Oz/NZ 2022.

I planned a holiday the first week in July in Queenstown in 2010 (I think). Not a flake on the ski hills. Had to drive up to Mt Hutt where conditions were great for early intermediates.
A great but unusual start to the season.
 
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Mt Buller scene:

Big Snow down under for sure this year...

I read an article somewhere relatively recently that indicated that certain La Nina years can impact the eastern side of Australia pretty significantly in making it much wetter than normal.
 
The first Spencer's Creek number for 2022 snowpack posted is 118.3cm as of June 15. The only other years over 100cm that early were 1960 and 1968.:eusa-clap:

There's quite a bit of terrain open but much of it is icy. I don't know whether it has rained since the big storm 2 weeks ago.
 
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NZ getting some love too.
Digging out at Craigieburn.
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The link above has never worked for me. I presume that East Coast Low was the reason for the flooding around Sydney. Did the storm get to the ski areas, and if so as rain or snow? The June 29 Spencer's Creek snow depth of 101.2cm is the largest since 2004 but lower than on June 15.

South Island NZ is doing well for this early in the season. Base depths are generally over 100cm with nearly full operation of lifts and most terrain. Cragieburn (club field with steep terrain and no snowmaking) being open is surely a good sign too. From the numbers in that link North Island has mostly missed out on these storms so far. Patrick is considering NZ for Aug/Sep and so far this looks like a good year for that trip.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
The link above has never worked for me. I presume that East Coast Low was the reason for the flooding around Sydney. Did the storm get to the ski areas, and if so as rain or snow? The June 29 Spencer's Creek snow depth of 101.2cm is the largest since 2004 but lower than on June 15.
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Yes the flooding was due to an ECL as the weather nerds call them. The hills received nowhere near the amount the coast did but they did get some rain which would explain the loss of snow depth at Spencer's Creek I suppose.

NZ doing very nicely. A shot from Coronet Peak near Queenstown from two days ago. I'm not there unfortunately.

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Sbooker said:
NZ doing very nicely. A shot from Coronet Peak near Queenstown from two days ago. I'm not there unfortunately.
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Yes, I just glanced at major area reports and webcams. Looks like every place is nearly 100% open with decent snow bases 100cm - up to 200cm at favored resorts.
 
Not skiing but I’m on the Gold Coast for a 50th birthday for a mate.
A pretty spectacular place in winter. I’m having breakfast at the Kurrawa Surf Living Club. I’m in shorts and t shirt.
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If you get a chance I would recommend visiting at some point. In my view it’s best to avoid our summer (December to March). August to November is best but the water temps can be a bit cool.
There is a nice hinterland area only half an hour drive away where some fantastic rainforests and waterfalls can be explored.
Im not an avid beach person but I think the Gold Coast has offers the best all round coastal style holiday there is.
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There are casinos, shopping and decent dining if you’re into that stuff too.
 
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Liz and I spent two days at Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island, a more rustic alternative to the bustling Gold Coast, in November 2012. Delightful!

Surely sbooker must be tempted to take a week in NZ this season. I’ve been lobbying Patrick to do NZ this year for awhile, but as often is the case he’s being flaky with some other priorities.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
Liz and I spent two days at Rainbow Beach and Fraser Island, a more rustic alternative to the bustling Gold Coast, in November 2012. Delightful!

Surely sbooker must be tempted to take a week in NZ this season. I’ve been lobbying Patrick to do NZ this year for awhile, but as often is the case he’s being flaky with some other priorities.
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Rainbow Beach is another favourite of mine. I’m going on a 2 day offshore fishing charter out of there in a few weeks.
I intend to get to the north island of NZ at the end of October for spring turns. I have an even more packed schedule than previous years with my daughter finishing school, my son playing rugby league finals over the next few weeks and having the Oztag nationals in Coffs Harbour in early October and four 50th birthday events to attend over the next three months.
Both kids now have part time jobs so there is running around with that. Kylie has started back at work for the first time in 17 years. And I’ve still got to find the time to earn a dollar.*
* Incidentally the real estate market here in Oz has slowed dramatically. It seems as our nation carries a lot of household debt and most mortgages are variable rate by nature that interest rate rises really bite - and quickly. I believe it’s a little different in your part of the world as the mortgages are often fixed for the life of the loan.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
Surely sbooker must be tempted to take a week in NZ this season. I’ve been lobbying Patrick to do NZ this year for awhile, but as often is the case he’s being flaky with some other priorities.
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There are still no direct flights to NZ from San Francisco - so the process of getting to the South Island for a week is too convoluted and too much $$$ for what it is worth. Although there are one-stop flights to Christchurch with a 24 hr+ layover in Fiji.... Different year.

Even the Australian resorts look good.
 
This continuing La Nina weather pattern is delivering extremely unseasonal rain to Brisbane area. We usually get no rain in August and September and October is usually just the very start of the storm season. (Storm being afternoon thunderstorm that rolls through for about half an hour and dumps an inch of rain at best). This spring has seen 10 inches in August (average about 30ml or just over 1 inch), 9 inches in September (average about 1 inch) and we're having another event now that will see 8 inches over three days. I've not seen rain at this time of year like this ever. In 2007 we did have some rain in August and a follow up in October. I remember it well as it broke a long running drought here in south east Queensland. Our drinking water storage dams got down to 11% in the July of 2007. Things were looking dire. Interestingly that drought and water shortage caused the water authorities to have the dams* at 160% capacity until 2010/11 when we had huge flooding through the city that affected thousands of homes. The dams were too full to properly function for flood mitigation as they were designed for after the 1974 flood event.

*Water is being released from Wivenhoe and Somerset dams this week so we're better prepared for a wetter than normal wet season this summer. Brisbane flooded last year and we don't need a repeat this year.
 
I presume sbooker did not make that spring trip to NZ. As good as the South Island ski season was, the North Island's was poor with lots of rain. Mt. Hutt is the last NZ area still open.

For future reference I found a site that lists open/close dates for the past several years in NZ:
Whakapapa and Turoa usually run to last weekend of October, but Turoa did not make that this year. My vague impression of Turoa being open in November is obviously anecdotal.

Ht. Hutt normally runs to second weekend of October but will go longer in good years. If you want to ski the club fields you better get there by September. Even this year Craigieburn closed Oct. 2.

Treble Cone and Coronet Peak also seem to have fixed closing dates late Sept/early Oct. Cardrona and the Remarkables may run an extra week or two.

Patrick returned to Australia. The closing weekend of Oct. 1-2 looked drizzly and sketchy, but most of his skiing was in mid-September with full coverage and good conditions. The Spencer's Creek snow depth of 232cm on Sept. 21 was the highest at any time in any Aussie ski season since 2017. La Nina is favorable to Aussie ski areas.
 
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