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Old 02-04-2011, 09:35 AM
 
Location: A Nation Possessed
25,482 posts, read 18,618,666 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hilgi View Post
I wonder if there is a way to account for accumulation of snow. It seems like snow on the ground does not last long here. I wonder if our total numbers are high but another city that gets fewer inches may have it stick on the ground longer?
You are right in that, although we do get a respectable amount of snowfall in the valleys, it typically does melt because of our wildly variable temps. It doesn't help that all of a sudden it may warm drastically and start raining. In fact... after a high of 15 the other day, it may rain tomorrow! For me, although we can get "real" winter at times, the overall winter is pretty lightweight around here. It's just not consistent enough for my tastes--I want winter (real winter) during the winter and summer during the summer (but not too hot of summer ). I'm not a fan of wild deviations from the averages. I'm one of those... consistent, stick to the season, weather lovers.

Also, your idea that other places with fewer inches snow annually are actually more "snowy" is accurate. For instance, the area I'm planning on moving to in North Dakota actually gets fewer inches of snow per year (higher precip in general, but most of that comes as rain during the warmer months), yet the snow typically stays on the ground from November until April (averaging 10 to 12 inches on the ground) in a typical year. This is because, even though there is less snowfall, it seldom even comes close to being warm enough to melt any of it (this is in the northeast part of the state) throughout the winter months--average daily highs are Dec: 19 degrees, Jan: 12 degrees, Feb: 17 degrees. No melting snow there! But here is the best part: average summertime high temp: 77 degrees.





On the other hand, there are certainly regions and small towns that get way more snow than we do. Places that come to mind--that I have considered moving to--are UP Michigan (Houghton gets 178 inches of snow per year with temps cold enough to retain much of it most all winter), and northern Maine (Caribou has about 110 inches annually and retains much of it through the winter).
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Old 02-04-2011, 09:40 AM
 
Location: The other side of the mountain
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I used to live in the UP (Marquette) and dang....it was cold and snowy all frickin winter. Fairbanks is too (of course lol). Suffice it to say, those two were not my most favorite places to live!
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Old 02-04-2011, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Oxford, Ohio
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Katzpur View Post

The Utah Mountains get more on the order of 500 inches annually.
Sounds great to me. Where can I build a tiny cabin?
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Old 02-04-2011, 12:57 PM
 
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how would you compare a park city winter to a north east winter?
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Old 02-04-2011, 06:21 PM
 
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Cold is cold. Honestly, I think the difference is in the snow PC gets. We don't get ice storms or sleet storms. Snow storms usually hit hard and leave. We don't often get storms that go on for days. The water content of snow in the northeast averages 15% - 20%. Because Utah is so dry, the water content of snow here can be as low as 4% and average is about 7%. We don't get blizzards. We had a non-blizzard this winter when all the local TV weather forecasters were flipping out and warning of imminent destruction but it never materialized.

Maine gets about 80 inches of snowfall a year. Vermont gets between 75 and 101 inches. The town of Park City gets about 150 inches of snow a year and the Park City resorts get about 350 inches. The average winter daytime high in PC is about 22-33º but it gets a whole lot colder at night. (-8 one morning last week).

Hope that answers your question.
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Old 02-05-2011, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
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For fun, we did a "dumpage analysis" to determine epic ski potential, in our office last year. We compared Crater Lake, Alta, and Wolf Creek, Colorado. All areas get over 400 inches per year. At Crater Lake, it snows all winter on many days, with heavy wet snow, well over 500 inches and some years much more. A ton of snow, but also a fair bit of gloom with nearly constant clouds and snow. Wolf Creek gets epic dumps of a foot or more on relatively few snowy days. A ton of sun, but also chances for snow to compact and harden (a fair number of huge powder and many packed powder days). Alta was intermediate with about 5 inches average per storm and a fairly large number of storms per year, but not as many as Crater Lake. We decided the intermediate frequency, but modest dumps at Alta would yield fresh powder snow often, but also a good number of relatively bright days to enjoy it. So, with respect to epic skiing potential, we all agreed that Alta, Utah won hands down.
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Old 02-05-2011, 10:00 PM
 
Location: Pluto's Home Town
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fiddlehead View Post
For fun, we did a "dumpage analysis" to determine epic ski potential, in our office last year. We compared Crater Lake, Alta, and Wolf Creek, Colorado. All areas get over 400 inches per year. At Crater Lake, it snows all winter on many days, with heavy wet snow, well over 500 inches and some years much more. A ton of snow, but also a fair bit of gloom with nearly constant clouds and snow. Wolf Creek gets epic dumps of a foot or more on relatively few snowy days. A ton of sun, but also chances for snow to compact and harden (a fair number of huge powder and many packed powder days). Alta was intermediate with about 5 inches average per storm and a fairly large number of storms per year, but not as many as Crater Lake. We decided the intermediate frequency, but modest dumps at Alta would yield fresh powder snow often, but also a good number of relatively bright days to enjoy it. So, with respect to epic skiing potential, we all agreed that Alta, Utah won hands down.
I should add that Crater Lake is in Oregon!
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Old 02-23-2011, 01:11 PM
 
Location: nj
9 posts, read 27,045 times
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I noticed the same thing from moving from the east coast to here.. we got way more snow back east than I've seen here.. I know the mountains get a lot but not so much in the Valleys. This is my first winter in UT and I really expected more! (although Im not complaining at ALL! )
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Old 02-23-2011, 04:29 PM
 
1,073 posts, read 2,189,381 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by skibarbie View Post
I will take a 5 degree day in Utah over a 25-35 degree day in Kansas any day-even if it is cloudy! Give me those nice, low relative humidity readings, maybe mix in a little bit of sun and I am a very happy girl.
Where I think that mistakes are made is not having several options within easy reach. I keep extra hat and gloves in the my car startin in October thru May and a raincoat in her all year round.
This makes no sense, lol..
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Old 02-23-2011, 05:21 PM
 
Location: Mostly in my head
19,855 posts, read 65,704,038 times
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You must not have experienced a dry cold - it makes a HUGE difference in how you feel. I wore a full-length down coat in New Orleans when it was 30 deg. and 90% humidity. I wear a fleece jacket here when it is 28 deg. and 20% humidity.
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