Ski/Snowboard resorts adapting to the weird weather

No snow on the ground might be nice for some folks. For ski resorts like Kelly Canyon, it can make business tough.

“It’s a lot of work,” said Todd Martin of Kelly Canyon Resort. “It’s basically taking snow from places that aren’t used, and putting it back on the mountain.”

Martin says the resort uses their snow cats aggressively to keep the snow packed down. That in turn keeps the snow from melting too quickly. The resort also fires up its snow cannons at night to make snow, if the temperature get cold enough.

“Its basically spring skiing conditions, its just about a month early,” said Martin

For snow enthusiasts, spring skiing in February is not what they look forward to, and there’s a reason why. “We’ve had this persistent upper level ridge,” said Professor Jim Steenburgh of the University of Utah Atmospheric Sciences Department. “Its basically a high pressure system in the upper levels of the atmosphere that’s extremely strong and just hasn’t wanted to budge.”

That ridge as well as an overall lack of snow pack is what’s kept temperatures warm. Steenburgh says the Western U.S. historically goes through multi-year periods of wetter and drier years. He thinks this is just another one of those cycles.

“I don’t think this is a so-called long term trend that we’re going to be dry in the future,” said Stennburgh.