Western Weather 2010-14

Status
Not open for further replies.
May 30; snowing at the Basin again.

I'd been texting to set up a meeting with the ski team director and he texted back he was stuck in the mtns due to snow this morning... so I looked and....

4" new and snowing hard up there. Guess they won't have too much trouble hitting their newly announced extended weekend June 7-9th. http://www.firsttracksonline.com/2013/05/29/arapahoe-basin-to-extend-colorado-ski-season/


abasincam4.jpg
 
It was a similar situation over here yesterday, here are mbaydala's photos:
 

Attachments

  • 460224_514657981917385_670592883_o.jpg
    460224_514657981917385_670592883_o.jpg
    101.1 KB · Views: 11,586
  • 467491_10152847429980431_333942344_o.jpg
    467491_10152847429980431_333942344_o.jpg
    174.1 KB · Views: 11,588
Any thoughts out there from any of our resident weather gurus on the pattern change/trough that's supposed to possibly set up over the western U.S. next week?
 
Continuing this weird winter, Colo smoked Utah on this latest Western zonal flow storm somehow and I think is also well ahead of Utah for the entire month of Jan and possibly some places are at or ahead for the year? I'm sure Tony will chime in with the exact monthly/YTD totals since this should be a 'collection day' of that data set for him.

Certainly not often that that happens, but figured it would make for some good snowball slinging given the heavy Utah focus of so many of the posters to these forums. And oh yeah, it still snowing...

:drool:
Capture.JPG
:drool:
 
I collected data and wrote a report on the 30th because I was driving all day on the 31st.

Monthly totals for January will not look that exceptional because of the big dry spell preceding this dump. The 2 Colorado regions are the only ones in North America above average so far this season.
 
Thought I'd chime in with A-Basins past 5 days of snowfall which was not too shabby. I70 was a mess this morning plus with Loveland pass closed I decided not to make the effort. With Jr's schedule it wouldn't make all that much sense given the extra long drive (most of it fell during Sunday anyway, not overnight). 24" isn't too bad this time of year...

Snowfall History
12-May 11-May 10-May 9-May 8-May
8" 2" 7" 5" 2"
 
I think we're done with material snowfalls even up high, though a couple of inches isn't out of the question at times from thunderstorms even through much of June (I think Abasin is over 40" in May snowfall so far FYI). At any rate, thought I'd post a couple of snow basin plots nearest to my heart since I generally spend most of my ski days in them.

First up is the Colorado basin (Breck, Keystone, Winter Park, SolVista, Copper, Ski Cooper, Vail, Beaver Creek). Pretty excellent season compared to the past two, but still not as good as the fabulous 10-11 season.
basinplotco14.gif


Next up is the South Platte basin (which best represents Abasin, Loveland, Eldora). You can see here that mid-Feb through Mid-April actually surpassed the fabulous 10-11 season. Which I can confirm with anecdotal ski day TR's. It was that good for a few months.
basinplotsp14.gif



For anyone who wants to see any of the other major river basins in Colorado here is the URL that produced the above graphs:
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/co/snow/products/?cid=nrcs144p2_063323
 
Yampa (Steamboat) graph is similar to Colorado. Gunnison (Monarch, Crested Butte) followed median/average closely. Dolores (SW, Telluride, Durango, Silverton, Wolf Creek) started above average, flatlined from mid-December to late January and stayed below average the rest of the season.
 
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SALT LAKE CITY UT
126 PM MDT MON JUN 16 2014

...A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM 9AM MDT TUESDAY
UNTIL NOON WEDNESDAY FOR THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS ABOVE 8000 FEET...

.AN UNSEASONABLY COLD PACIFIC STORM WILL BRING SNOW TO THE
NORTHERN MOUNTAINS ABOVE 8000 FEET TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY
NIGHT.

UTZ007>009-171000-
/O.NEW.KSLC.WW.Y.0020.140617T1500Z-140618T1800Z/
WASATCH MOUNTAINS I-80 NORTH-WASATCH MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF I-80-
WESTERN UINTA MOUNTAINS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WOODRUFF...RANDOLPH...ALTA...BRIGHTON...
MIRROR LAKE HIGHWAY
126 PM MDT MON JUN 16 2014

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TUESDAY TO NOON
MDT WEDNESDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SALT LAKE CITY HAS ISSUED A
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM
TUESDAY TO NOON MDT WEDNESDAY.

AFFECTED AREA...NORTHERN UTAH MOUNTAINS ABOVE 8000 FEET


SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...4 TO 6 INCHES


TIMING...RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SNOW AND BEGIN TO ACCUMULATE

TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY NIGHT WITH LINGERING SHOWERS
WEDNESDAY MORNING

SNOW LEVELS...STARTING AROUND 10 THOUSAND FEET TUESDAY

MORNING...LOWERING TO NEAR 8000 FEET TUESDAY AFTERNOON

IMPACTS...THE COMBINATION OF RAIN AND SNOW WILL ADVERSELY IMPACT

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES IN THE MOUNTAINS...SNOW MAY ACCUMULATE ON THE
HIGHEST ROADS SUCH AS THE MIRROR LAKE HIGHWAY IN THE UINTA
MOUNTAINS
 
Didn't seem worth an entirely new thread.... Abasin closes out the season tomorrow June 22 with 180 acres, 2 lifts and top to bottom front side skiing.

241 ski days in total for them and that's with weekdays off for the past month. Nice little season in the front range this year for a change. 440 inches of snow per them, not sure if all of it meets tony's criteria.
 
EMSC":1rikoevo said:
440 inches of snow per them, not sure if all of it meets tony's criteria.
Click to expand...
The 440 includes October. I'm not convinced that October snowfall is material to A-Basin's (or Loveland's) natural base. A-Basin was 22% open at the end of November, 40% open on Dec. 22 and 59% open on January 15. These are not good numbers in the context of Rockies ski resorts, particularly for an acknowledged good season. The strength of these areas is the late season, and when you look at A-Basin getting 54 inches in April and 47 in May, that's some great skiing. If I lived in the Front Range with limited ski time, I'd give up November/December to get April/May in a heartbeat. From November 1 to closing, A-Basin had 408 inches, 128% of normal, and Loveland had the most snow in Colorado, 420 inches (more than Alta :stir: ), 120% of normal.
 
I would agree that A-Basin October snowfall is a tough call as "usable snowfall".

Certainly Zuma bowl melted out 100% from those early storms as would the flat spots on the frontside. But the steeper and even intermediate terrain held much of the snow that fell and even though only a trail or two was open, getting to ski some soft snow on top of the man-made or even a first chair "powder lap" of a few inches every few days probably was worth something to those that dared the WROD.
 
Tony Crocker":300scge9 said:
...and Loveland had the most snow in Colorado, 420 inches (more than Alta :stir: ), 120% of normal.
Click to expand...
Why is that "stirring the pot"? Alta gets 800" years. Alta also gets 375" years. Why would anyone be bothered that Loveland got more snow than Alta this year?
Just asking....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top