Western Ski Areas See Surprising Summer Snow

In Montana, winter’s here—kind of.

Since a National Weather Service (NWS) Winter Weather Advisory for Glacier National Park and the Mission Mountains went live yesterday, several Montana ski areas have seen fresh snow. All bets are off on how long the snow will stick around—it’s still August, after all—but in the meantime, let’s get stoked.

This morning, Whitefish Mountain Resort, Montana, excitedly announced that the season’s first flakes had fallen. As of about 10 a.m., the snow was accumulating as low as 5800 feet, and at Whitefish’s Summit House, things looked downright wintry. The upper terminals of Chair 1 and Chair 7 are coated in a fresh blanket of snow.

"This has got to be a new record: An unheard-of late-August squall delivered a solid inch of snow to the summit this morning, as well as a visible dusting across the upper 1,000 feet of Big Mountain!" wrote Whitefish's Public Relations Manager, Chad Sokol, in a recent snow report.

"It certainly has been a strange summer with more precipitation than we're used to, but measurable snow? This time of year? We didn't have this on our bingo card," he added.

Whitefish wasn’t alone. Bridger Bowl Ski Area, Montana, also dropped a snowy tease this morning. Since then, though, it appears most of the snow has melted, per Bridger’s webcams.

Elsewhere, the storm appears to be intensifying. At 9:45 a.m., NWS Great Falls shared that snowfall rates are increasing in Glacier National Park’s Logan Pass. According to the current NWS forecast for the Logan Pass Visitor’s Center, between three to seven inches of snow could fall before the end of today. Remember, this isn’t cold smoke we’re talking about—the predicted high for today at the Visitor Center is 40 degrees. It’s looking wet out there.

Another reminder: snow this early is an appetizer, not the full course. Whitefish’s website states that the resort plans to open for skiing and riding on December 5th, 2024. That’s about three months from now. By then, the August snow will almost certainly have melted before being replaced by storms in October and November. But hey, in August, we’ll take what we can get.

Earlier this summer, I wrote about how I’ve come to appreciate the warmer months more than I used to as a skier, and that I don’t tend to experience that almost feral urge to ski in July or August anymore. However, after this round of snowfall, I’m starting to doubt my resolve. I’m ready for it, and based on the Instagram comments below Whitefish and Bridger’s early season snowfall announcements, I’m not alone.

“I’ve seen enough,” wrote one commenter. “Open the lifts.”

Related: Skier Compares "Absolutely Nuts" Lift Ticket Prices to When He Was a Kid

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