Record high temperatures push back Great Bear’s opening date – Argus Leader
Record-high temperatures in December are great news if you’re looking for one last chance to grill out on the patio or head to a park to relax.
If you’re looking to ski or snowboard at Great Bear Ski Valley? Not so much.
“This is 2020 in a nutshell,” laughed General Manager Dan Grider as he discussed how warmer weather has slowed down the park’s opening.
To start making artificial snow, temperatures need to be below 20 degrees. The colder it is, the more they can make. An ideal situation is to have daytime temperatures in the low 20s that fall to single digits overnight, Grider said.
While they’ve had chances to make snow occasionally throughout the last month, it hasn’t been enough to open the park, which is usually up and running by the second week of December.
Director of Communications Alexa Giebink said the park wants about 18 inches of snow to open up, which with “around the clock snowmaking with perfect conditions” would take about four days as of Dec. 23.
Even as a cold front and several inches of snow fall throughout the city, Giebink says they’re still working to get more snow made, and said by Friday they should know more about when they might be able to open.
