Utah Doubles Hokkaido’s Snow Total

Winter 2022-23 has been a record breaker in the Western USA, with months of successive super snow storms bringing huge accumulations to the region. It has been very snowy almost everywhere but ski areas in Utah and California are posting the very biggest numbers.

Alta in Utah (pictured above) passed the 800 inches seasonal-snowfall to date mark in the last few days, meaning it has now had more than 20 metres of snowfall this winter.

By contrast the famously snowy northern Japanese ski island of Hokkaido has had a warmer winter than usual and snowfall totals are below average there. Niseko has just passed the 10-metres seasonal snowfall to date mark, about 50% below its long term average.

SnowJapan.com reports that Niseko had one of its least snowy months of March in a decade with only six snow days in the month and around 30cm (12” of snowfall in total).

All the snowfall in the western US has caused some practical issues and in recent weeks the Little Cottonwood Canyon where Alta and nearby Snowbird are located has repeatedly declared a state of avalanche emergency called ‘Interlodge’ which asks skiers to get off the slopes and even drivers to et out their cars and get indoors to be extra safe.  There are also concerns about flooding once all the snow finally starts to melt.  Against that more resorts are extending their seasons so that skiers can enjoy the snow for longer.

Still more heavy snowfall is forecast in Utah this week.