Ski areas in California are celebrating after fresh snowfall over the past 24 hours has enabled the first powder ski days since November.
Californian ski areas had been suffering – along with ski areas in Colorado and Utah and adjacent stats – from an exceptionally dry and at times warm start to the season with almost no snow in December.
Most areas were only able to open less than half of their usual terrain although Mammoth Mountain was still able to claim to have the largest ski area open in the US for much of December thanks to a 1.5m base built up from good November snow falls.
Mammoth has had 25cm of fresh snow from the latest storms and is currently looking forward to a forecast 50cm more on Monday – Tuesday this week. The forecast is looking good for more snow across the region.
The first pow turns of 2018 did not disappoint.
Posted by Mammoth Mountain on Saturday, 6 January 2018
Other areas had some 15-25cm too and there have been snowfalls at some ski areas in Colorado and Utah too.
Much of the US is currently experiencing one of its coldest few weeks in temperature-recorded history with unusually heavy snow in the Midwest and good snowfall in New England too, although on the downside some areas have had to close at times for safety reasons as its too cold.
January 2017 was the snowiest month in recorded history for a number of ski areas in California.
Northstar pictured top.