Summit County just can’t win this ski season.
Yes, there is fresh snow falling today. Forecasters believe the snow won’t let up for 36 hours, possibly bringing a foot of snow to Summit’s high alpine. (Other ranges to our north, west and south are expecting up to two feet. We’ll take what we can get.)
For travelers, a blustery February snowstorm means dicey driving conditions on I-70. But first, they have to get here.
Already this morning hundreds of flights are grounded for high wind at Denver International Airport. TSA agents in Denver and nationwide are working without pay as the Federal government bickers over national security funding.
Pleading for an end to the partial shutdown are travel leaders with U.S. Travel, Airlines for America, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
“Funding uncertainties create lasting damage to the entire travel ecosystem, especially the airlines, hotels and thousands of small businesses the travel industry supports,” the groups said in a joint statement on Feb. 13. “It also stifles recruitment, retention, preparedness and modernization efforts.”
These travel groups believe spring break could suffer. Analytics firm Inntopia fears spring break is already a lost cause for Colorado and Utah, where high temps and low snow have already pushed skiers to the “rest of the west,” like Jackson Hole (247 inches this season) and Lake Tahoe (up to 4 feet of snow in 48 hours this week).
“Snow is the story,” Tom Foley of Inntopia writes in a monthly industry briefing. “While Colorado and Utah resorts have added terrain in the last month, the lack of natural snow is taking a toll. And while the rest of the West is also struggling with very warm temperatures and a lack of snow, an earlier snowpack and some reasonable early and mid-month snowfall has made a huge difference to both the consumer and the resorts’ ability to capture them.”
Foley says spring break skiers are booking trips to other destinations. Colorado ski lodges are down double digits for March. The experts don’t predict improvement until May or possibly June at the earliest.
Snowfall totals via Jackson Hole.