Montana 2018-19: Big Sky, Bridger, Whitefish, etc.

[marzNC]

The official total as of 4:30 this afternoon was 20 inches for Bridger (upper mountain) and 9 inches for Alpine. We skied over off Alpine in the morning. Plenty of fresh tracks on mellow pitches. That's where the local seniors were skiing.

In the teens today. Not warm but noticeably warmer than yesterday even though the mountain was under clouds all day. Steady snow with no wind. Visibility was actually pretty decent.

 

[marzNC]

Quite cold and just a few clouds at Bridger today. At first it wasn't clear why there was a line before the lifts opened. Turned out that the Ridge hikers were out in force.

 

[sibhusky]

https://kpax.com/news/montana-news/2019/02/22/boy-dies-after-big-sky-ski-crash/

Tree well

 

[sibhusky]

This report says he hit the tree, tho.
unofficialnetworks.com: 9-year-old Dies In Ski Accident At Big Sky Ski Resort.
https://unofficialnetworks.com/2019/02/22/boy-dies-ski-accident-big-sky/

 

[marzNC]

Storm coming to Big Sky this weekend. Conditions were quite fun today with completely clear skies in the morning. Pretty busy. Seems to be quite a few families around due to winter break for schools in the northeast.

From OpenSnow on Feb. 22:

EAST of the Continental Divide:

Saturday will bring warmer but still below normal temps with intermittent light snow with a few inches possible through the afternoon hours at Big Sky mainly. A Winter Storm Watch is out starting Saturday night as a reinforcement of arctic air creeps north to south triggering light snow with widespread 1-3” by first chair especially at SW areas/resorts. Snow could be heavy on Sunday, especially at Big Sky, Bridger, Maverick and Red Lodge with 4-8” possible through the day. Other areas to the north will likely see 1-3”. Be prepared Sunday for tough conditions with gusty north winds and frigid temps with wind chills of 15-30 below. Powder chasers will be very interested in the forecast for moderate to heavy snow, especially at Big Sky and Bridger as well as Red Lodge Sunday night into Monday and continuing into Tuesday. The aforementioned Winter Storm Watch continues uninterrupted through Tuesday for up to 1-3 feet of additional snowfall. Snow totals look heaviest at Red Lodge with slightly less at Big Sky. Seasonally cold temps continue mid-week with bouts of snow showers each day.

 

[marzNC]

No visibility at Big Sky today . . . it's snowing!

The Big Sky Snow Report

Good Morning skiers and snowboarders, this is Joe with your Big Sky Snow Report for Saturday February 23, 2019.

We have received a trace of snow in the past 24 hours and it is currently snowing here in Big Sky and should continue throughout the day. We are expecting up to 3” to add onto our incredible 86” base that we have at the moment and over 5800 open skiable acres.

With the snow today we will have cloudy skies and temps should be around a high of 13°F with winds out of the South and West at 14-16mph and gusts in to the low twenties. Even though we did not receive any significant snow last night the skiing is still soft and fun so get on up to Big Sky Resort and I look forward to seeing you out on the mountain.

 

[marzNC]

The forecast for the next few days for Bridger could add up to another deep powder day by Monday and Tuesday.

NOAA Forecast for Base of Bridger Bowl Feb. 23-26

 

[marzNC]

The early morning reports for Big Sky and Bridger mention continued snow all day for Sunday, Feb. 23. Heavier snow at Bridger than last week, 7% instead of 4%, so it's not "Cold Smoke."

 

[sibhusky]

Whitefish had a foot yesterday morning, but being as it was a Saturday, I gave it a miss. Supposedly the road to the resort was crazy with traffic. Today was nice and cold, -6°F. That drove everyone off the hill before noon. Wonderful deep blue skies, empty hill. We're finally getting closer to "average snowpack" after trailing most of the winter.

 

[marzNC]

The forecast for Big Sky this week is calling for snow for the next few days and daytime temps reaching the high teens and 20s. Nice that it's not supposed to be too windy after Monday, Feb. 25. At least for those who are travelers skiing at Big Sky this week. Monday and Tuesday will be powder days for sure.

