Early season snow spells holiday weekend relief for Tahoe ski resorts

Heavy snowfall is coming early this year, and area ski resorts couldn't be happier on the eve of some big holiday weekends.

“There's never enough snow — we always want more,” said Kirstin Cattell, Northstar-at-Tahoe's communications manager. “But I think last year proved that skiers and snowboarders who want to come out will come out.” A year ago, the Lake Tahoe Basin didn't see its first significant snowstorm until around Christmas, and not much fell the entire season after that.

This year, two major snowstorms hit the Tahoe/Truckee area the past two weekends, leaving many downhill resorts with as much as 60 to 75 inches at upper levels. All but Diamond Peak, Homewood and Tahoe Donner Downhill — which open this week — are open for the season. Savannah Cowley, spokeswoman at Squaw Valley USA, said the resort is optimistic about the early snow and already have more bookings than last year.

“As a lot of the locals know, the past four winters have been pretty late, and we have always been scrambling to get the resorts open,” she said.

From December 6-13 this year, Cowley said Squaw accumulated 78 inches of snow. While this year's early-season snow is appreciated, Cattell said the month of February — the ski season's typical highest snowfall month — will decide if this year will be a prosperous.

According to the National Weather Service in Reno, after a likely chance of a rain/snow mix Wednesday, high temperatures should hover around 40 degrees into next weekend, with little or no snow in the forecast.

WHISTLER BLACKCOMB SMASHES 30-YEAR RECORD FOR SNOWIEST MONTH EVER WITH OVER 5.5 METRES (18 FEET) OF SNOWFALL

As the calendar flips over to December, it's now official that November 2009 will go down in history as the snowiest month on record at Whistler Blackcomb, dating back to when the collection of weather data began 30 years ago.

November 2009 has seen a total accumulation of 560cm (18 feet) of snowfall, nearly four times that of November's average snowfall of 148cm (58 inches). This is an increase of more than 19 per cent over the previous record of 469cm (185 inches) set in January 2006, and a 22 per cent increase over January 1992's record of 459cm (181 inches).

And now, with the record broken, there is still an entire season of skiing and riding to look forward to. With a season that offers 192 days of skiing and riding, Whistler Blackcomb is already over half way towards the resort's average annual snowfall of just over 10 metres (33 feet).

Alpine ski season off to earliest ever start due to heavy snowfalls

Over the weekend, skiers and snowboarders enjoyed outstanding conditions for this time of year as a handful of European resorts opened earlier than expected following snowfalls of up to 20ins (50cm) in the past week.

In Saas Fee, Switzerland, snow depths have already reached more than 3ft (1m) on upper slopes, while the Austrian resort of Kitzbühel earlier set an 80-year record by opening on October 24.

In Switzerland, the resorts of Zermatt, Saas Fee, and Verbier have lifts running at weekends boasting “excellent” conditions following snowfalls in Thursday and overnight on Saturday. Resorts in France and Italy are also offering weekend skiing.

Despite not being among the highest of the Austrian resorts, Kitzbühel was one of the earliest to open its lifts last month, after heavy falls over the last three weeks.

Many Alpine resorts had been becoming increasingly nervous about the unseasonably warm weather of late, which saw temperatures as high as 65F (18C) – fearing a repeat of the dire season of 2006/7.

Concerns have also been raised over the impact of the global economic crisis and poor exchange rates that have forced up the cost of holidays in Europe, especially for British tourists.

Experts said that a plethora of cheap deals available this year are also helping fuel sales.

Last year many Alpine resorts experienced the best snow conditions in a generation.

1st snow kicks off area's ski season

The first cold snap of the season brought the first snowfall of the season overnight Saturday. But the cold will be a memory by midweek, when temperatures are expected to be as high as 73, according to the National Weather Service.

Two inches of snow was reported at Mount Mitchell, an inch of snow fell near Banner Elk and in Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and about a half-inch covered the ground in Waynesville, said Scott Krentz, a metereologist with the National Weather Service, on Sunday. “Areas at 3,500 feet and above got about a half or so,” he said. The shining sun doesn't mean it's going to warm up right away; Krentz said the forecast calls for temperatures 10 degrees below normal for today, with a high around 59 degrees and an overnight low of 30. A freeze warning was in effect overnight, set to expire at 9 this morning, for much of Western North Carolina.

But the harsh cold isn't bad news for everyone in WNC. The folks at Cataloochee Ski Area in Maggie Valley started making snow Sunday morning and will open at 1 p.m. today. “It's the earliest opening in our history,” said Tammy Brown, spokeswoman for the ski area. “We are going to stay open as long as we can.” It was 25 degrees when they started making snow at 6:45 a.m. Sunday, Brown said.

Skiers will have to battle the heat before long, though. Warmer weather returns the middle of the week, with highs once again reaching the low 70s and lows in the mid-40s to around 50, according to the National Weather Service.