Is there any question. It's not like there are a lot of websites out there devoted to nordic skiing and there's definitely one definitive one in the Upper Midwest.
Skinnyski, this award is yours, probably in perpetuity.
Congrats, Bruce, on having the most awesomest website out there.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Rollerskiing on Google Street View
Along Hiawatha, just south of 28th, in Minneapolis, Google's Street View picked up a rollerskier.
View Larger Map
How cool is that? I'm pretty darned sure it's not me but, heck, a post on Skinnyski might unmask the mystery skier! Leave a comment if you think you know who it is...
View Larger Map
How cool is that? I'm pretty darned sure it's not me but, heck, a post on Skinnyski might unmask the mystery skier! Leave a comment if you think you know who it is...
Saturday, April 4, 2009
On the other hand
Real meteorologists take in to account all the models, look at various other data, use thinks like the bufkit (Pretty much a software package, or "kit", from the Buffalo office of the NWS, or "buf", which I don't have.) and such to make real forecasts. The NWS is down to "less than an inch," probably because of the dry air in place early on when QPF overspreads the area. Which will at least keep things dry. What good is three inches of snow in April, anyway?
Friday, April 3, 2009
Skunked again ... or not?
It looks like we will have reaped two inches, maybe three, out of two storms which dump a foot over the northern half and southern fringe of Minnesota. Stuck in the middle. Again. I'm not bitter, as we had a decent snow season, and it's not like we really need one day of mediocre skiing in April. It's just that, gosh, I like snow.
Tomorrow's storm offers a faint glimmer of home on two scales. On a large scale, we've seen the models move storms north over the last few hours. It happened, big-time, last week. (Sunday the folks in Elk River were talking about grooming; Tuesday they had white grass.) And this time, the NAM pushed snow north. Then south. So, is it to be trusted? Nah.
Then there's the GFS. It's been rather steady; according to the latest AFD, it's been the model of choice. And through it's 12z run, it's put the heaviest band of snow through about Albert Lea. So we'll see if the 18z run looks any better.
For pure speculation, let's look at the ARW forecast. It's a finer-scale forecast and only goes to 48 hours, but look:
It, uh, shows us as having more than 0.5 inches of QPF (4-8 inches of snow) halfway through the storm. Okay, that's getting interesting. It had the snow band south in its 00z run, and then jumped 100 miles north for the 06z and 12z. That is interesting.
Now, the 18z GFS is just coming out. And...
...everything is shifted north. In one run, everything is up 75 miles. The Cities are not in the bullseye, but all of a sudden this is a "plowable storm" if not more. Take a look at the same time period, one run earlier:
There are a few contours of note. The 0.25 QPF contour (dark green) has moved north from about Rush City to Cloquet. The 0.5 contour (dark blue) went from Hastings to Hinckley. The 1.0 inch contour moved a bit less, but still went from Albert Lea to Northfield. This would put down a foot of snow from I-90 to Northfield, and 6-12 inches for the Metro. It might just be a stronger or differently-shaped storm (the southern contours changed less). Time, I guess will tell.
The snow, should it come, would not be necessary. It would make the trails muddier and wetter for some time. And it might give us a day or two of skiing. I'd be downright enthralled if it were December. For now, I'll just keep a close eye on the models as they roll through.
Tomorrow's storm offers a faint glimmer of home on two scales. On a large scale, we've seen the models move storms north over the last few hours. It happened, big-time, last week. (Sunday the folks in Elk River were talking about grooming; Tuesday they had white grass.) And this time, the NAM pushed snow north. Then south. So, is it to be trusted? Nah.
Then there's the GFS. It's been rather steady; according to the latest AFD, it's been the model of choice. And through it's 12z run, it's put the heaviest band of snow through about Albert Lea. So we'll see if the 18z run looks any better.
For pure speculation, let's look at the ARW forecast. It's a finer-scale forecast and only goes to 48 hours, but look:
It, uh, shows us as having more than 0.5 inches of QPF (4-8 inches of snow) halfway through the storm. Okay, that's getting interesting. It had the snow band south in its 00z run, and then jumped 100 miles north for the 06z and 12z. That is interesting.Now, the 18z GFS is just coming out. And...
