The 27th Annual Winter Weather Conference was held Saturday at OMSI, and three local meteorologists gave their predictions for a normal to above average snow season on Mt. Hood.
National Weather Service Meteorologist from the Portland office Tyree Wilde noted that neutral years - that is years that neither El Nino nor La Nina weather conditions are present - tend to bring normal snowpack to the mountains. Meadows' average seasonal snowpack is 430 inches, so normal would be awesome!
KOIN 6 TV Meteorologist Kelley Bayern noted that Mt. Hood Meadows was open by Thanksgiving on all neutral years dating back to 1980, with an average opening date of November 23. Her forecast is for a fantastic snow year, noting that we’ve already seen snow events in September and October.
Here's a link to the presentations in their entirety.
Meteorologist and Hydrologist Kyle Dittmer boldly forecast a season that could see 140% of normal (which would be over 600 inches at Meadows) and expects a long season, with above normal snow and colder temps in March and April, saying, “So if you’re involved with the ski business, I guess that’s a good thing.”
We are prepared to supplement the natural snow we receive with snow harvesting. We've built two new dump beds and they will be ready to roll with the next snow!
