What Winter Storm Ezekiel Brought Vermont
Early this week, winter storm Ezekiel swept through Southern Vermont, blanketing resorts like Stratton and Mount Snow in deep snow. Here’s what that means for this weekend.
This week, portions of Southern Vermont were blanketed with a solid two feet of snow in the valleys and as much as 20 inches in some parts of the state.
The Weather Channel dubbed it “Winter Storm Ezekiel,” a bomb cyclone that hit land first over southern Oregon and Northwestern California on Nov. 26. A storm is considered a “bomb cyclone” when its minimum central pressure drops 24 millibars within a 24-hour period. According to weather.com, Ezekial dropped 43 millibars in 24 hours. The effect? A lot of snowfall.
“We got belted with snow from this storm,” wrote Steve Petrik, vice president of the Dover-based Catamount Trail Association chapter Southern Vermont Trails in an email on Dec. 4. “I was actually out filming in one of our [backcountry] zones today.”
After moving across the Great Plains and Midwest, Ezekiel hit the Northeast on Dec. 1, dropping a reported 26 inches of snow in the village of Woodford. It dumped at least a foot of snow across 25 states, reported the National Weather Service, closing schools across much of New England. New Ipswich, New Hampshire saw a whopping 36 inches of snow in town. According to reporting by The New York Times, more than 770 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled on Monday.
As of Thursday, Dec. 5, it was still snowing at Stratton Mountain Resort, which reports a total of 30 inches of snowfall so far this season—20 inches of which fell in the last week. 48 of the resorts 99 trails were open to skiers
Mount Snow in West Dover had 45 trails open as of Dec. 5, with a whopping 23 inches of new snow in the last seven days. Mount Snow currently leads Vermont resorts in most snowfall received so far this year, with 37 inches total as of Dec. 5.
Okemo reported receiving 11 inches of snow over the last 7 days, with 20 inches of natural snow so far this season.
And this weekend two more resorts, Magic Mountain Ski Area (which reported a whopping 12-14″ of new snow this week) and the Middlebury Snow Bowl both open for alpine skiing on Sat., Dec. 7. Pick up a copy of our Holidays issue for stories about both. Mad River Glen will also open this Sat., Dec. 7.
Stuck at work until the weekend with some serious FOMO? According to reports from NBC 5, Southern Vermont may be in for a few more inches of fresh stuff in the mountains Thursday through Friday, with sunshine expected on Saturday. With a little luck, the National Weather Service reports, Northern Vermont can expect to see some flurries Thursday and into the evening, especially across higher terrain, with total accumulation of a dusting to one inch in northern valleys and anywhere from two to four inches in higher terrain. In the northern Greens, some summits may see as much as six inches of fresh snow by Friday.
Here’s the latest rundown of who’s open for the weekend and when more Vermont resorts plan to start running lifts:
ALPINE SKI AREAS
OPEN ALPINE RESORTS (AS OF DEC. 5):
Bolton Valley Resort: (5″ of new snowfall in the last 7 days)
Bromley Mountain Resort: 13″ of new snowfall in the last 7 days
Jay Peak Resort: 4″ of new snow in the last 7 days.
Killington Resort: 9″ of new snow in the last 7 days
Mount Snow Resort: 24″ of new snow in the last 7 days
Okemo Mountain Resort: 11″ of new snow in the last 7 days
Smugglers’ Notch Resort: 8″ of new snow in the last 7 days
Stowe Mountain Resort: 5″ of new snow in the last 7 days
Stratton Mountain Resort: 20″ of snow in the last 7 days
Sugarbush Resort: 10-14″ of snow in the last 7 days
ALPINE RESORTS THAT PLAN TO OPEN SOON:
Burke Mountain Resort: Plans to open 12/6/2019
Mad River Glen: Plans to open 12/14/2019
Magic Mountain Ski Area: Plans to open 12/7/2019
Middlebury Snow Bowl: Plans to open 12/7/2019
Pico Mountain: Plans to open 12/7/2019
Suicide Six: Plans to open 12/14/2019
CROSS-COUNTRY SKI AREAS
OPEN SKI AREAS (AS OF DEC. 5)
Blueberry Lake XC Ski Center, Goshen: 28.83 km open to skiing; 10/11 trails open
Brattleboro Outing Club, Brattleboro: 13.8 km open to skiing; 6/15 trails open
Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Craftsbury Common: 5 km open to skiing; 3/54 trails open
Rikert Nordic Center, Ripton: 9.88 km open to skiing; 9/48 trails open
Trapp Family Lodge Outdoor Center, Stowe: 6 km open to skiing; 1/35 trails open
Viking Nordic Center, Londonderry: 13.75 km open to skiing; 11/25 trails open
Woodstock Inn & Resort Nordic Center, Woodstock: 24.13 km open to skiing; 20/43 trails open.
Featured Photo: Mount Snow is reporting more than 23 inches of new snow this week alone, making for a few classic early season powder days. Photo by Mike Dawson/Mount Snow.
