Snowstorm in Franconia Notch

[Waumbek]

If you can call a drive all the way up I-93 a trip, I had a real exciting trip tonight. The heavy snow starts north of Plymouth at about exit 28 and continues through Franconia Notch to about exit 35 where the elevation drops down to about 1600'. In the Notch there is heavy, wet, blowing snow, little visibility, and the plows were not yet out when I came through just now. Hard to tell but it looks like about 3" of snow. When it is moving at all, traffic is crawling at 10-15 mph. On the northbound upgrade near the Basin, a mammouth tractor trailer has come to a halt evidently unable to get up the rise. This is the narrowest part of the Notch. Cars are able to squeeze around the truck but other trucks and the plow most likely won't be able to. I wish all those guys good luck; it's going to be a long night for them. It took me about 40 mins. to make my way through the Notch alone. I made a pit stop at exit 31 (Tripoli Rd). It was still ungated tonight but I wouldn't count on it for this weekend without calling first. It's raining slush north of the Notch and 36F here but the temps will drop and it will probably be white by morning. A winter wonderland tomorrow will make up for the white-knuckle drive home tonight. (Heck, it's better than the old days when there was no center barrier in the Notch, and I drove rear wheel drive Chevies with bald tires.)

 

[Mark_151]

WoooooHooooooo!!!!!!!!

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

South of the Notch, in Thornton (elevation 700 feet) I woke up to a dusting of white stuff on the grass, already melted on the road.

 

[vegematic]

Let it snow!

Ground got covered in Bethel last night. Just a cm or two deep but it sure looks pretty!
-veg

 

[HikerBob]

YAY!!!!

I missed last weekend because of the weather forecast. Not this week

Hmmmm... where to go? Where to go?

Bob

 

[Sticks]

Bring on ole man winter
I will be heading up to Crawford Notch to do Field, Tom,Willey loop, should be interesting......can't wait

Happy Trails
Sticks

 

[Waumbek]

It's still snowing in Franconia Notch but the road is clear now. It's also snowing generally everywhere in the area although it is not accumulating below about 1400'. Here's a pic taken around 2 p.m. of Echo Lake and Eagle Cliff. Look really really hard and you'll see Lafayette behind Eagle Cliff.

 

[amstony]

Nice pic! But where has the year gone......... ? Snow and holidays approaching already!

Tony

 

[hikerfast]

thursday

i went up valley way to madison col. bout an inch of snow on the ground all the way up until i got to the hut. plenty of ice on the trail higher up. hopefully some snow will cover the ice. this time of year is always tricky without snow covering the ice.

 

[Mark_151]

Would somebody please be kind enough to post when Moosilauke is skiiable? (without rock skis)

Thanks!
Mark

 

[Mark_151]

Here's the article in the Union Leader this morning.

 

[Waumbek]

Thanks, Mark. The UL article explains why driving was so bad in the Notch on Thursday night. By 10 p.m. when the 10 plows were dispatched, it had been snowing for at least an hour or more, the roads were treacherous, and the tractor trailer had already become immobilized near the Basin. Better late than never, I guess.

 

[bobandgeri]

We drove through there northbound last night @ 7 PM - hit snow at Lincoln area. Was pretty heavy in the notch. From exit 34a till just past Cannon, traffic was moving along at less that 10 mph :< We saw dozens of places where cars had gone off the road during the day. Cars were still slipping and sliding. When we got over to the Jefferson area there was a detour around the long steep hill before the downhill into Gorham. Comming back today it looks like it may have been a nasty accident.

On the way past Cannon this afternoon we saw 3 people skiing! Looks like they had hit all the trails - bragging rights for first tracks of the year :>

The White Mountains are very white at the upper elevations, but with the warm temps it is melting quickly by the roads.

 

[Mark_151]

We drove through there northbound last night @ 7 PM - hit snow at Lincoln area. Was pretty heavy in the notch. From exit 34a till just past Cannon, traffic was moving along at less that 10 mph :< We saw dozens of places where cars had gone off the road during the day. Cars were still slipping and sliding. When we got over to the Jefferson area there was a detour around the long steep hill before the downhill into Gorham. Comming back today it looks like it may have been a nasty accident.

On the way past Cannon this afternoon we saw 3 people skiing! Looks like they had hit all the trails - bragging rights for first tracks of the year :>

The White Mountains are very white at the upper elevations, but with the warm temps it is melting quickly by the roads.

Cannon Trip Report

I've really got to work on getting on the ball better -- too many committment s kept me from playing up North with the skis this weekend, even with a 3 day lead on this "surprise" snowstorm. I'm envious as hell of all those who got turns in this weekend.



Mark

 

[carole]

BobandGeri: This may be what you saw accident in Randolph

 

[bobandgeri]

I bet that was it :< That's too bad that people died. It was very slippery - we did notice lots of highway trucks in the area salting the road.

 

[audrey]

No turns yet, but the view from the Cannonball yesterday was mighty fine! There was about a foot of snow up there. The descent was a wet one as clumps of snow kept plopping on our heads.

 

[Mountainhound]

glad to see the snow is comming looks like it is time to head north for some snow fun.