Huge snowfalls in North America

After a lacklustre pre-Christmas start to the season, resorts in western North America have been reporting increasingly spectacular snowfall over the past few weeks, particularly in the northern US states and in British Columbia, Canada.

The snow has caused practical operational problems in some cases and avalanches in others with about a dozen deaths across the region.

At Whitefish in Montana, the resort reports it received more than five feet of new snow between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. As a result total snowfall to date is now approaching last season’s record numbers. “We got off to a bit of a slow start, snow-wise,” said Donnie Clapp, spokesman for the resort. “We certainly didn’t expect to have this much snow by early January when we opened.”

In Utah, Snowbird Ski Resort crossed over the 200inch (five metre) season-to-date snowfall total mark this week thanks to 29 inches (73cm) of new snow that has fallen over a three day period. “Nine feet of snow fell in December, and January is already proving to be another significant and productive snowfall month,” said Snowbird President Bob Bonar. “The mountain is in mid-winter form and skiers are raving about the conditions.”

The weekend storm brought Snowbird’s season-to-date snowfall total to 207 inches and the mid-mountain base to 86 inches. The Little Cottonwood Canyon resort averages an annual snowfall of 500 inches, providing the longest ski and snowboard season in Utah. Last season Snowbird received 611 inches and remained open until June 22nd.

It’s a similar picture north of the border with Fernie reporting more than a metre (40 inches) of new snow in the past week and stating accumulations were building in feet rather than centimetres! Good news indeed.

Lifts stopped by cold in Canada

Low temperatures in Calgary, Alberta, led to the region’s Olympic Park ski area shutting down on Friday because the weather was too cold for the lifts to operate within required limits.

An Arctic Storm brought temperatures down to -27C during the daytime on Friday with wind chill below -40C. The cold weather is expected to continue for several more days and may bring actual temperatures as low as -40C. The cold weather has been accompanied by strong winds of up to 41mph.

Canada Olympic Park cancelled all outdoor activities, but park spokesman Stewart McDonough told local media that it was rare for the park to shut down due to bad weather. However the lifts should not operate in strong winds or very low temperatures. The forecast high at present is about -31C.