Today marks the Winter Solstice, which most people know is the shortest day of the year. From here on out the days get longer. The commonly held belief is that this is also the first day of winter. Meteorologically speaking, that happened on December 1st. I got tired of clarifying this Hallmark version of winter during my years teaching middle school science. More importantly, Mother Nature is confused…because today felt more like the first day of spring than winter.
We started the day with some very light snow showers, which then turned in to widely scattered rain sprinkles. An hour later, the clouds broke and the sun came out. Around noon, the temperature peaked at 41° at the base, and any snow that was exposed to the sun started the transition to spring conditions. That meant it got clumpy and a bit more dense, and in the flats it even started to get a bit sticky.
That’s not to say that skiing was bad. There was a lot of skiing that was very good all day. Some of it was good in the morning, and then just one run later it was manky and not so fun. The most consistent winter conditions were on the north facing pitches. We found nice winter snow in the Pygmy Forest and ABC chairline high on the mountain and on Rolls and Knolls and portions of Yellow on the lower part of the mountain.
Those off piste areas that saw a lot of sun today will be pretty miserable until they get groomed again, assuming we get a freeze tonight. That list likely includes Red Ridge, Ladies Slalom and Sunspot, to name a few. The existing groomers are all feeling very crowded.
Crowds seem to be consistently building over the week. I would expect that trend to continue right up until Christmas Day. Once teams resume, it will be very busy again. So far this week, it seems far busier in town than it does on the slopes. I’m curious to see how things look next week during the first pass blackout period. Alterra does not share any information about the number of passes sold or the ratio of full passes to limited passes.
A Slightly Better Weather Outlook
The overall picture still looks about the same. Here’s a quick recap:
- Thursday night: 1-2 inches of snow overnight
- Friday: Cream cheese or velvet morning
- Saturday-Monday: Warm spring-ish conditions
- Tuesday-Thursday: The first of several AR events with 3-5 inches of rain in the northern Sierra
Here’s the part that looks slightly better, the snow levels. Yesterday the Reno forecast discussion painted a grim picture for snow levels for the AR event, saying that snow levels would remain around 8500 for the whole event, with less than an inch of snow accumulation at the resort level. Today they have backed off on that projection, with the afternoon AFD now saying snow levels will begin around 8500 feet and drop to about 4500 feet by the end of the system. The question is how soon that happens. It’s all a matter of the aim of the jet streak (firehose). Just 50 miles to the north or south can make a big difference for Sierra snow levels. As a skier that looks forward to a mountain refresh, I am excited that they are talking about the possibility of snow again.
Good info on winter solstice. Yes, today was the shortest day of the year, but two weeks ago was the earliest sunset of the year for our latitude, so now the afternoons have already been getting longer, with the flip side being that the latest sunrise and darkest morning will be in about two weeks from now. Fun with astronomy.
I considered trying to explain that in the post, but I knew I would flub it up and you would have to correct me. Thank you.