Why Big Sky Doesn't Sweat a "Super" El Niño Winter

You've seen the headlines: forecasters are calling for a "super" El Niño this winter. But we're not sweating it. Big Sky Resort has spent decades collecting snow data, and it tells a pretty reassuring story.

We're not meteorologists, and nobody can predict exactly what winter will bring three months out. But we can tell you how Big Sky has behaved in winters past, and the answer is: steady.

Big Sky consistently averages about 400 inches of snow a year. According to Snow Safety Assistant Director Chelan Babineau-Z, Big Sky has one of the lowest standard deviations in annual snowfall of any resort in the West.

In plain terms, that means our big years and our lean years both land close to average. We don't get the wild swings that some other mountains do.

According to Big Sky Ski Patrol's weather data (going back 34 seasons, to 1991), the full-season snow totals have varied by only about 16% year to year.

Here's what an average season looks like month by month:

Notice there's no single "make or break" month. The snow keeps showing up consistently all season long.

"Our snowfall here generally trends toward average," Babineau-Z says. "When winters start slow, they tend to make up ground later, especially through the deep-winter months."

There's another piece of the puzzle: Big Sky doesn't rely on big, dramatic dumps to ski well. A few inches overnight, refreshed every couple of days, can completely reset conditions across 5,850 acres of terrain.

So, while the rest of the ski world speculates, we'll be here doing what Big Sky always does: watching the weather, firing up snowmaking, and getting ready to spin the lifts on November 25.