Does Utah really have the ‘greatest snow on Earth’?

Utah for decades has billed itself as having the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”

Tom Korologos, an editor at the Salt Lake Tribune, coined the phrase in a headline for a special ski edition of the newspaper’s Home magazine in December 1960, shortly after Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus passed through town.

“Intermountain folk will tell you that the winds blowing from the west leave the wet, sticky snows in the Sierras. When the storms reach the Intermountain ranges, only the most perfect dry powder is left. That’s just a sprinkling of what you’ll find in the vast, scenic country that is the Intermountain area. And what an area. It’s some 600 miles long and 2.5 miles high. That’s the extent of the Intermountain’s big top which supports this real, true Greatest Snow on Earth,” the article proclaims.

The state trademarked the slogan in 1975. It started showing up on Ski Utah! license plates in 1985 and later the state’s Life Elevated plate.

Ringling Bros. sued Utah for trademark infringement in the late 1990s. But a federal judge found the company failed to prove that consumers were confused by the similar slogans.

So, step right up. Get your tickets to the greatest snow on Earth. Or is it?

Becoming a powderhound

Many skiers and snowboarders live for powder days where the world seems to stop. There’s no better feeling than gliding through a fresh layer of pristine pow. And Utah’s tall and jagged mountain ranges, including the Wasatch, with their long vertical drops and steep slope angles are made for powder lovers. Steep and deep, as they say.

Longtime skier Paula Colman, a regular contributor to Visit Utah and Ski Utah among others, put it this way:

“Shake it! Now, put it down. That’s what skiing a powder day in Utah looks and feels like. It’s akin to being inside a life-size snow globe, one which dampens sound, alters perception and, for a few loose turns, seems to slow velocity and time.”

And as she notes in the piece for Visit Utah, “Every skier and snowboarder eventually becomes a powderhound in Utah!”

OnTheSnow meteorologist and avid skier Evan Thayer can attest to that. To him, when conditions are right, powder skiing is an art form.

“It is beautiful in both its simplicity and grace. Only the subtlest movements are necessary as your skis glide effortlessly through the fluff. The mountain, the snow, and gravity work in concert to give you an exhilarating feeling of flotation — total weightlessness. It’s a feeling so intoxicating — so freeing — that powderhounds such as myself devote their entire lives to experiencing it again and again," he wrote for Visit Utah.

The greatest snow on Earth?

While the Beehive State is renowned for its light, fluffy snow, is it really the greatest snow on Earth?

According to the man who literally wrote the book on powder snow and who Backcountry magazine dubbed the “Professor of Powder,” the answer is a qualified yes.

Jim Steenburgh is a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah, avid skier and author of the book “Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth.” Backcountry calls it “the greatest book (about snow) on Earth.” Steenburgh’s X handle is @professorpowder.

“What I usually tell people is the greatest snow on Earth is in the eye of the beholder. It’s a subjective thing. Science really can’t answer that question,” said Steenburgh, who tracked down the origin of the Utah slogan for his book.

But, he said, Utah ski areas, particularly Little Cottonwood Canyon, have the three ingredients that go into making great powder snow: frequent storms, a soft underlying surface of snow and right-side-up-snowfall, meaning lighter snow sits on top of heavier snow.

“As a skier who’s also a meteorologist, when we look at a place like Little Cottonwood Canyon there are a lot of things that line up to make that a great place for snow,” said Steenburgh, adding that it’s the birthplace of deep powder skiing. “I look at Little Cottonwood as one of the great meccas for powder skiing anywhere in the world.”

Utah’s mountains typically receive more than 500 inches of snow above 8,500 elevation. And the snow climatology in Little and Big Cottonwood canyons favors what he calls “Goldilocks” storms. They aren’t too big and they aren’t too small.

“If you want to have good powder skiing, you want to have storms that produce at least 10 inches of snow because that’s what allows for bottomless skiing,” Steenburgh said. “But you don’t want storms that produce 25 inches frequently because those get to be too problematic for getting the resorts open or skiing in the backcountry.”

Frequent Goldilocks storms produce what are called right-side-up snowfalls. Those storms start out with higher density snow that gets lower density or drier with time making them optimal for ski or snowboard flotation, he said.

Steenburgh said there’s a strong argument to be made about Utah having the greatest snow on earth but all of Utah is not Little Cottonwood Canyon. “The reputation of Utah for powder skiing is based strongly on the Cottonwoods,” he said. The snow outside those canyons, he said, is still really good but there are fewer powder days.

Much is made of Utah’s lake effect snow, primarily as a result of the Great Salt Lake. But Steenburgh said it’s not much of a factor, accounting for about 6% of the total snowfall in the Cottonwoods.

Where else to find deep powder

Also, Utah doesn’t have the driest snow on the planet. Mountains in Montana, Idaho and western Colorado have snow with lower water content.

“We don’t have the driest snow on Earth but that’s a good thing in many ways because the best deep powder skiing is not in the driest snow,” he said. In low density snow, a skier or snowboarder settles to the bottom rather than floating.

Outside of the Cottonwoods, Steenburgh lists the Tetons, interior British Columbia and Hokkaido Island in Japan as outstanding powder skiing locales.

Sukayu Onsen in the Hakkoda Mountains is the snowiest inhabited area in the world with an average annual snowfall of 694 inches. In January, the average snowfall is 181 inches. There is no surer climatological bet for deep powder skiing than northwest Honshu and western Hokkaido in late January, he wrote in his book.

“I call Japan the greatest snow climate on Earth and I say Utah has the greatest snow on Earth. Scientifically, that’s how I get around getting people upset,” he said.

“It’s a great slogan. I think it’s one of the best slogans in the outdoor industry. It definitely has helped the brand for Utah. And I think there’s definitely some truth to it.”

How Utah snow is changing

Steenburgh also notes that Utah snow is changing because of climate change. It’s shifting to high density, which means snowfall is getting a little heavier, he said.

A greater fraction of winter time precipitation falls as rain instead of snow, mainly at lower elevations such as the Salt Lake Valley. It still snows but there are more wintertime rainstorms. Steenburgh said it will creep up in elevation in the coming decades.

Right now, the effect in the upper elevations and north facing slopes is “almost zero,” he said. “But it’s coming. It will come to the mid and upper elevations eventually.”