The snow that failed to arrive in California during December and January is now falling with increased abundance raising hopes of an extended ski season for some after all.
Back in the Autumn ski resorts all along the West coast of North America had been hoping for a La Nina year with a repeat of the huge falls on winter 2010-11. However although resorts in states to the north – Alaska, British Columbia, Washington state and Wyoming have had a consistently good winter, the snow failed to arrive in more southerly states.
But the snow has been falling increasingly heavily in more southerly states for over a month now, and as spring approaches, it seems to be just getting heavier,
"On St. Patty's day there was no better way to celebrate the luck of the Irish than to take advantage of a break in the storm and enjoy the bounty of snow that has piled up at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows," said Jenny Kendrick, Alpine Meadows/Squaw Valley spokesperson, "As predicted, heavy snow hammered the resorts dumping up to four feet (1.2m) of fresh snow in the last 24 hours, bringing storm totals up to nearly seven feet (2.1m)."
The snow is still falling further north, Whistler has passed its seasonal average with more than 10m falling and Mt Baker in Washington state, historically the world's snowiest ski resort with an average seasonal snowfall total of 19m looks set for a vintage winter with the snow depth there approaching eight metres (over 26 feet) after more than 2.4m (eight feet) of new snow fell there in the past week.
So much snow isn't always good news, roads to Mt Baker were closed last week as crews struggled to clear access.