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Why did Breckenridge get so much snow?
There is no “weather reason” that I can provide to explain why the latest storm produced 26″ at Breckenridge, 17″ at Copper, and 14″ at Vail. While there is always an element of “chance” in snowfall predictions and totals (see below for the question about Steamboat), it just doesn’t make meteorological sense. In flow from the WNW or NW (which is what happend on Saturday), Vail is first in line, then the air hits Copper, and then it hits Breckenridge. Generally, this means that Vail would get more that Copper, which may get a bit more than Breckenridge. While wind loading of snow on east-facing slopes can drastically increase snow totals by 2-3x, snow measuring sites should be located away from wind drifts. Poster “rs” commented here that Breckenridge moved their snow measuring site to a more “favorable” area, which might explain the higher totals. I CANNOT confirm or deny this, but I am trying to get more information. In short, I don’t think Breckenridge is getting 2x more snow this year compared to other nearby resorts, I just think their snow reporting is more representative of the higher snow totals that have always fallen on the upper mountain compared to the lower amounts that are often measured at lower elevations.
