World Snow Wrap up Vol 21, 4 April – Winter’s Last Week?
Aspen is epic at the moment – 4 April. Image:: Jeremy Swanson
This marks the last week of winter for a number of North American resorts. It’s been an amazing winter, lets hope we can do it all again next year!
Stormwatch:
The snowfall heros
Colorado had a winter resurgence this week with up to and over a metre of snow in some places, as did interior BC.
- Breckenridge, Colorado – with 1.19m in the week
- Fernie, BC – 93cm, this past week
- Vail, BC – around 78cm
The snow forecast heros:
There’s still some snow about in North America, however, again, New Zealand seems to be gearing up for winter.
- 42cm for Aspen Mountain, Colorado
- 40cm for Whistler, BC
- 23cm for Mt Hutt, NZ – winter is on its way to New Zealand
If we could pick anywhere this week, we’d be: Northern Colorado – Vail, Aspen, Breckenridge or perhaps a taste of all of them…
Colorado
OPEN- Closing 10 April
Buttermilk CLOSED, Snowmass closing 10 April, Aspen Highlands closing 24 April
Recent Snowfalls: 81.28cm at Aspen Mountain in the last 7 days
7 Day forecast: 38cm forecast in the next 7 days for Aspen Mountain
Current snow depth: 182.88cm at Aspen Mountain
Current conditions: powder packed powder
The weather will be all over the place in Aspen this week, some very cold nights, warm bluebird days and a weekend of snowfalls. Winter isn’t relinquishing its grip on Aspen just yet.
OPEN – Closing 24 April
Recent Snowfalls: 119.38cm in the past 7 days
7 Day forecast: 13.3cm for the coming week
Current snow depth: 279.4cm at mid mountain
Current Conditions: powder and packed powder
Snow is still closing roads in parts of Colorado, winter is by no means over and with a solid 1.2m of snow last week Breck is right in the thick of it. Not as much expected this week but it’s going to keep cold, tops for the week of only about 5 degrees, not really spring weather.
OPEN – Closing 10 April
Recent Snowfalls: 25.4cm in the last 48 hours
7 Day forecast: about 41cm forecast in the next 7 days
Current snow depth: 241.9cm at mid mountain
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
It’s going to be a delightful week in Steamboat this week. Cold with snow to kick things off then warm and sunny in the middle of the week, before it’s back to snow flurries again. Ideal late season – with mid season conditions.
OPEN – Closing 24 April
Recent Snowfalls: 78.74cm in the last 7 days
7 Day forecast: 24cm
Current snow depth: 214cm
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
Daytime temperatures in Vail this week will rise above zero, but not by much and the nights will still be cold, with some decent snowfalls – so all in all Vail will have epic conditions this week
And Colorado generally…
This snow concentrated itself in the north of the state, with Loveland, Keystone and Winter Park reaping the benefits while Wold Creek, Telluride and Crested Butte had a pretty dry weekend. This week will be amazing everywhere – it’s the winter that just isn’t quitting, though with some resorts scheduled to close at the end of the week this is the last chance to take advantage of the amazing winter that just isn’t quitting.
Red Rainey in Aspen 4 April. Image:: Jeremy Swanson
OPEN – Closing 17 April
Recent Snowfalls: 27.94cm in the last three days
7 Day forecast: 30cm on the forecast
Current snow depth: 314.96cm
current conditions: powder, packed powder and machine groomed
There should be snow scattered all through the week at Park City, though on Tuesday most of the precipitation will be falling as rain thanks to a freezing level above the top lift – at 3100m.
OPEN – Closing 7 May
Recent Snowfalls: 53.34cm in the last three days
7 Day forecast: 26cm
Current snow depth: 426.72cm at mid mountain
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
Some variable weather for Snowbird this week, some warm rainy days, days of sunshine and of course still quite a bit of snow expected.
And Utah generally…
Most of the Utah resorts received 30cm or more of snow over the weekend, showing that winter is still very much entrenched in Utah. Beaver Mountain, Wolf Creek and Beaver Mountain are all closed for the season though.
California
OPEN – Closing 24 April
Recent Snowfalls: 2.5cm in the last week
7 Day forecast: 20cm or so for the week
Current snow depth: 396cm at the summit
Current conditions: packed powder
After a sunshine filled week with some nice balmy weather Heavenly will again be under a snow cloud this coming week. Most of the 20cm of snow expected will be concentrated at the end of the week and over the weekend.
