In this installment I am going to hit three topics for the price of one. First, I had a day on the snow last week that I don’t think I will ever forget. I was in Salt Lake City for a trade show and snuck away to Park City for a day. It is the first time I have been[Read More…]
Happy New Year to one and all! I hope you got some packed powder turns in during the holiday week because dry surfaces have been hard to come by during the first half of this month. The January thaw typically comes along in the late 10’s/20’s of this month, which you can actually see in the historical data as a[Read More…]
By the time you read this you may have already made your first turns in the new season. Mother Nature has been generous with cold and natural snow from coast to coast, with the West favored in late October and early November and then the Midwest and East over the past couple of weeks. The East is where I am[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman 4/1 West favored for snow…East hangs on In my last installment, I discussed the extreme back and forth nature of the winter in much of the country, as well as the transition of the upper air pattern to a typical springtime short wavelength configuration that helps to sustain a rapid back and forth sequence of weather systems. [Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman 3/18 One step forward, one step back… While Upper Midwestern and western U.S. resorts have seen some meaningful snowfall at times the past 2-3 weeks, areas in the East have battled the back and forth pattern that has been dominant much of this winter. La Ninas typically produce enhanced variability in the winter, and this winter has[Read More…]
East stays stormy…snow returns to the West This past week brought several rounds of fresh snow from Alberta Clipper systems to the northern Lakes and the higher peaks of the Northeast and as this weekend unfolds, new snow will fall over much of the West. I spent a couple of days at Stowe, where several inches of powder piled up[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman 2/18 Pattern in flux means some snow for much of the U.S. Since my last posting, I have only managed a couple of days on snow. One at Sugarloaf after an 8 inch overnight and then a brisk day at Killington earlier this week on some of that cold, styrofoam that the NBC announcers have been referring[Read More…]
Stormy Midwest and East…West getting hungry for powder… I had a couple of days on the snow early this week…a terrific day at Sunday River and a very disappointing day split between Wildcat and Attitash. You can add me to the list of those taking Vail to task for the manner in which they are operating their eastern resorts and[Read More…]
East stays stormy…snow returns to the West As we approach the approximate halfway point in the skiing/riding season, the slopes in all regions of the U.S. and adjacent to Canada are in good condition, with the western half of the continent still benefitting from the astounding amounts of snow that fell in late December. This season got off to a[Read More…]
New Year…New weather pattern… The 2021 holiday period provided epic snow conditions across most of the West with trails counts and surface conditions rather sketchy over the eastern half of the country. While storm after storm nailed the West, a typical La Nina upper level ridge over the southeastern states was enhanced by a sudden spike in the output of[Read More…]
The Skiing Weatherman-December 30, 2021 The West is wonderful…Ol’ Sol causes problems in the East… After an exceptionally slow start to the season in the West, the past few weeks have brought an amazing and dramatic reversal of fortune to that half of the continent in terms of snowfall. An upper level trough has dominated the pattern from the Rockies[Read More…]
Colder, snowy pattern evolving coast to coast… As we hit the holiday season, the weather pattern is changing to one that will soon be dominated by colder than normal air. Cold air has been in relatively short supply for a couple of weeks now, but in the past week, a series of troughs have descended into the West, leading to[Read More…]
Pattern coming alive on both coasts… Thanks to snowmaking and a nice dump of fresh snow last Friday, I kicked off my season with a nice day on the trails of Killington this past Tuesday. The surface midwinter stuff and it was fantastic to be making turns again. The storm late last week helped out across much of the Northeast,[Read More…]
Cold air supply growing… Before I look forward in this discussion, let’s look back. October was a very warm month relative to normal across the country, in large part because a sizable upper level dome of high pressure stretched across Canada and the northern states. Early snow cover over northern Asia and Canada are typically harbingers of a fast start[Read More…]
Mother Nature picks up the pace… Halloween is upon us and it’s now reasonable to think snow. In the past week we have seen some major amounts of snow fall in the West, particularly in the Sierras of California. After a very dry summer, a veritable firehose of moisture pointed at the coastal ranches and let fly. Thankfully, there was[Read More…]
A bit of a false start… In the past week, some significant early season snow has fallen over portions of the western U.S. and far western Canada. The season is off and running…at least for now…as Wolf Creek Pass in southern Colorado will open this weekend with limited terrain. I wish I could say that it is a sustainable plan[Read More…]
Even though we are just a few days past the first day of astronomical summer, I find myself already taking a peek at the northern Rockies when I am working on forecasts for my golf course clients. Why? The skier/weather nerd in me comes out as I look for the first weather station reporting snow in the air. Like you,[Read More…]
El Nino, Stay South. La Nina, Go North. If you haven’t already done so, it’s close to the time when the skis and snowboards get tucked away for summer hibernation. Between Covid-19 restrictions, National Forest leases, and Old Man Winter calling it quits prematurely in much of North America, forces have conspired to end the season for the majority of[Read More…]
Some Powder. Trail Counts Good. The weather pattern that dominated the month of March in the eastern half of the country has continued right into April…unfortunately. I communicated with a resort manager in Vermont last week and found out that the mountain, which has a high base elevation…had received exactly one inch of snow last month. One %#[email protected]*& inch! A[Read More…]
Bluebird Days. Light Snow. The weather pattern hasn’t changed much in the past week as the jet stream set-up has continued to feature a cold trough over the western half of the country and a milder to warm ridge over the eastern half. It has been another snowy week in the West, although amounts of fresh snow have been a[Read More…]
Fresh Snow in the Wasatch. Spring Conditions Reign East. This week’s message is quite simple: If you want fresh snow, head west. If you enjoy spring skiing, the upper Midwest and East will sport those conditions much of the time through the end of the month. That said, I do expect the East to turn a little colder early in[Read More…]
Not Quite Spring Yet. More Snow In The Forecast. While the resorts in the Midwest and East got a solid taste of spring this week as temperatures soared well above normal for a few days, the winter weather action picked up in the West. A cold trough spun its way down the coast from B.C. to SoCal, depositing wonderful low[Read More…]
Fresh Snow in Cali. Mild Temps Next Week. Last week’s installment touched upon the fight we usually see in March between lingering cold to the north and advancing spring warmth from the south. The fight usually takes the form of storminess, where it only a matter of whether there is enough cold air in the mix to produce snow instead[Read More…]
Late Season Powder. Rain And Snow. Although astronomical spring begins with the vernal equinox later in March, “meteorological spring” begins on the first day of March. That’s when the questions start to arise about how long the season is likely to extend. Those questions are more common for resorts over the eastern half of the country, where injections of milder[Read More…]
Warmer end to February. March Snow Looks Good. This has been an absolutely wild weather week across the country, with more heavy snow in the West, the worst run of cold and snow in the southern Plains since 1899, and two significant storms in the East, although the first one generated a fair amount of sleet earlier this week. As[Read More…]