...everything is shifted north. In one run, everything is up 75 miles. The Cities are not in the bullseye, but all of a sudden this is a "plowable storm" if not more. Take a look at the same time period, one run earlier:
There are a few contours of note. The 0.25 QPF contour (dark green) has moved north from about Rush City to Cloquet. The 0.5 contour (dark blue) went from Hastings to Hinckley. The 1.0 inch contour moved a bit less, but still went from Albert Lea to Northfield. This would put down a foot of snow from I-90 to Northfield, and 6-12 inches for the Metro. It might just be a stronger or differently-shaped storm (the southern contours changed less). Time, I guess will tell.
The snow, should it come, would not be necessary. It would make the trails muddier and wetter for some time. And it might give us a day or two of skiing. I'd be downright enthralled if it were December. For now, I'll just keep a close eye on the models as they roll through.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
2009 Ski Season Awards!
It's that time of year again. Well, not again. The snow has melted, the sun is out (hooray!) and most of us are focusing in on running, biking, when the trails will dry out, when we actually want to start rollerskiing, how quickly we can make up for the beer we didn't drink during the ski season, &c.
But it's also time for the First Annual SkiMSP Blog Awards:
* Website of the year: for the website which has done the most to advance local skiing.
* Skier of the year (male and female): for the local skiers who have had the most impressive skiing years (and a premium is placed on both local, national and international racing).
* Race of the year: for the race with the best snow, volunteers and organisation
* Volunteers of the year: this will be given only in years when a group of volunteers, through superhuman effort, advances the interests of skiers or makes a race happen despite all odds (see Loppet, City of lakes, 2006).
* Snowmaking of the year: for the best fake snow in the area
* Striding tracks of the year: for the best striding tracks in the area
* Grooming of the year: taking in to account snow conditions and amount, dedication and general vigour, verve and alacrity, which trail has the best grooming of the year
* Trail of the year: all things considered (grooming, terrain, snow &c.) the best trail of the year.
Again, this is all based on my opinions. If you disagree, leave a comment and start a flame war!
But it's also time for the First Annual SkiMSP Blog Awards:
"The Flurries"That's right, this blog will give out awards over the next week in several categories, with the winners determined completely unscientifically and solely by me. The winners of these prestigious awards will go on to fame and fortune. Or not. Awards will be given in the following categories:
* Website of the year: for the website which has done the most to advance local skiing.
* Skier of the year (male and female): for the local skiers who have had the most impressive skiing years (and a premium is placed on both local, national and international racing).
* Race of the year: for the race with the best snow, volunteers and organisation
* Volunteers of the year: this will be given only in years when a group of volunteers, through superhuman effort, advances the interests of skiers or makes a race happen despite all odds (see Loppet, City of lakes, 2006).
* Snowmaking of the year: for the best fake snow in the area
* Striding tracks of the year: for the best striding tracks in the area
* Grooming of the year: taking in to account snow conditions and amount, dedication and general vigour, verve and alacrity, which trail has the best grooming of the year
* Trail of the year: all things considered (grooming, terrain, snow &c.) the best trail of the year.
Again, this is all based on my opinions. If you disagree, leave a comment and start a flame war!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
SUNNYSKI
Every year, Bruce (I suspect) puts together an April Fools version of Skinnyski. This year's headlines:
* Free registration for ski marathons
* Great skiing at misspelled local venues
* Hot-boxing's bastard brother, "cool skis" is introduced
* The boys in Elk River are hoarding snow (actually, this isn't too far from the truth)
* Al and Norm are having a ski-off
That one had a cute picture:
and others.
Hmm, that picture seems similar to last year's Hillary-Barack ski-off:
You can see this year's Sunnyski on the homepage, and I assume it will be archived as the last few have, which you can see at the various links below:
2009
2008
2007
2006
Have a foolish day. And, yes, he still posts trail reports from up north.
* Free registration for ski marathons
* Great skiing at misspelled local venues
* Hot-boxing's bastard brother, "cool skis" is introduced
* The boys in Elk River are hoarding snow (actually, this isn't too far from the truth)
* Al and Norm are having a ski-off
That one had a cute picture:
and others.Hmm, that picture seems similar to last year's Hillary-Barack ski-off:
You can see this year's Sunnyski on the homepage, and I assume it will be archived as the last few have, which you can see at the various links below:2009
2008
2007
2006
Have a foolish day. And, yes, he still posts trail reports from up north.
