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Mt. Baker Ski Area Breaks Snowfall Record
Resort has had 1,124 inches this season.
May
14, 1999
With two inches of snow received over May 11 and 12, 1999, Mt Baker Ski Area has unofficially broken a 27-year-old record for world seasonal snowfall with a total of 1,124 so far this season.
The previous record of 1,122 1/2 inches was set at the Rainier-Paradise National Weather Service Cooperative station in the 1971–72 season.
Mt. Baker’s record is currently unofficial until the National Climate Extremes Committee can complete a review of the new reported record. The Committee, run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is now working with Mt. Baker Ski Area to begin the evaluation process. The professional climate community recognizes July 1 through June 30 as the annual snowfall season.
Baker officials say it’s actually set two different records. One is the World Seasonal Snowfall Record that measures snowfall between November 1, 1998 and May 12, 1999. Mt. Baker has received 1,124 inches of snowfall in this period, breaking the Paradise at Mt. Rainier record. However, Mt. Baker Ski Area records snowfall records at an elevation of 4,300 feet, while Paradise records snowfall at an elevation of 5,420 feet.
The second record is for snowfall recorded in one winter season. Between November 1, 1998 and April 30, 1999, Mt. Baker Ski Area has received 1,096 inches, besting Paradise at Mt. Ranier’s previous record of 1,038 inches set between November 1971 and April 1972. |