snow level (1,000 feet) and colder air will dry the snow and make the new snow lighter & fluffier. Friday looks nice and cold too, but there won't be much new snow on Friday.

That's all for now... enjoy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Drew -

Is there anywhere on the KPTV website that I can find the Mount Hood graphic you have below in "Let it Snow!..."? The biggest factor in planning my weekend skiing is what the freezing level is going to be, followed by the precip, so the graphic is very useful.

Thanks,

Dylan

Drew Jackson said...

Dylan,

Starting next week, Mark Nelsen and I will be creating specific Mount Hood webcasts that will be posted on KPTV.com. Mark will create one each Wednesday evening, and I will update it each Friday morning. In both cases, weekend skiing/boarding conditions & forecasts will be the focus... and the graphic you referenced will be included.

Again... we'll start that next week.

-Drew