It’s finally feeling like winter out there, with the biggest storm of the season knocking on our door. The skies were blue momentarily this morning, but soon after the lifts spun, low level grey clouds moved in and the winds increased all day. That led to some excellent skiing and riding conditions today.
Another 3 to 4 inches of super light snow fell at Alpine Meadows overnight, and today’s strong winds just kept the refill machine going. Although I explored many areas of the mountain today, my pick of the day was South Peril. Not that it matters, as it’s all going to change a lot over the next 60 hours. I’m so confident in the forecast, I brought my rock skis home today.
The National Weather Service also is confident in the storm. They upgraded the Winter Storm Warning to a Blizzard Warning today. Here’s the snapshot:
So our last forecast of 3-4 feet mid mountain, with up to 6 feet at the top still stands. The same is true for winds. It’s almost a certainty that heavy snow, winds and avalanche danger will impact area operations at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows. If I had to take a guess, operations tomorrow will be limited to the magic carpet…if that. Avalanche danger may end up being too high for much of anything to happen at Alpine Meadows. Power outages and road closures are also likely to impact travel and mountain operations.
Talking to a couple of employees, and others that spend a lot of time at Alpine Meadows, they’re seeing the same signs. This is not our first blizzard. Many of you know I am on a streak, which now stands at 64 days. If I miss the next day or two, that’s okay. It’s just skiing (or riding). Thursday…well, that may not be any better. This is a big storm and we just need to be patient.
It’s a reasonable bet that we will be game on for something on Friday, but I am not expecting any miracles. We just have to see how things play out. Ultimately we’re going to see a crush of people arriving for the weekend, unless all roads to Tahoe are closed through the weekend. Expect some major traffic jams and frustration. It’s the way things work.
There’s still one more storm in the lineup for the Sunday to Tuesday time frame. It also looks like a solid Sierra snow storm, bringing the possibility of another 2-3 feet of snow. After that, we dry out for a least awhile as ridging begins to build. Looking at the PNA Index forecast, most of the models see the ridge rebuilding only weakly before another trough arrives. Welcome back winter.
Don’t you mean your chipped, rather than rock skis???
The “Not A Chip” skis are my good pair. I took home the similar pair that have that special permanent wax that make them the slowest things on the hill…which after the last two season have a million gouges and zero edges.