Recently, Anchorage, Alaska's largest city with nearly 400,000 residents, has just recorded its snowiest January on record. Tucked in between the mighty Cook Inlet and pushed right up against the Chugach Mountains, Anchorage sits in prime location for some serious snow totals. Moisture from pacific storms builds up over the inlet, and thanks to orographic lift caused by the mountains, forces that moisture to drop over Anchorage. Thanks to Alaska's northernly location, that moisture often falls in the form of snow.
I look at weather.gov a lot. It's not that I need to, for any reason. It's kind of like a tic, or perhaps more accurately, a low-stakes dopamine search. So, the past few days have been somewhat amusing, because the home page of that site was particularly colorful - pinks, light blues, dark blues, purples - for much of the continental United States. Most of my family lives in California; it was fun to send them screenshots going "Hey, most of the country has to deal with this" while they stay blissfully unaware of pretty much anything that isn't within a narrow band of temperatures.
California's largest reservoir, Shasta Lake, is at 123% of its historical average for this time of year, measuring at 72% capacity as of Monday, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The reservoir's current surface elevation is 1,019 feet, which is not far from its full capacity, according to Monday data from the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that oversees the reservoir. When Shasta is full, the elevation is 1,067 feet above sea level.
An adventure YouTuber, Joseph Brambila, went on a birthday hike up Mount Whitney in California and didn't return over one month ago. The 21-year-old had previously summited the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states in June, roughly five months before this attempt, when conditions were vastly different. In his last attempt, his efficient descent using the "glissading" technique proved fruitful but dangerous, and the wintery November conditions caused an unfortunate change of fate.
WeatherIt's always snowing somewhere, and for skiers and riders, that's where the magic happens. Fresh snow is what turns ordinary runs into powder days, and every skier knows the thrill of waking up to see a few extra inches (or feet) on the mountain report. Whether you're chasing the deepest conditions or just living vicariously through other people's powder days, it's worth knowing where the flakes are stacking up. These are the resorts that will receive the most snow over the next week and beyond.
The massive polar vortex sweeping across the US this week will only be the beginning of the country's bone-chilling plunge into winter, meteorologists warn. New forecasts have revealed that the Midwest and Northeast are currently in the first wave of an arctic 'outbreak' which will likely see more freezing cold air move south from Canada over the next three weeks.
