Where is winter?

[Perty]

It snowed today in Squaw-yippee! Not enough to make a huge difference, but enough to make the day fun-maybe 3 inches, though slightly wind blown, and a little more accumulated in places. Lots of laps of the groomed runs which had the fresh stuff on top, and the occasional foray into the trees. Yes -there were scraping noises as we went over the fresh snow blown between unbashed moguls, but we still had fun making fresh tracks. I can't say the snow stuck much below mid station, and it didn't stick at all at the bottom, but I, for one, am feeling a bit more cheerful, even though there remains zero prospect of proper off piste opening up.

 

[Christy]

Interesting photos showing the snow situation in late December, compared to now. It pretty much disappeared during January. Meteorologists are now saying the problem is not being caused by El Nino, which is weak, but they don't have an explanation for what is going on.

****
From Cliff Mass's blog:
https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/01/januarys-disappearing-snowpack.html

To really drive home the changes over the past month, let's compare MODIS satellite imagery for December 29th and today. Over the Olympics, the differences are night and day (see below), with the low-level snow pack virtually gone in today's (the second) image.





Or take a look at the snow distribution over the central Cascades east of Seattle. (There are some clouds as well...they are less structured than the snow fields, which have a dendritic look--with no snow in the valleys). A month ago, there was lots of snow in the Cascades that extended to relatively low elevations. In contrast, today, the snow had pulled way back into higher terrain.





You really want to be impressed with the changes? Here are the before and after satellite photos around Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. The low-level snow pack is virtually gone today, while there was plenty in late December.





Or how about the difference between the Mt. Rainier (Paradise) web cams on December 26th and today? Can you tell the difference?

 

[MissySki]

Whoa!

 

[Christy]

Paradise had the record for snowiest place on earth for decades, until Mt Baker took it away, and close to 1000" is common, so it's so bizarre to see it like that in January.

 

[nopoleskier]

wow Christy that's really shocking!! meanwhile we have winter in Northern NY..... 18" so far and still snowing!!! now if I can get to a Mt to ski..

 

[snow cat]

That's really different. Feels like NE is getting all the snow rather than sharing with the rest of the country! lol

 

[abc]

And the snow is all on my door step rather than on the mountains!

Sigh...

 

[lisamamot]

In MA we had virtually no snow all winter, then BAM, 34.5" last during last weeks nor'easter, a few more inches on Fri., and 12" and counting today. Small local mountains are rejoicing.

So sad to see the pics out west - yes, so more far reaching than just skiing.

 

[mahgnillig]

Hubby and I both had our cars washed this weekend, and if it doesn't rain by the end of the week we'll turn our sprinklers back on, mow the lawn, wear shorts and go kayaking. Surely some of that has to tempt winter to come back!

 

[Jenny]

Hubby and I both had our cars washed this weekend, and if it doesn't rain by the end of the week we'll turn our sprinklers back on, mow the lawn, wear shorts and go kayaking. Surely some of that has to tempt winter to come back!

And if not, then go buy powder skis!

 

[lisamamot]

Buy them and it will come?

 

[newskiaddict]

I'm happy to share some of our snow. I'm in Boston and I can no longer locate my fence...

 

[Christy]

I was looking through photos this morning and found this one of a condo we regularly rented in Whistler, with a not-unusual amount of snow. This year? Nothing on the ground in the village.

 

[geargrrl]

Forecast for this weekend is in the 40s with rain up to 6000'.

 

[Jilly]

You can all of it that is in my driveway too!

 

[contesstant]

So now the Pineapple Express is going to hit with warm temps and rain--not what is needed at all. It is spring in Utah--we even have grass shooting up in our front yard that is bare earth at this point. My husband is tempted to throw down some seed!

Scary, very scary...

 

[Christy]

The forecast is brutal for us, too, though I read it's bringing CA and OR much needed precip in general. They have been very dry. We have had normal precip, it's just been very warm.

 

[DanniAB]

This is Nakiska. The AB rockies are quite sparse.
Was at Lake Louise yesterday; rocks are still poking out randomly despite having 26 cm of snow in the last 7 days.

 

[Dianna]

I think we got about 7-8 inches at Keystone today. I dropped so hills facing the right way and the snow was up to my knees . My best powder day so far.

 

[mustski]

California is in year 3 of the drought -which actually is not atypical. Our droughts tend to be "3 year droughts." I, however, am over it!