Drought over, snowpack is near normal in Cascades

Lauren DiJulio said, “It’s great, it’s a lot better than it’s been in the past."

The Northwest Avalanche Center reported just 44 inches of snow on the ground at the beginning of this month.  That number had more than doubled by Friday morning to 97 inches, or 8 feet of snow.

Skier Steve Thompson said, “It’s what we’ve been waiting for all season, this is great.”

Eighty inches of snow has been recorded in just the past eleven days, with more in the forecast.

The marketing director for the Summit at Snoqualmie is Guy Lawrence.

“Winter happened, finally,” he said.

The ski area saw one of the driest Decembers on record.  It couldn’t open until Jan. 10 due to a lack of snow.

Lawrence said in the Cascades, the weather can turn around in an instant, and it has.  Several season pass holders at the Summit said they couldn’t use their passes during their Christmas and New Year’s holidays, so they’re now planning multiple trips to make up for lost time.

KIRO