For outdoor enthusiasts, the series of powerful winter storms that have battered Southern California have provided at least one tangible benefit: an epic month of snow in the local mountains.
Big Bear Mountain Resort, which operates the Snow Summit, Bear Mountain and Snow Valley resorts, reported this week that it is the snowiest February on the mountain since at least 2000. And early next week there will be more fresh powder on the way.
Skiers at Snow Summit on the slopes as a heavy snowstorm hits Big Bear.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Snow Valley, which has a maximum elevation of about 7,800 feet, recorded 121 inches or about 10 feet of fresh snow this month. Snow Summit and Bear Mountain, which have maximum elevations of 8,200 feet and 8,850 feet, respectively, have received 99 inches or about 8.25 feet of snow.
“It’s official,” the resort wrote on its Instagram page, including an image of ski lifts and picnic tables covered in what appeared to be several inches of soft snow. “This is the snowiest February since at least 2000. 12 to 21 inches of (freshly fallen snow) since yesterday and still snowing.”
California has experienced back-to-back atmospheric river storms this year that have resulted in record rainfall along the coast and significant snowfall in the local mountains. These weather systems, also called “Pineapple Express” storms, get their name from the tropical moisture they transport from the ocean near Hawaii to the mainland. The storms are best known for their heavy rain, but at higher elevations they can bring snow.
Tyler Reid orders the entrance to a downtown candy store as a snowstorm blankets Big Bear.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
“We’ve had a lot of warm, very humid storms,” said Alex Tardy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego. “So far we have seen about three times the amount of precipitation we normally see in these areas in February alone. And most of it has been snow.”
By contrast, Snow Valley received 87 inches (7.25 feet) of powder last February, while Snow Summit and Bear Mountain recorded 81 inches, or 6.75 feet. Last year it snowed at much lower elevations, down to 1,000 feet. A winter storm in late February left an unusual layer of fresh dust over the Santa Monica and San Gabriel Mountains.
While the snow season started late, Tardy said, the storms have been “very productive in terms of overall precipitation.”
The storms, which have also blanketed the Sierra Nevada with near-average amounts of snow for this time of year, have helped ease concerns that California could remain in a “snow drought.”
Snow sensors in the Sierra Nevada show greater accumulations in the northern section of the mountain range, where the snow cover measures 98% of normal for the date. The snow cover in the central and southern area of the mountain range measures 81% and 78% of normal for the date, until Friday.
Another rain is expected to hit the region early next week. That storm, while expected to be much milder than previous systems this month, could bring a few inches of snow to elevations above 7,000 or 7,500 feet, according to the weather service.
Tardy, an avid skier, said heading up the mountains has been on his mind as he watched the forecasts.
“Now is the time to get out,” he said.