This has been a great winter so far. Hope it stays this way

Winter was cancelled because Millennials flooded the comment section with downvotes.

It is every year. Those who complain about snow and dont want cold weather just bitch and complain like a month and a half later about all the rain and wet weather we are having. Those kind of people can never be happy.

Yupp. As someone who loves to ice fish i’m really hating this winter as well.

As someone who spends a lot of time running/cycling outside and hates shoveling snow, this has been a great winter so far. Enough snow for the kids to appreciate (and one snowball fight), zero shoveling.

yup, it sucks man. I love winter

Yeah as a skier I am hoping for some good dumps but it just seems to be the norm now :/

Agreed. The last few winters have been very disappointing. Not only do I love to ski, but I love the cozy feeling of a slow cooker meal going in the kitchen while snow is pummeling down outside as well

Sucks for the ski areas.

Curious, why do you think that there's only 5 more inches of snow, max, for Worcester or any area in this season?

Some of our biggest, most consistent winter storms come after January. I remember back in ~2010, we got very little snow before the end of January, and then from January 28 - mid march we got a massive snow storm every weekend for like 6 straight weeks, and it was some of the most snow I'd ever seen in my life. We had a 7' high lamp in my front yard near the driveway that was completely covered from snow blowing and didn't see the sun for weeks into March or April.

yeah, and that one winter about 10 years back where we got the record snowfalls in February had exactly zero snow on the ground by the middle of January.

Patterns change so it's too early to say there won't be much snow this winter.

Anything can happen. In 2015, it didn’t snow until the last week of January, then we dealt with weekly blizzards through mid-March and ended up breaking the record.

I feel like we do this a lot of January’s then get fucked in February

I asked my cat if there's going to be a big snow storm this year and she attacked me.

This is great snow is annoying and dangerous

Snow loving people: move further north and let the rest of us enjoy not having to shovel.

First day of winter was only four weeks ago, Massachusetts averages 17 inches of snow in January, 34 inches of snow in February. You’ll get your snow my friend

Even in the really bad 2015, I believe the snow storms didn’t really start until after MLK weekend. It’s still fairly early.

Is this the new Groundhog Day tradition?

I did. Move further south.

I’m in Springfield and it’s been years since we’ve had a winter with a satisfying amount of snow. This is the longest November in my lifetime!

Any suggestions for a cheapo auger? I'm trying to get back in and that is my last bit needed.

We barely had a couple inches before all hell broke loose.

I was gifted snow shoes a few years ago, it hasn’t snowed significantly since.

I finally got a new job outside the restaurant industry that has a better work/life balance and would allow me to snowboard more frequently.

This winter sucks so far but we’ll see what February brings.

I read recently that we are shifting from La Niña sometime between February and April, which is beyond my basic meteorological understanding. I read it as “change is coming.”

Oh don’t worry I will eventually have to because I’m being priced out to Massachusetts lol

Ok boomer

Well, I hope it doesn't come with a global pandemic.

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I don’t ice fish but that suck you can’t go fishing. You can go saltwater fishing for Cod. If you’re near the coast.

started right after the Super Bowl. I remember it well lol

Ski slopes are panicking. I do marketing for a few and there is a real sense the industry will die if temps keep going up.

I know it's hard to care about a sport for primarily rich people ending, but tons of people make their living on the mountains, plus all the wildlife.

West of Holyoke here. Given the cost of energy I cannot complain and I certainly don't miss the back-breaking shoveling of 2020-2021. 2019 I had to shovel the driveway in shifts. I do not mind 40 degrees and cheerful sun by comparison.

Every morning I wake up and it takes 10 minutes of massage and stretching for my shoulder to have a reasonable range of motion to remind me of that winter.

I use an eskimo propane auger. I’ve had it for 4 or 5 seasons now. It was like $300ish on sale toward the end of the season/spring time. Not sure what they go for now. A lot of guys will buy a kdrill attachment for their milwaukee drill and use that to punch holes. You could look into that option as well as it might be cheaper.

