Jr.CubBuilder wrote:Awww heck, I guess that means I'll have to spend more time flying my plane than riding the old snowmobile

"An important conclusion from all of this data is to largely refute the common misconception among Pacific Northwest skiers that El Niño seasons are always terrible for snowfall in the Cascades. El Niño certainly does produce warmer than normal temperatures in the Northwest. However, El Niño seasons typically do have adequate precipitation, resulting in winter rainfall but also adequate snowfall, especially at higher elevations which are most important for spring/summer skiing and ski mountaineering.

The strong El Niño average snowfalls of 330-400" at the major WA Cascade Passes and 600" at Paradise are certainly not bad at all, most other regions of the country only dream of such snowfall amounts. And the southern end of the Cascade Range does very well during El Niño seasons, with spring snowdepths averaging 20% above normal on Lassen and nearly 40% above normal on Shasta.

The very worst snowfall seasons in the Cascade range, the real disasters, occur during severe drought years which are not well correlated with El Niño. The five worst Cascade snow seasons overall since 1950 have been 1962-63, 1976-77, 1980-81, 1991-92, and 2000-2001, of which only one is strong El Niño, one is weak El Niño, one is neutral, and two are weak La Niña. El Niño seasons are rarely disastrous for snowfall in the Cascades, but they are usually somewhat below normal in Washington and Oregon while averaging slightly above normal at higher elevations in British Columbia and much above normal in California.

The correlation between ENSO and snowfall is much stronger in the opposite La Niña phase, and strong La Niña seasons are almost always above normal throughout the entire Cascade Range, especially so in the northern two-thirds of the range. The record-high snowfall and snowdepth amounts at most locations in the Cascades of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia were set during strong La Niña seasons, while in the California Cascades they were set during strong El Niño seasons."

Hottshot wrote:If you can hang on I'll take you for a ride...

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:One word. Snowboard!

Jr.CubBuilder wrote:One word. Snowboard!