New storm brings more than a foot, pushes Vail Mountain over 300 inches for the season
John LaConte/Vail Daily
Vail Mountain skiers and snowboarders awoke to find 13 inches of accumulation on the snowstake Wednesday morning, creating an April powder day that will help close out the season well.
The storm pushed Vail Mountain to 309 cumulative inches of snow this season, about 87% of the 354 inches the mountain claims as its average. The mountain still has time to reach that average, with Closing Day set for April 20 and more snow in the forecast.
The National Weather Service has issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for the area. Snow is expected to continue Thursday and possibly into the weekend.
“A brief pause in active weather is expected today, with mountain snow returning to the region early Thursday morning,” the National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office said in the Wednesday outlook.
Beaver Creek also recorded 13 inches of new snow on Wednesday morning, bringing it to 243 total inches this season. Beaver Creek claims an average of 323 inches annually, with Wednesday’s totals pushing the resort to 75% of average this year.
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Wednesday’s storm pushed Vail Mountain’s cumulative snow total for this season over that of last season, which was 306 cumulative inches of snow on the April 21, 2024, Closing Day.
Jeff Babb, Vail Mountain’s senior director of resort operations, described this year as a “wild season” in terms of snow storms in a speech at Vail’s annual community meeting March 25.
“We had this wicked snowstorm in November and great temperatures which allowed us to get open, and were dry for a while, and then it snowed again, just kind of a crazy season,” he said. “That snow may not have always come how and when we wanted it.”
In addition to referencing the November storm cycle in Vail this season, in which Vail Mountain recorded 37 inches over four days, Babb also mentioned another massive snow event that happened in February.
“The five feet in eight days that we had in February really threw us all for a loop, but it did make for some amazing skiing,” he said.
