Colorado's snowpack is 40 times normal after rare summer solstice dump

[Banacek]

On summer's opening day, up to 20 inches of snow buried the high terrain of the Colorado Rockies, boosting the state's snowpack to extraordinary levels for the time of year.

The solstice flakes marked a continuation of a snowy stretch that began in January and February and lingered through spring. Even before the solstice snow, The Denver Post wrote, the state's snowpack was "in virtually every numerical sense . . . off the charts." At the time, the snowpack was 751 percent above normal.

Due to the new snow Friday into the weekend, the Natural Resources Conservation Service reported that the state's snowpack ballooned to 4,121 percent above normal as of Monday. This number is so high because ordinarily very little snow is left by late June, and cold temperatures late into the spring helped preserve what fell earlier.

After the weekend blanket of white, the scenes in the high country west of Denver resembled midwinter. Enough snow fell to close roads, while many ski areas reported accumulation, including Breckenridge, Vail, Beaver Creek, Arapahoe Basin and Steamboat Springs.

I wonder if AOC will blame this on climate change.


https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/new...e-14036967.php

[Lambone]

The NOAA suggests that warmer oceans can increase snowfall.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/clima...xtreme-snow-us

In addition, studies have shown that natural variability associated with the presence of El Niño conditions has a strong influence on the incidence of severe snowstorms in the eastern United States. Based on an analysis of the top 100 snowstorms in six regions east of the Rocky Mountains, scientists found that severe snowstorms are approximately twice as likely to occur in the Northeast and Southeast regions during years when a moderate to strong El Niño is present as compared to years when neutral conditions exist.

[noonwitch]

It's great for the ski resorts. I never skied in the mountains, and I won't be skiing again this side of heaven (unless I get bionic legs or something), but it is my understanding that if there is snow in the mountains this late in the year, it is the best skiing there is-warm air, less bundled clothing, and not many other people on the slopes.

[Retread]

Any WEATHER event can and will be blamed on climate change whether not, cold, wet or dry. It still kills me to see today’s claims based on less than 200 years of recorded readings on a planet over four Billion years old and rock records contradicting every claim made.