Tell me about it. I got out once this season while vacationing up in Maine. Fingers crossed we get a cold snap soon!

Pretty sure it eventually will....

Thawing permafrosts and ice caps will surely have more for us.

They should have been planning for this for at least a couple decades now. Its been common knowledge forever.

Snow sucks for: running, cycling, walking, pushing a stroller, using a wheelchair, driving a vehicle...the list goes on. Then on course theres the heart attacks and back pain caused by shoveling, the millions spent on snow removal. But but but it looks kinda pretty when it falls?!? Not worth it.

Well then, lets spend millions on heating and snow removal and shut down schools and businesses so that you can feel a very specific feeling for an hour.

We live in a snowy climate. Not having snow means something is seriously wrong. If you don't want the snow, then this area isn't for you. We will get snow whether you like it or not.

Mid-February is when snow peaks.

Same here. I got them the winter 2014-15- perfect time to use them but I got pregnant and was too exhausted. And ever since then, there just hasn’t been any opportunities. Snow doesn’t last long etc. I’ve never used them! I hope to this year but so far no opportunities obviously

It's a shame that skiing has attracted an image that it is primarily a rich persons sport. Local small mountains are affordable and have a laidback vibe, gear can be picked up at tag sales and swaps for next to nothing, and getting outside and having some fun should not be tied to Chad and Buffy at Vail. I blame the 80s lifestyle of excess for this. I grew up in a lower middle class house and my folks always found a way to get us out skiing with our cousins once/twice a season on hand-me-downs and tag sale gear. Long underwear under jeans and your older cousins coat from 3 years ago has given way to 1000s of dollars in stupid crap that does nothing to improve your fun. If this image has kept you from trying the sport, hit a swap, ask a family member to dig out those boxes in the attic, and head over to a small local hill. Take it back.

What winter?

You live in MA, not FL. It's supposed to be cold and snowy in the winter. 40-50* high with a dry ground on Jan 18th isn't normal.

Spending money on heating and snow removal and snow days has nothing to do with what I want, but everything to do with where you live geographically.

I feel like temps are at least 20 - 30 degrees higher than they should be.

I was born in 1981, and after 1988 I spent every Winter playing on a frozen lake. It would freeze 20" deep, and ice-out wasn't until the end of April. You could drive a truck on it, and we did. Until about 2013-5, the freezes were long, hard, deep. For weeks the temps wouldn't go above freezing. After 2015, there would be entire Winters where the lake ice would either come close to being safe--but not quite--or just not freeze over at all. This is one of those Winters. No ice.

This is horribly abnormal, and the consequences are going to be mosquitoes in March, insects hatching so early that migratory birds miss the overlap dates resulting in large die-offs for lack of food, etc.

It's bad. It's real bad.

That winter just gave my back PTSD, I gave in and finally bought a snowblower then, maybe used it twice since that winter lol

Fun fact: traditionally, you also had to be drunk and wearing a colonial era tricorne hat for the fight.

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I mean sure, and they have. Most places have increased snowmaking capacity and coverage to supplement natural snow and extend the season.

There's really only so much they can do though beyond that. Effective snowmaking still requires prolonged periods of below freezing temps, preferably below about 27-28.

Skiing isn’t a rich person’s sport. I grew up in the 80s going with my elementary school, and still spend most winters skiing places like Mad River, where the folks like Vail haven’t changed the place in favor of profits.

Skiing is a New England tradition and cuts across class lines!

It’s not about whether it’s “worth it” - it’s that we live in a part of the country where our ecology depends on snowfall, and we’ve irreversibly changed the climate such that the future for that system will be worse.

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"Adapt or die" seems to apply to a lot of forthcoming issues these days.

u/AboyNamedBort's review of New England's typical winter weather patterns is in: "Not worth it." Lol. Ramp up those greenhouse gas emissions then!