OPEN – Closing June
Recent Snowfalls: no significant snow this past week
7 Day forecast: 16.1cm for the week
Current snow depth: 762cm at the summit
Current conditions: packed powder
In typical Mammoth form, it’s gone from relentless snow to clear skies. But this coming weekend will be unseasonably cold – Friday will have a high of minus six and a low of minus 13. There’s plenty of winter left at Mammoth yet.
And California/Tahoe generally…
For a change. It didn’t snow one bit anywhere in California over the weekend and the sunshine should continue for the next few days. Most of the resorts still have an excellent cover.
And the rest of the USA…
Utah is where most of the snow fell over the weekend, with Montana, Maine and Vermont all also seeing some nice snowfalls. The USA has had an incredible winter and it doesn’t seem ready to give up yet.
Gordon Bronson in Aspen, 4 April. Image:: Gordon Bronson
Japan
OPEN – Closing 4 May
Recent Snowfalls: about 25cm this past week
7 day forecast: about 2cm of snow, and 30mm of rain
Current snow depth: 4380cm at the Grand Hirafu summit
Current conditions: spring – like
With Just a month left in the season, Niseko is quickly moving in to spring conditions. An upcoming week of sunshine will help soften the snow cover into some lovely spring corn.
OPEN – Closing 6 May
Recent Snowfalls: no snow this week
7 Day forecast: no snow this week
Current snow depth: 255cm at the summit
Current conditions: spring-like
It will get steadily warmer through the week with bluebird days until the weekend – when there will most likely be some rain.
British Columbia
OPEN – Closing 10 April
Recent Snowfalls: 64cm last week
7 Day forecast: 11cm this week
Current snow depth: 316cm
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
It’s returned to winter. With freezing levels down as low as 100m (the bottom lift is 1508m, so we can safely say it will snow to the base of the resort…) and overnight lows of around minus 10 degrees, Big White is still very much a ski resort right now.
OPEN – Closing 10 April
Recent Snowfalls: 93cm in the last 7 days
7 Day forecast: 19cm for the week
Current snow depth: 422cm
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
Last week it seemed Fernie was moving towards spring, now – a metre of new snow later – it’s quickly heading back the other way. With more snow at the beginning of this week and some low freezing levels Fernie will be an epic place to be this week.
SILVER STAR IS CLOSED FOR THE SEASON
OPEN – Closing 10 April
Recent Snowfalls: 68cm last week
7 Day forecast: 8cm for the week
Current snow depth: 197.6cm at the summit
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
It will start off cold and snowy in Sun Peaks this week but by the weekend temperatures will be in the double digits. Considering the credible amount of snow that fell last week this should make for some great corn skiing.
OPEN – Whistler Mountain closing 25 April, Blackcomb closing 24 May
Recent Snowfalls: 48cm this week
7 Day forecast: 40cm this week
Current snow depth: 347cm
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
The status quo remains in Whistler where a season long snowfall shows little sign of abating.
And BC Generally…
It snowed substantially in parts of BC this weekend, 25cm in Revelstoke and around 40cm at Cypress and Grouse Mountains. It’s a mixed bag though with some of the resorts already closed for the season.
Alberta
OPEN – Closing 1 May
Recent Snowfalls: 34cm in the last 7 days
7 Day forecast: 10.1cm for the coming week
Current snow depth: 200cm
Current conditions: powder and packed powder
Like the little engine that could, Lake Louise just keeps chugging on. It’s still cold, it’s still snowing and the base depth is still increasing, which makes Lake Louise a pretty good place for some spring riding.
Europe
Recent snowfalls: It snowed up to 30cm in parts of Switzerland and France this past week, of the large resorts, Chamonix, Verbier, Val d’Isere and Morzine fared best. While Italy and Austria were pretty much snow-free all week except for a few centimetres here and there.
Forecast snowfalls: Austria is expecting widespread snowfalls of up to 30cm in places in the next four days. For France, Switzerland and Italy the week is looking quite dry.
Conditions: It hasn’t been a great season in Europe and while these small snowfalls are keeping the lifts turning it’s not going to reverse the fortunes of the winter. Skiing will continue in most resorts and glacier skiing will go on into the summer.