It was already pretty deep in places on Sunday, Feb. 24. Officially 7 inches in the last 24 hours according to the Big Sky snow report for first thing in the morning, Feb. 25

"Good Morning skiers and snowboarders, this is Joe with your Big Sky Snow Report for Monday February 25, 2019.

The snow continues to fall today and will bring us up to an additional 4”on top of the 7” that we have received in the last 24 hours at our mid-mountain snow stations. We should have decent temps around 22°F today with winds out of the South Southwest at 14-19mph and gusts up to 41mph."

 

[sibhusky]

Whitefish is mostly closed AGAIN due to temperatures. Limited lifts. This must be a seasonal record.

 

[sibhusky]

And they closed even more lifts later in the day. What a season.

 

[marzNC]

Whitefish is mostly closed AGAIN due to temperatures. Limited lifts. This must be a seasonal record.

And they closed even more lifts later in the day. What a season.

What kind of temperatures? Below Zero daytime high?

 

[sibhusky]

Day time high today was supposed to be zero, but it didn't make it. But wind chills were the big issue. It's supposed to be as bad tomorrow.

Last two days from the weather station up there. I was there from 9:30 until 2:0 yesterday, it was fine.

 

[marzNC]

Seems as if Bridger had a temperature inversion today. They got 8 inches of Cold Smoke. At Big Sky mid-afternoon it was 25º at the base and I think 18º higher up on the mountain. There was about 10 inches of fresh snow.

 

[sibhusky]

Forecast for the mountain:

 

[liquidfeet]

Brrrrr.......

 

[marzNC]

The cold is headed to Big Sky but more snow for another day or two.

Friends who were traveling the last couple days had to make adjustments. Flying out of Bozeman airport yesterday morning didn't happen. Although by the evening, flights were making it in. A retired father and son (lives in SLC) driving from SLC had to go the long way, all the way to Butte and over. They ended up having to make a stop overnight instead of doing the drive in one day.

 

[bsskier]

Not sure if this is the right location to post, but .... So happy to have caught up with marzNC and Allison Wong (and friend) today for lunch at Big Sky Resort. As a newbie to the forum, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting fellow Divas! Hoping to ski with Allison tomorrow. marzNC, safe travels to you and Bill.

 

[marzNC]

After the snow . . . comes the cold for Montana. It was obvious that the flip side of the warmer temps last Tue and Wed was that the snow was not fluffy powder but a bit denser. Made for a good base to cover up thin areas, but took some effort to figure out how to ski under a foot of untracked snow in the Dakota trees. Didn't have time to get enough experience for that to be really fun before I had to leave on Thu morning.

From OpenSnow:

Montana Daily Snow
Deep Freeze Arrives via the Polar Vortex…
By Forecaster Bob Ambrose
Friday March 1, 2019 6:56pm MST

WEST of the Continental Divide:

An arctic air-mass has moved into NW areas (currently -26 chill factor at Whitefish) late Friday afternoon and will now move north to south thru Friday night to bring brutally frigid daytime HIGH temps ranging from -3 to + 10 across NW and West Central areas on Saturday and Sunday. Snowfall will be light with 1-3” at Lookout, Lost Trail, Discovery and Snowbowl by Saturday morning. High pressure builds with sunny skies and frigid temps to last from Saturday through Tuesday next week. Snow appears back in the forecast on Wednesday with moderating temps as well.

EAST of the Continental Divide:

Special mention goes out to Red Lodge who for the second time this year had their own “cloud” Thursday night with 12” freshies for Friday. Skiing is stellar everywhere across the eastside currently but another arctic cold air tsunami will bring gusty brutal NE winds and plummeting temps Friday night and lasting well thru the weekend. It doesn’t look like this air mass has much moisture to work with but 1-3” are possible across the region Friday night. No change in the weekend forecast as blustery winds and frigid daytime temps (air temps) in the low to mid single digits will be the main story. The sun will shine over all this coldness to make things a little more hospitable but as stated, the skiing is amazing right now. High pressure dominates with cold temps (20-25 degrees below average temps) into the middle of next week.