Annual Snowfall Amounts
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JohnL
November 18, 2003
Member since 01/6/2000 🔗
3,563 posts
Anyone have any recommendations for websites which list annual snowfall amounts (by year) for US ski areas? I'm more interested in year-by-year amounts compared to snowfall for the most recent year or some sort of mysterious average which a ski area may report on it's website.

I poked around weather.com and www.ski-guide.com without much success. www.ski-guide.com lists an annual snowfall amount which seems to have been selectively updated. For instance, Seven Springs was listed as 100", but Laurel was listed as >200"; since the mountains are close the annual amounts should be similar. 200" sounds reasonable for last year, but not a yearly average. Bellyacre (sp?) and Plattekill (NY) had a similar discrepancy.

Thanks in advance.

[This message has been edited by JohnL (edited 11-18-2003).]

tromano
November 20, 2003
Member since 12/19/2002 🔗
998 posts
Try the white book of ski areas. I have seen other websites quote from there when mentioning their average snow ammounts. HTH
(Anonymous)
November 20, 2003
I realize this is not precisely what you're looking for but this link lists average snowfall amounts for PA:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ctp/features/snowmaps.shtml

Scroll down to find the annual snowfall map - at the top it lists the amounts for last year.

I think the average for 7Springs and Laurel is in the 110-125" range. Both resorts are in Somerset county.

jimc
November 20, 2003
Member since 03/30/2004 🔗
16 posts
That is a great/cool website!!
(Anonymous)
November 20, 2003
It is the best on the web by far..

Take a look @ Snowshoe's REAL average over the past 10 years... 153" .

JohnL
November 20, 2003
Member since 01/6/2000 🔗
3,563 posts
Thanks for the links!
(Anonymous)
November 20, 2003
That site has some flaws.Killington did not get the most snow in the east last year! They must pay everybody off.stowe does not recieve 230" & the next mtn over(smuggs) get an ave of 309.the tahoe area has too many differences.The snowshoe stats could be off to.I think almost half of the last 10 years at the shoe have been 200+ years with only one year below 130. 95,96 with what 250" or so should have erased that. The only stat i will believe are the gov't observations.Its surprising that whiteface gets so little snow.Stratton is more like 180 than 200.& i thought sugarloaf got more than 175.
JohnL
November 20, 2003
Member since 01/6/2000 🔗
3,563 posts
>> stowe does not recieve 230" & the next mtn over(smuggs) get an ave of 309.the tahoe area has too many differences.

You'd be surprised how variable mountain-region micro-climates can be, especially when you are talking about mountains with good elevation and facing different directions. I haven't looked at the Tahoe stats, but a very large standard deviation wouldn't surprise me. Tahoe either gets no snow or feet of snow at a time. Not much in between.

Some variation can also be explained where in the mountain the measurements are taken.

The Whiteface, New Hampshire and Maine snow stats are ballpark to what I've seen from other sources. Surprising how little they are, especially when compared to Northern Vermont.

>> Stratton is more like 180 than 200

Care to justify that claim?

(Anonymous)
November 20, 2003
Andy -- you have no clue what you are talking about.

Alta and Snowbird are literally right next to one another -- Alta on average gets 40 - 80" more snow per SEASON than Snowbird. Under your thesis, this is impossible.

Tahoe is one of the most variable ski climates in America -- take a look at the stats for Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley [Squaw and Alpine put season averages on their hompeages] -- both are seperated by a 700 acre piece of land -- yet the amount of snow per season varies GREATLY between the two resorts.

The website itself actually does say that Jay Peak had more snow than Killington, so I have no idea where you got the perception otherwise. From the site itself:

RSN December Snow: Stowe 58, Killington 68, Stratton 53, Sugarloaf 7.
RSN January Snow: Stowe 65, Killington 59, Stratton 40, Sugarloaf 13, Snowshoe 54.
RSN February Snow: Stowe 51, Killington 33, Stratton 39, Sugarloaf 27, Snowshoe 53, Mt. St. Anne 35, Mt. Tremblant 33.
RSN March Snow: Stowe 41, Killington 16, Stratton 14, Sugarloaf 30, Snowshoe 23, Mt. St. Anne 26, Mt. Tremblant 41.

(Anonymous)
November 21, 2003
http://home.earthlink.net/~tcrocker818/

That website is exactly what you are looking for.

tromano
November 21, 2003
Member since 12/19/2002 🔗
998 posts
Andy Siad: That site has some flaws.Killington did not get the most snow in the east last year! They must pay everybody off.stowe does not recieve 230" & the next mtn over(smuggs) get an ave of 309.the tahoe area has too many differences.The snowshoe stats could be off to.I think almost half of the last 10 years at the shoe have been 200+ years with only one year below 130. 95,96 with what 250" or so should have erased that. The only stat i will believe are the gov't observations.Its surprising that whiteface gets so little snow.Stratton is more like 180 than 200.& i thought sugarloaf got more than 175.

I have to disagree with you. The site looks very thorough and well put together. Its believeable IMO. Of course I trust the govt more too but I haven't seen a gov't sponsored survey of ski resorts measured at the resorts. If you ahve some kind of alternative evidence please show us. I for one have never believe that snowshoe got as much snow on avg as they claim. 200"+?? Maybe on a good year.

(Anonymous)
November 21, 2003
Allright all you koolaid drinkers of that website!1st off killington does not get more snow than sugarbush & stowe. Agree now or you are going to look foolish.All these resorts VT & NH have been increasing thier ave's with thier marketing. Ck out the dailey hydrolic obs to get the reaL PICTURE. I have seen whitegrass,wv post less snow than the govt has reported.+ Now that is beyond honesty! No smuggs does not get more than stowe because if they did they would market it!!!! PS Canaan vly is a little late but once thier winter gets going they can keep up with the ne Thankyou for your support!~
(Anonymous)
November 21, 2003
allright you koolaid drinkers of the website,killington does not get more snow than stowe & sugarbush + stratton has been posting an ave of 180 for years.Now they are catering to the rich,ofcourse they get more snow!snowshoes ave is correct(4800')they have had over 200" almost half of the last 10 years.smuggs does not get way more than stowe otherwise they would advertise the fact!
(Anonymous)
November 21, 2003
giantleap- snowbird gets more snow than alta.

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