High pressure will build in over the upcoming weekend (April 20^th& 21). That weather pattern will mean partly to mostly sunny skies and fabulous spring skiing for Whistler / Blackcomb. After this weekend only Whistler will be open but should hold up in good shape. Whistler will be open until May 21 – which is the closing date for skiing at W/B.

Season recap / next season:

It was a good season, with some bumps on the road.

The usually reliable late fall snow didn’t show up for W/B last November and early December. W/B had one of the slowest openings in years. Natural snow was lacking, but I must say the vast and efficient snow making system was very helpful in early December. I was there, Dec 6-9^th 2018.  I skied top to bottom (5,000 verts) on almost all snowmaking – good job W/B.

Seasonal snowfall in BC and the Pacific NW was generally near to below normal – just as the weak El Nino predicted for the NW.  Another interesting part of the winter was the sustained cold and low snow levels in February, with a parade of storms coming from the north-northwest. That pattern not only created new snow, but very high-quality snow day after day. The snow was very cold and dry “continental “ in nature, not like our typical mild maritime snowfall.

It’s too early to tell what will happen next winter. Right now it looks like there might be a continuing weak El Nino, which can produce an occasionally challenging snowfall pattern. Or it’s possible a neutral pattern, which is generally good for NW snowfall. I’ll know more early next fall (September /October).

Have a good summer

Larry Schick – meteorologist    OpenSnow   Whistler / Blackcomb, British Columbia