Western Weather 2017-18 and Later

They finally let us out , straight line only, at like 3pm today since 9pm on Monday. Hopefully late afternoon road opening is the word.

Obviously missed our flight on Tuesday. I feel better so tomorrow should be another fun country club day. Patrollers said the sun got to the snow so it’s not great. It’ll be fun with my kids who are 4ft tall. We will be groomer skiing most the day.
 
ChrisC said:
One for the record books. :eusa-wall:o_O:oops:
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We got evacuated back to our hotel….oddly it’s a relief to be here after being stuck in the lodge with a closed restaurant. They initially told us it would be hours while they mitigated with the heli in small sections above us.

Took those on the mountain and walk from the snowbird center. It was a nice day before this.
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snowave said:
So much for that ridge building in next week... looking like back to cooler/white/wet after a brief warmup Sat/Sun.

After being out of action for 12 days due to a severe back strain, I rode Brundage today and it was perfect winter conditions on the groomers all day long under mostly sunny skies. I didn't go off piste cuz my back is still sore, but those I talked to said north facing stuff still light and fluffy from recent snow.
I don't take many pictures because I typically ride alone... this is from the top of Brundage looking ENE into the Central Idaho Mtns. The foreground is out of bounds, although a few people still drop in here and either cut way over to the right toward Lakeview Chair, or down to to an access road that is frequented by snowmobiles and hoof it out.
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Sorry about the back. Riding with back pain sucks.

I'd love to see more from Brundage and your corner of Idaho. How was the skier density this winter?
 
flyover said:
Sorry about the back. Riding with back pain sucks.

I'd love to see more from Brundage and your corner of Idaho. How was the skier density this winter?
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Weekends were busy as usual... (which I rarely ride). Weekdays were a little busier than the past, but still nothing like the Covid winter. Rarely any lift-lines, and if there were any, it would be a couple minutes or less. FWIW, Brundage is upgrading the Centennial triple chair to a HSQ this summer, so it's going to change the flow considerably on the mountain (almost all in a good way).

Tamarack is where I've seen the biggest increase in visitors this year. Again, no lift lines midweek, but the small parking lots closest in have been full the handful of times I've been down there this season, including Thursday.

A quick picture from Thursday from Tamarack looking toward the NE. Again, snow was very good to excellent up top... a little more vairable down below, where eastern exposure and lower elevation are more affected in early and late season.
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Screen print from my local paper from LA Times story about problems snow has been causing in Mammoth this Spring.
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Since this is the weather thread...Closing day at my home resort of Eldora today (I wasn't there). Official number was 208" of snowfall. If you belive thier marketing number of 300" then only 69% of normal.

Good thing I used to track thier snowfall for years before they or anyone else bothered to give YTD totals. I came up with 230" as thier normal. So 90% of normal with no overly long dry stretches made for a pretty solid season with mostly good or great surface conditions from constant small refreshes despite not being blessed by any of the atmospheric river events in the west.
 
230 sounds reasonable for Eldora average. Continental Divide Colorado overall is in the 90% range this season, though that’s a premature comment as April is historically the second snowiest month of the year in in that microclimate.
 
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Tony Crocker said:
230 sounds reasonable for Eldora average. Continental Divide Colorado overall is in the 90% range this season, though that’s a premature comment as April is historically the second snowiest month of the year in in that microclimate.
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A question about snow bookkeeping that you've probably answered before; however, I can't remember:

Similar to the beginning of the season when you only count existing snow from autumn that is still there on opening day, what about April -- do you stop counting snowfall on closing day or continue through the end of the month? Is it "fair" to keep counting A-Basin's accumulation through, say, Memorial Day and not Eldora's?
 
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ChrisC said:
A-Basin 2022/23 snowfall seems a little low:
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It is low. Tony's site has the exact % of normal, but closer to 85%-ish if I recall. Forecast looks fairly unsettled/stormy for the next week+ after tomorrow, so at least some potential to be a snowy April for them (crosses fingers).

jamesdeluxe said:
do you stop counting snowfall on closing day or continue through the end of the month? Is it "fair" to keep counting A-Basin's accumulation through, say, Memorial Day and not Eldora's?
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I believe Tony's philosophy is "usable snowfall" for skiing. So yes he will keep counting A-Basin as long as they remain open, but he would cut off Eldora (not that he tracks Eldora).

The harder choices are in the fall. Snow that falls before opening. Tony doesn't like to count very much if any pre-opening snowfall unless it is immediate week or two before opening as I recall. But what if I'm Ski Cooper that has no snowmaking (picking a nice outlier example here as devils advocate)? It can easily take a month+ of fairly small snowfalls to accumulate to get the place open. No one got to ski it at the time, but clearly critical and beneficial snowfall to enable them to ever get open. So where do you make a cut-off for early snow? Can't track every 2" late October or Early November snowfall at every resort to see if it did or didn't melt out...
 
I always understood that Tony will take whatever is still on the ground on opening day. If it snowed four feet in late October and only a foot remained on opening day three weeks later, the latter is what he counts.
 
Seems arbitrary, to factor in "is the mountain open".

If a mountain closes for a few years and then re-opens (like Tenney) would Tony average in zeros for those seasons?

If Alta closes due to too much snow does Tony discount the snow that falls? Does he take into account the settling that occurs during the interlodge periods?

If a mountain is open for uphill traffic but no lifts spin, does the snow count?

If it snows on Tuesday at Plattekill, and a private rental skis Wednesday, then it pours rain on Thursday and the generally public returns on Friday...
 
My general rule is Nov. 1 - Apr. 30 for apples to apples comparisons. I count May for areas that remain open, which are few. But April closing dates are highly variable so it seems most fair to count the whole month for everyone. That time frame includes periods where lifts are not open for nearly all ski areas.

November 1 is a reasonable estimate for when snow will first stick for the season. I’m probably being generous to the Northeast by that criterion but it would be really difficult to find for each ski area when the first season lasting snowfall was.

October is counted if it’s material to the season which is rare. That doesn’t mean an area has to open early but if it opens with more terrain than usual due to an October snowpack then I include it. For 2022-23 I count October for Utah and the Tetons for that reason but nowhere else.

I do not believe that Alta omits snowfall on interlodge days.

Of course missing data is not counted as zeros. Spotty data is indexed to a highly correlated area area in the region with extensive data for the purpose of determining a Nov. 1 - Apr. 30 long term average.
 
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So the mountain doesn't have to be open for the snow to count. You and I are on the same page, I guess it's James who is the outlier!
 
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