Today (Dec. 28 - Thurs.): 3 of the last 4 with rain.
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
This is brutal. Never seen so much snow-sucking fog and drizzle.
Back to square 1, maybe square 2 if you made enough snow.
Whew, even worse down in the Mid-Atlantic. a lot of places have had piss-hot rain the last 4-5 days with night time lows in the 40s. Ugly, but I think at least marginal snowmaking temps return soon at night.
Today (Dec. 28 - Thurs.): 3 of the last 4 with rain.
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
Don't forget to consider southern New England. Yawgoo Valley, Powder Ridge, Woodbury, Nashoba Valley, Blue Hills, and Bradford are all closed or never opened.
Berkshire East is only 14% open and Wachuset is 48% open.
A lack of natural snow is not unusual, but there is no good snowmaking weather on the near horizon.
Today (Dec. 28 - Thurs.): 3 of the last 4 with rain.
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
Don't forget to consider southern New England. Yawgoo Valley, Powder Ridge, Woodbury, Nashoba Valley, Blue Hills, and Bradford are all closed or never opened.
Berkshire East is only 14% open and Wachuset is 48% open.
A lack of natural snow is not unusual, but there is no good snowmaking weather on the near horizon.
I agree - but what are you suggesting regarding the placement of this season. As climate change continues, the southern areas are the ones that will suffer the most.
BTW: In NH, only Pat's Peak has more than Wachusett's 48% open.
Today (Dec. 28 - Thurs.): 3 of the last 4 with rain.
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
Don't forget to consider southern New England. Yawgoo Valley, Powder Ridge, Woodbury, Nashoba Valley, Blue Hills, and Bradford are all closed or never opened.
Berkshire East is only 14% open and Wachuset is 48% open.
A lack of natural snow is not unusual, but there is no good snowmaking weather on the near horizon.
I agree - but what are you suggesting regarding the placement of this season. As climate change continues, the southern areas are the ones that will suffer the most.
BTW: In NH, only Pat's Peak has more than Wachusett's 48% open.
2021-2022 was not as bad so far. I'm comparing trip reports from this time last season, and natural terrain was starting to open up around now. We're still a few good storms away from that this year. I know we had about a week of good natural snow, but many ski areas weren't even open then.
Today (Dec. 28 - Thurs.): 3 of the last 4 with rain.
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
Don't forget to consider southern New England. Yawgoo Valley, Powder Ridge, Woodbury, Nashoba Valley, Blue Hills, and Bradford are all closed or never opened.
Berkshire East is only 14% open and Wachuset is 48% open.
A lack of natural snow is not unusual, but there is no good snowmaking weather on the near horizon.
I agree - but what are you suggesting regarding the placement of this season. As climate change continues, the southern areas are the ones that will suffer the most.
BTW: In NH, only Pat's Peak has more than Wachusett's 48% open.
2021-2022 was not as bad so far. I'm comparing trip reports from this time last season, and natural terrain was starting to open up around now. We're still a few good storms away from that this year. I know we had about a week of good natural snow, but many ski areas weren't even open then.
2021-22: No lift-serviced Oct. skiing. Nov. 5 to Thanksgiving Week: Just Killington and their 2-trails. By mid-December: Limited skiing at a small percentage of ski areas. Xmas week featured 3-days of rain and fog. By mid-January, only a handful of New England areas are more than half-open.
Early December this season featured about a week of T2B natural snow skiing at places like Killington, Stowe, MRG, Jay Peak and the 3 S's of Maine. Everything else appears similar to 2021-2. At least until MLK Day, this season doesn't have to improve much (if at all) to be better than 2021-2.
Sounds like we had a better start than that year but have since declined drastically.
It all depends on if/how we recover in January.
The biggest problem (from my perspective) is the complete lack of any base. Even during epic thaw/rain/freeze events, we usually still have some snow pack left after the event (at least in northern areas).
But right now, there is absolutely no snow on the ground almost anywhere. Almost every natural snow trail and glade is starting over from grass.
