Hannah Head is a reporter with Community News Service, part of the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.
The snow stake atop Vermont’s highest peak, Mt. Mansfield, recorded an impressive 103 inches on Sunday, March 2. It was the third-highest snowpack reading for that date since 1954, when the stake was installed, making this winter one of the snowiest on record.
The snow stake, which is owned and monitored by the Burlington branch of the National Weather Service, has attracted the interest of skiers and weather watchers alike for years. Using a remote camera, the Weather Service measures the snow as it accumulates on the rugged and windy 4,395-foot mountain.
“This early in the season, to have this much snow is exceptional,” said Matthew Parrilla, who has been tracking the snow stake since 2011.
Although the warmer temperatures this week resulted in a slight drop of the snowpack reading to 97 inches as of March 6, that depth is still running about 29 inches above average.
Parrilla is a software developer with combined interests in skiing and data visualization. He maintains a website that records readings from the snow stake and compiles them in a comparative graph, earning him the title of the unofficial record keeper of the snow stake.
Parrilla monitors the snow stake through the National Weather Service daily hydrometeorological report, updating his website with fresh data as it is captured by a camera trained on the stake, which is read and interpreted remotely.
Snow depth for the season usually peaks around the middle to end of March. Parrilla, an avid spring skier, predicts a “long bunch of spring skiing” for snow sport enthusiasts.
It’s definitely a banner year for snow, official forecasters agree. “We’ve broken a hundred twice this time of year, in 1969 and another time in 1982,” said Marlon Verasamy, a forecaster and observing program leader for the Burlington National Weather Service.
Verasamy attributes the near-record snow accumulation this year to a string of snow systems that have passed through northern Vermont. These systems are the driver of the snowpile, each dumping significant snow. Combined with the consistent pattern of temperatures remaining mostly below freezing, this winter has created a long, productive period to build the snowpack.
In the past 25 years, the snowpack has only surpassed 100 inches three times. Once in 2001, again in 2017 and most recently in 2019. The highest recorded snowfall accumulation at the stake was 149 inches, which was measured on April 2, 1969, the snowiest season on record atop Mt. Mansfield.
The heavy drifts this winter are happy news for Vermont’s ski areas.
“Definitely a really, really good year for snow,” said Bryan Rivard, director of communications for Ski Vermont, a trade association that represents 20 alpine and 30 cross-country ski resorts across Vermont.
Snow and cold temperatures have been consistent much of the season, and the lack of a significant wintry warming period has created ideal conditions for building a deep snowpack.
And as the snowpack deepens, it compresses, creating more favorable conditions for skiing, Rivard said.
While snowy conditions have defined the winter so far, Verasamy predicted that the pattern will begin to change and that temperatures will begin bouncing back and forth as spring approaches. However, the season is far from over, and snowpack at the stake is not predicted to peak until the end of March.
“We could see pretty high numbers before the season ends,” Verasamy said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Stake on Mt. Mansfield logs near-record snow levels.