While most of California swelters through a prolonged, extreme heatwave, Mammoth Mountain ski resort in the eastern Sierras announced that it would be extending its season into early August.
“We are stoked to announce that we’re staying open,” the resort, which saw its snowiest season on record this winter, announced on Instagram. Mammoth Mountain had planned to remain open through the end of July and is now planning to close on 6 August. Located along the eastern Sierra Nevada, the resort often stays open into June or July – but this season will be only the third to extend into August in its 69-year operating history.
California’s snowpack has not yet fully melted after a historic year of precipitation, following years of deep drought in the state. Winter storms brought massive amounts of snow, as well as destructive storms.
The thick blankets of snow in the mountains – and the searing summer heatwave that has overtaken the rest of the state – are a sign of the increased weather whiplash wrought by the climate crisis. Devastating droughts and extreme heat, followed by bouts of overwhelming snow and precipitation, will increasingly become the norm, climate scientists say, heightening the risk of floods and straining infrastructure.
As this year’s record snowpack melts, authorities have warned summer travelers to stay away from the frigid, rushing rapids coursing through the state’s Central Valley. Anyone trying to fight the current in many of the state’s rivers this summer may be facing thousands of pounds of resistance. More than two dozen people have died in California rivers since April, according to a list compiled by the San Jose Mercury News.
In its announcement, the Mammoth Mountain resort warned that conditions there could change unexpectedly. “Operations and terrain will be limited, we will continue to update you on what will be open in the final days of the season,” it noted.
Timberline Lodge in Oregon, which often stays open into the summer, is the only other public access ski resort in the US that is still welcoming skiers.
Meanwhile, most of the US is experiencing some form of extreme weather. Much of the southern US has been trapped under a brutal heat dome that has brought weeks of extreme heat to the country’s most populous states. Heavy rains in the north-east have caused flooding, inundating Vermont’s capital city of Montpelier. A tornado in North Carolina this week damaged a critical Pfizer pharmaceutical facility.