The Mansfield Stake is currently at 20" (same as it was on this day in 21-22). It will almost certainly lose another inch or two today (putting it below 21-22 going into the new year).
Still not as bad as 15-16 when the Mansfield Stake started the new year at only 6" (!!!) and never got above 36". It hit 40" earlier this month... so there really can be no comparison with 15-16... yet.
It is never good when the debate is whether a given season is worst or merely tied for second worst during the past 10 years... especially when the worst season in the past 1o years was one of the worst of all time!
It is never good when the debate is whether a given season is worst or merely tied for second worst during the past 10 years... especially when the worst season in the past 1o years was one of the worst of all time!
With the "Early season" now in the books, here is my suggested starting point as of January 1, 2024.
Second Summary of 2023-4:
2018-9: Killington and Sunday River both opened on Oct. 19. Nov. snow and skiing was epic. Christmas week was above average, economically speaking. Jan. had a couple of thaws, but no major meltdown. There was a decent February, and 8 of the 9 days of Presidents Week featured great snow and great weather providing the industry a near record week. Most of VT, ME and northern NH had above average snowfall, but even the more southerly areas had great snowmaking weather to make up for any deficits. Early April featured some superb spring skiing, but mid-April included a severe meltdown where Killington dropped from 80 to 15 runs in a 2-day period. Despite that, the glacier on Killington's Superstar held up until June 2. 2013-4: The fact is, the season had a promising start, but two major meltdowns really put a damper on the season. Mad River Glen was all but shut down for a couple of weeks in January. January was unusually cold. We had a great Feb. vacation week, ending in a thaw that pretty much "firmed up" the surfaces followed by a major cold snap. The skiing in March was epic from Killington north and pretty good elsewhere. Superb skiing continued in April. Those in the Mid-Atlantic states might rate this season as #1. 2016-7: Early season: Excellent, but only at Killington; Snowfall: Average to average plus; Economics: Excellent Christmas week both weather-wise and snow; MLK Weekend was excellent despite a generally poor January; February: Thru the 15th: epic; Presidents Day thru Mar. 10 - gruesome, remainder of the season: Awesome; Killington makes it until June 1. 2017-8: No October skiing - Nov. 8 opening; credible Thanksgiving for bigger areas; fantastic snow at Xmas break but record low temps made the week an economic flop with most ski areas. Killington, Wildcat and other venerable giants of the industry, all closed for one or more days due to extreme cold. Jan. 10 started a 36-hour epic meltdown which turned MLK weekend into an economic disaster. Just as surfaces were beginning to recover, another meltdown pretty much neutralized Presidents Week. Most major storm following MLK day were followed by either rain or an extend meltdown. March and April have been epic. Killington just missed Memorial Day, but more areas were open in May than in any recent year. 2014-5: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December; Christmas: Rain - pretty well killed the business for the week; January including MLK Weekend: Bad - not much snow, not much business; February: Unbelievably great snow, but record cold weather kept the crowds away; Late season was great with Killington going until Memorial Day. 2022-3: No October skiing; Very limited November skiing; near record warmth in November impacting early-season snow making; already 3 or 4 freeze/melt cycles. A widespread 12"+ storm hits New England in mid-December providing huge trail expansion and some spectacular December skiing. Late December and early January was rife with rain, although the Xmas week itself was pretty good economically speaking for the industry. The remainder of January was reasonably good with a few powder days. MLK weekend provided 3-better-than-average days. Late Feb. thru March featured several large storms and generally excellent skiing. It should be noted, that if one lived in C, Eastern MA or RI, this season would be ranked lower. Very strong April skiing for the areas that remained open. 2020-1 Early season curtailed due to COVID-19. Mid-December was off the charts. After a Christmas disastrous warm rain, there has been consistent cold weather allowing for lots of good snow-making weather, but January has been very light on natural snow. Economically, the ski areas seem to be doing well with people desperate to get outdoors and the absence of a super-spreader event associated with skiing have all been plusses. Despite the lack of January snow, with no January thaw, conditions remained very good. Early Feb. has seen lots of snow events opening glades and non-snowmaking terrain. Except for the ice-storm of Feb. 16, the month included many days of superb skiing. The 2nd half of Feb. and all of March included no natural snow. Long COVID-related lift lines continue to be a problem at most areas. 