Snow and Snow Reporting???

I never saw Breck get that much snow at once the whole season I lived there.  At Vail and Beaver Creek it's reasonable.  I think 4" was probably the highest accumulation I ever saw at Keystone that season.  For some reason it doesn't pile up there (one seasons experience)

26" might be a bit of marketing hyperbole, but the "pillow" on this table took shape over the last 24 hours...

Pillow is 18" tall, for sure more fresh up on the mountain. Definitely a good powder day!  ;-)

Breck's been posting up some big numbers this year.  Maybe the extra altitude has helped during these warm storms?

Some of these warm storms have "Squalls" and they can be very localized. 

Those numbers are real. I live in Denver and have been watching all this unfold on the news. It was taking people six hours to get back from the Summit county area (Breck, Frisco, etc) last night...usually takes about 90 minutes to two hours depending on traffic.The front hit Breck much harder than Keystone...weird, I know. I was wishing I was up there yesterday, until I heard about the travel issues...glad I stayed at home!

I'm not sure where you're getting your number of Copper only reporting 2" unless you looked before they reported this morning.  I see Copper reported 17".  Nine or so of those came during the day yesterday while at least 3 Bears that I know of enjoyed it.  I tried to leave Copper at just after 7 last night knowing that the trip home would be a long one.  The road between Copper and Silverthorne was so bad with blowing snow to the point where I couldn't see the front of my car at times so I stayed with a friend.  I woke up this morning to I70 being closed from Silverthorne to Georgetown.  Honestly, I'm shocked it didn't get shut down sooner, that blowing snow was crazy dangerous.  Too bad I really needed to get to work today or I would have stayed to enjoy today as well.

I was at breck yesterday and it definitely was dumping. Managed to get one run off the t-bar before it shut down due to wind. 

Just to give you an idea about how localized these storms can be; In Breck the window and snow were so bad that when a gust came through it obscured the road. I got to Hoosier pass and it looked like it had barely snowed there. On the other hand as you have heard from some people I-70 was almost un-drivable    

Edit: Also when did u check the snow reports because A-basin is reporting 12 and copper is reporting 17. Keystone has some weird weather phenomenon going on around it and you can actually see it on cloudy days. There will be clouds every where except Keystone which will have this big blue sky donut over it. Don't know why it happens but it does.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadrash 

I have a program on my iPhone the sends snow reports.  It was around 8 AM eastern time.
 

Hmm I don't know what reports it's using then but those totals where not right for copper or Abasin. Maybe time for a different app?

We were at Abasin yesterday and it was certainly the 12" they reported. As stated above a good chunk of the snow was the day earlier at copper which we had a blast. Thank you colorado for finally giving us a chance to hit some snow. Utah has been a bust the past 2 years with over 25 days of skiing.

Breck was as deep as I've ever seen it yesteday.  Thigh to hip deep all over the alpine (which did not open the day before).  The snow report was definitely not wrong.  I can't explain the weather, but I can tell you that I was at A-Basin earlier this season on a day where we had dust on the crust, while a few miles down the road at Loveland, they were enjoying face shots.  Keystone was probably better than the 4" they were reporting (due to wind), but the Snake River Basin generally gets missed when it comes to storms.  Keystone averages over 100" less per season than Breckenridge.  BTW, Copper was reporting 16" yesterday and A-Basin was reporting something like 12".  You'd better look into a new app for your IPhone, because the one you have is apparently out of touch with reality...

You might check out this discussion and the comments that follow.  There is some question about whether Breck's totals are really accurate given that they've moved the snow measuring site to a location that gets a bunch of wind load.  That being said, they have started cloud seeding this year.  And the discrepencies probably aren't that big.  The long and short of it is that Breck and Copper got clobbered, there was lots of snow, and Keystone, because of it's orientation, didn't get as much as the resorts nearby.  Steamboat got skipped as well.

http://www.coloradopowderforecast.com/2011/01/18/get-some-powder-january-18-2011/

Welcome to mountain snow storms.

Mike