Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows fired up the snow guns for the first time of the season this week. I wouldn’t start waxing your skis just yet. They’re just testing systems to make sure that everything is ready when the weather is ready. The weather is not ready yet.
Although recent cold overnight temperatures have allowed system testing, daytime temperatures are still too warm to allow any of that snow to stick around and build a base. There’s no sense making it, just to have it melt again as making snow is energy intensive, and therefore money intensive.
You can see that in the coming days, it’s even too warm overnight to make snow at Alpine Meadows. When we start seeing overnights consistently into the upper twenties and daytime highs only into the 30’s, making snow will make more sense.
Posting pictures of snow making now is probably somewhat of a marketing stunt. But this year it also serves the purpose of letting people know that SVAM is serious about being open for skiing and riding this season. I am still surprised at the number of people I talk to that just assume no ski areas will open this year at all. I’m fine with people taking a year off from the snow. That leaves more snowflakes for the rest of us.
Morning spritz