We’ve got one more little storm system rolling through in the next 24 hours before “that storm” arrives Tuesday night. But before we talk about that, let’s talk about the weekend.
Storm number one rolled in Friday and brought about 4 inches of snow, right on forecast. What was not forecast was the storm of skiers that would bring out for Saturday, and not just at Alpine Meadows. Every Sierra resort reported huge numbers, long lift lines and huge traffic jams, all for a day that was only slightly better than a dust on crust day.
At Alpine Meadows, the upper lots were filled, including White Wolf and Chalet Road by about 10 am. About that same time, just about every major lift at Alpine had lines that were exceeding the corrals. By 10:30, we checked out, knowing that I get to go skiing every day. That said, it seemed like all departments had the situation handled like champs. I just wouldn’t have wanted to be a part of the parking staff handling those that had to park at Deer Park. I was thinking last night that I used to be that guy that regularly arrived late enough to park at Deer Park. Lessons learned.
For Sunday, things were significantly less busy. Neither the White Wolf lots or Deer park were used, and only Summit had a longer lift line. While the groomed terrain did ski much better today, we actually spent most of the day skiing lower angle off piste terrain. It sure was nice to add more variety back into our ski day. Compared to yesterday, the new snow was more well bonded to the icy base, making slip outs much less frequent.
For Monday, the point forecast is calling for another 3 to 5 inches of snow mid-mountain. The GFS is showing the possibility of up to a foot near the crest, and the Winter Weather Advisory indicates the same. I am all about that!
We get a little break, and possibly a bit of sunshine, before “that storm” arrives on Tuesday night. I’ve been watching the models and reading the weather bloggers over the last few days and I’ve seen some wild projections for up to 100 inches of new snow. I also saw some heartache yesterday as some models indicated things trending farther south and the possibility of a negative tilt to the trough, which is a bad thing. Nobody ran those headlines! But I am going to stick with my initial thoughts of an average of 4 feet, maybe 5, at mid-mountain. Six feet at the top seems quite reasonable too.
Those heavy snows will also be accompanied by heavy winds, exceeding 100mph at the ridge, and 40-60 mid-mountain. So we are looking at some very difficult conditions ahead. I’ll be super stoked to see the mountain open every day, as I am on a streak. But I will also be totally understanding if the mountain is shut down for one or more days while mountain ops crew and patrol dig everything out and make it safe again. Every rope line needs to be reset, chair pads raised, roads rebuilt, pits dug out and ramps rebuilt….it takes a ton of work to get things ready after a mega storm. That’s not even considering the significant risk of avalanche danger as the week progresses. So cool your powder fever a bit, and understand the realities of a monster storm.
You can also expect that mountain travel, in particular on I-80, will be difficult, if not impossible at times this week. CalTrans has already warned that closures could extend multiple days. The good news is that eventually the storm will end and the snow will still be here. You may not get the powder part, but it will be a whole new mountain, with far fewer obstacles and far more terrain available.
There’s a lot of new faces running lifts over the last couple of weeks. There seems to be growing confidence that there is enough staff to run the entire mountain, including Lakeview and Sherwood, once the snow falls and mountain ops has an opportunity to build roads and ramps. It may not happen right away, but I am totally patient. We’ve made it this far.
Another storm is on the heels of the big one, with an arrival over the weekend. As of now, it looks to bring an additional 2 to 3 feet of snow if things hold together. After that, most models indicate that we dry out for a bit. We currently sit at about 36% of normal rainfall in the Northern Sierra. That will rapidly change this week. I found this graphic today, indicating that we can expect 600-800% of normal precipitation over the next week. Wow.
