The sweet sounds of ski season are here with churning snow guns at Arapahoe Basin, Keystone and Loveland Ski Area.
All three turned on the snow guns this morning when temperature and humidity hit the sweet spot. It’s called the “wet bulb temperature,” and it’s what snowmakers have been anxiously awaiting.
“Wet bulb temperature takes humidity into account along with ambient temperate,” A-Basin explains in a statement. “We’re looking for cold, dry air to get a lower wet bulb temperature and produce better quality flakes, which were exactly the conditions we saw last night and through the morning.”
Prime wet bulb conditions are 10 to 17 degrees, but snowmakers can get going as high as 26 degrees. Copper Mountain turned on the snow guns last week to start laying base for international ski team training and the Copper Cup, its first World Cup alpine ski races over Thanksgiving weekend.
No one has confirmed opening dates for the public, but no one is breaking any records.
Earliest opening ever at A-Basin was Oct. 9 in 2009. The most recent early opening was Oct. 17 in 2021.
Rain continues down south
It is raining again this morning in southern Colorado, where Gov. Jared Polis has declared a disaster emergency for historic and devastating weekend floods.
A warm fall storm rolled into La Plata County on Friday, Oct. 10, bringing more than 5 inches of rainfall to Wolf Creek Pass in 48 hours. Hardly any of it fell as snow. Mountain cameras at Wolf Creek this morning show wet, brown grass under a cloud of thick fog.
West of Wolf Creek, downtown Pagosa Springs flooded Friday into Saturday when the San Juan River swelled.
About 45 minutes west, in tiny Bayfield, a levee broke when nearby Vallecito Reservoir saw more than 4 inches of rain. Hundreds were evacuated.
Hundreds spent the night at evacuation centers hastily erected at local schools. No fatalities reported.
2 / 2
Images via Arapahoe Basin (Lucas Herbert), Keystone Resort, Loveland Ski Area and Wolf Creek Ski Area.