Warm spring expected for CNY but don’t count out snow
Updated Feb 27, 2021;
Posted Feb 26, 2021
The Climate Prediction Center says the odds favor a warmer-than-normal spring across most of the continental United States, including Upstate New York.
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Syracuse, N.Y. After a cold and snowy February, Central New York is expected to get a warmer-than-normal spring.
We’ll get a brief taste of it Saturday and Sunday, when temperatures 10 degrees above normal will make our warmest weekend since the winter solstice. After a couple of cold days early next week with a chance of snow, the warmth will kick in again and stay awhile, said New York state climatologist Mark Wysocki.
Skiers and riders rejoice with the fresh snow on Wednesday, Feb. 17, in Vail. Heavy snowfall in February helped moved snowpack levels at measuring sites closer to average for the winter.
Here’s the good news: February was a good month for snowfall in the area. Here’s the bad news: It wasn’t enough to break us from our current drought conditions.
A more-snowy February managed to provide a good bit of catch-up moisture to local snow measurement sites. The “snow water equivalent” at those sites is currently close to normal, as measured by 30-year median snowfall.
But heading into March and April, the area’s snowiest months, it’s easy to fall behind.
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With the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-21 season at Mt. Shasta Ski Park was going to be a challenge.
But thanks to a weather pattern that has kept its slopes covered in snow and pent-up demand from people eager to get outdoors, business at the ski park is up from a year ago.
“Snow wise it’s been really good. A few weeks ago, we got over 30 inches in a couple days. We were getting pretty thin there, so that was super helpful,” the ski park’s marketing spokesperson Delaney Adrian said Monday.
The park got 5 inches of new snow between Valentine’s Day and Monday, bringing its base depth to nearly 5 feet, Adrian said. This season, the ski park has received just under 11 feet of snow.
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