DENVER — The Pineapple Express has concluded, for now. It’s a good time to add up the snow totals and compare.
January has been a record snow month for the Sierra Nevada in California, including the Tahoe ski areas and Mammoth Mountain.
Mammoth has had its snowiest January in recorded history with more than 20 feet. It is reporting a remarkable 300 inches at the summit base.
The question is, how high will the final season totals go?
In Colorado, the same snowstorms delivered 11 feet of snow to Crested Butte in January. Wolf Creek tallied more than 13 feet.
In Utah, Snowbird is reporting about 12 feet of snow in January.
The jet stream is treating Utah and Colorado similarly to California. Its orientation has favored a direct moisture transport from west to east.
The pattern turns much drier over the next seven days as a large dome of high pressure takes up residence.