For some in North America, November has been bliss; for others, that wait continues. Not unlike other years, at least considering its early season, there are haves and have-nots. In other words, you may be over-tractioned if you are running studs or even Blizzaks. While it’s too early to predict general trends regarding what December and January have in store, the SWE maps show a striking contrast.
Be warned, these maps may be triggering for some. For others, they may be an echo chamber. If you’ve already transitioned to non-rock skis/boards, these maps will affirm what you already know. If you live in the land of plenty, we suppose it’s best practice to show gratitude for the gift of good coverage, with the firm understanding that the weather gods could shut the faucet down lickety-split.
The wide view here. Certainly, not at the terrain level, but the patterns are evident. Deep blue indicates the likelihood that rocks skis are shelved for the time being.
Broad brush strokes here—this portion of the Coast Range indicates that moisture loving plants (and snow sliders) are wanting.
Zooming in on Alaska zones closer to Anchorage-Fairbanks and yonder, the color palette is more favorable. As we might expect from our friends up north living near an active Northern Pacific, things look good. A chat with Alex Lee tells a slightly different story. Alders can be an issue considering approaches. So far, Lee says sufficient snow hasn’t fallen to lay down the alders. This may mean bushwhacking in extremis. Further, Lee notes that those with helicopters should find ample coverage. And, in some locations the glide crack situation is serious.
Shades of blue dominate further north than the Coast Range. Dr. Lee, are you still on the skinny boards?
The sub-basin level in the PNW is confirmed to be very blue, which equates to at least a solid base for snow sliding. We can also confirm to those not living in the PNW that there are intermittent rain layers with a splash of firm frozen layers, too. Not all is bliss in the PNW. Yet, for November, it’s been mostly bliss.
Early season, the PNW is $.
Sierra Nevada SWE? It, too, looks spicey in a good way. Sure, there’s some lack of SWE on the Eastside. However, as eternal optimists, hope reigns.
The California high country is trending in the proper direction. As far as snow sliding, the prospects look good. As far as drought, a situation plaguing the state, that, too, trends toward :).
Let’s take a hard pivot. From here on out, we’ll let the colors do the talking. Anyone attending or having attended kindergarten knows the old-school Crayola crayon boxes as legendary. The old-school 24-count boxes sport 24 unique colors. Sweet. Why settle at 24? Now more is better; 120-count boxes can be had.
Sadly, for our purposes, the colors in some portions of the Northern Rockies and, trending toward the central portions of the West, fall into the orange and yellow sides of the crayon box. Still, lovely colors. It’s just not the colors we desire on the SWE map.
A clear demarcation line in the West: from blues to yellows and oranges.
The maps below show sub-basin SWE, which provides a slightly more granular view of how the season is shaping up in locales needing more moisture.
Portions of Montana, into Wyoming and Utah…wanting.
On the other hand, the southern end of the Rockies looks like maybe, just maybe, the P-tex can be put away for the winter.
