February 17 early morning

 Doug worked late into the night last night, sending this report at 2am. Many thanks for his dedicated work!

Just a late update. The snow we received late this morning and cooler weather changed the snow and allowed replacing the conventional tracks.  They turned out amazing for the amount of snow we have.  Only a handful of hills showing grass.  I made one pass over the skate track after the snow and it is really looking good.  Should be great skiing for the weekend with the cold weather.

Feb 16 morning grooming

 Thanks to Doug for his work! Here’s his morning report:

I just finished tuning up the skate track. It looks very good and I think it’ll be as good skiing as we’ve had all winter.  I tried to tune up the conventional track, but there was not enough snow and the snow packed under the tracks of the groomer leaving no snow for tracks so I stopped.  I will wait and see if I get more snow to make tracks. Get out and ski while we still have snow.

February 13 morning

 Here’s the latest from Doug:

We’ve lost the snow on two of the bridges - the one over the river and the one coming back over the canal by the shelter on the north end. The bridge on hole # 9  north of the club house is sketchy.  The perimeter track is in pretty good shape.  Conventional track was placed Saturday morning and is in amazing shape for what it has been through, grass showing through on the edge of just a few hills.  The skate track is very good also, just a couple of south facing slope with marginal snow.  It was tuned up Saturday.  If I get time and the temperature stays down I will tune up the clover leaf and perimeter track this evening.  There is no way to get to the cow pasture.

Feb 6, Tuesday morning

 Thanks to Jeff for working on the course last night. Here’s his report:

I rolled all the skate trails twice and also groomed two classic tracks. The skate deck could probably benefit from a couple passes with the Ginzu groomer, but should be skiable as is. There will definitely be some thin and bare patches. 

Feb 5 midday info

 Doug reports:

Grooming depends on predicted rain this afternoon.  I rolled early this morning.  There a few ponds that have almost a foot of water in them and others just enough to make the snow wet.  Both are a problem because they make the roll wet and then the snow sticks to it.  The deep area over by Hole 8-9 is like a lake.  Moved the track up around the perimeter and worked around it .  I am not sure we are ever going to ski much this winter.  If we don’t get rain I think we can make it work, but rain will just make the ponds worse.  

Evening temperatures will determine the next step.

February 5 morning

 Wow - we’re getting dumped on! No news from Doug on any grooming, but it’s supposed to keep snowing all day so it makes sense to wait. Jeff has plans to groom tonight after work if Doug needs the help.

After a couple of weeks of spring-like weather, the new snow is a welcome change. With permission from Lee Warnick, here’s his January Rexburg Weather recap, posted last Thursday:

	Rexburg Weather Group / January 2024 Summary

	Temperature High temperatures: 30.7 / 2.8 degrees above normal Low temperatures: 15.7 / 4.7 degrees above normal Highest wind gust: 50 mph on the 12th Number of windy days: 4     Normal: 3.5 Highest temperature: 47 on the 31st Lowest temperature: -17 on the 13th Daily temp records set: High  7    Low  2       • About two-thirds of January was El Niño-classic mild and dry, while the other one-third was good ol’ Rexburg winter cold and snowy. As far as temps, this ratio meant above-normal but not record-breaking averages for the month. We did bask in one of January’s four warmest-ever days with our 47-degree high yesterday (Jan. 31). It was our mildest January day in 21 years.    • As is often the case, an ultra-mild day ushers in a dramatic change in our weather pattern, but instead of cold and wet, this next spell will stay mild through the storminess, with high temps remaining above freezing.    • We often struggle to rise above freezing in winter, but four times between the 22nd and 28th our low temperature was 32 degrees! Not surprisingly, all of these were daily records for the warmest low temp. Precipitation Precipitation: 0.93 / 90 percent of average Snowfall: 16.8 / 116 percent of average 2023-24 water year precipitation (4 of 12 months): 3.69 / 89 percent of average 2023-24 season snowfall: 28.4  / 71 percent of normal Thunderstorm days: 0     Fog days: 23 Daily precip records set: Precip  1    Snow  1        • More than half of the snow we’ve received so far this season fell over just two weeks — Jan. 4-17 — about 16 inches.  Other than this very snowy spell, January’s precip came as rain or in a wet rain-snow mix.    • Going into January, we still were in contention for one of our least snowy seasons on record. Now it looks like we’re bound for a solidly below average total instead of a Top 5 or Top 10 least snowy kind of winter.    • If the sun of the past few days has seemed unusual, you’re right. January had 18 cloudy days, the most in the three years I’ve been tracking average daily cloud cover.       • Our 71 percent of normal snowfall so far this season is quite close to the high country snowpack totals, which currently average in the lows 70s in our corner of the state. The only exceptions are Birch/Medicine Lodge/Beaver/Camas (53%) and Willow/Blackfoot/Portneuf (112%).  This next week should bump those snowpack percentages upward.