Nah, I love running in the snow. Put sheet metal screws in an old pair of running shoes and it's like having studded snow tires.

WHat ever it is what it is.. If love it snow don t come to you..Than you can go to were snow is

Someone bought a snowthrower. I've often thought of starting a Go-Fund-Me to buy snowthrowers for deserving Yankees and so keep it from snowing so much.

Didn't we do this last year and get the blizzard of the decade on the last day of January

🎶My hat, it has three corners🎶

Don't jinx us.

This right here. If we’re still looking like this a month from now, then, yeah, it’s getting a little late for snow (but still not out of the question, the devastating “No Name” storm was in mid-March 1993.)

Interestingly, the “local small mountains” like Nashoba and Bradford are more expensive than many of the Southern NH ones, and even Wachusett, at least on the beginner side of things

We’re looking into getting my 4yo on skis and we took him to Nashoba thinking it would 1) be close and 2) be cheap because of how small it is, but I could save a lot of money by driving the extra 30 minutes to Wachusett or Pats Peak or Macintyre.

(Though I assume you’re including all of those in small and local as compared to, say, Loon or Killington)

I agree with you on everything else though - I need gear since it’s been 10 years since I skied, but I got a cheap pair of snow pants on Amazon and will (hopefully) by some cheap used skis and boots at the end of the season.

I ended up abandoning my apartment in Brighton and commuted from my parents house in NH for a month because I just could not keep shoveling a parking spot for myself out of chin-level snow.

Don’t jinks it.

not the first time it's happened, won't be the last. here's 120 years of boston snowfall totals:

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/boston/most-yearly-snow

I think 20-30 is a stretch. That would imply we should be in the teens for normal temp and that’s been quite cold here for as long as I can remember.

Seriously wrong. While it's nice to not be chilly, our climate relies on regular snow / frost and a natural freezing & thawing process. It supplies lots of fresh water, it sustains our plants & wildlife, and even keeps our insect population at bay.

Expect continued droughts which means soaring food prices. Say goodbye to our beautiful scenery as we lose our foliage. Say hello to more mosquitos and ticks which means more chemicals being sprayed and leeching into our food & water supply. Mmm, delicious!

Born in late 80s here, it's absurd that people who've lived in Mass for 40, 50 years and "don't see anything wrong" like HOW? It's extremely obvious how warm it is.

When we're not even sure if it's definitely gonna be below freezing at night shit is fucked.

People love to harp on Americans for not knowing geography or whatever, but the actual danger is not knowing biology/ecology. I swear, if everyone understood what was at stake there would be much more uproar.

Yeah...Nashoba is basically in my backyard and I was always confused by the pricing there. Growing up it was Powder Ridge and Mt. Tom, or Brodie. Pat's is decent, but rentals anywhere are ridiculous. Local Lyons had a swap this past Nov and I picked up larger gear for my rapidly growing 12yrold. Boots $5, skis $10, ski pants $4.

Exactly. There's much more to winter than. Snow looks pretty

It's sad, I picked up a massive parcel of acreage in Mendon and built a 3.5 mile trail network for wheeling, snowmobiling and cross country skiing. I even picked up a 2nd and 3rd sled so my friends could join. Hell I even built a grooming drag. I have had zero rideable or skiable snows. Even my place up north is so devoid of snow I'd have to trailer to a parking lot 20 minutes away to be able to get a riding session in full of water bars and exposed ground.

You just jinxed it. Now we're going to get fucked with the worst storm MA has seen in 50 years.

Yeah, dropping $500 on a family of four for one day activity isn’t a rich persons sport. More if lessons and rentals are needed.

The alternative is spending millions on air conditioning. Or do you think there's somewhere on the planet that's 68 degrees year round?

