Possible wonderful ski season next winter, or maybe not?

SnowSailor

Canadians can expect the El Nino to bring warmer weather and heavy snowfall to Western Canada in October, Anderson said. That warmth will spread east through the winter season before fading away next April.

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/el- ... 88586#ixzz30K088Qpi

EasySummer

"A wave of warm El Nino weather is expected to sweep across Canada later this year, meaning a milder winter for much of the country."

SnowSailor

checked it out some more. Now wondering whether we can believe scientist for ski condition forecast at all.

http://kcorreia.com/2012/la-nina-whistler/

How can we explain for this difference? The easy answer is my data set is relatively small, but we should go back to what impacts the ENSO has on Western Canada.

La Nina results in colder and wetter winters. This means snow may begin accumulating in Whistler earlier (normal rain falls as snow due to the cold), and we can expect more snow (due to the wetness).
El Nino results in warmer winters, but this does not mean drier winters or less snow accumulation at Whistler. Given that the highest lift at Whistler is located 2000 m above sea level, the warmer temperatures in an El Nino phase may not be enough to cause precipitation to fall as rain instead of snow at Whistler. This may not be the case for the local ski mountains in Vancouver which sit at a lower elevation. During the 2010 Winter Olympics at Vancouver, Cypress Mountain had a lower than average snow base which has often been attributed to El Nino.
Conclusion
In summary, it looks like La Nina conditions may result in more than average snowfall at Whistler, but its El Nino counter partner does not necessarily lead to less snowfall. Given the limited data set, it’s hard to say if these results are truly statistically significant. But for now it looks like it is hard to ignore.

KuoiGuaBoarder

今年买了爱着 怕死的，可以订机票了

skisnowboardca

hopefully~