The Greatest Snow On Earth and More of It!

Home of the infamous face shot, Utah’s lake effect snow is notorious for its amazing dry quality, containing as little as 4% water. The only thing better than Utah’s snow is the fact that the state receives an average of 500 inches per year! No matter how you carve, groom, rip or shoosh it, Utah has The Greatest Snow on Earth.

The Facts Behind the Claim

Believe us, skiers and riders won’t be thinking about weather and science while they’re shushing through our incredible powder (they might not even remember their names), but the lawyers told us we have to back up our longtime slogan, “Greatest Snow on Earth®” with some facts, so here they are:

It’s called orographics: Winter trade winds push clouds full of moisture east from the Pacific Ocean, across California and Nevada and to Utah. As the clouds move across the desert, the heat bakes out much of their moisture. When the clouds meet Utah’s Rocky Mountains, the remaining moisture rapidly cools and condenses, and precipitation hits our Utah ski resort terrain with a “mother lode” of deep, white powder snow that’s particularly light and dry.

There’s another weather element that feeds Utah’s love affair with the white stuff. TV station News 4 Utah’s Chief Meteorologist Dan Pope says, “We have something that no other ski location in the world has - The Great Salt Lake Effect. Often the Great Salt Lake is much warmer than the bitter cold air following a cold front. The lake releases water into the air that then rises into clouds of snow, producing squalls on its eastern flanks. These squalls contain some of the world’s lightest, fluffiest and driest snow ever produced, and it falls in feet – not inches – on our Wasatch Mountains.” As clouds draw moisture up from the Great Salt Lake, they “recycle” themselves for several days in the surrounding mountains. Utah ski enthusiasts often get a “one-two” (or a “three-four”) punch of powder, causing many local employees to call in sick with the “powder flu.”

For more information on Utah’s 13 mountain resorts and their fabulous snow, contact Ski Utah Director of Communications Jessica Kunzer at 801.433.2016 or jessica@skiutah.com