It’s been an incredible January for so many ski areas across North America. January will be one to remember with snow-packed storms, keeping soft turn after soft turn.
Western U.S. & Canada
There’s only one way to summarize the West this past week…BURIED. Many western resorts picked up FEET of new snow. Some of the top tallies include:
Squaw Valley, California - 94” in 7 days
Northstar, California - 80” in 7 days
Snowbird, Utah – 77” in 6 days
Alpine Meadows, California - 70" in 6 days
Alta, Utah – 70” in 6 days
Brighton, Utah – 62” in 6 days
Going into this weekend, new snow will take a break for the weekend, with light snow showers falling for the Rockies Wednesday -Thursday, Jan 24, totaling 2-4” for the interior west mountains. Some locally higher amounts will fall for the Washington Cascades to the peaks of Idaho. Some best bets through this weekend will include Steamboat, Vail, Silver Mountain, Brundage, and any of those top reaching California or Utah ski areas from this past week.
Eastern U.S. & Canada
After the most recent winter wallop in the Northeast, ski areas had an incredible MLK weekend. Some top reports from the recent snow include:
Suicide Six, Vermont – 30” in 4 days
Jay Peak, Vermont – 29” in 4 days
Smugglers Notch, Vermont – 27” in 5 days
Gore Mountain, New York – 23” in 5 days
Sunday River, Maine – 18” in 4 days
Going forward, after a warm Wednesday, much colder air will return to the Northeast. You’re going to need the layers if you plan to head out Saturday this coming weekend as bone chilling temps settle in. Temps will moderate, with some quick moving shots of snow Sunday and Monday that will bring a few new inches to the slopes. Best bets – look to Killington, Stratton Mountain, Gore Mountain, Sugarloaf, and Sunday River.
Longer term into the start of February, it looks as though the colder than normal temperatures will lock in to the Eastern U.S.
Until next week! Thanks to Northern Vermont University – Lyndon meteorology students James Mundy and Francis Tarasiewicz for contributions to this article.