Loveland is Supposed to Begin Snowmaking in 4 Days
September 23, 2009
photo op for a few hours of snow making is all this amature weather dude sees for the immediate future.looking better for New England....
There hasn't been a temp lower than 37 degrees up around 12,400' for the last 3 days but there is a system moving in that might work good for the photo op...then it gets back into the upper 50's for a couple. Nice to see the 1st snows of the season though!...Mid Oct opening?..You can't beat that Elevation!
It'll be the standard race to see who opens first - Loveland or A Basin. They'll probably both open on the same day -- my guess would be October 16.
The earliest scheduled opening day is Keystone on November 5.
I've started camera watching Wolf Creek. Nice fall-looking colors up in the Pass right now, no snow in sight yet. But the thing is, any one week is no predictor of when winter will begin out west. Remember two years ago, when out of nowhere something like three feet of snow fell the last week of October (or was that three years ago)?
check out their ridge cam.... fresh snow (natural)!!!
It's doing something there right now (6:15 p.m. Mountain Time Sunday night)- can't tell if it's snow or rain but it's blanked out the camera.
right now, looks like blowing snow and definately snowmaking. i wouldn't fly out there for the wrod, but man it's exciting anyway :-)
have the guns on... some pics on the site
wow... check loveland's snowmaking page and watch their video. Amazing amounts of snow have already been made; at this rate is it possible they will open within the next week?? Site says "Stay tuned for opening day announcement."
After Friday, they will likely have to shut off the guns, so hopefully they can pump out a lot before then. If it was the east coast, I would expect an opening by this weekend (foot of snow and 3+ days of nonstop snowmaking), but in reality i think their snowmaking capacity is inferior to many local areas.
This may not be such a good thing. Early snow on warm ground often leads to surface hoar which becomes a weak layer when more snow falls on top of it later. Then it sits there all winter waiting for a trigger to set off avalanches. After folks get their playtime on this early snow the best thing might be a good old New England thaw - rain followed by a hard freeze before more snow falls.
I wouldn't worry too much about that at Loveland Denis. They're making snow on extremely low angle slopes. If it slides on Mambo Alley, that's probably the least of their worries that day!
No Worries...its all going bye-bye anyway ..Remember?..next couple of cold shots heading east & then the west can get back in action for real...Patients Whitegrasshoppers....
