Mt Baker Ski Area: 377" of snowfall in 42 days!

While looking through my compiled weather records a few days ago, I noticed that Mt Baker had collected the amazing total of 377" of snowfall during the first 6 weeks after Christmas. Now that the sun has been shining again in the Pacific NW, maybe it's worthwhile to revisit the extraordinarily stormy weather we just experienced.<br><br>The 2005-2006 season got off to a great start with heavy snowfall from late October and half of November into early December, building a snowpack well above normal and helping to erase memories of last year's misery. But then two weeks of high pressure and sunshine began to settle and shrink the snowpack, and when precipitation finally returned on Dec 18, it was warm, much too warm and too wet. Heavy rainfall battered the Northwest through Christmas Day, sending the snowpack plummeting down the drain towards 50% of normal or less. The situation looked bleak, almost hopeless.<br><br>Unexpectedly, on Dec 26 the weather pattern shifted to a cool and wet westerly flow, with the jet stream aimed squarely at the Pacific NW and carrying an unrelenting series of powerful storms. This excellent situation would remain in place with only a few minor interruptions for the next 6 weeks. The final week of 2005 brought 3-5 ft of new snow throughout the mountains of the Pacific NW, with another 2-4 ft during the first days of 2006. A brief warmup brought heavy rain on Jan 6-7, but the cool weather quickly returned and an intense storm cycle dumped 4-9 ft of snow over the next week, capped by 111" in 7 days at Mt Baker. The subsequent storms were less sustained, but still dropped 2-5 ft atop the rapidly deepening snowpack during the third week of January. A brief high-pressure window brought 2 days of sun on Jan 24-25, but then the storms returned with renewed vigor, burying the mountains under 6-12 ft of additional snow over the next 11 days. By February 1, snowdepths had built to roughly 130-180% of normal at most measurement sites in the Cascades, and the snowpack gained another 10-20% of normal before strong high pressure returned on February 5. <br><br>During January 2006, Whistler set a new record for snowfall in any calendar month with 185", while the 269" at Mt Baker was their 2nd-most ever for a month. The 239" at Mount Rainier Paradise and the 173" at Snoqualmie Pass were their most in any January since 1972 and 1971 respectively. Here's a summary of data for several interesting sites, with snowdepths before/after and snowfall during the 6 week period from Dec 25, 2005 to Feb 5, 2006, along with some numbers from last season:<br>

<br>    Site  .    .    .   Site   .   Depth   Snowfall   Depth  Snowfall     2004-2005 Season<br>    Location   .    .   Elevation  Dec25  Dec25-Feb5  Feb5   thruFeb5     MaxDepth  Snowfall<br><br>BC  Mt Washington   .    4400 ft .    4"     261"     177"     ....     .    118"     ....<br>    Whistler Mountain    5400 ft     28"     247"     111"     330"     .    102"     289"<br><br>WA  Mt Baker Ski Area    4200 ft     38"     377"     195"     ....     .     90"     ....<br>    Stevens Pass    .    4000 ft     37"     264"     140"     410"     .     55"     ....<br>    Snoqualmie Pass .    3000 ft     30"     236"     113"     346"     .     39"     201"<br>    Mt Rainier Paradise  5400 ft     48"     332"     173"     533"     .     95"     409"<br><br>OR  Mt Hood Timberline   6000 ft     57"     278"     184"     ....     .     89"     ....<br>    Mt Hood Meadows .    5200 ft     60"     289"     161"     433"     .     55"     ....<br>    Mt Bachelor Ski Area 6300 ft     60"     210"     170"     ....     .     84"     236"<br>    Crater Lake Park HQ  6400 ft     56"     195"     153"     374"     .     91"     378"<br><br>CA  Mt Shasta Ski Bowl   7600 ft     59"     192"     150"     312"     .    155"     450"<br>

<br>Amazingly, the sites in BC, WA, and OR have already exceeded last season's total snowfall, and current snow depths at many sites are double or even triple last year's maximum!<br>Detailed Cascade snowpack info can be found on my site at www.skimountaineer.com/CascadeSki/CascadeSnow.html <br><br>

Are you suggesting that I shouldn't have sold my Explorer and replaced it with a bicycle to access all of that snow? There was a lot of pressure last year to save the mountains by doing just that.<br>Wink