Hello Everyone:
Since we are all interested in snow conditions for our respective riding areas, I am committing to giving everyone updates on Northern New Brunswick riding....specifically powder riding in the Bathurst area and points immediately west.
I think it might be beneficial for anyone interested that we get normally get really good snow in the interior of NB, west of Bathurst and above 400m elevation, and even better above 500m. 2012/13 was not our greatest year. It started painfully (and I mean painfully) slow, but was capped off by a 5 foot dump over 3 days around Feb 21/22/23. We had great snow after that and in reality, never looked back.
The real surprise in 2012/13 was just how spotty the conditions were and how skinny the precip was. Even in our small area, there were huge differences in snow pack depending on what elevation you were at and where you were riding. If you knew where to go, you had a ball. If you missed by even 3km's you were busted. We rode in one area pretty much all winter that had perpetually good snow. It dumped there every time rain was in the forecast. The last ride in April was heavy, but about 18" deep and it was a grinfest. Others cursed our conditions...knowledge matters.
So we are heading for a new season and I am a bit excited. Not because of any new sled, but because I think we are heading into a heavier precip year. We maintain a very good weather station at work which is 30km's west of Bathurst and at 330m elevation, so basically in our riding area. Its pretty easy to see the precipitation has been changing for the better here starting in August. This is a big departure over 2012/13 which was probably the worst precip year on an annual basis in the last 5 or 6, especially winter precip. This "dry spell" continued well into 2013 but changed dramatically in August 2013 when the skies opened up. September will be near record as well and I expect the balance of the year to remain the same. And none of this precip is Hurricane driven....even better.
So perhaps I am an eternal optimist, but here's to hoping .... and I will try to keep the conditions up to date so all you maritime riders know what we have in case you want to come our way.
Cheers..
OTM
Since we are all interested in snow conditions for our respective riding areas, I am committing to giving everyone updates on Northern New Brunswick riding....specifically powder riding in the Bathurst area and points immediately west.
I think it might be beneficial for anyone interested that we get normally get really good snow in the interior of NB, west of Bathurst and above 400m elevation, and even better above 500m. 2012/13 was not our greatest year. It started painfully (and I mean painfully) slow, but was capped off by a 5 foot dump over 3 days around Feb 21/22/23. We had great snow after that and in reality, never looked back.
The real surprise in 2012/13 was just how spotty the conditions were and how skinny the precip was. Even in our small area, there were huge differences in snow pack depending on what elevation you were at and where you were riding. If you knew where to go, you had a ball. If you missed by even 3km's you were busted. We rode in one area pretty much all winter that had perpetually good snow. It dumped there every time rain was in the forecast. The last ride in April was heavy, but about 18" deep and it was a grinfest. Others cursed our conditions...knowledge matters.
So we are heading for a new season and I am a bit excited. Not because of any new sled, but because I think we are heading into a heavier precip year. We maintain a very good weather station at work which is 30km's west of Bathurst and at 330m elevation, so basically in our riding area. Its pretty easy to see the precipitation has been changing for the better here starting in August. This is a big departure over 2012/13 which was probably the worst precip year on an annual basis in the last 5 or 6, especially winter precip. This "dry spell" continued well into 2013 but changed dramatically in August 2013 when the skies opened up. September will be near record as well and I expect the balance of the year to remain the same. And none of this precip is Hurricane driven....even better.
So perhaps I am an eternal optimist, but here's to hoping .... and I will try to keep the conditions up to date so all you maritime riders know what we have in case you want to come our way.
Cheers..
OTM