Park City Mountain: snow this winter? El Niño 2026-27
Not a forecastNOAA outlook issued Sep 17, 2026. Next update Oct 15, 2026.
Park City Mountain, UT
Ski areaSnowfall below is from a nearby long-term NOAA station, not summit or resort-reported snowfall.
Snow in past strong El Niño winters
Winters with above-normal snow
3 of 6
In 3 of 6 strong El Niño winters, Park City Mountain got above-normal snow (median 106% of normal).
Normal: 72.2 in per season (NOAA 1991–2020 normal).
| Winter | % of normal |
|---|---|
| 1957-58100.0 inPeak ONI 1.69 / RONI 1.89 | 139% |
| 1965-6651.6 inPeak ONI 1.82 / RONI 1.99 | 71% |
| 1972-73No dataPeak ONI 1.84 / RONI 1.97 | — |
| 1982-83Big 3No dataPeak ONI 2.14 / RONI 2.40 | — |
| 1991-9252.5 inPeak ONI 1.54 / RONI 2.12 | 73% |
| 1997-98Big 386.5 inPeak ONI 2.37 / RONI 2.28 | 120% |
| 2009-10126.2 inPeak ONI 1.50 / RONI 1.50 | 175% |
| 2015-16Big 366.1 inPeak ONI 2.59 / RONI 2.25 | 92% |
| 2023-24No dataPeak ONI 1.99 / RONI 1.42 | — |
Snowfall from the nearest long-record NOAA station: WANSHIP DAM (5,940 ft), 17.7 km from the resort. Resort-reported totals may differ.
Past strong El Niño winters are a guide, not a forecast. Every El Niño is different: this one comes with a negative PDO, which NOAA says may dampen typical impacts.
NOAA Dec–Feb outlook
Official- Temperature
- Equal chances
- Precipitation
- Equal chances
Equal chances: NOAA sees no strong tilt toward above- or below-normal precipitation here this winter.
Issued Sep 17, 2026 by NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. Next update Oct 15, 2026.
El Niño now
- NOAA status
- El Niño Advisory
- RONI, JAS 2026
- +1.69 °C
- Chance of very strong (≥ +2.0 °C) in Dec–Feb
- 75%
NOAA status: El Niño Advisory. El Niño is strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter 2026-27. (NOAA CPC, Sep 10, 2026.)
Park City Mountain in short
NOAA's Dec–Feb 2026-27 outlook for Park City Mountain: temperature equal chances; precipitation equal chances.
Among the 6 strong El Niño winters with complete records, the snowiest here was 2009-10 (126.2 in, 175% of normal) and the least snowy was 1965-66 (51.6 in, 71% of normal).
In the “Big Three” El Niño winters it recorded no complete data for 1982-83, 1997-98 (86.5 in, 120% of normal), 2015-16 (66.1 in, 92% of normal).
Not a forecast
This is not a weather forecast. Seasonal outlooks are probabilities from NOAA's Climate Prediction Center; past El Niño winters show what happened, not what will happen. Snowfall is from NOAA station records (ACIS) and may contain gaps or station changes. For forecasts and warnings, use weather.gov. Not affiliated with NOAA/NWS.
About this station
- Station: WANSHIP DAM, ACIS id
429165. - Resort coordinates from Wikipedia (“Park City Mountain Resort”, accessed 2026-10-05).
- Nearest long-record NOAA COOP station: WANSHIP DAM (COOP 429165, 5,940 ft, 17.7 km away; snow record 1955-08-01…2026-08-31).
- This is a nearby long-term station, not summit or resort-reported snowfall.
How we pick stations and count winters: method & sources. Last updated .