"Nothing but dirt and dry, brown chaparral rolled beneath skis and snowboards dangling from a chairlift at Big Bear Mountain Resort on Friday, as forlorn adventure seekers joked they should rename the place "Big Bare." Unseasonably high temperatures even left the impressive array of high-tech, artificial snowmakers below mostly useless, their fans spinning idly in the warm breeze."
""The word I've been using is "abysmal," said Cameron Miniutti, 29, who was riding the lift in a light cotton shirt, with the hot sun glinting off his ski goggles. "This is, for sure, the toughest start [to a season] I've seen.""
"As of Friday, the state had only 12% of the snow that's normal for this time of year, and only 3% of what water managers hope for in an average year, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Which is why water managers - and skiers - are hoping for a Christmas miracle as an enormous atmospheric river takes aim at California this week. The soaking rains may threaten coastal cities with flash floods and nightmarish traffic, but they promise sweet relief for snow-starved thrill seekers from Lake Tahoe to the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California."
A lack of natural snow has left Big Bear Mountain Resort with dirt and dry chaparral beneath lifts and skiers wearing T-shirts. High temperatures rendered many artificial snowmakers largely ineffective. Snowmelt provides roughly a third of California's annual water for drinking, farming and firefighting, and statewide snowpack stood at just 12% of normal and 3% of average annual expectations as of Friday. An incoming atmospheric river could deliver heavy snow to high elevations and soaking rain to coastal areas, risking flash floods while offering relief to snow-starved ski areas such as Mammoth and Lake Tahoe.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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