Another big season on the horizon?

From Steamboat Pilot & Today Newspaper 10/19 —

Wednesday night’s storm could signal the beginning of a good ski season in Steamboat Springs.

Joe Ramey, a National Wea­ther Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, said Thursday that another storm is expected to dump more snow on the area this weekend. And although that snow will melt by early next week, Routt County residents should keep their shovels handy in the coming months.

Despite National Weather Service reports in September that predicted above-average temperatures and average precipitation for the Steamboat area through February, Ramey said Routt County could be in store for a winter similar to that of 2005-06.

“We are heading into a La Niña winter, which bodes well for Steamboat Springs. Our studies indicate that the area should get hit with lots of snow in December and early January like it did two years ago,” he said. “That’s what we’re hoping for.”

More than 400 inches of snow fell on the Steamboat Ski Area in the winter of 2005-06. It was the fourth snowiest winter on record for the ski area.

Winter could begin to settle in this weekend, Ramey said.

“The beginnings of the next system already is following on the storm’s heels,” Ramey said. “The clouds already are moving in.”

Ramey said a Pacific cold front should settle over the Yampa Valley on Saturday and drop temperatures into the low teens.

“This one packs a punch,” he said. “It looks like the first taste of winter.”