2019-2020: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December. Xmas week was so-so. Except for MLK weekend, January featured a lot of wild temperature swings and not much natural snow. Snow tended to be better north of the MA border. Feb. was mediocre, with little new snow, but Feb. vacation week was good. Mar. was disturbed by COVID-19 and unusually warm temps. The last New England ski area open were shut down at COB on Mar. 18. 2023-4: No October skiing (except for Ward Hill). Killington opened Nov. 6. Most of the other "big boys" were able to open for Thanksgiving. Northern areas did better with natural snow, but all of ski country had great snowmaking weather in early December, providing more open terrain than normal. The 2nd half of December featured unusual warmth and 2-major rainstorms. Christmas week crowds were minimal. January offered a mixed bag: several horrific rain events, but an excellent MLK weekend and a reasonably good ending to the month. 2021-22: No lift-serviced Oct. skiing. Nov. 5 to Thanksgiving Week: Just Killington and their 2-trails. By mid-December: Limited skiing at a small percentage of ski areas. Xmas week featured 3-days of rain and fog. By mid-January, only a handful of New England areas are more than half-open. No January thaw. February and March featured some good days, but very little natural snow and lots of warm weather. March was record warm with many areas closing by mid-March. Good spring skiing in April, wasn't enough to redeem this season. Killington made it to June 4, but they were the last open lift-serviced skiing by 3-weeks. 2015-6: After a flurry of mid-October skiing at Killington and Sunday River, things went dead for 3 weeks or so. December was one of the warmest in history with almost no snowmaking opportunities. Much of ski country did not even open until after Christmas. The absence of natural snow has minimized glade skiing. Mad River was open a grand total of 45 days and 1/3 of those were Practice Slope only. Killington ran until May 29 despite receiving only 1/3 of its normal snow total. Most areas closed 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. A few old timers remember seasons this bad but not in the last 10 years.
I'm okay with the positioning, but, for future reference, can you please include that many ski areas had to close for a period of time at the start of vacation week due to the storm?
I'm okay with the positioning, but, for future reference, can you please include that many ski areas had to close for a period of time at the start of vacation week due to the storm?
Same was true in the 21-2 season. If you'll notice, these season synopses over the years have been comparatively short. I'm not trying to write a book about it!
BTW: In NH, only Pat's Peak has more than Wachusett's 48% open.
Wachusett is my home mountain and I am glad they have been able to open what they have but it's the least amount of terrain they have had throughout December/start of January that I can remember over the last 10 years. Finally some snowmaking temps this week and hopefully some natural coming soon. I typically average 4 days a week but with sub par conditions and lack of terrain I am way below that. Yesterday was only my 7th day out this season. I was at 23 days this time last year.
As January comes to an end, the season is nominally at the 1/2 point. January offered a mixed bag: several horrific rain events, but an excellent MLK weekend and a reasonably good ending to the month.
My sense is that it didn't drop to 10th or 11th. The question is, did it move up or stay the same?
I think it can stay right where it is. January was okay, but there weren't really any big storms. Base depths are still rather lackluster, and still unfrozen ground and wet areas are impacting many trails and glades which rely on natural snow.
Jay is over 200"... which only shows just how much got washed away. But, that said, despite a lot of mixing, January has been a net positive. We are basically a month behind where a good season would be. First week of December remains the best of the season, so far (though, Jay had some excellent mid-week sleeper days in mid-January that I missed).
This season is starting to give off 15-16 vibes, but we still have two more months of potential winter weather before making that call. At this point, still in the third worst position. I have to assume we'll get at least one or two more storms. If not, this might be amongst the worst, especially for more southern areas.
