What Will We Say Now ?

Snow in Boulder

By Mark Phillips, 1-05-07

Everyone thinks the Front Range is constantly covered in snow. Most of my work is done over the phone, and nearly every time I speak with someone from somewhere other than the Rockies, the conversation goes almost exactly like this:
Them: Where are you located?
Me: I live in Boulder, CO.
Them: Wow! There's a snowy place!
Me: Actually, most of the snow is in the mountains. Even when we do get snow, it rarely sticks around.
Them: Really? What a surprise!
Me: Yeah. Winter's really mild here. Snow's usually gone the next day, it's sunny, 50 degrees, and everyone's back to their Tevas and climbing shorts.

These last few weeks, I've been at a loss. First was the several weeks of bitter cold days early in December. Then came Blizzard #1 before Christmas. Then #2 before New Year. And today's another school day. For this my son is thankful. The two most recent dumps (one of which we watched from the tarmac, praying our Christmas flight to Florida would make it out. It did!) happened on vacation days.

So what do we say now?

Last week (after/during B2), I played hooky at my favorite local ski hill, Eldora. I talked with Marketing Director Rob Linde about the pre-New Year season at Eldora. I learned that, while most people think of Colorado resorts as getting all of the same weather patterns, the truth is that there are several micro-climates that deliver very different results in different parts of the state (or, more significantly, on different sides of the divide).
Eldora, like Boulder, is on the Eastern side of the divide. In El Nino conditions, storms push up from the south, circle around, and dump the majority of their snow on the Eastern part of the state. Winter '06/'07 is an El Nino year, so Boulder, Eldora, Southeastern resorts like Monarch and Durango, and even the plains are getting exponentially more snow than points further west. (As an example, last Thursday night, Eldora received 16 inches while Breckenridge got 4.)

Now I tell people Boulder usually is and about how, because of El Nino, Boulder is covered in snow.

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