Yeah, we know. A Super El Niño is taking shape, and for us skiers and snowboarders up north, that might sound like terrible news.
An El Niño weather pattern, which involves warm ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific, affects the course of the high-altitude jet stream that pushes storm systems to the north and south. In general, that means warmer, drier winter conditions for the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies.
But weather is a complicated thing, and it's not a foregone conclusion that any particular mountain will be hurting for snow. In fact, we could be in for a stellar ski season here at Whitefish Mountain Resort.
Case in point: the last Super El Niño.
How the last Super El Niño unfolded in Whitefish
Winter 2015/16 got off to a modest start on Big Mountain, with 37 inches of preseason snowfall and a settled base depth of 2 feet at the summit.
Then, as now, we had endured a tsunami of headlines and meteorological reports suggesting this could be a real dud of a ski season. Yet plenty of our terrain was in fine skiing condition, and we started up the chairlifts on Dec. 5, right on schedule.
Soon afterward, wave after wave of snow blanketed the mountain, defying predictions. We measured 9 inches of new snow on Dec. 8 and 10 inches on Dec. 13. Christmas Eve brought another 10 inches. And on Christmas Day, Santa surprised us all with 14 inches of beautiful, fluffy powder.
Between opening day and the end of December, a whopping 90 inches of snowfall transformed the landscape, upended our low expectations, and reminded us all not to put too much stock in those long-term weather outlooks. By the numbers, it was one of our best Decembers on record. The stoke, as they say, was high.
January brought another 80 inches, providing a fantastic base of snow that would carry us through the season. Then we tallied another 43 inches in February, 57 inches in March, and 4 inches in April before closing on April 10. For those counting, our 2015/16 ski season delivered an above-average snowfall total of 311 inches.
And all that snow wasn't just melting away before we could ski it. On closing day, the settled base at the summit measured 100 inches — over 8 feet deep!
So, as we stare down another Super El Niño forming in the Pacific, let's all take a deep breath, tune out the doomsayers and stay hopeful about the winter ahead.
If it's anything like 2015/16, we're in for a great time.
