high pressure

Alta Conditions Report -The Last High Pressure Report!

This is the last high pressure report I am going to write for a while. Alta started off the season great! big, consistent storms. However January and most of February we have been stuck under a massive high pressure ridge. One big storm snuck though in early January, but other than that our best days have been a quick refresher, some wind to smooth things out, and some legitimately great corn skiing. But come on! This is […]
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Aaron Rice |
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Alyeska Conditions Report: 20 Days of High Pressure

Not much has changed at Alyeska in the last two weeks. A massive high pressure system has taken over Alaska, blocking any major storm headed its way. The temperatures have been in the single digits in the valley floors and the mid twenties above 1,000 feet. Its been nice to escape the cold and take hot laps on the groomers on the upper mountain.These cold temperatures on the valley floor have been wonderful for the snowmakers. They have now filled in most of the lower mountain and are blasting huge mounds of snow on runs that are not open such as Tanaka and water fall. This will be great for the race team to finally […]
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Scott Rich |
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“Why Is California So Dry?” | NOAA Explains

dry ca

It’s no secret that California is bone dry this year. In fact, we’ve been bone dry since December 2013. NOAA Sacramento gives a quick breakdown as to why we’re so dry in California. The reason it has been so dry in California has been an extremely persistent high pressure ridge along the West Coast, pushing the average storm track northward into Alaska/British Columbia. This leads to the question, why is the ridge so persistent? One possible reason is an area of unusually warm water south of Alaska and west of Canada, […]
SnowBrains |
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January Looks Bleak for Tahoe | Heat Wave Coming to CA…

Above is a shot of a 180+ km Asian Jet coming across the Pacific for Tuesday January 21st. Notice how it doesn’t make it past 160W latitude as it weakens. This is effectively pressing the ridge right on top of us sending California into a heat wave! We are going to have an inversion set up above 6,500′ through Friday at least. Highs in the mid 50’s for the Sierra valleys and 40’s at the 10,000′ level (Highs will be up to 76F in Sacramento this week), with overnight lows remaining above freezing on the mountains. So much for the really good […]
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WeatherBrains |
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Why is the West Coast So Dry Right Now?

weather map west coast

Ok, it’s been long enough without snow on the West Coast of the USA. California in particular is really getting the shaft from the snow gods this year so far. We understand that it hasn’t snowed, but why? NOAA gives us a glimpse into why the West Coast is staying dry right now and they allow a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. This background image (above image) is a screenshot of water vapor satellite imagery. The warmer colors indicate dry air while the cooler blues to grey show areas of upper level moisture. Overlaid on the image are […]
SnowBrains |
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