home of the Pure Awesomeness Factor Better Data, Better Skiing

← All resorts

Whitewater — Rain Susceptibility

Based on 1986-87 through 2025-26 (40 ski seasons) of historical ERA5-Land weather data.

Score version: RSS_V5_PERCENTILE_COMPOSITE_DEC1_APR15_1986_2026 · calculated Sep 27, 2026 · dataset: reanalysis-era5-land-timeseries

Whitewater
Rain Susceptibility Score
(0=low, 100=high)
42
Rain Resilience Score 58
Overall Confidence GOOD
Percentile: future rain (+2°C)36.5
Percentile: conversion exposure (+2°C)47.5
Percentile: significant rain days (+2°C)46.1
ERA5 grid location49.4, -117.1 — grid elevation 1748 m
Ski-season precip climatology433 mm/season across 980 precip hours/season

Observed history: 1986-87 to 2025-26

Not a stress test — this is the actual real weather record, at the same elevations, with no synthetic warming applied. Compare its size to the hypothetical +1/+2/+3°C scenarios below to see how much warming has already happened vs. how much more the stress tests represent.

Each point is one real ski season's precip-weighted rain fraction — not smoothed or averaged, so year-to-year variability (a wet La Niña year, a dry cycle, etc.) is visible directly rather than hidden inside a multi-year average.

Whitewater
1986-87 to 2005-06 (first half avg.)5.83%
2006-07 to 2025-26 (second half avg.)6.24%
Observed change (half-vs-half average)+0.42% points

Rain fraction by elevation band and warming scenario

Precipitation-weighted share of ski-season precipitation estimated to fall as rain, not snow.

Band Elevation vs. grid elev. Confidence Current +1°C +2°C +3°C
Base 1379 m -370 m GOOD 10.9% 19.7% 30.7% 42.4%
Mid 1690 m -58 m GOOD 3.7% 8.2% 15.9% 26.2%
Summit 2002 m 253 m GOOD 0.9% 2.2% 5.2% 10.8%

Rain fraction vs. warming, by elevation band

Underlying conditions during precipitation (geeky detail)

Precip-weighted distribution of wet-bulb temperature, dry-bulb temperature, and relative humidity during ski-season precipitation hours -- the actual data behind the rain fraction above, plus the phase curve applied to it. Not used in scoring; here purely for transparency.

Wet-bulb temperature (with phase curve overlaid)

Dry-bulb temperature

Relative humidity