SE4:EP7 - Special Snowfall Edition

Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast

In October it started snowing in Utah. And it really hasn’t stopped, with over 225 inches in Little Cottonwood Canyon by mid-December. So, what’s going on? Last Chair invited Open Snow forecaster Evan Thayer and atmospheric scientist Jim Steenburgh for a Special Snowfall Edition podcast to dive into the continuous powder forecast and share a few stories of their own.

Deep powder is nothing new in Utah. But the 2022-23 season kicked off with a bang, starting in late October and continuing incessantly up to the Christmas holiday. A mid-December storm that was forecast to drop 25-30 inches tapped out closer to 70+ inches!

Was it La Niña? Was it lake effect from the Great Salt Lake? Or was it the Ninth & Ninth Whale?

Listen in to learn more. Here’s a sample of Last Chair’s episode 7 with Evan Thayer and Jim Steenburgh.

Jim, what do you point to as you look back on the season so far?

Jim Steenburgh: There were two critical periods that gave us the incredible situation we have right now. One was in early November. We got an incredibly high density wet storm that just coated everything and gave a great base in the mid upper elevations. And then now, you know, from about December 11th to the 15th, we had this really prolonged, very low density snowfall event. Alta got over seven inches of snow with a water content of 4%, which is like all time for skiing. I just think it's been a great start to the season.

Evan, as a forecaster, where do you get your intel?

Evan Thayer: It is people like Jim. It's the people in academia and doing the research who are building these tools, and they allow people like me to access the tools. And then I contextualize it into a forecast that's useful for skiers and snowboarders or, you know, any type of recreation analyst.

Jim, what did you most like about how the early season snow set up for the season?

Jim Steenburgh: That period from December 11th to 15th was really good. Early in the season, I don't care about quality. The only thing I want is quantity. The best start to the ski season is to have early snow that starts maybe in early November. You know, this year it came a little earlier in October. But I want really high density snow to build base to start the season. And we got that in early November.

Evan, how important was that?

Evan Thayer: Last week was the perfect setup because it came in a little bit on the warm side, so a little bit higher density snow late Sunday night. So on Monday, you were skiing snow that was more typical of Utah. That was like 8% water content. But then for Tuesday, Wednesday and into Thursday, it was so fluffy. But you had that denser bottom there. So even if you did sink neck deep in, as Jim said, you're going to feel the body way underneath that keeps you from hitting crust or any bumps like that. So it takes already deep snow and makes it feel just like completely bottomless. So it was the ideal setup for powder skiing.