Boise has just received 3% of its average snowfall amid a historic snow drought plaguing the West.
The City of Trees averages 21.6 inches of snowfall per year, according to the National Weather Service, with most snow falling in January and February. Since Nov. 1, 2025, Boise has received 0.7 inches of snow.
“We’ve had a very, what we call a blocky pattern,” said Scott Dorval, Idaho News 6 Chief Meteorologist. “High pressure was dominating the West, and the pattern wouldn’t break. It typically would bring in lots of moisture into Idaho [and] a lot of that was heading up to Alaska.”
Boise is on pace to break the record for the lowest snow season, 1933, when 1.1 inches of snow fell on the valley floor.
“In the November, December timeframe, we had these storms come in, and Brundage Mountain, Tamarack Resort, got a good shot of snow. But that was it. It just turned off after that,” Dorval added.
Amid the record-breaking snow drought, Idaho’s ski resorts are finding unique ways to stay afloat.
Tamarack Resort has seen barely a third of its usual summit snowfall, but supplemented early-season snowfall with snowmaking, the creation of artificial snow using compressed air and water.
“We have been lucky enough to have cold temperatures, especially over the last few weeks,” said Tamarack CEO Kara Finley. “We’ve been able to make plenty of snow, that’s allowed us to be fully open.”
The effects of the dry winter have extended east as well — Pomerelle Ski Resort in Albion averages 500 inches of snow per year. They have seen only 67 inches this season.
Pebble Creek Ski Area in Inkom averages 225 inches of snowfall and has only received around 30 inches this year. This shortage led Pebble Creek to close down the slopes on February 9 and 10 in efforts to conserve snow.
Closer to home, just 20% of the yearly average snowfall has fallen at Bogus Basin and the staff is using alternative methods to keep the slopes in good shape. Like Tamarack, Bogus Basin utilizes snow-making machines. They also benefit from a state-of-the-art snow storage system that allows them to hold surplus snow over the summer.
“We piloted a program last summer to test what it would be like to store snow over the summer, which was a success,” said Austin Smith, director of innovation and marketing at Bogus Basin.
The staff came across the Finnish company, Snow Secure, in early 2025 and purchased a pilot system to test over the summer. The goal of this project was to start small and test its capabilities for future snow storage capacity.
“It’s basically like a cooler,” said Smith. “You pile the snow up and you cover it with foam insulated panels that then protect the cold energy that is inside or under the foam insulated panels.”
Bogus Basin was able to store 13,500 cubic meters of the previous winter’s snow through the summer. That snow has supplemented the slopes this winter and kept conditions better than they would be otherwise.
While the snow levels may be low, visitation is not. Resorts across the state encourage visitors to come test the slopes.
“There’s never a better time than a season like this to get up here and try skiing and snowboarding,” said Smith. “A lot of people think that they want to ride powder, but at the end of the day, most people need a lot of practice.”
“Tamarack, Brundage, we both have 100% of our terrain open,” said Finley. “I definitely would encourage people to get up here.”
As for long-term impacts to Boise, Dorval warned the lack of mountain precipitation could lead to a dangerous fire season.
“The worst case scenario would be a low snow pack and then a very wet spring,” said Dorval. “You’ll have a higher danger in the mountains, because of the low snowpack, and then when you have a wet spring, it grows all the grasses … Come July, everything dries out, and then you can get bigger range land fires too.”
Boise is set to receive higher levels of precipitation over the next week.
