A number of Californian ski areas has reported that by January 20/21 they’ve had more snow than ever previously reported during any previous January.
Squaw Valley (pictured above), established 68 years ago, and Mammoth, which is 77 seasons old, both said they’ve had more January snows than ever before.
Squaw Valley has had 212 inches (5.4m) of snow breaking its all time monthly snowfall record set in March 2011 of 202 inches (5.1m). Mammoth has had 15 feet (4.5 metres) of snow fall in January.
January 2017 will forever be known as record shattering. It is officially the snowiest January in history with over 15 feet at Main Lodge. Only 27" more until we break the Dec '10 totals of 209". Any guesses on the day/time?
Posted by Mammoth Mountain on Friday, 20 January 2017
Mammoth is currently reporting a base depth of 7.1m (nearly 24 feet) of snow on upper slopes, by far the deepest in the world. If it gets another few feet of snow it will break its all time monthly snowfall record set in December 2010, as it is still snowing hard, that currently seems likely.
It is quite unusual for any ski resort anywhere to reach a 7m base depth during the season and when it does happen somewhere every few years it is normally in March after the winter snowfall build up but before the spring thaw, not in January.
It is the second snowy winter in a row in California after the Godzilla El Nino last year ended four years of drought. This year it is reported to be the alternatgive ‘La Nina;’ but it seems to have made little difference to the abundant snowfall.
Other ski areas in western North America have also had very big snowfalls, if not quite as bid, but still enough to cause operational difficulties at times as resort operators and road crews battle to keep services operating.
