The winter season got off to a good start this year, with the earliest opening for the mountains in 25 years on Nov. 5, but snowfalls dropped off considerably in December.
In total Whistler and Blackcomb received 84 cm of snow in November. Until another storm system moved in on Monday (Dec. 19) of this week, total December snowfall was just 11 cm. Cold air, light winds, periods of low level fog and blue skies in the alpine were the general rule, and a persistent inversion created warmer temperatures in the low alpine than in the valley. Many compared the conditions to spring skiing.
Although there is still over a week of December left and the weather is changing, so far the total snowfall accumulation is well below normal. Last December there was 224 cm, and for the pervious four years snowfalls were between 171 and 377 cm.
"We had our earliest opening in 25 years, and that certainly got the momentum started, and got people excited, and put Whistler-Blackcomb back in the market after the last season," said Christina Moore, manager of public relations for Whistler-Blackcomb.
"This season, so far (December) has been disappointing, but it’s still early season. And it’s certainly been awesome for snowmaking."
There are about 200 snow guns on the mountains, and according to Moore they’ve been making snow almost non-stop for several weeks. Every day they have been going through between 11 million and 15 million litres of water, which is the reason the ski-outs on both Whistler and Blackcomb are open.
"We can offer about 5,280 vertical feet (1,610 metres) of skiing, and we have about 4,100 acres of terrain open. For Whistler-Blackcomb that’s only about 50 per cent of our terrain, but it’s still one of the largest amounts of terrain open in North America," said Moore.
"We still have a vast array of skiing for our guests. The Blackcomb Glacier is in great shape, and we’re making snow on over 235 acres on Whistler and 355 acres on Blackcomb."
Because of the inversion, most of the snowmaking has been taking place on the lower mountain, using water from Fitzsimmons Creek. The reservoirs on the upper mountain were close to being depleted but have been replenished somewhat recently, also because of the inversion.
The terrain parks have also been a focus of snowmaking, especially with Whistler hosting World Cup snowboarding events from Dec. 8 to 11. Right now the Superpipe and Nintendo Terrain Park are open on Blackcomb, and the Habitat Park and halfpipe on Whistler are also open with natural snow.
Recently, to help out park riders, snowmaking crews have been blowing snow into the landing areas to soften them up.
"We’ve been getting a lot of great feedback from park users on that," said Moore.
The new tubing park is also a success. Right now there are just three lanes open, but more will be opened as Christmas approaches. When it’s completed there will be eight lanes, including a lane for smaller children.
Whistler is not the only resort to experience a dry spell in December. The same massive ridge of high pressure stretched across the entire province to as far as Alaska, with the result that places like White Horse were reporting record high temperatures.
"(The weather system) lasted a couple of weeks and kept all the weather systems deflected up north up into Alaska," said Gabor Fricska, the warning preparedness meteorologist from the Meteorological Service of Canada Weather Office.
"For it to stick around for two weeks, I would say that’s fairly unusual. To get it for three or four days, or even a week, is fairly common somewhere in the winter, but to have two weeks of this would be considered quite unusual. I don’t have the stats in hand, but I can say how unusual it was."
The high pressure system also created a trough in central and eastern Canada, resulting in some large snowstorms in places like Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal. Some of the storms that "rode along the back of that high pressure ridge," says Fricska, did call on Alberta resorts and resorts in the southeast corner of B.C. earlier in the month.
But for most of B.C. and parts of Alberta the trend has been mostly dry. Vancouver was on pace for its driest December on record, with less than 30 mm of rain up to Dec. 18. The record low is 54 mm in 1985. In a normal December the city receives an average of 180 mm.
The good news, according to Fricska, is that the high ridge of pressure is breaking down, allowing for a more "traditional" flow of moisture from the southwest, which should bring more snow once things settle into a normal pattern.
The long-range forecast for Whistler is also good through December, January and February.
While Fricska warns that long-range forecasts are not always accurate, "if it’s anything to go by, at least you’re on the good side (for the southern part of the province). It will be a little colder, or colder than normal, and normal or above normal for precipitation. Hopefully that translates to some snow for you."
