NOTE: Heartland is working very hard through the weekend getting the presentations and powerpoints posted for the Heartland ICCC IV.  If you could not go, there is plenty to see there and soon all of the available 80 presentations will be posted.

by E.M.Smith

Global Warming? No Way, Dude! It’s time for June Skiing!

Squaw Valley High Camp

From Mammoth Mountain we have this report.

Yes, that URL says JUNE 14th. As in 1 week shy of the summer SOLSTICE.

Ski Your heart out till Memorial Day this year!. Mammoth has promised till the end of May after a wonderful season. The snow is still fresh and Mammoth skiing, is still… well Mammoth! There is a 4-6 foot base reported and the snow is holding although spring conditions are here. That means cold nights below freezing and warm days in the 50’s. Sorry fisherman, but we don’t do early mornings this time of the year! The main lodge is open with all lifts around Main Lodge operating, including 1, 3, Gondola to the top, 6, Stump Alley and the terrian parks, Unbound Main, Disco Park, Forest Trail, Main Superpipe and Main Super-Duper Pipe (that’s the beeg one!) So get on your skis, your board...your shorts and tank top and go for some runs.

Yup, it’s loads of snow and plenty of runs!

Is It Just One Mountain?

No way, dudes and dudettes! Squaw Valley is doing the ski party this weekend too!

Squaw will be open for skiing & riding this Memorial Weekend. Join us for Memorial Weekend at Squaw Valley USA! This is the place to be for skiing, riding, scening Cable Car rides, mountaintop dining and swimming at the High Camp Swimming Lagoon & Spa.

The high camp camera shows plenty of snow right now.

Just A California Thing?
Nope!

Shows some Colorado resorts closed crazy early for no good reason, but with some folks taking advantage of long sticking snow and cold conditions this year. In particular:

Even with some resorts looking to stay open into May & June this year, the 2009-10 Colorado Ski Season is still coming to a close. We know this news will be hard for some of you, but looking back it has been an amazing winter season in Ski Country. We here at Colorado Ski Country will be cherishing this season’s memories for many a year to come. So grab that box of tissues and your favorite blanket you’ve had all these years, here is the list of projected closing dates* for the resorts all across Colorado.

*All dates subject to change
Arapahoe Basin - June 2010

So at least one is keeping the doors open.

Similar story in Utah:

Snowbird Remains Open Until June 20
5-20-2010 – Snowbird will remain open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays until Father’s Day June 20th. We’re still skiing in Utah!

BUT: Common Guys! Just One More Day and you can have a summer solstice skiing special! Just imagine the fun of a hillside covered in Druids on Skis!

All the Earth Mothers and Wiccans skiing by moonlight on the mid summer day! (But be prepared, many neo-pagans practice their spiritual quest in the buff...)

It’s a whole new market! I’m sure there are more. This was the result of just a quick look at some local (to Western US) ski areas that most folks have heard of before I’m sure there will be others, too.

And I’ve heard that the ski season is coming early to the Southern Hemisphere this year… Forget global warming and The Perpetual Summer, it’s time for The Perpetual Ski Bum! Snow Reports NZ a 120 cm base at Mt. Dobson, so we’re likely to have a June opening available.

So now there is no reason to ever put those skis away! If we keep getting “Global Warming” like this, we’ll be skiing on the 4th of July in Colorado and California…

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Persistent cold, wet weather delays crop harvests, worries farmers - Record Late Snow Utah
By Loretta Kalb, Sacramento Bee

Keep your sweater - and umbrella - within reach. The chilly weekend temperatures were among the coldest in more than a half-century from Redding to Stockton, the National Weather Service reported Sunday.

More cold is expected today - a low of 45 and a high of 69 in downtown Sacramento - with rain forecast through much of this week. The dogged pattern of rain and cold has prompted worries of another sort: Melon crops are less likely to be ready for market in time for July 4 celebrations, and tomato harvests likely will be delayed.

Cold “slows everything down,” Yolo County Agriculture Commissioner John Young said Sunday. “We’re not getting the temperatures we need for germination of seed. It slows the melons down, it slows the rice down, it slows any of the warm-weather crops.”

Of course, the cooler temperatures have an upside, delaying Sierra snowmelt. On Friday the state Department of Water Resources boosted the delivery forecast for its customers to 45 percent of contract amounts, reflecting a snowpack that’s at 167 percent of normal.
In the Valley, however, the regular cycle of spring rains threatens to narrow the timetable for tomato harvests, said Gene Miyao, farm adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Growers try to plant while soils are dry. “Under wet conditions, (planting) causes soil compactions. That affects root growth. Irrigation doesn’t infiltrate as well,” Miyao said. “I think it certainly is a concern.” Waiting for soil to dry means risking that rain will fall again before planting. In that case, greenhouse growers can’t move young-plant inventory to fields on schedule. And at harvest time, some growers must waiting for processor capacity. Tomatoes may rot in the field or face exposure to insects while waiting, Miyao said.