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I actually have snowtreads for my runners that stretch on over the shoe and provide great traction on packed snow and ice. But they feel like shit running on bare asphalt so I only use them if I know the entire run will be on that kind of surface, which is tough cause normally there's a mix of snow and no snow on the sidewalks and roadways depending on how snow removal has gone

I currently live in Western Nebraska, and we're having a storm predicted to drop up to 18" of snow. So, you can have some of ours, if you want.

We don’t want a repeat of winter 2019-20. Because then everything will shut down in March!

January 23 is still 5 days away. What’s forecasted for that date can still change significantly.

> Tuesday January 23

• Monday = January 23
• Tuesday = January 24

Which is it?

Don’t Jinx it bro, the weather is the only thing that saved me this year of constant mishaps happening in my house. God is good.

Man that 19/20 winter really bummed me out.

Four single-session tickets at Wachusett costs around $240. If you ski more than once or twice a year, you buy used skis in the summer, you don't need lessons, and you bring food from home. If only one parent skis, it's under $200 with two kids.

It's not nothing, but it isn't restricted to "rich people", and it doesn't cost $500. If you really love skiing, you buy a season pass, and you save significantly. My point isn't that it's free, or that it isn't a luxury -- it absolutely is -- but rather that it isn't reserved for folks in the 1%. Stuff like Vail buying out our local slopes (ugh, Okemo) sucks, and supporting smaller mountains helps to keep it from becoming something akin to what you see in CO or CA.

Gotta give them to someone in Florida so we can have snow

I was in highschool for that snow year, loved it

being a boston native, i welcome this change. having to shovel out your car every 2 hours after it gets plastered with tow snow as well as people saving spots or stealing yours is just stressful. fuck it and fuck the snow!

Didn't we get essentially no snow last year until the end of January when 24" dropped like an anvil on the town?

>it sucks for someone like me who fucking loves snow

You sure you're from here?

No, I kid, I kid. I agree, this "winter" is anything but winter. I'm not going to get ahead of it though, we learned from 2015 very badly. There wasn't much snow up to mid-January then either, but then BLAM, 12 feet of snow in like six weeks. Boston's winter gods are sneaky that way.

Yeah, they're great for trail running but lousy for roads. I either use screw shoes or studded running shoes (Icebugs). The studs compress up into the soles like on snow tires.

From late January to Mid march, Boston received ~100" of snow, or about 1.4 Pedroia worth of white joy.

Did western MA get nailed in 2014-2015 like the east did?

I agree I wanted to ski Wachucett until I looked up a day pass was..

80 bucks !!!!

I know we did here in Springfield! The snow piles we shoveled were going over my head by the first week of February (so over six feet).

You are correct. $50 is about the bottom for a full day ticket. Whaleback or Bradford, even Jiminy has a lower mountain pass for $49. Not sure what type of deal you are looking for. Movies are $20 for 2 hours! Perhaps it is me, but it seems 50 for 8 hours of ski time is still decent.

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Weekday, Non-holiday $35 https://skibutternut.com/tickets-passes/tickets-passes/lift-tickets?hold_site_alert=1

I can 100% say fuck snow as a Worcester resident

Parking bans are terrible

They do a shit job plowing, or keeping the roads not completely iced over

Mother nature can keep the snow

It's a conspiracy bro

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A perfect winter, so far in my opinion.

Your opinion on what is a good mountain and what is a trash one is irrelevant. :-)

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They'll just raise prices and cut staff again.

>but tons of people make their living on the mountains

an insecure job that they will fire you for any reason they can find. or do you mean the shoestring operations group they keep on year round?

>plus all the wildlife.

The wildlife will be better off without the resort.

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I’m very disappointed by this winter. It’s not cold enough for it to be winter feeling. Barely below freezing.

I was born in 1991, and I remember growing up with tons of snow, blizzards dropping 2'. I remember by this time of year, having the snow built up to 3-4' in some places.

This weather is wicked weird, and the thawing and freezing cycle does a ton of damage to our roads.

