4 feet below: Mt. Hood sees worst ski season start in 34 years
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Does this winter seem quiet to you? Maybe a little warmer and certainly less snowy than last year? Well, you're right. Not only has it been a mild December in Portland, but we've also had a lackluster start to the ski season on Mt. Hood.
Looking at historical snow depth data provided by the Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, we see an average of 75 inches at the base by January 1st. The Timberline Lodge states that their snow depth measurements are of compacted and settled snow, taken at the top of the Pucci Chair Lift right around 6,000 feet in elevation.
As of this morning, a snow depth of 26 inches was reported at the base, nearly 50 inches below average. In other words, there are about 4 feet of snowpack missing on the ski slopes at this point in the year, compared to normal years. The last time snow depth was lower than this, going into January 1st, was during the winter of 1989-1990 when there was only 15 inches of snowfall at the base. We have also seen slow starts to ski season during the winters of 2019-2020, 2014-2015, and 2013-2014, just to name a few.
We also had a false start to winter this year with strong storm systems bringing in several rounds of significant snowfall in late October and during the beginning of December. Our snow depth reached a maximum of 36 inches at the Mt. Hood Meadows SNOTEL site on December 3rd this year before abruptly melting down during a warm atmospheric river event shortly after.
Even with the subpar snowpack on Mt. Hood so far this winter, here are some things to consider:
- The lack of snow now does not mean the entire season will have lackluster ski conditions. Snowfall usually improves after the new year and peaks in April. We can still have fantastic weeks and months of "shreddable" powder this winter. It may just come a little later this season...
- ENSO conditions are likely playing a factor here too. Some of our least snowy winters have been during weak El Nino winters. For example, the winters of 2014-2015 and 2004-2005.
Many times this winter, above-freezing temps in the mountains have caused more rain, freezing rain, and mixed showers to fall over the Cascades, rather than the fluffy stuff we want. Looking ahead, there's not much snow in the forecast through the New Year. Weather models show scattered showers over the Cascade Mountains with zero to 3 inches of new snowfall at most. Even further out, a few long-range models predict a snowier system to arrive during the first weekend of January. That may be a date to mark on the calendar if you're keeping an eye out for better ski conditions. We'll watch this closely...
We are still awaiting large, and much colder, storms to drop significant snowfall over the Cascades this winter. Hopefully, we'll see these storms in January. We'll likely start to see an uptick in mountain snowfall and an improvement in our snow depth by February.
Until then, keep doing those snow dances and thank the hard workers on Mt. Hood for making it happen during one of the slowest starts to ski season in the last 34 years.