11 Jan - Stormy. Snow charts.

As forecast a storm arrived this morning, or you could say the last few days of intermittent snowfall picked up significantly. At 800m it snowed 4cm/hr for at least 8 hours so far, producing pretty low density white. Gusty winds to moderate strength and obviously increased avalanche danger. I took the day to write some stuff up and also prepare the first seasonal comparison chart. Before anyone reads too much into it, the first two seasons of data (0708 and 0809) are both from near Goryu at 860m, which is less snowy than where I live now closer to Tsugaike at 800m. So absolute comparisons can not really be made between every season in the series. However relative comparisons of the timing and size of snowfall is possible, and of course the last few seasons recored at the same place can be directly compared.

This season is pretty normal in terms of rate of accumulation after a later than normal start. As at 11 January we look - thankfully - a little like last season with a slower accumulation of more manageable snowfall, rather than dramatic dumps followed by warm periods. Last season was great! Less is sometimes more in a maritime climate. The 0809 season was terrible, irrespective of where the data was recorded. It rained to almost treeline every Friday for 6 weeks running. This season people think we are falling short of 'normal'. Not so at all really. What is different is that we didn't start with a big heavy dump to help squash smaller vegetation, so it is a little bushy out there. However as of now, we have had about half of what we can expect over the full season and are not at all lacking in snowfall.

I am happy to share my charts around, however as far as I am concerned, this is the best [only?] data collected in the valley from a meaningful location using reliable and consistent methods every single day by hand. So if you feel like taking my graph and sticking on your commercial website, marketing material or magazine then perhaps at least give me credit, or contact me first. My efforts have been used in the past without any such courtesy and most of the time I find out and know exactly who is doing it. And I remember.