Big Snowstorms Hit US Ski Resorts
14th December 2022
Last modified on December 18th, 2022
A powerful storm has brought heavy snow and extreme weather to parts of the US and Canada. Ski resorts have been reporting huge dumps, lifts buried, high avalanche risk and road closures.
The weather closed down mountain highways in some states in the western US which were expecting around 60cm of snow to fall.
Last weekend the Sierra Nevada in northern California was one of the first areas to be hit by the big storm.
Snowfalls of more than 1.5 metres were reported with avalanche warnings issued and major roads forced to close.
Palisades Tahoe ski area said on Tuesday that it now had 125% of the average snowpack for December with around 2.75m of snow having dumped since the start of the month.
It has had to dig out ski lifts and snow grooming machines.
“As of this morning, we have seen 9+ feet of new snow since December 1st,” the resort said.
“With all this new snow, we have literally been digging ourselves out for the past few days.
“Now, with a few dry days in the forecast and a great base of snow, we are turning our attention to terrain expansion.”
Heavenly resort at Lake Tahoe had to shut down some operations when the brunt of the storm hit Saturday.
The resort posted video of chairlifts swaying violently in gusts of up to 100mph.
A reminder that wind hold is always for your safety: pic.twitter.com/mb4Bnr7c1o
— SkiHeavenly (@skiheavenly) December 10, 2022
“Well, it’s not exactly breaking news that we got absolutely dumped on,” the resort said on Monday.
“We are up against some pretty gnarly conditions this morning. Avalanche mitigation teams are working hard and crews all over the mountain are digging to try to open what we can.
“We don’t have power at California Lodge which is also presenting us with some difficulties. Gondola operations will be closed for the day.
“Thank you all for your patience and cooperation as we work to try to get you an unreal pow day.”
By early Tuesday, they were reporting everything would soon be back up and running with new terrain opening to take advantage of the bumper snow conditions.
Mammoth was also benefiting from the big weekend storm once it cleared.
The US Forest Service has issued a warning of dangerous avalanche conditions for the backcountry in the mountains west of Lake Tahoe.
Wild weather has been continuing in parts of North America with high winds and heavy snowfall forecast into Wednesday (14th December).
According to BBC News, more than 20 million people were under severe weather advisories in the US on Tuesday.
Blizzard warnings from the National Weather Service – predicting winds of at least 35mph and big dumps of snow – were in effect for several states, including Colorado.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) announced at the weekend that in the previous 7 days, observers had reported more than 400 avalanches in the state as the snowpack passed a tipping point.
“One hundred thirty-seven of these were large enough to bury someone, and 294 were natural,” CAIC said.
“This should be warning enough that the snowpack is dangerous. This weekend signs of instability, like natural avalanches, will diminish, but human triggering remains likely.”
CAIC posted the photo below of an avalanche near Loveland Pass as an example of a human-triggered slide.
“Tracks leading up to the flat rib below the avalanche show how a traveler triggered the avalanche from below. The avalanche wraps around terrain features, showing how the weak layer connects across the terrain.
“Thankfully on this occasion, no one was injured or hurt.”
Loveland Pass avalanche December 2022. Image c/o CAIC
The storm has also hit parts of of Canada.
This was the Ikon Resorts ski area of Sun Peaks in British Columbia.
