Nov 19- Weak La Niña Holds On — What It Means for NW Snow
- Andrea Hamilton
- 15 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Hello skiers and snowboarders,
Yes, Whistler opens this Friday.
We have a break for today and early tomorrow, with a relatively dry weather pattern. Expect a mix of clouds and sun with some gusty Cascade foothill winds.
After a robust early-snow pattern in October, the storm track has evolved into a split over Washington and Oregon. Some storms and snowfall are tracking north into B.C., while the southern part of the split is steering storms into California and the Southwest.
Mammoth Mountain opens tomorrow, and Whistler opens Friday — both reflecting this split flow.
Here in the Northwest, we’ve also been dealing with moderate to high snow levels, producing rain rather than snow, especially on mid and lower slopes. The combination of the storm-track split and elevated snow levels has left lower slopes with little or no snow, while upper slopes have variable coverage.
Although I expect a little snow later Thursday, the storm is weak and snow levels are modestly high (5,000–6,000 ft). Expect trace to 2 inches — more for Whistler.
This weekend brings another weak storm with moderate snow levels and light snowfall on the upper slopes. Not a game changer.
Next week will finally bring colder temperatures for renewed snowmaking, but — of course — no significant moisture early in the week to take advantage of the cooler temperatures.
At this point, the only skiing available in the Northwest for Thanksgiving is Whistler, which starts spinning Friday. I’ll have more updates in the next 10 days, but for now, that’s how it looks — with moderate confidence.
It’s too early for a confident call, but some models hint at a more significant NW snowfall pattern near Thanksgiving or that weekend. Stay tuned.
A weak La Niña remains in progress, which has probably kept us in the game this fall with a more active West Coast pattern.
The La Niña influence will fade to neutral by mid-winter.
That doesn’t mean a snow bust, but it does lower confidence for a consistent Cascade snow pattern.
However, neutral winters increase the chance of certain extreme NW events — like high winds and lowland (Seattle) snowfall.
Lowland snow often brings very dry powder to the Cascades.
That’s the best I can do for now.
Listen in tonight on Zoom at 7 pm — and get your questions ready.
Your Grand Poobah,
Larry Schick, Meteorologist
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Whistler Roundhouse (6,000 ft) this morning. With adequate natural snow already and forecast of more, plus added snowmaking in progress, they are open on Friday. Likely alpine and mid mountain only, check their website for details. Lower elevations and Village lack snow, expect mandatory download.
Accumulated snowfall from now to Sunday – mainly north into BC and well south into California.
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Thanks for reading!
Andrea
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