Dry, brown slopes throughout Eastern Idaho are leaving many “pole-planters” and “knuckle-draggers” worried about the winter conditions.
Though it was set to open Nov. 18, Grand Targhee Resort made the tough call last week to delay opening day until the snow arrives. Pebble Creek Ski Area, however, is still on track to open mid- to late December.
“We usually don’t open as early as Targhee,” said Mary Reichman, Pebble Creek’s general manager. “Our standard opening is mid-December and about a quarter of the time we’re open earlier and about a quarter of the time we’re open later.”
Reichman added that Pebble will begin making snow as early as Monday of next week, and she’s hopeful the cold weather sticks around.
A persistent ridge of high-pressure kept things warmer than normal across most of Eastern Idaho, which accounts for the warm weather at the beginning of November, according to Dawn Harmon, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“We are starting to see signs that has changed quite a bit,” Harmon said. “Temperatures were definitely closer to normal this week than we had earlier.”
As far as a three-month winter forecast goes, Harmon said it’s tough to fully predict, but her estimations are that Idaho can expect temperatures being slightly higher than normal and precipitation being slightly above normal.
“At some point in the time, the snow will arrive,” Harmon said. “It’s just difficult to tell exactly when or how much for the season.”
Though several resorts — including Targhee, Pebble and Pomerelle — saw a significant amount of snowfall in early October, unseasonably warm conditions have erased a decent amount of accumulation since.
“We got some good snow in October that put moisture into the soil, which we desperately need so that things can freeze up,” said Gretchen Anderson, Pomerelle’s spokeswoman. “We’re looking at some storms coming in, but it all comes down to Mother Nature or Old Man Winter.”
The National Weather Service issued a special weather alert calling for snow Sunday night through Monday and again Wednesday night through Thursday.
“Over the next week or so, we are looking at a fairly active weather pattern with active systems coming through East Idaho approximately every other day,” Harmon said. “It’s difficult to say how much snow we’ll see on the valley floors, but areas like Pebble and Grand Teton could stand to see a couple of inches or more through the week.”
Stefan Naylor, an avid snowboarder at Pebble and an employee at Barrie’s Ski and Sports, said the lack of snow has left him slightly edgy.
“I know it has us a little bit nervous.” Naylor said. “We have over $3 million worth of merchandise that needs to get sold, and it doesn’t get sold if it doesn’t snow.”
This problem isn’t specific to Idaho or Wyoming. Areas all across the Rocky Mountains and Intermountain West are grappling with warmer conditions.
The Colorado snowpack is off to its worst start in more than 30 years, said Brian Domonkos, who supervises the U.S. Department of Agriculture snow survey in the state.
At least five Colorado ski resorts have postponed their opening day, and the men’s World Cup downhill, super-G and giant slalom races at Beaver Creek in two weeks have been canceled because of unseasonably warm weather.
As skiers and boarders alike continue to pray for snow, Reichman remains optimistic and said she knows that winter will be here before we know it.
“It’s coming,” Reichman said. “And we’re looking forward to another great winter.”
