Squaw - Not Quite This White Yet
Snow has been reported in the past 24 hours in both North America and northern Europe, including the peaks of the Scottish Highland hills and mountains.
Are, Scandinavia's leading resort reported a few centimetres of the white stuff, its first for 2011-12, yesterday.
This morning it was the resorts of California that were excitedly posting news of fresh snow with Squaw Valley announcing they've had eight inches (20xcm) so far and are expecting a similar amount more over the next 24 hours. They say this is falling on top of snow left from last winter's huge accumulations.
Heavenly Mountain Resort to the south also welcomed the first snowflakes of the 2011-2012 winter season early this morning with a total accumulation of 3"-5" inches measured by Heavenly's mountain operations team.
On October 5, 2010 last year, Heavenly also received an early gift from La Nina of 4 – 5" inches of snow on the mountain. After that early snowfall, the 2010-2011 ski and ride season went on to break all previous snowfall records with a monumental 530" inches (13.3m).
La Nina is the naturally occurring climate phenomenon that brings extreme weather patterns to the Western region and according to a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration study, La Nina is once again gaining momentum to continue this winter.
"The promise of another La Nina year means big snow early and often," said John Wagnon, senior director of brand marketing at Heavenly (yes, American ski resorts have those). "Storm clouds will give way to sunny skies and an abundant amount of snow – the two best ingredients for an epic ski and ride season at Heavenly!"