Winter 2016-17 Options

[snowgeek93]

Your welcome.

Not much to see as there is pretty much zero visibility at the moment.
Live stream from Churchill, MB

Yeah, it's still looking brutal over there.

[willyswagon]

Went out for what was most likely the last run on the snowmobile yesterday. The sun is stronger than the snow. It is over for this season.

[travis3000]

Went out for what was most likely the last run on the snowmobile yesterday. The sun is stronger than the snow. It is over for this season.

At least you were able to get out throughout the winter. Our snowmobile season down here was almost non existent. About 6-8 days of open trails for the entire winter, with limited conditions.

[snowgeek93]

At least you were able to get out throughout the winter. Our snowmobile season down here was almost non existent. About 6-8 days of open trails for the entire winter, with limited conditions.

Wow! I imagine snow depth was never enough up there for a long enough period to allow for decent conditions?

[travis3000]

Wow! I imagine snow depth was never enough up there for a long enough period to allow for decent conditions?

Yes snowmobiling trails need frozen ground, a 20cm+ base of snow (not drifts) and a sustained period of below 0C temps. Many of the trails are through fields, so to get them open you need a nice 30cm storm (which the groomer packs down to a solid 7-10cm of hardened powder). Any snow that fell this year usually melted within 3-6 days which didnt give the groomers enough time to open the trails. December was our best month, but the water wasn't frozen which prevented many of the trails from opening. January's lack of snowfall and warmer temps kept them closed and when the trails finally opened up mid-February they closed within 5 days once the epic heatwave came in. They've been totally shut down ever since the 18th of February.

This post has been edited by travis3000: Mar 8 2017, 04:41 PM

[snowgeek93]

Yes snowmobiling trails need frozen ground, a 20cm+ base of snow (not drifts) and a sustained period of below 0C temps. Many of the trails are through fields, so to get them open you need a solid 30cm storm (which the groomer packs down to a solid 7-10cm of hardened powder). Any snow that fell this year usually melted within 3-6 days which didnt give the groomers enough time to open the trails. December was our best month, but the water wasn't frozen which prevented many of the trails from opening. January's lack of snowfall and warmer temps kept them closed and when the trails finally opened up mid-February they closed within 5 days once the epic heatwave came in. They've been totally shut down ever since the 18th of February.

Ouch, not a good year for the snowmobiling industry around your area. It was a much better in the snowbelts as usual.

[travis3000]

Ouch, not a good year for the snowmobiling industry around your area. It was a much better in the snowbelts as usual.

Even up north they have been hurting. For the 8th of March it's very unusual to have all of Muskoka/North Bay shut down. My dad is an avid sledder and is a big part of the community and most sledders are disappointed with this season anywhere south of North Bay. Muskoka has had a record number of riders die from falling in the water, the ice isn't freezing due to the wild warm spells we've had all winter. And since there are so many lakes in Muskoka, the cold is essential to get these trails open.

Here's the official map showing where the trails are open right now.

http://ofsc.mapbase.ca/viewer/

[willyswagon]

At least you were able to get out throughout the winter. Our snowmobile season down here was almost non existent. About 6-8 days of open trails for the entire winter, with limited conditions.

I mostly use fields and woods paths as the trail was limited here as well. To get decent sledding this year, one needed to travel to Bathurst NB (5hrs), or the Cape Breton Highlands(6hrs). Still managed to put on 1800km by going anytime I could squeeze in a ride.

[bigmt]

I've seen some wicked March storms so I refuse to close the book on this winter.

Oh, I see.

I'm a little less enthused about spring-snows being as far south as I am. March storms do happen, but they're useless other than the thrill of watching it unfold. Melting starts ASAP and within 1-3 days it's as if it never happened. I'd just rather get mild once March starts to roll through.

Oh, I see.

[bigmt]

...makes me wonder if we should tap our sugar bush.

Not really a strong signal from that product, with only a 50-60% chance of above-normal temps in that sliver affecting us.

Ideal conditions for sap to flow would be sub-freezing at night and mild / sunny during the day. Hard to know how likely that is but if the pattern is active it may not lean towards that type of weather overall.

My line of thinking as well. This might be a bit of a false start and not worth the sludge through the snow at this point. It's a bit early. If only we used lines not buckets....

If the pattern favoured a series of arctic highs pushing in from the NW that would likely be better, although it's still a bit early as you say so that might trend more toward below-freezing during the day until we shift normals higher.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/maple...-2017-1.4021861

The bright, sweet-smelling kitchen at Garland Sugar Shack in rural east Ottawa was busy Sunday afternoon as its co-owner Ivan Garland made his way toward his office.

Garland, who said he's been tapping maple trees for nearly 40 years as a hobby and the last 16 years as a business, said they'll start bringing in sap through their pipelines in the next week.

"The real season really never starts until around the 15th to 20th of March," he said.

Earl Stanley, who owns Stanley's Olde Maple Lane Farm in rural east Ottawa, said the long-term forecast is looking good this season.

"Maple syrup farmers, we're looking for a 5 C/-5 C [temperature] differential. You get those nice warm days and cool nights, the sap will flow," he said in a phone interview Sunday.

"When you get -25, -30 C the trees think it's winter again and go dormant."

Stanley said he tapped some of his trees in the last week or two when temperatures bumped well above zero, but this recent cold snap cut off that flow.

"Maybe maple syrup in February was a bit of a false start," he said.

He said they'll tap the rest of the trees at that farm and another in Lanark County Monday and Tuesday and hopes to bring in over 3,000 litres of syrup between the two of them, which he said would be an average yield.

[bigmt]

All this talk of April. Have you guys given up on March already?

Yes. Wait, no. Wait, wait - Yes. Oh hold on, now it's no again. You know what? We'll get back to you on that if you're around sometime.

Who'd have thunk mentioning April 1975 would be the catalyst for abandoning ship on March 2017 a week before it started? Things work in mysterious ways.