1/20/2012 7:21:00 AM
by Meadows Team
in Connection, Media Center, Weather Blog
| 2 comments
A powerful La Nina storm has dropped 90” of snow on Mt. Hood Meadows this week, bringing the resort’s settled base depth up to 87 inches. Mt. Hood Meadows now has one of the deepest snow packs of any ski resort in the country. At the height of the storm the resort received 31 inches of snow in 24 hours.
The storm provided some primo powder the first three days, and then turned wet and wild delivering a mixture of snow, sleet and rain. Over the six days the water equivalent deposited by at Mt. Hood Meadows is almost 13 inches – quite the moisture pump. The temperature remained cold enough for the majority of the moisture to fall as snow and build the snowpack.
Telemetry: NWAC data station at bottom of Mt. Hood Express. Click to enlarge.
Resort officials and guests are delighted by the storm, which has more than doubled the snow pack, upon which the resort will build the rest of the season. Once the storm passes freestyle grooming and parks crews will construct the Rose City and Park Place intermediate and advanced terrain parks, featuring medium and large sized jumps. The resort will also be rebuilding The Zoo, Shipyard and Forest Park – small to medium parks which had been operating but were buried by the storm this past week. Work will also begin on the in ground Super Pipe.
The new snow will also allow for bridges to be built at the bottom of Heather Canyon, the first step towards the eventual opening of advanced gated access to Heather, Clark Canyon and Private Reserve.