La Niña is likely to bring warmer temperatures into Colorado’s High Country this year, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center, which released its U.S. Winter Outlook on Thursday.
While melting snow isn’t ideal for Colorado’s ski resorts, some — such as Eldora Mountain Resort — are already busy creating man-made snow that can keep slopes covered through warmer temperatures.
“We have a snow-making system that was one of the first to be installed in Colorado during the 1960s, and it’s been upgraded significantly since then,” said Sam Bass, marketing director for Eldora Mountain Resort.
“By virtue of our location on the eastern side of the Continental Divide, and we’re among just a handful of Colorado ski areas that are, we tend to receive a little less snow than resorts west of the divide,” he said. “Because of that, our snowmaking system is a really great asset to have.”
Eldora is able to cover all of its groomed terrain with its man-made snow, making it one of the most comprehensive systems in the state, Bass said.
“We have pipes carrying pressurized air and pressurized water separately — pipes that run parallel to one another — around the mountain,” he said. “Then we blow a mixture of air and water out through specialized nozzles, which we call snow guns, and when it hits the air — if it’s below 32 degrees — it will freeze into snow.”
The snowmaking system requires a lot of hard work, with employees running up and down the mountain, Bass said.
“One of my coworkers on the management team here started out as a snowmaker, and he said he’s never been in better shape in his entire life,” Bass said.
Eldora Mountain Resort’s opening day is scheduled for Nov. 18, but the mountain will open sooner if it has adequate snow, he said.
While warmer temperatures are expected on the ski mountains from November through January, Colorado skiers can expect average snowfall, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.
The center updates its 90-day outlooks each month, and predictions are becoming more accurate with new technology, said Michael Farrar, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction.
“NOAA’s new supercomputers are enabling us to develop even better, more detailed forecast capabilities, which we’ll be rolling out in the coming years,” Farrar said in a news release.
The center’s next update is scheduled for Nov. 17.
