After record-setting snowfall last year, what’s in store for Utah skiers in ’24?
Ski Utah issued a powder alert Friday morning for ski areas in the state. Those alerts have been few and far between this season.
While some early-season snowstorms allowed resorts to start spinning chairlifts in late November and early December, the past month has been dry. And snowfall to date is nowhere near what it was at this time last year in what turned out to be a record-breaking season.
Snowpack levels across Utah are currently 52% of normal, according to OnTheSnow.
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“In any year it would be hard to top the season that we had last year, snowfall wise. In comparison, we’ve gotten off to a slower start this year. We’re not too far away from average. In the shadow of last year, it just seems like a little less snow,” Alison Palmintere, director of communications for Ski Utah, told the Deseret News.
Resorts have yet to open all of their terrain. But things could change this weekend.
Powder alert
A cold and active pattern is developing over the western U.S., with Utah primed for a series of storms.
On Friday, the mountains are expected to see 4 to 12 inches of snow, with the highest amounts in the Cottonwood Canyons. The next system arrives late on Saturday and continues through Sunday with another 8 to 16 inches for the high elevations, according to Ski Utah. Additional storms are forecast for midweek and next weekend.
Ski Utah defines a powder alert as 80% forecaster confidence in at least 8 inches of snow.
Resorts across the state reported modest amounts of snowfall Friday morning, ranging from 1 to 4 inches, with Brian Head reporting the most at 6 inches.
“We’re excited that the snow is finally falling,” Palmintere said, adding resorts are excited about all their capital improvements, including new lifts, refurbished gondolas, lodges and outdoor patios.
Palmintere said the milder temperatures and groomed runs have been great for parents to get their kids on the snow and for beginning skiers and snowboarders.
“I think it’s been really helpful for any beginners and kids out there to have this beginning of the season to warm up and now we’re all ready for powder,” she said.
Is more snow on the way?
While the weekend storm will help build the base, ski areas need much more snow to open all their terrain. But is it coming?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasted an El Niño weather pattern for the winter 2023-2024 season, which will bring something different from the past three years of La Niña.
El Niño is a weather pattern that has to do with the westward-bound tradewinds in the Pacific Ocean weakening and pushing warm water against the western side of the Americas, per the National Ocean Service. When the opposite occurs, it’s called La Niña.
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In his long-range forecast released last fall, meteorologist Chris Tomer says the data suggests a drier-than-normal winter for most of the West, according to OnTheSnow. But it could still be a big winter for resorts around Lake Tahoe and Mammoth and in Colorado. Tomer predicts a wetter-than-normal winter for the East, where most New England ski areas could see above-normal snowfall.
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