As always, very location dependent. For instance in SoVT MLK was not "excellent" - it rained most of Saturday and then firmed up.
The one thing that has bumped other years - but not 15/16 - the big dump, or at least a normal dump of 12" or more. SoVT has not gone north of 8" in any one event. Still time for sure.......
Gonna get better in the coming days. Prez week looking good except for the end of it might be damp. No frog-choker storms though
No notable snow storms either. Seasonal temperatures with little to no snow is a pretty low bar for "looking good." That just speaks to how bad this season has been.
Gonna get better in the coming days. Prez week looking good except for the end of it might be damp. No frog-choker storms though
No notable snow storms either. Seasonal temperatures with little to no snow is a pretty low bar for "looking good." That just speaks to how bad this season has been.
True, but if we get the 4-9 predicted here it will help a bunch. se'll take anything we can get...
As always, very location dependent. For instance in SoVT MLK was not "excellent" - it rained most of Saturday and then firmed up.
...
Perhaps an exaggeration on my part: While Saturday WAS a washout at CM (SoNH), our Friday crowd more than offset the loss of Saturday. I don't know if that was industry-wide.
Unless there is a cataclysmic change in the next week or two, I suspect that this season isn't moving from 9th place. Forecast for Presidents Week looks frigid. That's never good for business.
As always, very location dependent. For instance in SoVT MLK was not "excellent" - it rained most of Saturday and then firmed up.
...
Perhaps an exaggeration on my part: While Saturday WAS a washout at CM (SoNH), our Friday crowd more than offset the loss of Saturday. I don't know if that was industry-wide.
Unless there is a cataclysmic change in the next week or two, I suspect that this season isn't moving from 9th place. Forecast for Presidents Week looks frigid. That's never good for business.
Not seeing frigid in forecast here in CVT. Highs 20's and 30's, lows teens maybe.
As always, very location dependent. For instance in SoVT MLK was not "excellent" - it rained most of Saturday and then firmed up.
...
Perhaps an exaggeration on my part: While Saturday WAS a washout at CM (SoNH), our Friday crowd more than offset the loss of Saturday. I don't know if that was industry-wide.
Unless there is a cataclysmic change in the next week or two, I suspect that this season isn't moving from 9th place. Forecast for Presidents Week looks frigid. That's never good for business.
Comments
I'll wait until New Years Day, but I suspect the updated summary will put it 8th or 9th. There was a couple of weeks of very nice snow in December that I can't ignore, so I think it is better than 21-2 and I'm never sure what to do with 2019-20 because of the COVID interruption.
thesnowway.com
Whew, even worse down in the Mid-Atlantic. a lot of places have had piss-hot rain the last 4-5 days with night time lows in the 40s. Ugly, but I think at least marginal snowmaking temps return soon at night.
Don't forget to consider southern New England. Yawgoo Valley, Powder Ridge, Woodbury, Nashoba Valley, Blue Hills, and Bradford are all closed or never opened.
Berkshire East is only 14% open and Wachuset is 48% open.
A lack of natural snow is not unusual, but there is no good snowmaking weather on the near horizon.
I agree - but what are you suggesting regarding the placement of this season. As climate change continues, the southern areas are the ones that will suffer the most.
BTW: In NH, only Pat's Peak has more than Wachusett's 48% open.
Yep! But so were 2015-6 and 2021-2.
2021-2022 was not as bad so far. I'm comparing trip reports from this time last season, and natural terrain was starting to open up around now. We're still a few good storms away from that this year. I know we had about a week of good natural snow, but many ski areas weren't even open then.
http://snowjournal.com/discussion/3368/black-mountain-of-maine-2021-2022/p2
Comparing 2021-2 season by this date:
2021-22: No lift-serviced Oct. skiing. Nov. 5 to Thanksgiving Week: Just Killington and their 2-trails. By mid-December: Limited skiing at a small percentage of ski areas. Xmas week featured 3-days of rain and fog. By mid-January, only a handful of New England areas are more than half-open.
