Contrary to popular belief, El Niño is not Spanish for “bad ski
season.” “It just tips the probabilities that way,” said Brad
Colman of the National Weather Service. So, even though
scientists are predicting an El Niño winter, ski resort staffs
and 2010 Olympics planners aren’t panicking. El Niño is a
weather pattern created by the warming of tropical Pacific Ocean
waters. Typically an El Niño winter means warmer and drier
winters in the Northwest. In 2004-05 there was so little snow,
skier visits dropped from 1.9 million the previous year to less
than 500,000 – the worst ski season on record. The El Niño of
2002-03 resulted in a drop from 2.2 million visits to 1.4
million. “We aren’t getting nervous at all,” said Tiana Enger of
Crystal Mountain. “We’ve seen that an El Niño isn’t always a bad
thing.” Enger is right. The 2006-07 El Niño couldn’t keep
Crystal from opening two weeks early, and Whistler Blackcomb got
558 inches of snow, its second-snowiest season. During the
1998-99 El Niño winter, Mount Baker se