It’s been a tough going for some of the South Coast mountains so far this season, but a massive storm moving in this weekend might make all the difference.
A low pressure system will deepen and become very intense as it approaches the coast, and heavy snow is expected to fall tonight over the mountains above 1,000 metres.
“This has been an exciting week for the South Coast mountains compared to what they have seen so far this season,” says Global BC meteorologist Kristi Gordon. “With one storm after another this week, it has given them some hope, and this weekend’s snow could allow some of the areas that have been closed up until now to open.”
READ MORE: Massive storm racing towards B.C. coast today
Mount Washington on Vancouver island is still looking to kick off their winter season.
Brent Curtain with the mountain says so far they have experienced drought like conditions with very little precipitation.
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He says they have some snow on the ground already, but it is not enough to open the slopes.
“It turned the tide about 48 hours ago and we saw a couple of systems move through,” says Curtain. “These last two systems definitely helped because we had about 10-15 cm fall per system and now with this system, the forecast is for upwards of 40 cm of snow. So it is definitely going to help the situation.”
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Curtain says their snow grooming crews are back at work, which is usually a precursor for a quick turnaround.
“We are expecting to make an announcement tomorrow morning as to when our new opening date may be,” he says. “Fingers crossed that we get the snow that’s in the forecast.”
Curtain says historically they open in December, so this season is definitely overdue. Especially considering that for the last few seasons, the mountain had an average of over 12 meters per season.
Curtain says their customers are anxious to get on the slopes.
Earlier this month, the mountain announced its season passholders will be able to ski and snowboard for free at Whistler Blackcomb until the end of the month.
Curtain says the deal applies until Mount Washington starts offering a full-price lift ticket.
He says hundreds of their passholders have already taken advantage of the deal, but they are hoping to see them back on Mount Washington slopes in the nearest future.
“If this weather pans out like it should, we think they will probably be skiing on the island sooner than later.”
Meanwhile, Environment Canada has released a snowfall warning for Whistler tonight.
Chris McLeod with Whistler Blackcomb says they are expecting 23 cm of snow tonight, another 12 during the day tomorrow and more snow through till Monday.
“It’s been a little bit below average for us this year, but our snow-making teams have been working unbelievably hard to make sure that conditions are really good,” he says.
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