Snow in the Whites

[peakbagger]

Not an October Surprise but there is snow on the ground at 1400 feet along RT 2. My guess is 4 to 5 inches on elevated surfaces. Its wet sloppy stuff. I can see a few trees that still had leaves bent over.

 

[Salty]

I had seen on WMTW they were forecasting up to 8" in higher elevations in western Maine, and then ran across this on WMUR, saying Mt. Washington got 18" of snow.

https://www.wmur.com/article/storm-system-brings-snow-accumulation-to-northern-nh/24162958

 

[egilbe]

Had the first Winter rescue in the Presidentials. I'm sure that hiker from Florida was in severe shock.

 

[DayTrip]

Was reading that article and some others this morning. Didn't realize they got quite as much snow as they did. Excellent!

 

[skiguy]

Wildcat is opening for skiing this weekend. Whoot!

 

[peakbagger]

Birch trees still had their leaves on them leading to a lot of bent over trees. Soon after I started the post I lost my internet service for 2 days from birch trees bent over my overhead cable TV line

 

[SpencerVT]

I climbed Puzzle Mountain in Maine yesterday. Almost no snow at the trailhead, but at the summit there was a foot, with drift pockets that were much deeper. It is wild to need snowshoes in October. Puzzle is just under 3200'. I can't imagine how much snow there is at 4200'...5200'....

 

[DayTrip]

I climbed Puzzle Mountain in Maine yesterday. Almost no snow at the trailhead, but at the summit there was a foot, with drift pockets that were much deeper. It is wild to need snowshoes in October. Puzzle is just under 3200'. I can't imagine how much snow there is at 4200'...5200'....

I've seen a lot of trip reports on NETC referencing knee to waist deep drifts and generally erratic snow amounts in various areas. Time to strap on the snowshoes.....

 

[Raven]

It snowed wet, heavy stuff Saturday in Randolph most of the day. Hiking Sunday in town in the valley there was 4-5 inches on trail, the balling kind.

 

[Salty]

I've seen a lot of trip reports on NETC referencing knee to waist deep drifts and generally erratic snow amounts in various areas. Time to strap on the snowshoes.....

I saw a bunch of those as well and noticed a lot of them said "bring snowshoes" coupled with "we didn't bring snowshoes." My favorite was someone saying there was a packed down narrow track now. I pity the first person on shoes to go there, assuming the trench survives.

 

[SpencerVT]

This is how deep the post hole was on the summit of Puzzle in a non-drift area yesterday. Again, this was at just under 3200'.
I would think Lafayette, (~2000' higher) would have waist deep pockets in places. Not bad for October 28th!

 

[peakbagger]

Easy come easy go, the rain looks like it really cut down on the snow pack above treeline. There are still some patches in low spots. Forecast is for some new accumulation tonight.

There is also a forecast for high winds coming through this afternoon and into tonight. There is also a lot of water coming down drainage routes that normally are not flowing this time of year. I expect with all the leaves on the ground the drainages on the trails are going to be plugged.

 

[peakbagger]

I was out today (11/15) in Shelburne NH. It was full winter conditions. We carried snow shoes and got very close to switching over to them but they would have gotten in the way for climbing up and over the numerous blowdowns on the AT between Gentian Pond and Dream Lake. We wore traction most of the day. The temps were low and what there was for sun really did not warm things up at all. I needed toe warmers and had to switch to double mitts. It was low single digits when we started.

After tomorrow's snow down south it may clue folks in but might want to check the gear and switch over to winter gear. Its definitely is not too early.