High Points: Weird weather

As I write this, it is warmer in Denver than it is in Atlanta, Chicago has already been blanketed by lake effect snow, and San Francisco is bracing for a return of an atmospheric river. And … as I write this … I am sitting in shorts and shirt sleeves outside on a patio in Basalt next to a panting dog wondering where the snow is. Yes, it has been one weird November so far.

“It’s beautiful,” says my wife. “I don’t remember it being this warm this late in the year.” And she is right. It is beautiful. But for much of the last month, we have been under a high-pressure dome that has played its part in keeping us at, or near, record daily temperatures since it decided to camp out over the Northern Rockies. The result has been a series of crystal-clear days with warm temperatures and cool, not cold, nights.

Much like my wife, the animals are loving it. On Tuesday, both of the daily papers published cover photos of the local population enjoying a little sun during the off season. In The Aspen Times, photographer Austin Colbert captured a photo of a bear casually cruising in front of the Prada shop on Main Street. I could have sworn I saw a Sapphire Reserve card in the bear’s front paw. For its part, the Daily News featured an image taken by their photographer, Jason Charme, of a rather large, rather regal-looking bull elk hanging out in the sun over on McLain Flats Road. I don’t know who has it better — the local animals or the local photographers.

This is all good and well, until one brings up the undeniable fact that this is a ski town, and for us to be who we need to be, we need to start getting a little snow around here. By my count, we are supposed to open the mountains, at least Aspen and Snowmass, just 13 warm days from now on Thanksgiving Thursday. Right now, from where I sit at my down valley patio, that is looking to be a bit precarious. The forecast calls for a continuation of the current state of the season for at least the next week or so.

It’s not just that the temperatures elevate early each morning into the 50s; it’s that they don’t drop much at night either. I came out of my house this morning to find a thin layer of ice on the dog’s water bowl, where normally there is a block of the stuff. It sure does make it hard for those who toil with the snow blowers. I came back from Denver recently and saw the snow that was being manufactured at Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Copper as I drove on by. It was not a pretty sight.

To make snow, and let’s face it, the only way we are going to be able to open is with manmade snow, and for that, you need to have a combination of cold temperatures and low humidity. Low humidity? Check. Low temperatures? Not so much. There is this scale that snowmakers use called the wet bulb that combines the temperature with the humidity to get a reading on when to make snow. So far, our bulbs have not been that wet. Oh, sure there are a few piles at the base of each of the mountains, but skiers who come here for Thanksgiving are looking for Champagne powder on the trails, not ribbons of snow on runs that have been blown for skiing.

Of course, all of this could change. A subtle shift of the high pressure here, a slight change in the latitude of the Pacific fronts, and presto! It will be winter all over again.

Let’s just hope it happens sooner rather than later.