Whistler Daily Snow
By Larry Schick, Forecaster Posted 5 years ago April 26, 2018
Season review / next season - Backcomb remains open
Update
There will be a little snow this weekend with more clouds and cooler weather.
Blackcomb is open until May 21.
I’ve skied the alpine at Blackcomb many times, late in the season. If you’ve never done it, I think you’ll find it better than you expect. Snow coverage is good to excellent right now on the upper slopes, as it stays relatively cold up top with the current snowpack well above average. The long days are great for skiing early, then biking or low elevation hiking in the afternoon.
Hope you enjoyed the 2017-18-ski season at Whistler Blackcomb. The W/B snowfall and ski season got a good start in mid November before Thanksgiving, then stalled a bit in December and early January- but with a well timed Christmas season snowstorm. The snowfall really picked up in February through the end of the season. Snowfall was above normal, as promised by the cool/snowy La Nina prediction of last fall.
Next season:
The seasonal winter forecast for next season is not reliable until early fall and could change. Right now it looks like a “neutral” winter next year. Neutral is not bad or passive. Neutral means there is no obvious forcing for the atmosphere, no nudge to give forecasters an idea of the preferred storm track for a given winter. The forecast for a neutral winter is for a near normal snowpack, with greater possibility of extreme storminess, like wind/rain/snow/cold or flood.
One tip, for your planning of next year: Early season snow and skiing in December tends to be reliable at Whistler. I have skied there many times in December and the mountain was almost fully open with great snow.
This is the final report for the season. Have a great summer. See ya next fall.
Larry Schick – Meteorologist – Open Snow – Whistler