North America Weekly Roundup #253

Wildfire Smoke Looms Over Canadian Ski Resorts

• Timberline in Oregon is the last lift-served ski area open in North America, with its season ending on August 18th.
• The Palmer snowfield on Mt. Hood still offers a couple of miles of runs and a terrain park, but afternoon thaws are quick due to high temperatures.
• Wildfires in Canada are affecting ski areas, with smoke reported at resorts like Sunshine near Banff, though fire damage isn't currently a threat.

USA REPORT 

Timberline (0/76" / 0/190 cm) in Oregon remains the only lift-served center open in North America, with just under a fortnight of its planned nine-month 23-24 season left to run. The last day is scheduled for August 18th. There are a couple of miles of runs still open on the Palmer snowfield on Mt. Hood and a terrain park too. Temperatures have been reaching the 80s Fahrenheit this week, so there's a fast thaw in the afternoons, although temperatures up on the snowfield are cooler than at the base. Lifts open from 7:30 a.m. each morning, and the best conditions are first thing. The terrain park is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily. The hike-to terrain park at Copper Mountain in Colorado remains open to the public from Fridays to Sundays each weekend, but they're approaching the season end here too. But as we've entered August, it's hopefully now less than two months until temperatures drop low enough again in the fall for snowmaking to begin on high slopes in the Rockies! Unfortunately, for now, some ski areas continue to be at risk from wildfires. The huge Jasper fire, which destroyed part of the famous ski town but missed Marmot Basin, the local ski hill, has been growing again in the hot dry weather, and smoke has been reported further south from other fires at resorts like Sunshine near Banff. Fire damage is not an active threat at the time of writing, but the smoke is reported to be hard to avoid.

USA FORECAST

It’s going to stay mostly hot and mostly sunny as we move further into August in Oregon. A similar story in Colorado, although there may be rain showers bubbling up at times, mostly falling in the afternoons/evenings after Copper's park is closed for the day if they do arrive as expected.