April Fools
Yes, snow on April Fools Day. But not that much in the Metro. (On Sunday, the Trail Slaves were talking about grooming Woodland and then the storm shifted 150 miles and we got skunked. Again.) Up north, well, 5-10 across the Range, 10-15 along the North Shore (where a lot of places closed after the ice storm) and a foot in the Northwest part of the state. Fargo has had 28 inches of snow in March, breaking a record. Luckily the cold weather kept it from sending the river up a couple more feet, but now they get to wait and see again, although it looks like a slow melt in the next week or two. Will I be skiing at Maplelag or The Ridge or the North Shore again this weekend? Maybe.
That said, it's April Fools Day! Twelve years ago, when I was an awkward tyke in seventh grade, Eastern Massachusetts was greeted with two and a half feet of snow. The Wikipedia article doesn't do the storm justice, so here's the recap. March 30, a Sunday, was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the mid-60s. My dad and I went on a bike ride in shorts and a t-shirt. The Friday before, the weathermen had been talking about the possibility of a snowstorm on April Fools, but no one believed them. Saturday, they were saying rain on Monday changing to snow on Monday night in to Tuesday, with as much as half a foot. No one believed them.
By Sunday evening, the forecast for the next morning was for rain and temperatures around 50, falling throughout the day, with snow mixing in in the evening and six to twelve inches by Tuesday morning. April Fools. With the sun shining and temperatures well above normal, it was widely believed to be a hoax. It wasn't.
Monday morning, March 31, dawned cloudy, cool, and rainy. It was in the low 40s with a steady, cool rain. Typical April weather. The forecasts called for the rain to change to snow between 4 and 6 p.m., and accumulate 10-14 inches. Were the weathermen to be believed? Well, at least there was something falling from the sky.
I was excited because, whilst I was not a competitive skier at the time, I did like snow. Sitting in math class at 10:30 in the morning, I was bored, and turned to look out the window. It kind of looked like snow. "No," I said to myself, "it's not supposed to change over for hours." Five minutes later I looked out again. I could barely see across the school's courtyard, a distance of maybe 50 feet. It was definitely a blizzard.
School wasn't called early, but all after school activities were. It was snowing hard, sticking on the roads, and they wanted everyone home. We walked out to the buses through snow, with what seemed like an inch sticking to my head as I walked 200 yards. Our bus drive, Sam, usually took a nap with the bus's door open while he waited for us to board, in fact, we often had to wake him up when it was time to go. (Sam was what we call, in Boston, a "character." When he dropped us off he'd usually tell us to "go home and do your homework." Why? "So you don't wind up a bus drivah like me.") Today, however, Sam was not only awake, but opening the door for every kid who got on the bus, so that the stiff northeast wind didn't fill the bus with snow.
With everything canceled, everyone took the bus home. Imagine a Birkie bus with seven people seated across every row, packing the aisles with bodies and bookbags (but no skis). Skis might have been faster. Half an hour later we got to the bus stop, two miles away, and exited, tromping to a friend's house in the snow. An hour later my mother called. She was coming to get me. She didn't know if she'd be able to get through later on.
School was canceled the next day at 9:00 p.m. that evening, which made for joyous celebrations. It was a forgone conclusion at that point. We had a foot of snow and it was an all-out blizzard. We made a nice snowman in the back yard (it was definitely snowman snow; it didn't drop below 29 the entire storm), tried to get a handle on shoveling, and all went to sleep, the wind howling outside. Visibility at bedtime was reported at 0.2 miles. Winds were sustained at 35 mph, gusting to 55.
When we woke up, everything was very white. The streets were not really passable, but we were able to trudge over to go sledding (the Ski Track had shut down for the season), which was fun. The snowman in the back yard was a pinnacle of snow. That evening, school was canceled the next day, too. Hooray! We went to pick up a friend that day, 24 hours after the snow had ended and found that his house, on a side street, was accessible only by a footpath down the middle of the street. No wonder school was out. We went sledding at "Kill Hill" which was well-padded with all the snow and a blast as always.
By Thursday, school was opened, but with a two hour delay. Friday as well. A two hour delay, highs of 55 three days after the snow had ended. With the April sun and temperatures in the 50s, the snow was mostly melted by the end of the weekend. I was biking to school, dodging snow banks, on Monday. That afternoon, the high was 75. And in the shade, you could have probably gone skiing.
