The True Meaning of Sierra Cement

For what it’s worth, I actually skipped skiing again today, betting that I probably wouldn’t miss that much anyways.

Overnight, another 13 inches fell at the base of Alpine Meadows. If you add that to the 3 inches the previous night and the 5 inches that fell during the day yesterday, the approximate storm total at the base for the Thursday system was 21 inches. There was likely more mid-slope and higher. So that storm did fall within the range of the loony tunes GFS forecast I posted on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the overnight temperatures did not get below 30°, so you had to know it was not powder…no matter what the breathless tweets announced.

But the masses did show up, being spring break for some and a three day weekend for others. It’s also the biggest series of storms we have seen since December. It was reported that the upper lots were again about full, and the morning lift queues were out of the corrals. According to people who skied today, the whoops of joy were short lived, once people discovered the true meaning of Sierra Cement.

Higher on the mountain, the snow was likely better, but the visibility was poor every time I checked out a webcam today. Even justbob commented on his Facebook page that conditions were “no bueño”. 😉

The next wave moves in overnight and should last through much of the ski day tomorrow. Since I’ve been binging Netflix much of the day, I didn’t do the extensive model comparisons I did Wednesday. Based on the last few runs of the GFS, it looks like another 8-12 inches of new snow is a reasonable expectation.

Snow levels will continue to be less than optimum, running right about base level or slightly lower.

Winds could cause issues with operations tomorrow. Looking at the forecast discussion right now, Summit should be able to operate. I am less familiar with how winds affect operations at Palisades, but I would bet on some upper mountain closures. As it looks today, I’ll likely skip skiing again tomorrow. Sunday should return us to a day with clear skies and spring temperatures for what is the currently scheduled closing day at Alpine Meadows.

All of this new snow is perfect base building snow, the kind you really want to see in late October and early November. I would love to announce that Summit was going to run another week or more, but all indications are that will not happen. As we have said before, everyone was better off before, when there was real competition between Alpine Meadows and the mountain formerly known as Squaw Valley. Okay…maybe not those people that are ready to take a quick breather before their summer job starts.

We need that snowpack to keep water in the streams and rivers a bit longer. It will also serve to keep the fire danger tamped down just a bit longer. For those that want to finish that silly shiny box project, it might cause a minor delay…but not a long enough delay.