Both Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain have extended their snowmaking operations weeks past their usual end dates as those Park City ski hills and others around the state battle one of the warmest, driest winters on record. However, operators of both resorts say they expect to end their snowmaking season within the next couple weeks.
The reasons are twofold. For one, they believe they’ll have deep enough coverage on their groomed runs — or at least enough backup snow stashed away — that it will hold up through April. Second, a storm is brewing (finally!).
“Maybe not a huge storm overall, but it’s [a] good start,” wrote Evan Thayer, the Utah forecaster for OpenSnow.com, in a Daily Snow blog entry titled “At last,” “and things should get better next week if trends hold.”
About a foot of snow is expected to fall in Park City between Tuesday and Thursday, according to OpenSnow. Closer to 20 inches could fall in the Cottonwood Canyons. Plus, another storm is on the horizon that could deliver another 18 inches of snow in the Wasatch Mountains by Feb. 18.
Unfortunately, Salt Lake City, which has seen almost no measurable snowfall this winter, won’t be getting in on the action. The National Weather Service predicts rain throughout the week, with a brief dry window over the weekend. The OpenSnow forecast doesn’t show even a chance of snow in the valley until late February.
“Snow levels will stay somewhat elevated,” Thayer wrote. “They won’t be down to the lower valleys or even close to that. Right now, during the heart of the storm, we have them around 6,500 [feet].”
More snow will be needed to resuscitate Utah’s snowpack, though. It’s the lowest it has been since at least 1980, and most of the state’s water basins are at 50% of median or below. Closest to normal is the Bear River Basin, at 68% of the 30-year median. The Lower Sevier Basin is in the worst state, at 20% of the median.
Read Julie Jags' full story at sltrib.com.
This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.