December was 3 times as snowy as usual in Boise. Here’s how ski areas stacked up
A series of storms late in the month made December one of the snowiest on record for Boise, and the precipitation hit local ski areas even more intensely, setting a record at one mountain and causing another to briefly shut down.
According to the National Weather Service’s Boise office, 15 inches of snow fell at its site near the Boise Airport in December — three times the average total for that month. That made it the seventh-snowiest December on record in Boise.
At nearby Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area, even more snow fell. Bogus spokesperson Susan Saad said 103 inches dropped at the Boise-area mountain last month, compared to the typical December total of 70 inches.
Ron Abramovich, a former water supply specialist at the Natural Resources Conservation Service, said it was the biggest December snowfall in recent years, rivaling 2015 and 2010, when Bogus received between 110 and 120 inches. Abramovich also said the snow accumulated better.
At the start of December, only 4 inches of snow sat on the ground at Bogus Basin’s Showcase Lift measurement station. By the end of the month, that had increased to 52 inches. By contrast, 2015 and 2010 saw a final snow depth increase of 38 inches, despite more total snowfall.
“Based on daily SNOTEL data, this was the greatest December increase since the automated snow measuring site was installed in 1999,” Abramovich said.
Brundage Mountain Resort near McCall also saw its snowiest December in years. Between Dec. 6 and Dec. 31, the resort measured 104 inches of snow — the second-most in more than a decade. In 2015, Brundage received 126 inches of snow in December.
Typically, Brundage sees about 55 inches of snow in December.
Tamarack Resort, which is southwest of Brundage near Donnelly, saw more snow than any nearby ski areas in December: 117 inches. With November snow totals included, Tamarack reported a historic 141 inches for the start of the 2021-2022 season.
Last year, the resort saw 81 inches of snow during the same time period.
The spate of December snowstorms even caused Soldier Mountain near Fairfield to close operations for a day. On Dec. 28, the ski area shut down because of avalanche concerns and snowdrifts as deep as 10 feet.
Resort officials around the region said they’re expecting a similarly snowy January, as winter weather advisories and storm warnings have been in effect around Southwest Idaho since the start of the year.
In the past 48 hours, Bogus Basin has received 19 inches of snow, and it could get another foot by the weekend, forecasts show. Tamarack has seen 17 inches in the past two days, while Brundage has seen 13.
