You are probably hearing all doom and gloom about the current lack of snow, and moving into El Nino, which means it's going to be warmer and dry. We do have good El Nino years and bad El Nino years in regards to peak snow depth. At the moment we are off to a horrid start with no natural snow cover and very little man made (most resorts have none).

In general, after a slow start like this, and yes, we have had quite a few just as bad (usually with a bit more man made snow). 1991 was a year where we also moved into an El Nino pattern, and much like this year's slow start, the snow depth recorded at Spencers Creek on June 27th was 0cm. 

Snow started to fall at the end of the month, although not a lot, by July 18 the snow depth reading was still only 37.9cm. Things picked up after that, and a few good dumps  later, the snow depth reached 281cm on September 5 and then up to 284.7cm on September 26. So 1991 ended up a very good season, albeit a bit late and moving into El Nino. Another thing to note, the following El Nino year 1992 reached a massive peak depth of 316cm.

Now I'm by no means saying this is what we will get this year, we can only dream. What it does show you is that it's not impossible for things to turn around in an El Nino pattern. Food for thought.

🐸

Moving in to El Niño years