Is anyone else concerned...

[afmrintern]

Is anyone else concerned by how closely this year's autumn pattern is looking like last years?

They mentioned this in the comments the other day, calling it dejavu...and I know that last winter was very snowless in Northern New England.

I don't want to here my snowmobiling friends complain again this year!

[Brad]

I have referred to last winter as a "dud". It was nice for the heating oil bill. But, not good for the snow related activities. Here's hoping for a turn for the worse - hmmmm, better.

[AlpineHikerFan71]

Please, Please lets hope not. I want snow every other few days. This is one of the things I looked forward to when moving here this past august when it was 100 degrees outside. I was thinking the same thing afmrintern. Then looking at the 15 day forecast, they are calling for a change in the jet stream next weekand are calling for snow in Northern NH on WEd the 22 and a snowstorm here in south central NH on Friday the 24. If I remember watching the news last year when I was living in Maryland, you guys got a good size snowstorm up here last Thanksgiving. I just hope it is a winter like 95-96 when I was in NJ and we had over 110 inches of snow that winter season. that was a winter to remember. I want to ski on some real snow this winter, not the snow we had in Maryland last year.
Lets hope for a change from last snow totals for a much higher amount.

[Bill O]

I'm not too concerned....yet. How many times last winter did I hear a pattern shift was coming? "Next week the weather is going to change. Next week the models change the weather pattern. Next week, next week."

Well, the pattern never changed and the models never got it, but I won't go into that.

This brings up another issue with New England "snow pack". It's somewhat of an oxymoron. Look at all the snow Mount Washington, and the rest of New England's high peaks received in October. 20-40 inches plus! It's all gone now. When the pattern changes again we have to start all over. This is the major difference between New England and the western mountains.

We all know that Jay Peak receives over 300" of snow a year, so does Mount Washington. Yet, resorts in CO and Alberta that receive less than 200" have world class skiing. The big difference is that they never lose their snowpack. They never got rained on in January and February. And when it does go above freezing, its sunny and dry. In New England it tends to be rainy and foggy (snow eaters).

[debbie01]

According to information put out at the Weather Conference we are at a solar minimum (and will be for the next few years). The pattern for this year is also calling for a weak El Nino and a westerly QBO (quasi-biennial oscillation). In simple terms, the meteorologists at the conference predicted a snowy winter based on these patterns. Let's hope that it starts soon .

[Mildcarlilse]

and autumn in the uk is also like last year and very little snow has fell on the scottish mountains and even frost is in short supply,but i feel that we in the uk will get another mild winter with a more zonal pattern which is already established and i want a cold easterly flow from europe to give me a cold winter likes