Hoodoo Ski Area cancels New Year’s Eve celebration due to lack of snow

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Hoodoo Ski Area outside Sisters has canceled its annual New Year’s Eve celebration due to an inadequate amount of snow, the resort announced Thursday.

In November, an early season snowpack was building up in the Cascades. However, the snowpack was decimated by a Pineapple Express that washed over the region in early December, bringing warmer temperatures and high-elevation rain that ruined ski conditions across the state.

“Hoodoo's management is hopeful that weather patterns will change soon, allowing Central Oregon's oldest ski area to finally open for the 2023-24 ski season,” the ski resort said in a statement.

KOIN 6 Meteorologist Kelley Bayern reports that the region is expected to see an increase in mountain snowfall by February, at the latest.

"We are still awaiting large, and much colder, storms to drop significant snowfall over the Cascades this winter," Bayern said. "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."