Early December this season featured about a week of T2B natural snow skiing at places like Killington, Stowe, MRG, Jay Peak and the 3 S's of Maine. Everything else appears similar to 2021-2. At least until MLK Day, this season doesn't have to improve much (if at all) to be better than 2021-2.
The biggest problem (from my perspective) is the complete lack of any base. Even during epic thaw/rain/freeze events, we usually still have some snow pack left after the event (at least in northern areas).
But right now, there is absolutely no snow on the ground almost anywhere. Almost every natural snow trail and glade is starting over from grass.
The Mansfield Stake is currently at 20" (same as it was on this day in 21-22). It will almost certainly lose another inch or two today (putting it below 21-22 going into the new year).
Still not as bad as 15-16 when the Mansfield Stake started the new year at only 6" (!!!) and never got above 36". It hit 40" earlier this month... so there really can be no comparison with 15-16... yet.
thesnowway.com
thesnowway.com
Excellent point!
Second Summary of 2023-4:
2018-9: Killington and Sunday River both opened on Oct. 19. Nov. snow and skiing was epic. Christmas week was above average, economically speaking. Jan. had a couple of thaws, but no major meltdown. There was a decent February, and 8 of the 9 days of Presidents Week featured great snow and great weather providing the industry a near record week. Most of VT, ME and northern NH had above average snowfall, but even the more southerly areas had great snowmaking weather to make up for any deficits. Early April featured some superb spring skiing, but mid-April included a severe meltdown where Killington dropped from 80 to 15 runs in a 2-day period. Despite that, the glacier on Killington's Superstar held up until June 2.
2013-4: The fact is, the season had a promising start, but two major meltdowns really put a damper on the season. Mad River Glen was all but shut down for a couple of weeks in January. January was unusually cold. We had a great Feb. vacation week, ending in a thaw that pretty much "firmed up" the surfaces followed by a major cold snap. The skiing in March was epic from Killington north and pretty good elsewhere. Superb skiing continued in April. Those in the Mid-Atlantic states might rate this season as #1.
2016-7: Early season: Excellent, but only at Killington; Snowfall: Average to average plus; Economics: Excellent Christmas week both weather-wise and snow; MLK Weekend was excellent despite a generally poor January; February: Thru the 15th: epic; Presidents Day thru Mar. 10 - gruesome, remainder of the season: Awesome; Killington makes it until June 1.
2017-8: No October skiing - Nov. 8 opening; credible Thanksgiving for bigger areas; fantastic snow at Xmas break but record low temps made the week an economic flop with most ski areas. Killington, Wildcat and other venerable giants of the industry, all closed for one or more days due to extreme cold. Jan. 10 started a 36-hour epic meltdown which turned MLK weekend into an economic disaster. Just as surfaces were beginning to recover, another meltdown pretty much neutralized Presidents Week. Most major storm following MLK day were followed by either rain or an extend meltdown. March and April have been epic. Killington just missed Memorial Day, but more areas were open in May than in any recent year.
2014-5: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December; Christmas: Rain - pretty well killed the business for the week; January including MLK Weekend: Bad - not much snow, not much business; February: Unbelievably great snow, but record cold weather kept the crowds away; Late season was great with Killington going until Memorial Day.
2022-3: No October skiing; Very limited November skiing; near record warmth in November impacting early-season snow making; already 3 or 4 freeze/melt cycles. A widespread 12"+ storm hits New England in mid-December providing huge trail expansion and some spectacular December skiing. Late December and early January was rife with rain, although the Xmas week itself was pretty good economically speaking for the industry. The remainder of January was reasonably good with a few powder days. MLK weekend provided 3-better-than-average days. Late Feb. thru March featured several large storms and generally excellent skiing. It should be noted, that if one lived in C, Eastern MA or RI, this season would be ranked lower. Very strong April skiing for the areas that remained open.
