From the “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is…” department, and it just isn’t in Colorado either, Mammoth, California got an early base also.
Courtesy of Mammoth An October storm brought nearly a foot of snow to Mammoth, which opens for the season Nov. 10.
ESPN reports: This week, the first significant snowfall of the winter season hit ski areas around the country — dropping 10-plus inches of snow at higher elevations in Tahoe and Mammoth, nine inches on West Virginia’s Snowshoe Mountain, and causing winter storm warnings in the mountains in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.
I’m sure somebody will find a way to blame global warming.
Colorado ski resort opens early with 44 inches of powder
By R. SCOTT RAPPOLD
OutThereColorado.com
WOLF CREEK SKI AREA, COLO. – The ski season in Colorado officially began on Oct. 8.
It was announced not with the din of snow-making machines pasting a path of man-made snow between dirt and rocks, but the distant whoops of avalanche-control bombs.
And accompanied by heaps of powder.
On Oct. 8, 1,500 skiers and snowboarders converged on remote Wolf Creek Ski Area, four hours from Colorado Springs, Colo., for the most memorable ski season opening in recent memory.
Every year, the Interstate 70-corridor ski areas Loveland and Arapahoe Basin compete to make enough snow for an 18-inch base on one or two ski runs to open first.
But as both were firing up snow guns for the first time on Oct. 6, an autumn storm was dumping 3 feet of snow on Wolf Creek, in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado.
Photo gallery from opening day
In a coup that will long be remembered in skiing circles, Wolf Creek announced it would be the first resort in the U.S. to open, the earliest opening in resort history. They had three lifts and 600 acres of terrain open.
“Despite the fact Loveland or A-Basin are often first, we’re usually right behind them,” said vice president Rosanne Pitcher.
After another 8 inches of snow fell the night of Oct. 7, cries of joy echoed through Wolf Creek’s pines all day.
Skiers talked about the conditions in hushed tones.
“This is a very rare treat,” said Charles Vogel, who drove 6 hours from the Western Slope. “I grew up in Colorado. I’ve been skiing since I was 4 years old, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“This is one of those days that I’m going to remember for years to come,” said Drew Petersen, of Silverthorne, Colo. “It’s definitely worth the drive, and I’ve got a smile on my face that hopefully lasts for a while.”
h/t to WUWT reader “Steve”
Of course, David Viner of “Snow is a thing of the past” fame, has his reward. He earns £70k pa promoting “Climate Change” at the British Council.
A nice cushy number with lots of foreign travel.
Paul Homewood says:
October 13, 2011 at 4:36 am
Of course, David Viner of “Snow is a thing of the past” fame, has his reward. He earns £70k pa promoting “Climate Change” at the British Council.
A nice cushy number with lots of foreign travel.
Not by air…….surely?.
Now, now. Let’s not have any triumphalism; the science isn’t settled and the war is far from over. We all know that weather isn’t climate; natural variability musn’t be confused with secular change.
The ski resorts would rather no snow until 7 days before Thanksgiving, then 2 metres and no melts before April, than snow in early October followed by a poor period up to Christmas, to be frank.
They’ll be treating this as a bonus.
(SarcOn)The IPCC reports this morning that the recent and pending snow accumulation in the Colorado Rockies is of a new and shortlived version that has never before been seen on Earth. It is still made of H20, but unlike normal snow it has a Neogeogenetic OxyCarbon marker attached to each snowflake. Neogeogenetic OxyCarbon (NOC) markers were first postulated in 11,245(BCE) by Hermanious Mannish Jonesic Hansenatus Goregon-Boshe, a forebearer of several of today’s world famous climatologists, political giants, and extemporanious college, university, and Mainstream Media “Chicken Circuit” speakers who can be booked for your next occassion by calling the UN Headquarters Social Affairs Office at (666)666-6666 (X666), ask for Packi. This discovery confirms all previous findings and fears of horrorful AGW forecasts and means that this snow will melt faster than any snow ever has before. POC: National Wildlife Fund, Attn: G.Sorenose, (666)666-6666 (X666). (SarcOff)
Question:
Were there any places that are historically snow free in summer that were not this year?
I’m going to take a week off and take the grandkids out to see the snow. If Al Gore is correct, it may be the only chance they will ever get to experience snow in person.
BTW: Anybody want to buy some futures in Alaskan beach-front property?
“Similar weather happened in Switzerland with the area around St Moritz going from late Summer to Winter (Snow into the valley bottom) without the usual cold sunny Autumn.”
???
No snow in St Moritz !
http://www.stmoritz.ch/en/summer/news-events/livecams.html
http://www.engadin.stmoritz.ch/sommer/en/webcams/#stmoritz-dorf
It appears the posters have not learned well the blessed dogma. Let us consult the Book of Change, as provided by the the Keepers of the Melt – NASA.
“When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long-term averages of daily weather. Today, children always hear stories from their parents and grandparents about how snow was always piled up to their waists as they trudged off to school. Children today in most areas of the country haven’t experienced those kinds of dreadful snow-packed winters…,” – http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html .
So you see, unbelievers, the problem is that we are viewing the issue from the wrong endpoint – the snow’s icy bite. We must endeavor, earnestly, to view climate disruption from the correct terminal – the sun’s warming kiss. Again and verily, the venerated NASA should be consulted:
“If summers seem hotter lately, then the recent climate may have changed. In various parts of the world, some people have even noticed that springtime comes earlier now than it did 30 years ago. An earlier springtime is indicative of a possible change in the climate.”
