NorthwestJanuary 26, 1996

Seven feet in seven days.

At Ski Bluewood, the ski season that was reluctant to begin has developed an attitude. A can-do attitude, that is.

The storm that's dumped an average of a foot of snow daily for the past week on Bluewood also has brought good tidings for those who look to the backcountry for spring and summer water supplies.

Five feet of snow or more has piled up during the past week across the Clearwater River country.

But Bluewood stands out still as the storm lays down the white stuff.

Last year was a ski season remarkable for its early start and prime conditions. Bluewood, which got its latest start in history with a Jan. 20 opener, now has powder galore.

Last year on Jan. 25, Bluewood had 83 inches at the top of its runs and 52 inches at the base. Thursday, the snowpack pushed past the centennial mark with 102 inches at the top and 73 at the lodge.

Searching the past decade's records at Bluewood, administrative assistant Lauri McKinley found nothing even vaguely similar to the past week. "There is nothing that compares. This is a record-breaking snowfall, in other words."

Phil Morrisey of the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Survey at Boise said the storm's largesse has been nearly as dramatic across the Clearwater country.

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The snowpack, which lagged at 89 percent of average Jan. 18, jumped to 99 percent by Thursday.

At an automated measuring station at Elk Butte, Morrisey said, 5.3 inches of water fell during the week. "Normally, the rule of thumb is 1 to 10 1 inch of snow water is equal to 10 inches of snow."

When the snow is dry, like the light powder at Bluewood and elsewhere, the ratio can be 1 inch of water per foot, maybe even 14 inches, of snow.

At Hemlock Butte near Elk River, 5.7 inches of water at the SnoTel site may represent more than 6 1/2 feet of fresh snow.

Elsewhere in the state, the Salmon River drainage zoomed from 103 percent of normal to 111 percent. The upper Snake River drainage upstream from Palisades Reservoir ranked as king of the snowy hills with a snowpack 132 percent of normal.

The Idaho Panhandle, which includes the St. Joe, Pend Oreille and Priest River drainages, hadn't caught the brunt of the storm, weighing in with a snowpack only 76 percent of normal.

The last memorable storm to dump so much water on Idaho, Morrisey said, was in February 1986 when the Boise River basin got hit. Nearly twice as much snow fell before that 10-day storm was over.

That storm followed the classic mold of a "Pineapple Express." Warm, wet winds from the mid-Pacific Ocean funneled moisture from as far west as Hawaii toward the Rockies. Cold air from the Gulf of Alaska intercepted the winds over Idaho and a storm was born.

Morrisey said a similar weather pattern may be responsible for the storm over north central Idaho and southeastern Washington.

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