Where was the snow ?

[sherbi]

Saturday, went to Marshall, the Herbert brook herdpath wasn't broken, we ended up bushwhacking through mostly open woods around the brook for a good part of it. Snow never reached knee level. On sunday, we went to Andrew (a 3k near Santanoni TH), and we got even less snow.

Seems to me that snow reports were not accurate...

[Hear the Footsteps]

Interesting comments.

On Saturday, were there many cars at the Allen trailhead parking lot?

Don

[CatskillKev]

I found the Catskills to not have much over 2 feet of snow. But the way to measure snow is not with your knees. The best way to measure snow this storm for me was with ski poles.

[moosebeware]

Seems to me that snow reports were not accurate...

Snow moves via drift and some areas get more than others.

[TFR]

And it consolidates rapidly. The 3rd time I measured during the storm, it had already sunk some.

[Rickster]

For measuring total snow fall there is a common methodology used by ski resorts. Known widely as the "Hunter Formula", one measures the actual snowfall, and then multiples that figure by a randomly selected numerical value. The random number is often chosen by throwing a dart at the office dartboard or a quick roll of dice.

[Nessmuk]

Officially 34 inches here just outside the western Adirondacks. Most of it fell horizontal. My long driveway had drifts more than 3 ft high, requiring several passes with my John Deere tractor mounted snowblower to knock it down, while other parts of the driveway were nearly bare.

[CatskillKev]

Well yeah, if you have 34 inches of snow, you're gonna have 3 foot high drifts. Well actually, 3 foot high drifts means a foot and a half. 34 inches of snow means 7 foot drifts.

[Nessmuk]

So here in Lake Effect country (last week was NOT an accompanied LE event), a 34 inch snowfall over a couple of days is not unprecedented, but it happens. Normally LE snow falling very heavily (5 inch/hour) is not wind blown as it falls, and thus piles up relatively evenly, not making large drifts. Sometimes the wind kicks in later, causing drifts.

Here is a photo of a cabin I own after a typical LE snowfall, where I have to make several 2-mile ski-in trips during most winters to shovel the heavy snow load off the roof, no drifting of snow in most cases, as it tends to fall vertically. Heavy, but soft enough to not support weight of skis or snowshoe without sinking most of the way to the ground. When finished shoveling, I usually just step off the roof and sink in up to my waist resulting in a struggle to move at all. My home driveway (not far away) often looks the same.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

I'm at the southern end of the lake effect band and that's what happens here as well. Lake effect usually falls vertically, snowstorms typically blow in sideways.

[Chi_ADK]

Well, you went on Sat. The snow fell on Tues and Wed, and then it warmed up a good bit melting/compacting a good amount. Which helps for an easier hike :-D

This was on Wed when I played around on Whiteface near 4,200 ft. And that's after pushing snow to my feet to have a couple of inches to stand on top of. When I bushwacked to cut through, I was in waist deep powder in some places

[Chi_ADK]

I'm 5'7'' on good days

[CatskillKev]

I wouldn't call that good floatation. I wonder if they ever use the word floatation in the marketing of that snowshoe. Maybe they forgot to put the magic floatation in that particular pair. :-)

That was all new snow, right? Bushwhacking wouldn't matter, unless there were spruce traps.