What was the winter of 1997 like?

I am aware that there are other El Nino threads now, but they seem to have gotten bogged down in politics and other humorous ventures. I hope to avoid the debate here and get simple answers.

I have a simple question, since the El Nino is here (that part of the debate is over, at least) and predicted to be strong but not quite approach that of the one in 1997, has anyone researched what the winter was like in 1997? Of course I am most interested in what type of snowpack existed in the backcountry/lift ski areas, when the ski areas opened/closed and any other nuances such as snowpack elevations, etc.

Since we know what a very mild El Nino is capable of (winter of '04/'05), I am curious how the strong one in 1997 worked out. It may be a very sensitive trigger that allows the rarity of '04/'05-like winters, but I would feel a lot more confortable knowing that skiers survived 1997. This especially since we are now enjoying what seems to be an unusually long stretch of dry warm weather.

What I seemed to have noticed on bad snow years around here lately (El Nino or not) is the persistence of weather regimes, rather than the very fast and progressive systems of storms, cold, warm, brief clearing, etc. and so on that occurs in normal years. In any case, since I have only lived here since '93, I may have a shortsighted perspective on this, but it seems to me that the winter weather here now has far more persistent weather regimes in a given winter than what I remembered in the early 90's.

Thanks,
Alan

There have been weak el nino's in the past that have not done much to harm the snowpack. Warmer then normal might just mean wetter snow then normal, but not always rain. Check out this link of Snoq Pass snowfall history.

hyak.net/snowfallhist.html

I'm trying to remember the winter of "97, and it seems like here in Oregon we had a decent snowpack.  However, trying to compare one El Nino year to another can be as complicated as trying to predict the weather.......

Here's a couple of graphics from the NOAA website:

www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/images...2006-2007-temps2.jpg

www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2006/images...006-2007-precip2.jpg

It looks like it may be around normal for precipitation, but there a 40% chance it'll be warmer than average.  I'm optimistically hoping we'll get a normal winter rainfall, which would translate into good snowpack in the higher elevations (could make for good backcountry riding!).  The lower resorts could suffer though.

Jack, Stoudima,

Thanks. It seems that we suffered a pretty average year during that strong El Nino. I will try to correlate other El Nino years to the data set, but my guess is that it will confirm for me what others have been posting. On top of any trends that El Nino or La Nina brings to the picture year to year, there seems to be a high degree of variability that occurs (or other overlapping trends) that makes it very hard to assume if a year will be good or bad based on this one predictive model.

Alan

See Amar's excellent website for some perspective on El Nino / La Nina.  He also has season snowpack plotted by year going back quite a way.  Looks to me like 96/97 was well above average and 97/98 (which I assume was the El Nino season you're refering to) was just about average - based on snowpack alone anyway.  Of course that doesn't tell the whole story, but it makes me feel a little better....

It was the winter that launched my own ski touring career, and I remember skipping the Super Bowl to ski knee-deep powder from atop Snoqualmie Mtn. As well, we skiied Adams in early June clear back to within a 1/2 mile of the roadhead. So, it wasn't too devastating on the overall ski-ability of the snowpack, although there were a few dandy Pineaplel Express' that blew through in January and February of that year.

You guys are making me feel better!

I think last year was somewhat unusual in that we never really got a pineapple express (I think). To me a couple good expresses is what makes the spring and summer snowpack here in the PNW. Nothing like a few inches of warm rain on top of 6 feet of snow to add to the overall density of the snowpack.

I think the year that Baker got the snow record, we had a couple of expresses. I think that this is an indication that the hose is aimed at us.

I guess I'll go out and get my wife some skis now!

Alan

This is a great site to figure out how "things have been":

www.cses.washington.edu/cig/maps/index.shtml