The late rains are no better for hay baling. “If you get anywhere up to a half-inch or more (rain), you’re going to start getting problems with mold,” said Casey Stone, a partner in the 7,500-acre Yolo Land & Cattle Co. The company has about 600 Yolo County acres in hay. Wind can help dry the hay. Winds from the northwest were forecast at 15 to 25 mph Sunday night in the Sacramento area.

And the forecast for rain? Figure on 0.2 to 0.5 of an inch of rain or showers starting by nightfall Tuesday, said Drew Peterson, National Weather Service meteorologist. Rain and showers will continue through Friday as a series of fronts arrive from the Gulf of Alaska. Rainfall in downtown Sacramento, at 18.99 inches, is 97 percent of normal since July 1.

Not so normal is the late-season cold, which set records over the weekend. “We’re actually watching a record set in 1971,” Peterson said. “We’re looking to see if we make it through June 6 without a 90-degree day.” The warmest days downtown this year were 86 on May 3 and May 15. That triggered a premature chorus among weather-watchers. “Everybody was saying, ‘Summer is finally here,’ “ Peterson said.

For the record-setting, consider the weekend just ended. Sunday’s low of 45 degrees in downtown Sacramento matched the low established on that day in 1960. In Red Bluff, the low of 45 matched the low set in 1953. In Redding, the low was 42 on Sunday and on the same date in 1946. On Saturday, the thermometer in Redding fell to 34 degrees, toppling the 39-degree record on that date in 1960. Red Bluff’s low fell to 37 degrees, 3 degrees below the dates in 1960. At the other end of the how-cold-it-got scale, Stockton Metropolitan Airport on Saturday never exceeded 67 degrees, two degrees lower than the coldest high for that day, set in 1943.

Read more here.

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Late spring snowstorm surprises Utahns

Many Utahns woke up to a blanket of snow Monday morning. The wet and slushy weather caused a few problems throughout the day, but the late storm was mostly an inconvenience.

Record-setting late snowfall

The storm produced the latest spring snow ever recorded at Salt Lake City International Airport. It arrived late Sunday night and produced huge, heavy snowflakes as Salt Lake City commuters arrived for work Monday morning.

Related: Snow, rain and mud may hamper some Memorial Day plans
If you’re planning a Memorial Day outing in Utah’s outdoors, it might pay to check out your final destination first. Much of the snow on the valley roads either didn’t stick or quickly melted away.

The Wasatch Mountains got significant snow for this time of year. Nine inches were reported at Brighton.

By late-morning, the most powerful parts of the storm had moved to the east.

At the Salt Lake City airport, .2 inches fell. Before Monday, the latest measurable spring snow at the airport was May 18 when half an inch fell in 1977 and one inch fell in 1960.

Storm is good news for snowpack

Monday’s storm came as good news for those keeping track of the state’s water supply.

“Rain on snow produces more runoff than smowmelt alone, so we’re getting a lot more water into our creeks and reservoirs than we would with snowmelt alone,” explained Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

A cooler spring has the snowpack sitting around average levels for this time of year. Julander hopes the wet weather will continue into June to build up our water supply and put off irrigation season until July.

“When you save a month and a half or two months worth of water, that results in larger carryover into the fall,” Julander said. “So, this is all money in the bank and water that we’ll be able to use later in the season, or carry it over into next year.”

Weather frustrates golfers, gardeners

Despite the water benefits, many people KSL News talked to were disappointed with the snow, saying they are more than ready for warmer weather. “It should’ve been gone a long time ago. It should be almost summer now,” said Salt Lake City resident Jeremy Miller, who spent the morning scraping snow off of his car.

Miller works at a golf course. The snow means no work for him, bat also no golfers on the green. Salt Lake City resident Jeremy Miller spent Monday morning scraping snow off of his car “The nice days are really busy; and the other days, well, there’s not going to be anyone there today,” Miller said.

He isn’t the only one fed up with the rain and snow. Jack Wilbur, with the Utah Fruit and Vegetable Association hopes his vegetables pull through this cold snap.

“Snow on May 24th is pretty crazy,” Wilbur said. “It’s been so cold for so long, it’s really hard to grow anything. Things are growing slowly.”

Wilbur planted his tomatoes in cans this year, which adds an extra layer of protection for the baby plants. At this rate, the vegetables need all the help they can get.

“If it stays cool, it will just take longer for things to mature,” Wilbur said.

The cold isn’t doing any favors for Wilbur’s fruit trees either.

“We worry maybe we didn’t get pollinated because the bees couldn’t do their work,” Wilbur said.

He said he’s still expecting a good crop but won’t know for a couple more weeks how well his fruit trees will do.

“[I’m so tired of this weather,” Wilbur said. “I can’t wait for it to get nice and sunny and warm.”

Read more here.

As is often the case cold in the west means hot in the east this time of year. Some areas will see 90F temperatures before cooling sets in mid-week.