Bah humbug! Where’s all our snow?
That might well be the lament of Colorado skiers and snowboarders, not to mention inbound tourists who may have been dreaming for months about a white Christmas with lots of powder. If only we could accommodate them.
Base depths statewide are running 30% to 50% below normal for this date. A dozen ski areas currently have less than 20% of their trails open, among them Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain, Loveland, Steamboat, Vail and Winter Park. The only areas with more than half of their terrain open are Cooper (64%), Monarch (62%) and Wolf Creek (100%).
Resorts with base depths that are 40% below normal or more include A-Basin, Aspen Snowmass, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Loveland, Purgatory, Sunlight, Telluride and Vail. Beaver Creek and Cooper have bases that are below 50%.
There is some snow in the forecast over the next few days, but not near enough to make up for the deficit Colorado will carry into Christmas week, traditionally one of the primary peak periods for skier visits.
“We’ll be stuck in a mostly dry and warm weather pattern through about Christmas, though the northern mountains will see some flakes on Wednesday evening, Thursday night, and over the weekend,” OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in his Tuesday update. “The most snow will fall over the northern and central mountains, with maybe just a bit of accumulation in the northern part of the southern mountains (Telluride, Silverton).”
OpenSnow is anticipating 2-5 inches Wednesday afternoon and evening, with light additional accumulation possible over the weekend.
“In general, the storm track will stay to the north of Colorado, and we’ll just see the southern scraps of each storm,” Gratz wrote. “For the busy holiday period between Dec. 20 and Jan. 4, it is (unfortunately) highly likely that limited terrain will be open unless we wind up getting a lot of snow in the Dec. 26-30 window.”
Based on previous seasons with low snowpack in December, Gratz says there’s “about a 50-50 chance” that Colorado ends the season with a below-average snowpack. Guess that’s a half full, half empty proposition.
“The longest-range models show storminess hanging around the West Coast through January, so don’t throw in the towel due to the slow start,” he wrote, “but I acknowledge that our current situation is (very) frustrating!”