Why U.S. Snowfall Hit Record Lows But Skier Visits Did Not
It's probably not just that we're getting better at counting.
National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) skier visit records stretch back 48 years, to winter 1978-79. This past winter’s 52.9 million skier visits rank 32nd over that nearly half-century (annual rankings in black):
That’s not great, especially following six consecutive top-10 winters (excluding the truncated 2019-20 campaign).
But here is a more alarming data point: nationwide average ski area snowfall crashed to historic lows in winter 2025-26. The NSAA’s snow stats only date to winter 1991-92, but this past season’s 112 inches lands dead last over that 35-year period, a full 11 percentage points below the previous low of 126 inches (annual rankings in black):
Truncating the skier visit timeline to match the snowfall records reveals an interesting nuance: while 2025-26 ranks as the worst snowfall season in at least 35 years, it only clocks in as the sixth-lowest for skier visits:
This past winter’s 52.6 million skier visits would have finished as a pretty average season in the 1990s, even with those winters’ substantially higher snowfall totals: