El Niño Outlook · Winter 2026-27
Snowmass El Niño rank & forecast
Snowmass ranks #226 of 488 SnowSure resorts — Tier C, −1% in strong El Niño winters.
Tier C — ENSO-proof: Strong El Niño winters looked like a normal year here — within about ±3% of this resort’s own 30-year snowfall average. Not a jackpot, not a bust: a hedge if you’re planning around El Niño.
Strong-event signal: −1% vs this resort's 30-yr avg
In the three strongest El Niño winters on record ('97-98, '15-16, '23-24), Snowmass averaged -1% versus its own 30-year snowfall baseline — effectively ENSO-proof. Snowmass has held within a few percent of normal across every phase of the Pacific cycle, making it one of the safest bets of a record El Niño winter 2026-27. Analog winters: '97-98 +1%, '15-16 -1%, '23-24 -2%.
