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With news of an El Niño this winter, are we in for a bumper ski season?

The strongest El Niño in 50 years has been predicated for this winter. The deputy director of the NOAA (National Oceania and Atmospheric Administration) Climate Prediction Center, Mike Halpert, has reported “this could be among the strongest El Niños in the historical record dating back to 1950.”

Experiencing an El Niño this winter is awesome news for skiers and snowboarders as this could mean we receive much more snow than an average winter... and more snow means more powder days!

 

Breckenridge, USA


Every 2–7 years an area of the tropical regions in the Pacific Ocean warms up and distorts the weather patterns in the western Ocean, including Australia, North and South America and even parts of Europe and Africa, this is called El Niño.

The National Oceania and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) recent report predicts the El Niño will persist through winter before settling down in spring. There have already been signs of the start of El Niño this summer, such as the record number of storms during the central Pacific hurricane season.

What does this mean for Europe?

The 2 strongest previous events were in 1982-83 and 1997-98, in 1997-98 there was powder day after powder day and amazing conditions across the Alps. Now the World Meteorological Organisation is predicting that this phenomenon could be one of the strongest on record.

At the moment, this year’s El Niño is stronger than it was at this time of year in 1997” - Bill Patzert (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist)

It’s had been reported that the start of winter in December and January will be quite mild, then in February we will see a change to a colder winter that will most likely feature several storms and significant snow.

 

Heavenly, USA

Ski areas in the US that should benefit from El Niño are:


California - Resorts could receive between 30-40% more precipitation. This could mean great things for ski holidays in Heavenly, Northstar, Mammoth and Lake Tahoe.

Colorado – After a wetter than usual spring, the trend should continue through the winter to create a much more seasonable winter than last year. Vail Resorts are optimistic for a fantastic winter in their resorts, including Park City, Vail, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek.

An El Niño often means that Europe is prone to heavy rain and storms and a colder than average winter.

If you are looking for the best snow this season, take a read of our top 5 snow sure ski resorts in Europe

 

By Krystelle