2016-17 Ski Season Summary

The following major weather patterns affected the 2016-17 ski season.
October: There were major storms along the West Coast but warm with very high snow levels. Only the high alpine sectors of Whistler and Mammoth accumulated much snow.
First half of November: Nearly the entire US West was warmer than normal and bone dry. Only Western Canada and a few US areas close to the border had average snowfall, and only Whistler much above average.
Late November and December: Most of the West had consistently above average snowfall and more than made up for the earlier deficit. The strongest storm tracks were through the Pacific Northwest, US Northern Rockies and northern Utah and Colorado.
January: Three enormous atmospheric river storms hammered California with a total of 12-25 feet of snow, a single month record for most areas. These storms also hit Utah and Oregon hard and continued above average into Colorado and the Southwest. Farther north temperatures were cold but snowfall decreased the farther north you went. January was the driest month of the season in western Canada.
February: Two more atmospheric river storms dumped 8-15 feet of snow in California. The first storm sent some snow into the Southwest, but the brunt of these storm tracks moved northeast, hammering Utah and the US Northern Rockies. The Northwest and Canadian areas near the border were above average, while Colorado and areas farther north in Canada were well below average.
March: The storm track shifted north, bring abundant snow to Washington State, western Canada and US areas near the border. Farther south in the U.S. West snowfall was generally half normal or less so widespread spring conditions emerged.
April/May: April snowfall was moderately above average across the West. Snowfall was unusually high in a few isolated places, notably Banff, Big Sky and Alta. Colorado's snowpack was below average after the warm and dry February/March, but late April and May had above average snow to maintain normal spring skiing at Loveland and A-Basin.

2016-17 was most distinguished by the atmospheric river storms of January/February, resulting in a top 5 season for California. There is not much data from 1968-69 but the pattern at Mammoth was amazingly similar.

Area	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	Total	Pct. of Normal
Mammoth 1968-69	43	86	247	156	36	24	592	166%
Mammoth 2016-17	21.5	68.5	245	170	38.5	68	611.5	174%

While not as extreme as California, most other western regions enjoyed solidly above average seasons in the 120% range. Only Colorado was average or slightly below due to the dry February/March offsetting the snowy November/December. The southwest flow from the atmospheric river storms resulted in some unusual relationships within Rocky Mountain regions. High snow areas included Sun Valley (167%), Park City (147%), Snowbasin (144%), Brighton (135%) and Whitefish (134%). For more detail on snow incidence by month and region, see 2016-17 Ski Season Analysis.