The City of Boston had a wait-and-see approach with side streets, where there was pretty much too much snow to plow. Days after the storm, they were melting but still impassable. If it had been three months earlier, it would have been more problematic, but because of the season, it melted pretty quickly.
That said, it's April Fools Day! Twelve years ago, when I was an awkward tyke in seventh grade, Eastern Massachusetts was greeted with two and a half feet of snow. The Wikipedia article doesn't do the storm justice, so here's the recap. March 30, a Sunday, was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the mid-60s. My dad and I went on a bike ride in shorts and a t-shirt. The Friday before, the weathermen had been talking about the possibility of a snowstorm on April Fools, but no one believed them. Saturday, they were saying rain on Monday changing to snow on Monday night in to Tuesday, with as much as half a foot. No one believed them.
By Sunday evening, the forecast for the next morning was for rain and temperatures around 50, falling throughout the day, with snow mixing in in the evening and six to twelve inches by Tuesday morning. April Fools. With the sun shining and temperatures well above normal, it was widely believed to be a hoax. It wasn't.
Monday morning, March 31, dawned cloudy, cool, and rainy. It was in the low 40s with a steady, cool rain. Typical April weather. The forecasts called for the rain to change to snow between 4 and 6 p.m., and accumulate 10-14 inches. Were the weathermen to be believed? Well, at least there was something falling from the sky.
I was excited because, whilst I was not a competitive skier at the time, I did like snow. Sitting in math class at 10:30 in the morning, I was bored, and turned to look out the window. It kind of looked like snow. "No," I said to myself, "it's not supposed to change over for hours." Five minutes later I looked out again. I could barely see across the school's courtyard, a distance of maybe 50 feet. It was definitely a blizzard.
School wasn't called early, but all after school activities were. It was snowing hard, sticking on the roads, and they wanted everyone home. We walked out to the buses through snow, with what seemed like an inch sticking to my head as I walked 200 yards. Our bus drive, Sam, usually took a nap with the bus's door open while he waited for us to board, in fact, we often had to wake him up when it was time to go. (Sam was what we call, in Boston, a "character." When he dropped us off he'd usually tell us to "go home and do your homework." Why? "So you don't wind up a bus drivah like me.") Today, however, Sam was not only awake, but opening the door for every kid who got on the bus, so that the stiff northeast wind didn't fill the bus with snow.
With everything canceled, everyone took the bus home. Imagine a Birkie bus with seven people seated across every row, packing the aisles with bodies and bookbags (but no skis). Skis might have been faster. Half an hour later we got to the bus stop, two miles away, and exited, tromping to a friend's house in the snow. An hour later my mother called. She was coming to get me. She didn't know if she'd be able to get through later on.
School was canceled the next day at 9:00 p.m. that evening, which made for joyous celebrations. It was a forgone conclusion at that point. We had a foot of snow and it was an all-out blizzard. We made a nice snowman in the back yard (it was definitely snowman snow; it didn't drop below 29 the entire storm), tried to get a handle on shoveling, and all went to sleep, the wind howling outside. Visibility at bedtime was reported at 0.2 miles. Winds were sustained at 35 mph, gusting to 55.
When we woke up, everything was very white. The streets were not really passable, but we were able to trudge over to go sledding (the Ski Track had shut down for the season), which was fun. The snowman in the back yard was a pinnacle of snow. That evening, school was canceled the next day, too. Hooray! We went to pick up a friend that day, 24 hours after the snow had ended and found that his house, on a side street, was accessible only by a footpath down the middle of the street. No wonder school was out. We went sledding at "Kill Hill" which was well-padded with all the snow and a blast as always.
By Thursday, school was opened, but with a two hour delay. Friday as well. A two hour delay, highs of 55 three days after the snow had ended. With the April sun and temperatures in the 50s, the snow was mostly melted by the end of the weekend. I was biking to school, dodging snow banks, on Monday. That afternoon, the high was 75. And in the shade, you could have probably gone skiing.
The City of Boston had a wait-and-see approach with side streets, where there was pretty much too much snow to plow. Days after the storm, they were melting but still impassable. If it had been three months earlier, it would have been more problematic, but because of the season, it melted pretty quickly.
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