SNOQUALMIE PASS, Wash. — Most ski resorts in western Washington are now closed, following a ski season that brought less-than-ideal snowpack totals.
Some Washington ski resorts, like the Summit at Snoqualmie and Stevens Pass Ski Resort, saw the lowest amount of snow received in 10 years.
“Snowfall was definitely lower this season, as everyone knows, but we had a good season overall,” said Karter Riach, the director of marketing for the Summit at Snoqualmie.
The Summit at Snoqualmie only received about 60% of their average snowfall.
“We haven't had a year this low as far as snowfall in at least ten years,” said Riach.
Stevens Pass said it ended the season with 294 inches of snow, which is lower than the average snowfall of 460 inches. A spokesperson for the resort said the last time they received less than 300 inches was in the 2014-2015 season.
The resort closed on Sunday, April 14, for the season.
Crystal Mountain Ski Resort received 278 inches of snow this ski season, as of April 14. This is less than their average snowfall of 348 inches.
On Friday, April 26, the resort announced that they are extending the ski season to Sunday, May 5, for weekends only.
The Summit at Snoqualmie opened for a near average number of days this season, but had limited terrain open for some of those days.
“We’re thankful to make it as far as we did in April,” said Riach. “We had 127 days this year of operation, and normally we're around 130.”
He said the season prior, the resort was open 136 days.
With Mother Nature, you never really now what to expect, but Riach already has high hopes for next season.
“I've heard maybe we have increasing probability of La Niña for next year, so that'll bode well for the Cascades for sure,” said Riach.
That probability is something KING 5 Meteorologist Adam Claibon also said is likely.
"La Niña is coming back next year, it looks like all forecast models are kind of leaning towards that,” said Claibon.
He said skiers and snowboarders can hopefully expect a colder and wetter winter for next year. He said this season, as of April 1, the western Washington area only saw around 60-70% of average snowpack due to the El Niño winter.
“December was the warmest December we had on record in a lot of our locations here in western Washington,” said Claibon.
While skiers made the best of this season, dreams of next ski season are already on their minds.
“Well, we hope that La Nina materializes, obviously that that's the Holy Grail,” said Riach. “And that we get a lot of snow and we're able to get everything open really quickly and have a lot of have a lot of good days.”