This could hopefully become what the news source states below, a very powerful "El Nino" forecasted for this coming winter. California could receive even more copious amounts of snow than during the last official "El Nino" event we had back in 1997/1998.
To learn more, click here.
See The Weather Channel's story about "Strong El Nino Likely" for this coming fall and early winter. Click Here to read the full story.
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What future impact will increasing temperatures and climate change have on California ski resorts, specifically, Mammoth Mountain? There are a number of different theories and predictions on whether we will see more drought, rain or snow in the years ahead. Nevertheless, the negative impacts that shorter, warmer and/or drier winters could have on California ski resorts might be severe. A report that was published titled “Climate Impacts on the Winter Tourism Economy in the United States” talks about the impacts that the warming trend will have on ski resorts in the future. In California alone, winter tourism has brought up to an estimated 24,000 jobs in past years. By the end of the 21st century, scientists are predicting that the temperatures will rise another 4 to 10 degrees. This will translate into shorter winters, less snowfall and less snowpack. The report mentions that “snow depths could decline in the west by 25 to 100%”. If this is the case, figure that the massive number of jobs that were once substantiated by “normal” winters will be drastically reduced. But, what we are all wondering is what’s in store for the winter enthusiast?
The past few winters in the Sierra Nevada and Mammoth Lakes have been noticeably mild with below normal precipitation and warmer temperatures. This past year felt like “the endless summer”. As the fall season rolled around this year, we saw many weather similarities to last year, which was one of the worst snow years on record. We can only hope that the 2014/2015 season will turn out to be different from the total accumulation...
Mammoth Mountain announced earlier this month that it acquired Big Bear Mountain Resorts for $38 Million. The Mammoth Mountain real estate acquisition includes: Snow Summit, Bear Mountain, the parking lots, golf course and driving range on over 140 acres. With this purchase, Mammoth Mountain announced the creation of the “Cali4nia Pass”, which includes access to all four areas owned by the ski operator: Mammoth Mountain, June Mountain, Snow Summit and Bear Mountain. This multi-mountain structure is similar, but on a much smaller scale, to Vail Resort’s “Epic Pass”, which recently acquired Park City, Utah for $183 Million.
Since Starwood Capital Group LLC purchased Mammoth Mountain ski area in October 2005 for $365 Million, the Mountain has gone through major upgrades including: Several high-speed lifts, renovations and enhanced dining options at Canyon, Main, and McCoy on-mountain stations, and plans to add a permanent lodge to the Eagle Express area – home of the future “Eagle Lodge”.
Back in 2005, Starwood stated that they didn’t have long term plans to own the ski area and operations, and they would most likely sell in seven years. Nine years later, the question becomes, what is Mammoth Mountain really worth? Certainly not $365 Million…. Many were surprised to hear of Mammoth’s acquisition of Big Bear Mountain Resorts...
Typically, this is the time of year when we begin to see an increase (usually pretty significant) in the number of properties hitting the market. Most property owners who contemplate selling will usually wait until after ski season, which is especially true for condo owners. For most complexes, since the bulk of rental income is generated during the months of November through April, once Canyon Lodge and Eagle Express close for the season, traditionally, our inventory increases.
One would think that after the lack of snow Mammoth has seen during the 2011/2012 ski season, there would be a glut of properties hitting the market. However, this has not yet happened. Because we experienced such limited snowfall this past ski season, our skier visits were down substantially compared with the past few years. In turn, our overall ski season tourism numbers were down as well. For those property owners who depend on the stream of rental income that the past few record-breaking snow years have brought, probably have felt the impact of the reduced rental income this year.
However, in answer to the question posed above, the answer appears to be “no”, at least not yet. Our Mammoth Lakes spring real estate inventory continues to be lower than it’s been in previous years, and demand appears to be healthy for attractive and attractively-priced properties.
As of April 29, 2012, there are only 162 active condos and 57 active single-family homes on the market. During this time of year, previous stats have been anywhere from 220 to 290 active condos, and 70 to 95 active homes on the market. Our Mammoth real estate market sales data for year-to-date is as follows: 134 closed transactions 1/1/2012 to 4/29/2012, of which 30 were single-family homes, and 90 were condos. Out of the 30 closed single-family home sales, 5 were REOs (Real Estate Owned – bank foreclosures), 10 were short sales, 1 probate, and the balance of 14 being traditional re-sales. Out of the 90 closed...