2020-1 Early season curtailed due to COVID-19. Mid-December was off the charts. After a Christmas disastrous warm rain, there has been consistent cold weather allowing for lots of good snow-making weather, but January has been very light on natural snow. Economically, the ski areas seem to be doing well with people desperate to get outdoors and the absence of a super-spreader event associated with skiing have all been plusses. Despite the lack of January snow, with no January thaw, conditions remained very good. Early Feb. has seen lots of snow events opening glades and non-snowmaking terrain. Except for the ice-storm of Feb. 16, the month included many days of superb skiing. The 2nd half of Feb. and all of March included no natural snow. Long COVID-related lift lines continue to be a problem at most areas.
2019-2020: Early season: - No October skiing, but great from mid-November to mid-December. Xmas week was so-so. Except for MLK weekend, January featured a lot of wild temperature swings and not much natural snow. Snow tended to be better north of the MA border. Feb. was mediocre, with little new snow, but Feb. vacation week was good. Mar. was disturbed by COVID-19 and unusually warm temps. The last New England ski area open were shut down at COB on Mar. 18.
2023-4: No October skiing (except for Ward Hill). Killington opened Nov. 6. Most of the other "big boys" were able to open for Thanksgiving. Northern areas did better with natural snow, but all of ski country had great snowmaking weather in early December, providing more open terrain than normal. The 2nd half of December featured unusual warmth and 2-major rainstorms. Christmas week crowds were minimal. January offered a mixed bag: several horrific rain events, but an excellent MLK weekend and a reasonably good ending to the month.
2021-22: No lift-serviced Oct. skiing. Nov. 5 to Thanksgiving Week: Just Killington and their 2-trails. By mid-December: Limited skiing at a small percentage of ski areas. Xmas week featured 3-days of rain and fog. By mid-January, only a handful of New England areas are more than half-open. No January thaw. February and March featured some good days, but very little natural snow and lots of warm weather. March was record warm with many areas closing by mid-March. Good spring skiing in April, wasn't enough to redeem this season. Killington made it to June 4, but they were the last open lift-serviced skiing by 3-weeks.
2015-6: After a flurry of mid-October skiing at Killington and Sunday River, things went dead for 3 weeks or so. December was one of the warmest in history with almost no snowmaking opportunities. Much of ski country did not even open until after Christmas. The absence of natural snow has minimized glade skiing. Mad River was open a grand total of 45 days and 1/3 of those were Practice Slope only. Killington ran until May 29 despite receiving only 1/3 of its normal snow total. Most areas closed 2 to 3 weeks earlier than usual. A few old timers remember seasons this bad but not in the last 10 years.
Comments always welcome.
Same was true in the 21-2 season. If you'll notice, these season synopses over the years have been comparatively short. I'm not trying to write a book about it!
My sense is that it didn't drop to 10th or 11th. The question is, did it move up or stay the same?
Jay is over 200"... which only shows just how much got washed away. But, that said, despite a lot of mixing, January has been a net positive. We are basically a month behind where a good season would be. First week of December remains the best of the season, so far (though, Jay had some excellent mid-week sleeper days in mid-January that I missed).
thesnowway.com
thesnowway.com
The one thing that has bumped other years - but not 15/16 - the big dump, or at least a normal dump of 12" or more. SoVT has not gone north of 8" in any one event. Still time for sure.......
No notable snow storms either. Seasonal temperatures with little to no snow is a pretty low bar for "looking good." That just speaks to how bad this season has been.
True, but if we get the 4-9 predicted here it will help a bunch. se'll take anything we can get...
Perhaps an exaggeration on my part: While Saturday WAS a washout at CM (SoNH), our Friday crowd more than offset the loss of Saturday. I don't know if that was industry-wide.
Unless there is a cataclysmic change in the next week or two, I suspect that this season isn't moving from 9th place. Forecast for Presidents Week looks frigid. That's never good for business.
Not seeing frigid in forecast here in CVT. Highs 20's and 30's, lows teens maybe.
Just seasonable temperatures here in Maine