“Cold” Does not Always Equal “Snow”
Even though the winters are cold here, we don’t get a lot of snow; according to= the University of Minnesota, the historical average is a mere 45 inches a year. The winds that arrive here from the western plains are simply dry.
Tuesday night we received 4-5 inches, which, by comparison with the seasonal average, is what we call a “powder dump” around here.
Sadly, riders don’t get to enjoy it that much. First of all, there’s so little terrain compared with the number of skiers and riders that it gets tracked out pretty quickly.
And if it’s not tracked out? The grooming machines attack it. Seriously. I once saw a groomer steaming up the hill, mid-day, wiping out the powder.
Yikes.
Then again, so many people here depend on groomed surfaces, especially ski racers, for whom the icier, the better.
Not all Midwestern areas are so cursed. For example, Indianhead, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and on the leeward side of Lake Superior winds, gets about 300 inches a year. Boyne Mountain, much further south in the state, claims 140 inches a year. Lutsen, in Minnesota and along Lake Superior but along its windward side, says they get only 114.
Snowmaking, as you can see, is rather important for the region.
December 5th, 2008 at 7:17 PM
If it makes you feel any better, all of us up in BC and Washington are waiting for snow too. This season has been So. SO slow.