El Nino is upon us... or is it? What does this mean for the snowbord season?

Good morning Californianites!

As the south lands of Cali have been pummeled with rain today, many people are speculating about the upcoming snow season ahead. Many believe this year could be the rainfall we need to help us recover a little from the drought we have been having, others believe it wont even make a dent in our needs. The truth is, until we see for sure if El Nino will be here to stay for the winter, we won't really know!

What does this mean for the upcoming 2015-2016 snow season? Well ideally, with El Nino coming in with a cold front, this could be a winter for the record books. Over the past few decades we see trends of seasons coming in with record breaking numbers just following years with record lows preceding. The last four years of drought have depleted our water reserves to such an extreme point that there may not be enough rain in the forecast this year to really make a difference in the deficit.

This image shows snowfall for Mammoth Mountain from 1969 -2010 years. In the past 5 years, we have had many depressing and record low seasons. Will 2015 be the year of redemption?

Pacific Ocean temperatures are predicted to be so warm that although we will get rain, we may not get the snow we desperately need. Why is snow so important? Well other than the obvious, my passion for snowboarding, we really need the cold snow pack in the mountains since our reservoirs are kept full by the trickled down after seasons of melt. Over the past few years we have gotten less and less snow in the mountains which has changed a lot for many snow towns in Cali.

Big Bear Mountain and Snow Summit were purchased last season by Mammoth Mountain after many record low years. The lake in Big Bear has also reached a record low which has a severely affected the community which has largely been driven by tourists both in the summer season and winter season. The snow blowing procedure which Big Bear heavily relies on due to their low snow fall annually, is costly, ridiculously hard to upkeep and drove the mountain to sell to the highest bidder.


Mammoth Mountain did win big time with this move by capitalizing on the largest season pass sale season of all time by marketing their new Cali4nia pass. Now California skiiers and riders can buy one season pass to hit both Bear mountains and both Mammoth mountains for one low cost. Who suffered in this purchase? The residents of Big Bear who lost many of their perks and discounts to the new owners revamped rules.

4 Mountains - One price!

The only way to truly know how this season will turn out is to wait and see if we get the long awaited snowfall we truly need to refill our reservoirs and restore the balance of our systems once more.What I do know is that it will surely take more than one year for us to bounce back from the dry and dismal drought we have been in over the last few years.