Western Weather 2014-15

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Sunset Magazine":1v3n4vnf said:
After a controversial 2014 decision to ban snowboarders, Alta is one of the three ski-only resorts in the country.
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Now that REALLY is butchering. Alta management has of course not changed its position in any way since snowboards were invented. What happened in 2014 was a court decision in Alta's favor vs. the snowboarders who filed a discrimination lawsuit.

My critiques are less blatant:
Sunset Magazine":1v3n4vnf said:
Mountains that get lot of sun- like Steamboat and Vail in Colorado and Jackson Hole in Wyoming- are good bets right now.
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The casual reader will interpret the phrase "get a lot of sun" as "these areas have a sunny climate as opposed to a cloudy climate like Whistler." Nowhere in that article is the importance of north exposure to snow preservation explicitly stated despite my emphasis of that point in November e-mail correspondence.

EMSC will like this one:
Sunset Magazine":1v3n4vnf said:
Summit County, Colorado, is a good spring break option. It has numerous high-altitude resorts, such as Keystone and Breckenridge, that preserve snow exceptionally well.
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Of course, the OTHER Summit County areas, Copper and Arapahoe Basin, have the superior snow preservation. In fact Arapahoe Basin is probably #1 in North America for snow preservation. Copper is higher than Keystone and much more north exposed than Breckenridge. Swapping those areas in that sentence would have been a simple change, but since I was not consulted it didn't happen.
 
Tony Crocker":1adqocj1 said:
EMSC will like this one:
Sunset Magazine wrote:
Summit County, Colorado, is a good spring break option. It has numerous high-altitude resorts, such as Keystone and Breckenridge, that preserve snow exceptionally well.

Of course, the OTHER Summit County areas, Copper and Arapahoe Basin, have the superior snow preservation. In fact Arapahoe Basin is probably #1 in North America for snow preservation. Copper is higher than Keystone and much more north exposed than Breckenridge. Swapping those areas in that sentence would have been a simple change, but since I was not consulted it didn't happen.
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That is pretty humorous considering Keystone is by far the worst snow and snow preservation in the entire region of central/I-70 Colorado. ABasin, Loveland, Copper and upper part of Breck preserve quite well though.
 
Rankings of my snow preservation algorithm for Colorado areas, which to no surprise dominate the top of the list:
1) A-Basin
3) Crested Butte
4) Wolf Creek
5) Copper
7) Telluride
8 ) Aspen Highlands
11) Snowmass
12) Winter Park
13) Aspen Mt.
14) Monarch
16) Loveland
21) Beaver Creek
26) Keystone
35) Powderhorn
36) Purgatory
37) Sunlight
40) Breck
54) Vail
89) Steamboat

Altitude, latitude and exposure are in the algorithm, and exposure is the main explanation of the 3 areas at the bottom of the list. Predominantly steep areas get an amplified exposure score, more positive if heavily north facing, more negative if not. The exceptionally high altitude at Loveland and Breck by my observation has an impact that should put those 2 a bit higher. However, in both cases wind likely plays a key role in preserving winter snow in April, as it does at Mammoth (#9).
 
Anecdotally, I would put Loveland up in the ~Aspen Highlands range of the list and Breck about where Loveland currently is.

Some really good days at both in the late season, though you do need to be terrain aware at both so as to not get into the sloppy/spring or worse snow down low/facing the wrong exposure.
 
I agree with both of the above comments based upon personal observation.

If Breck had the same preservation score that Loveland does now, it's overall Snow Score would be 73 instead of 70. Loveland's score with the suggested adjustment would rise from 80.3 to about 82. In general displaying results by rank exaggerates differences among most areas, which is why I asked Chris Steiner to change that methodology.

For the overall Snow Score the high altitude Colorado areas are close to where they belong IMHO. If the worst cases are off 2-3 points overall, that's probably not enough to justify exception logic for those specific areas.
 
Well, our regularly scheduled January inversions in Utah that Tony says don't happen are here right on schedule with smog in the valleys and near record temps at elevation.

6f621097c1a9c0856b61834b532ec62f.jpg


photo: Andy Chrysler via Wasatch Snow Forecast
 
Jim Steenburgh has been commenting on the inversion phenomenon as usual. A key contributor in his opinion is having snow on the ground to help keep the low-level air cold. This condition is normally present a week or two into December. He said December 2014 was unusually warm. SLC temps through Christmas were about the same as an average November and there was no snow cover until almost the end of December.
http://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.c ... stmas.html
http://wasatchweatherweenies.blogspot.com/2015/01/inversions-crazy-cold-temperatures.html":2p70y9tx said:
Pollution:
We've made it half way through inversion season without many problems, that is changing now. Snow covered ground, a low-angle sun, and a long-range forecast with a developing ridge mean we're in for problems.
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Steenburgh says January 1 is "halfway through inversion season." :-k
 
Tony Crocker":2yq2b6a8 said:
A key contributor in his opinion is having snow on the ground to help keep the low-level air cold.
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I agree with that completely.

Tony Crocker":2yq2b6a8 said:
there was no snow cover until almost the end of December.
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That's not at all unusual.
 
This is getting tiresome. Certainly one of the less stellar seasons in my 15 years here. From today's avi report:

CURRENT CONDITIONS

Today is the 36th day in a row of above normal temperatures in Salt Lake City with more days like it in the forecast. It's balmy and warm this morning again with strong wind along the ridge tops in advance of yet another weak cold front scheduled to arrive mid day. At 9,000' it's 34 this morning with the ridge top wind blowing 30, gusting to 50 from the southeast. Snow surface conditions yesterday were surprisingly good on the northerly facing, wind-sheltered slopes with 2-5 inches of soft, dry, faceted snow and settled old snow. The sun exposed aspects will likely be crusted today. The wind exposed terrain has a wide variety of sastrugi and old, smooth wind slabs.

WEATHER

Balmy, windy weather this morning will be punctuated by a weak, quick-hitting, cold front by about mid day. The forecast is for 1-2 inches of snow and the wind should drop with the arrival of the cold front. Then, a few lingering clouds this afternoon and evening. This morning, expect temperatures in the mid to upper 30's with ridge top wind from the south 30, gusting to 50. The cold front should drop temperatures in to the lower 20's and the wind should drop as well and turn westerly, then northerly by tonight.

After cooler temperatures and perhaps some scattered clouds on Tuesday, we should return to warmer temperatures by Wednesday. Unfortunately, we still don't see any significant snow in the forecast.
 
80 degrees in LA sitting by the pool. It'll be almost 60 in mammoth next week. Sounds like spring to me.


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Whitefish has full coverage, getting a little thin on the lower mountain,similar to mid-April in a less than average year.
We have'nt had a six inch snow in two months.
 
lono":lfwedv2k said:
Whitefish has full coverage, getting a little thin on the lower mountain,similar to mid-April in a less than average year.
We have'nt had a six inch snow in two months.
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That's why we skipped Whitefish on the recent trip, except for the awesome seafood dinner at Stillwater on our drive from Panorama to Missoula Feb. 27.
 
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