Colorado skiers have been experiencing an incredible early season snowfall. It feels like every time I check the weather report for my favorite resorts, I’m keep seeing more and more snow, and every time I open Instagram, I see another photo of a snow stick measuring somewhere around 11″. It’s definitely not just in our heads, either. According to The Denver Post, nearly every ski resort in the state is experiencing a snowpack above the January average.
The three resorts experiencing the highest snowpack, Steamboat, Powderhorn, and Sunlight, sit 40% above normal, seven mountains sit in the 30-39% range (Beaver Creek, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Monarch, Purgatory, Snowmass, and Vail), and seven sit in the 20-29% range. Only two unlucky mountains are currently below the January snowpack average, Breckenridge, at 97% of the average, and Copper, at 99% of the average.
“Most years are not like this. Most years we are begging for the next storm. We’re looking at the 10- or 15-day forecast to see if there is a chance (for a storm), and maybe it’s a one-and-done type of deal where you get one storm (followed by) seven or 10 days of dry weather. This year it’s happening almost perfectly.” – Opensnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz
Rocky Mountain National Park sits, remarkably, 60% above the average January snowfall, and the entire state of Colorado is 26% above normal. Why are Colorado skiers getting so lucky this year? Well, luck, that’s pretty much it.
“There is natural variability in the atmosphere. Sometimes it works in our favor, sometimes it works against us, and this one is working for us. What often happens is, once the atmosphere gets into some sort of a pattern, it can often stay in that pattern for a while. We’ve just been lucky that we are bearing the fruit, or the snowflakes, of this pattern.” – Joel Gratz
Featured Image Credit: Monarch Mountain via Facebook