Washington resorts get huge boost of snow
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After one of the worst snow seasons in years, a massive storm just rewrote the story for Washington's mountains, and there's still more to come.
The latest: Most Cascade ski areas picked up about 30 inches of snow by Wednesday, with another 10-plus inches forecast Thursday and a few more inches possible Friday, meteorologist Michael Fagin told Axios.
- Ski forecaster Larry Schick called the new snow "the best of the winter," with free refills continuing through the day and another 2-6 inches possible on Saturday.
- Enjoy the snow this weekend as the window may be short, Fagin said.
Yes, but: The storm barely dented the state's dismal snowpack deficit, state climatologist Guillaume Mauger told Axios.
- Washington's snowpack has been running far below normal this winter, he said.
- The recent snow helped somewhat — statewide snowpack rose from around 50% of normal to nearly 60% over the last week — but that hasn't changed the overall picture, Mauger said.
- Washington remains in the lowest 10% of historical snowpack years.
What they're saying: "More is more, and that's good," Mauger said. "But there's almost no scenario where snowpack catches up to normal this season."
What's next: Forecasts show a significant warmup next week, with temperatures climbing into the 60s in Seattle and mountain snow levels rising fast, said Fagin.
If you go: Check resort websites for closures, WSDOT for road and pass conditions and the Northwest Avalanche Center for warnings.
- Also stick to open runs and marked terrain.
- "These are not the conditions to be going out of bounds," said Fagin.