And the alternative is our roads going to shit because potholes freeze and thaw daily. Great trade.

This winter sucks. Blows. We need big storms here in Boston/ south shore

Fuck snow and fuck winter. This one has been a treat so far.

What is affordable? Places here in MA? Might as well not go. I paid $130 for a day pass at Loon, they had 10 trails open. Total waste of money. I go once a year for New Years, way too expensive and you get no value.

> you also had to be drunk and wearing a colonial era tricorne hat

So just a normal day in Boston.

I remember getting a blizzard on April 1st. Most of our big storms come in February anyway.

We've gone snowboarding a few times this year and it's been great. It's cold enough for the man-made snow, but not so bitter cold that you're miserable while you're out there. If it was any warmer, though, it would be totally wrecked.

So all I gotta do is stop beating the shit out of turkeys and we’ll have a normal winter

I'm legit depressed. More annoying, mental health professionals have a two year wait right now. If there isn't 2 ft of snow on the ground, and I'm not on a mountain in that silent early winter night, when the snow is gently falling and the only sound you hear somewhere is far away, skis on snow--then really, what is the point.

Flat screen televisions, video games, and reddit doomscrolling--all lame as fuck, in case your wondering.

I hate snow, ice and frigid endless cold winds. 😡👎🏽

I hate snow, ice and frigid endless cold winds. 😡👎🏽

And there will be a massive shortage on milk & bread lol

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Sorry but you’re heavily misremembering. Not denying climate change, but temperatures and snowfall totals have not significantly changed in MA since at least the 80s (as far back as I’ve gone extensively). In fact, the 2010s was one of the best decades in over 100 years for a good winter.

I’m trying to find a comment I already made that has specific numbers but you can look it up yourself pretty quickly.

2015 ..no snow till Jan 26.. and I think we all remember what happened......

I bought snow tires this year so I'm almost certain we'll get no snow this year.

I wonder how much of those profits were reinvested into efforts to mitigate global warming, though? We have "energy" (oil) billionaires transparently pushing anti-environmentalism but the response from businesses that stand to lose from global warming has been remarkably muted.

I moved to central Maine and there’s hardly been any snow here either

There used to be a time when it would snow and then, for the most part, there would be some degree of snow around until spring because it was never cold enough for long enough for it all to go away. Now it snows and the ground is back ASAP.

20-30 degrees is absolute non-sense. not sure how that post can be upvoted. You can look up annual temperatures in MA since the 1800s and most areas are around 2-3 degrees over the last 150 years. Worcester is pretty flat, cape and islands are closer to 5 degrees.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2017/08/23/massachusetts-temperature-precipitation

I'm not here to promote or defend ski areas, some of them are run by greedy assholes. Others ownership groups are better just like any industry though. I have been an avid skier since I was 4 and I do often think about the environmental impact of resort skiing. Running a ski resort is very energy intensive - grooming equipment, chair lifts, compressors and pumps for snowmaking, etc.

That said, many of them do invest in green initiatives. Maybe some of the more "corporate" owned ones just want to boost their image (or protect their bottom line) but there is actually advocacy and investment from ski resorts in climate intervention, as well as efforts to reduce their own carbon footprints.

https://www.nsaa.org/NSAA/Sustainability/Sustainable_Slopes/NSAA/Sustainability/Sustainable_Slopes.aspx?hkey=3d832557-06a2-4183-84cb-c7ee7e12ac4a

https://saveoursnow.com/about-us/

https://protectourwinters.org/

>The wildlife will be better off without the resort.

Of course, except even a temp change of a few degrees changes ecosystems enough to make them extinct.

As for staff, I'm talking about anyone who works for the slope/resort. Quality of the jobs aside, people do rely on that income. A handful of companies own most of the resorts so this includes staff that work remote.

This is true. It is to protect the bottom line but a lot of people who work for even the corporate resorts love the sport and mountains.

