30 Inches of Snow on Buffalo Pass plus 9 more last night!

It's been a wet and cool fall and we got the most precipitation since May 9th in town. That's saying something since we had some serious rain in May and June this year. I'm very excited to see so much snow on Buffalo Pass so early. Hopefully this means Buff Pass will be ready before the ski mountain opens at Thanksgiving. Another great season would be outstanding, a normal season will be great too.

From the Steamboat Pilot “We expect El Niño to strengthen and persist through the winter months, providing clues as to what the weather will be like during the period,” Halpert said. “Warmer ocean water in the equatorial Pacific shifts the patterns of tropical rainfall that in turn change the strength and position of the jet stream and storms over the Pacific Ocean and the U.S.” Steamboat Powderhounds know Mount Werner is prone to getting day after day of snow when the jet stream settles over the Yampa Valley on a northwest flow.

One might not guess it to look at the modest snow cover on Storm Peak, but the snow depth is building just north on Buffalo Pass to as deep as 30 inches, in the estimation of one local expert. Chris Diamond, Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. president, observed during a public speaking engagement this fall that the last El Niño year resulted in more than 400 inches of snow. That year, 2005-06, weather patterns dumped 432 inches of snow at the midway point on Mount Werner."

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