Hoodoo Ski Area, OR, Suspends Operations Indefinitely Amid Ongoing Snow Drought Hoodoo Ski Area has announced it will now suspend operations indefinitely, escalating an earlier plan to close for a single assessment day as warm temperatures and a critically thin snowpack continue to impact the mountain. The decision comes amid one of the most snow-starved winters the Pacific Northwest has seen in years. Originally, Hoodoo planned to close on Wednesday, February […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | February 5, 2026 0 Comments
Hoodoo Ski Area, OR, to Close Wednesday for Snowpack Assessment Amid Ongoing Snow Drought Hoodoo Ski Area will close on Wednesday, February 4, for a full assessment day as the resort grapples with an exceptionally thin snowpack following a winter marked by severe snow drought across the Pacific Northwest. The decision comes as forecasts call for daytime temperatures climbing above 50°F for much of the coming week, accelerating snowmelt on an already fragile base. […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | February 3, 2026 0 Comments
NASA: The West Faces Snow Drought This post first appeared on NASA Earth Observatory and was written by Lindsey Doermann. The mountains of the western United States are sporting thin winter coats in early 2026. Although most regions saw average or above-average precipitation in fall and early winter, warmer temperatures meant that much of it fell as rain. The result has been an unusually low snowpack for […] Weather WeatherBrains | January 29, 2026 0 Comments
Vail Resorts Hit Hard by Historic Snow Drought: Skier Visits Plunge 20% Vail Resorts Inc. reported a sharp decline in early-season skier visits across its North American resorts, as historically poor snowfall in the western United States limited terrain openings and weighed on visitation and ancillary spending. Vail Resorts released its early-season metrics on January 15, which include data from the start of the ski season through January 4, 2026. According to […] Industry News Press Release | January 15, 2026 2 Comments
Salt Lake City, UT, Records Worst Air Quality in the U.S. for 2nd Straight Day Amid Snow Drought Salt Lake City recorded the worst air quality in the United States for a second consecutive day, as a persistent winter inversion trapped pollution over the Wasatch Front and left the city under a blanket of haze. As of Tuesday afternoon, Salt Lake City posted an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 123, placing it at the top of U.S. air […] Climate Martin Kuprianowicz | January 14, 2026 0 Comments
Alta Ski Area Delays 2025-26 Season Opening to December 5 as Utah’s Snow Drought Persists If the current snow situation in the western United States were a book, it might be “All Quiet on the Western Front” because, unfortunately, there is no snow news. Instead of whoops echoing through the glades and powder fields, this November is shaping up to be unusually quiet. Alta Ski Area announced today that it is delaying its planned opening […] Industry News Julia Schneemann | November 19, 2025 0 Comments
It Still Has Not Snowed in Denver, CO, Moving 2025 Into the 6th Longest Snow Drought Year in the City’s History Denver, Colorado, is famous for its snowy mountain backdrop, world-class skiing, and as a starting point for any type of winter fun you can ask for. However, the Mile High City has yet to experience any winter weather as of November 18. The last recorded snowfall of the season was April 18, meaning that the city has gone over 210 […] Industry News Joseph Kaufmann | November 18, 2025 0 Comments
New Zealand Faces Worst Snow Drought in Recent Memory This New Zealand ski season, so far at least, is having one of the worst snow droughts in recent memory. After a couple major dumps at the beginning of the June, resorts across the country’s South Island are struggling with bare slopes. July and August are typically peak season in the Southern Hemisphere, but this year winter has barely made […] Industry News Elliot LeBlanc | August 11, 2025 1 Comment
NOAA April 2025 Outlook: Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, and Northeast Expect Above-Normal Snowfall, While Southwest Faces Drought The NOAA just released its outlook for April 2025. While winter is ending, big snow is not unheard of in April. Let’s see what the NOAA claims are in store next month. Fingers crossed! TL;DR: Temperatures: Above normal in the Southwest, Central Rockies, and Eastern Seaboard; cooler in central Alaska. Precipitation: Above normal in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Rockies; below […] Weather WeatherBrains | March 21, 2025 0 Comments
SnowBrains Podcast Episode #60 | Dr. Daniel Swain – Climate Scientist/Meteorologist-Communicator Focused on Extreme Weather Events Like Floods, Droughts, & Wildfires on a Warming Planet This episode of the SnowBrains podcast is brought to you by Club Med. My guest today is Daniel Swain: Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist in the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles, and holds concurrent appointments as a Research Fellow in the Capacity Center for Climate and Weather Extremes at the […] Podcasts Podcast | February 7, 2024 0 Comments