FYI they also have a page for snowfall by season, which might be more useful for remembering winter 'xxxx'.

Cool find!

*never warm

But yeah, it used to go below zero during the days somewhat regularly.

People acting like 50-60F in December is normal like I just can't believe it. Do people not remember the concept of snow days?

Just look at like, Calvin and Hobbes when shit is set during winter. That's what it was like when I was a kid. Snow pants, sledding, snow men, snow balls, etc. And for weeks!

I keep seeing days in the 50s and this is maybe the third thread I have read where I see people saying to wait for winter it’s not too late. Our climate is different. Will there be snow sure, lots sometimes, sure, but it’s different now than 30 years ago. It’s just sad.

I feel so bad for the kids. It's cold as shit and dark early so you cant even play outside all that much and the one thing that makes winter worth it is snow and they don't even get that

I have no idea where the word cold came from there.

Growing up in Worcester in the 90s, it seemed like we reliably got a decent storm or two in November and December, since moving back up this way 5 years ago, even with al the nor’easters in 2018, winters have been really noticeably milder.

Could be my bad memory, but the various articles on New England experiencing some of the most rapid warming in the world right now seem to validate my hunch.

There will just be a lot more dying than anyone anticipated.

You gotta remember winter starts December 21. It will come and then the same people will be say why all this snow. Please don't curse use with the snow gods.

Reddit also skews really young, and I get the feeling that local subs are mostly populated by transplants trying to get a handle on the local culture.

Move down south, we don’t need people cheering on the collapse of local ecosystems because they’re afraid of a little cold.

Would be more interesting to see more interior places. Boston measurements are a bit quirky because of where they’re taken (Logan typically) and Boston’s location. Then again you might see more variability because of the proximity to the bay.

Some of us are r/collapse aware. You're right though; not enough of us unfortunatley.

I think you’re preaching to the choir, some people just don’t get it.

We weren’t rich either and I did ski club at school in Southern New Hampshire. We would go to Gunstock on a school bus every Friday night. My parents got very cheap skis and boots at ski swaps, and I would bring food.

That year was crazy. I remember they were running out of places to put the snow.

I was 36 weeks pregnant when it all started and a couple of weeks later, my husband drove me to the hospital while I was deep in labor, in a snow storm.

I am not complaining. Love this.

What grind my gears now is they split the day into two sessions to pull in more money.

Spring break 1993. I spent the whole week stuck inside, sewing a quilt with my mom. What I wouldn’t do to go back in time and just appreciate the unexpected hours we had together.

atmospheric river just tilted towards us

Lol oh FUCK

I dunno it feels like we've been getting less and less winter for the past 10-15 years aside from a freak record breaking month in 2015. I'm taking my dog out at night with no coat in the middle of January. It's not normal.

Hope you're wrong

Aw yeee that means Covid-20 in 2024 no traffic again.

If I recall the storm was on a Saturday into Sunday and we still didn’t have school on Monday (I was a senior in high school.)

A big hug to you and your mom…

All of MA except the Plymouth / Brockton area and the Berkshires have 0 snow right now:

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/fseprd1045012.html

> A big hug to you and your mom…

That's wholesome.

I heavily dispute this.

kind of sad that only got 2 inches of snow MAX this entire year when I live in Essex county

Lol you’re all like SKIING SO EXPENSIVE but really it’s just that you get paid dogshit because capitalism fucked you so the wealthy guy could milk you for all you’re worth just so his yacht could get a tank of gas

Oh and the world is melting / it’s not 1981 and things cost more

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Yeah you’re in the wrong place for winter or really any decent outdoors. You gave that up for things other than nature, like not being surrounded by trump trash

Lmfao sorry this is just funny. Maybe if you go 8hr up to Maine you’ll use those things

🥴

Lol this is so vanilla

Did you not live here until recently or something? Clearly you don’t know

lol is this why everyone is obese