STimes: Possible record-setting bad snow year

So what you're saying is there's hope!

Sadly it boils down to what you prefer skiing, powder or corn and if you prefer lifts to touring. If you are a corn fan and love checking out women in halter tops and are willing to skin a bit then this year has been awesome. I definitely have enjoyed the sights at Rainier plus some decent spring turns. However, it is not spring time. I want those ladies covered up all I want to see when they are skiing is a white ball and a hat poking out once in awhile.

Now don't get me wrong corn can be fun and you throw some hard cider in your pack and it great, but if you want pow like JJ seems to prefer then this year so far has been a total bust and looking out 7 days it is still a pig. I am in the JJ camp this is one of my worst years I prefer halter tops in April not January and February now I want dumps at 25 F. I will even take them at 28 F. As I mentioned before we do not get the true top quality pow here except on rare occasions in any year, but we get lovely winter skiing. Our January's however lately have been poor.

There is a chance for a big March, but for me this is one of the bottom 5 in 52 years. I missed the 2004-2005 debacle. I cheated and spent a month around Tahoe, Mammoth and Southern Utah. By doing that I had a monster year. So far that trick would not have worked this time. That bothers me. This is not a true El Niño. It should not be this bad - something else is going on. Then when I came back I believe March was ok around here in 2004-2005. There was one in the 1970s and another in 1980s as well that sucked and were associated with El Niño . However so far this year is the second or third poorest. The spring could make it my poorest or who knows pull it out of the bottom five.

Friday/Saturday/Sunday calling all halter tops.......go to Paradise.......more spring skiing. If no pow give us old duffers something to look at.

By the way my most favorite guy on TAY is Amar. Without him this website would be totally boring especially in a year like this. He is also great to ski with. We have hat skied together at least once or twice. I do want to take him to Utah and introduce him to ghost skiing. That is so rare and so awesome. It is like a 30 year single malt Scotch Whiskey. However, if that happened Amar might just move away forget about volcanoes turn into a ghostoholic and that might not be a good idea. We would all miss him at least I would.

Sadly it boils down to what you prefer skiing, powder or corn and if you prefer lifts to touring. 

And how far you tend to be up for driving… I’ve had a few OK touring days, and one really nice touring day, all before New Years day. And one good-enough day on the lifts. I’ve had some great hiking and biking and am in better biking shape than ever for this time of year. For a few reasons I’ve not tended to be up for the 6+ hour round trip drives that would have been required to get more decent tours in. Kudos to those who have done so, and even more props to the ones who have filled up the car for a reduced carbon footprint!

While it’s hard to complain about the great outdoor recreation weather I’ve had (aka very nice biking and hiking) it was hard not to feel a bit sad about the bare dirt we were walking on as we crossed the ridge at 4200+ over toward Mason Lake this past Sunday afternoon especially with a fresh memory of walking on a half-decent depth of beautiful snow up there back in early January. I just had to keep reminding myself how lucky I am to be able to get some work out of the way in the AM and still have time to fit in a hike like that before dark, in February.

Regarding the news article from the OP – oh noooes, a news story that used hyperbole and breezed sketchily over the statistics to generate a bit of a sense of drama! Who would have thunk it??

Here are some things to think about. The article may have not gotten it totally correct but this is what I see and it is not looking good. What we are experiencing is due to the big change in the jet stream which has become more kinky is the best way to put it. Reason: More heat being retained in the atmosphere plain and simple.


1) Iditarod Race moved to Fairbanks due to the record mild winter in Anchorage. Jet going literally straight up to Alaska. Record warm average temperatures according to my cousin who lives there. Valdez experiencing record warm.


2) California continuing in a massive draught. Check these reports for their ski areas and the low bases:


www.onthesnow.com/california/skireport.html


Glad I did not go to Bishop and play the El Niño which did not materialize.


3) Utah started out decent, but then has turned to poor skiing. They have been experiencing record high temps there. My nephew may mow his yard next week. He does not ever mow until May he lives at 5000 feet!!


4) Today in Port Orchard will be my first lawn mowing and it will be the earliest by at least two weeks. A couple of times I have mowed in late Feb.


5) Northeast is experiencing record snow and it has low temps. Notice I do not say record cold. This is a pattern you would expect since that kinky jet is coming straight on to the Eastern Midwest from the Arctic. Despite this the temperatures are not bitterly cold because the polar temps are not getting as cold.


6) Our ski season is deplorable and this is not even an El Niño year. What is sad is you could run out and take advantage of this and do a long tour in these spring like conditions this next week due to the mild mostly clear weather, but there is a problem. It is cooling a tad with no precip which will mean hard icy slopes with only the occasional corn. We are heading maybe just maybe for my worst year unless we get a big turnaround. I have seen one or two with less snow so far, but they were saved by an OK spring.


Saying this I will be out one day over President's Day.


This is a very unusual pattern it is not what you would expect. We should be having only a subpar year let us say 35-40" at Snoq, 60" at Stevens, 80" at Baker and Paradise with some bitching due to the lack of powder days. Nope not the case we instead are having a total blowout in a year without an official El Niño. Plus other areas in the West overall have poor conditions. This is what is scary folks. This is not only a pig it is a harbinger pig and that is a bad omen for future years. There has been a lot of talk denying climate change on the web the last few weeks probably due to what is happening out East.........well the overall average T across the contiguous US and Alaska record warm. No denying what is happening. Even like I noted la Ninjas are warmer than before still lots of snow but warmer than they used to be.


I knew this was coming I just did not know how bad it would be.

For comparison - opening day coverage on Tye Mill @ Stevens Pass vs. now.

12/28/14:
https://scontent-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/l/t1.0-9/522128_10103692694248028_3570286174630334054_n.jpg?oh=00436dd55f6b0a01180fcca0e2ae1ad3&oe=554D0DB7

2/15/14:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10451331_10103849246545968_5163634763591982442_n.jpg?oh=35cc52157c0c36ffb7fd2883b0ce04a9&oe=555F2AC9&__gda__=1434908076_6d0cb4d9fc81a71c266a56b61d659b50