Patience

Just like kids having a hard time waiting for Christmas, skiers in November fret and watch the weather forecasts for their favorite ski hills closely. Will it stay cold enough for snow guns to make snow, and will it last? Will that big storm be rain or snow- and if it’s snow, will it last or melt away again?

Every year some places get lucky when winter arrives strong and early. Some of the Wasatch resorts openned early this past week with abundant snow. Here in the Tetons the  National Weather Sevice has has apparently put their forecast on auto pilot showing essentially a 50% chance of rain or snow forever in their projections with temps bobbing about betwen 20 and 40 degrees. This is producing an agonizingly slow accretion of snow in the upper elevations.

Grand Targhee’s snow report website has only been inspired enough to update their snow fall amounts on two 7″ days- three weeks apart-  but I think I read in the local paper last week that they say they have a couple of feet of snow near their summit. For the season thus far they are reporting only 23″. Jackson Hole is reporting 18″ on their upper mountain, and claiming 46″ total snowfall to date for this season. But it is only the second week of November, so there’s time yet for the rocks to get really buried before Targhee officially opens on November 22. Hopefully.

I don’t see any skier cars parked in the parking lot on top of Teton Pass this morning. The WYDOT webcams showed some there this weekend, but skiing must be marginal.

Patience, it’s coming.

Tags: Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Snow
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