[VIDEO] SnowBrains News Ep. 9 – Shiffrin Extends Her Records, California Drought, New 2030 Olympics City Welcome to this week’s episode of SnowBrains News! Our mission is to inform you of the most important, accurate happenings within the snowsports industry by bringing you all the latest breaking news from the ski and snowboard universe every week, hosted by CEO and SnowBrains Founder Miles Clark. We’ll be releasing a new video every Tuesday, so be sure to […] Industry News SnowBrains | November 28, 2023 0 Comments
California is Drought-Free for the First Time in 3 Years As of October 17, the State of California is finally free from drought. This comes after California experienced one of its best water years (October 1 to September 30 annually) in recorded history, according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Drought Monitor. California Water Watch reports that the 22/23 water year yielded 141% of the statewide annual average […] Kyle Fehlen | November 24, 2023 0 Comments
NASA: Atmospheric Rivers Drop ‘Too Much’ Rain and Snow on Drought-Stricken Chile For more than a decade, drought has plagued central Chile. The prolonged dry period—a megadrought—has fueled wildfires, strained water supplies, and parched crops. Related: Atmospheric Rivers: How They Work, and How El Niño and La Niña Affect Them In winter 2023, the region got some relief in the form of two atmospheric rivers that brought hundreds of millimeters of rain […] WeatherBrains | September 6, 2023 0 Comments
California’s Snowpack is Now One of the Largest Ever, Bringing Drought Relief, Flooding Concerns On April 3rd, The Department of Water Resources (DWR) conducted its fourth snow survey of the season at Phillips Station. The manual survey recorded 126.5 inches of snow depth and a snow water equivalent of 54 inches, which is 221 percent of the average for this location on April 3. The snow water equivalent measures the amount of water contained […] SnowBrains | April 4, 2023 0 Comments
Recent Atmospheric Rivers Significantly Improve California’s Drought Status The eleven atmospheric rivers that dumped over fifty feet of snow and record rainfall on California have significantly impacted the state’s drought status. The map above shows the drought status at the turn of the year, and the one below shows the latest data from the US Drought Monitor. Related: Atmospheric Rivers: How They Work, and How El Niño and La […] SnowBrains | March 17, 2023 0 Comments
Mount Washington Alpine Resort, BC, Asking Guests to Bring Own Drinking Water and Use Outdoor Porta Potties Due to Drought Vancouver Island, BC, is currently experiencing the worst drought in 15 years and it’s having a significant effect on a local ski area. Related: Ski Resort Ownership: Who Owns Which Mountain Resorts? The lack of snow at Mount Washington Alpine Resort means that not only is snow coverage low for today’s opening day, but lack of water in local reservoirs […] Industry News SnowBrains | December 9, 2022 0 Comments
Rare Pacific Hurricane Brings Flood Risks to Drought-Stricken Southern California Many Californians experienced a particularly wet weekend as the remnants of Hurricane Kay brought record-high rains to areas already suffering from a historically extreme heat wave. The storm maxed out as a Category 1 Hurricane with 75 mph winds as it moved up the coast of Baja California and made brief landfall in Mexico, then deteriorated to Tropical Storm level […] Weather Dana Andresen | September 14, 2022 0 Comments
The Effects of the Western United States’ 22-Year Megadrought While the Eastern Seaboard has broken numerous records for water and precipitation over the past few years, the West has taken a much drier and warmer pattern. Since 2000, the Mountain West still sees a good year here and there—even a record snowy one. Yet, the trend for precipitation over the last 22 years has largely pointed downwards from the […] Weather Jaxon Jacobs | September 12, 2022 0 Comments
“When You See Me, Weep” | ‘Hunger Stones’ Resurfacing in Europe Due To Record Drought Reminders of a long-forgotten past are resurfacing all over Europe. The recent record droughts in Europe have brought to the surface some old reminders that, while we are experiencing an extreme summer with record heat waves and droughts, these extreme events are not unprecedented. In the rivers Elbe and Rhein, which flow across central Europe into the North Sea, carved […] Julia Schneemann | August 16, 2022 1 Comment
Amidst 10-Year Drought, The Andes Get Much Needed Snowfall and Are Completed Blanketed When Viewed From Space This article originally appeared on earthobservatory.nasa.gov As extreme summer heatwaves deepened droughts and fueled wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere, winter storms brewed south of the equator. In July 2022, back-to-back weather systems eased rainfall deficits in central Chile and added to the snowpack atop the Andes—a critical reserve of water for the coming summer. The blanket of fresh snow along the mountain […] Weather SnowBrains | July 20, 2022 8 Comments
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