Thus, anecdotal tellings of snows that seem to have arrived more early than past years are outliers to be discarded solely for their heretical nature; this is just and pure when the planet’s fate is involved. Instead, we should be focused of mind, will, and manipulated statistics on the summers when it comes to storytelling for this approach shall be true and (more importantly) valid – well, valid when we rightly deem p < 0.9 to be significant… Amen.
A-basin opens today :
http://www.coloradoski.com/abasin-opens-october-13-2011
Note that it has only been 100 days since A-Basin closed on July 4th
It’s also worth noting that Wolf Creek opened on all natural snow – not man made – earliest opening ever on purely natural snow (usually most early Colorado openings are on a largely manmade base).
The Colorado River basin is still running high, yet the mountains are now accruing snow. The accrual began in early Sept. and we have had several snows since then, sticking at least for several hours as low as my elevation at 6600′. Run off next spring should be interesting.
Its warm snow though…
From a skier living in Colorado. The first opening is always a competition in Colorado. Every ski area wants to make the claim. However, it usually doesn’t happen until the third week of October. And snow isn’t the only issue. Most areas have snow making; and what is required there is that the weather be cold enough to sustain the snow when it is made.
Now, now people – just remember, weather is NOT climate – err – unless it’s warmer than normal – or the models happened to predict it – and the models are ALWAYS right – uhhh – unless their not – then – it DOESN’T MATTER – because every schoolboy knows that CO2 is a “heat trapping” gas – err – like water vapor – which is everywhere – and – OOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH, don’t CONFUSE ME!
/cagw
Jeff L says:
October 13, 2011 at 6:51 am
A-basin opens today :
Haven’t been there in a while, but I LOVE A-Basin!
Wow, that brings back memories. I skied Aviemore back in ’81. The most dangerous thing I’ve ever done in my life – and I roadrace motorcycles!
It just struck me that today is the 5th anniversary of the October Surprise Storm which hit Buffalo and environs with several inches (plus) of heavy wet snow. With leaves still on many trees and many still green, the result was devastating to the trees as limbs snapped off throughout the night. When we awoke on the morning of the 13th to no power, it was an awesome sight. The snow had finally stopped and it seemed the world had ground to a very silent halt … there were no cars on the road out front and the plows couldn’t get through due to all the heavy limbs on the roads … plus power lines, though most of those were harmless after the night’s fireworks at the substation (lit up the night sky for several hours). I was in the area hit with two feet of the stuff … and despite stories of a quick melt of a couple days, for us it was more like five days. Waited a couple days for enough snow to melt so we could find all the buried branches to cart off so we could begin to shovel.
Naturally enough, the region’s environmentalists and true believers were quick to pounce on the event as evidence of gobal warming … it causes extreme weather events, don’t you know. I’m sure all our ancestors will be relieved to know that all those severe storms they’d experienced for centuries were all signs of global warming.
How is this possible? Maybe the soon-to-be-melted Himalayan glaciers and the once-snows of Kilimanjaro somehow teleported to Colorado. There should be a model of this somewhere in East Anglia.
We live near Wolf Creek. The ski resort there never opened so early, not in my memory, nor in the memory of the old-timers. Glad we were careful enough to prepare lots of wood for the coming winter — partially because we could get true information from Mr. Watts’ excellent site. (Last winter was also unusually cold and extremely long.)
Co-worker was in Peublo CO yesterday. Flew back in this morning (MN). Reports going to Pike’s Peak to hike a bit, watch a sunset. Noted that above 6 or 7 thousand, everything was SNOW COVERED.
Report from the Field!
Max
In related news, snow that fell in North Carolina back on October 1 was confirmed by the NWS as the earliest ever fallen in the state.
http://www.wxii12.com/news/29414770/detail.html
Colorado has about 8 different major water shed areas:
http://www.co.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/snow/watershed/basin_map.gif
Each with different dynamics in terms of where the major sources of moisture come from. The major source of water is of course the Pacific, with SST’s in specfic regions of the Pacific affecting winter snowfall amounts in respective watershed. The general rule is, by the way, the warmer the area of the Pacific related to a watershed area, the greater snowfall during the winter in a respective watershed, as of course, warmer water can evaporate more moisture. It is not the cold water of the Pacific, right of the CA coast that determines how much snow falls in Colorado– far from it. The areas in question are ususally thousands of miles out in the Pacific, some closer to Japan than to the U.S. where the moisture comes from.
For an interesting study the gives a nice case example of a region of the Pacific that affects snowpacks in Colorado (and other western states) see:
http://faculty.unlv.edu/piechota/LinkFiles/Aziz_et_al_wrr_2010.pdf
Here in the Denver suburbs, we haven’t even had a first freeze yet, the average is Oct 7th. Not that I’m complaining, my garden is still blooming!
I’m afraid though, that with another La Nina, we’ll be watering all winter. Last year was horribly dry. We’ve only had one day of rain in the past 3 months or so.
I wish I knew how to ski, it looks incredible out there!
RE : Craig W. says:
October 13, 2011 at 10:58 am
That same shot of cold-air-aloft gave parts of Western PA their “earliest ever” measurable snow a day or two before. (They’d had flurries in September before, but never snow that accumulated.)
It was interesting to follow that snow as it moved south, watching radar loops. It never made it east to where I live, in New Hampshire, but instead moved through Virginia to North Carolina.
Sometimes a hard winter gives you a warning shot across your bow, followed by a long and lovely Indian Summer. (I recall such a case described in one of those “Little House In The Prairie” books called “The Long Winter.”) (Funny how I’m getting to a point where I trust old books more than Hansen’s records.)
Down in the southern hemisphere spring snow keeps falling extending the ski season and closing Cordillera passes between Argentina-Chile.
http://www.infobae.com/notas/610983-Reabren-el-Paso-Cristo-Redentor-luego-de-las-nevadas.html