The month of January produced some serious snow totals throughout the country and much to the nirvana of the powder hungry Wasatch communities, Utah was no exception. Topping the charts for snow totals was Brighton, Utah which for the month of January alone enjoyed a snorkeling induced 202 inches!
January can be broken into two distinct storm cycles. The first, from January 2 to January 13, was a series of atmospheric rivers that funneled sub-tropical moisture from near Hawaii into the state. All northern Utah resorts saw significant snowfall during this stretch – with 6-10 FEET of new snow falling during this period.
The second cycle while not predicted with as much confidence still saw significant accumulations over the entire Wasatch range in three separate storms.
From January 20 to the 26th the three storms collectively dumped anywhere from another 3 to 7 feet of snow putting snowpack averages well ahead of the curve.
“Snowbird’s current snowpack is 189% of normal and we have already seen as much as, or more snow than, each of the entire previous 5 winters”-Ski Utah’s Yeti
Ben Lomond Peak up near Snowbasin and Powder Mountain is historically one of the snowiest places in Utah. It has seen 24” of liquid this month. Assuming an average water content of 10%, that means about 20 FEET of snow!
In fact, if Ben Lamond Peak didn’t receive any more snow through the rest of the season, they would still finish 18% above average for the year! A powder-palooza!
“Perhaps the most impressive thing about this month’s snowfall is that it has been so non-discriminatory. By that, I mean that the wealth was spread so evenly to all resorts.”- Ski Utah’s Yeti
Frequently we can see huge totals in the Cottonwood Canyons, but snowfall on the Wasatch Back is significantly less. This month, most major resorts in Northern Utah received 140-165” of snowfall, which are remarkably consistent returns.
Brighton managed to benefit from both the southwest and the northwest flows, and therefore claimed the top spot with more than 200” of snowfall.
“It would be difficult to anoint this as our snowiest month ever, but based on the consistency of huge snowfall totals, it should definitely be considered one of our snowiest months ever. The life of a skier in Utah just doesn’t get much better than this!”- Ski Utah
