Snow fanatics are, by nature, superstitious. You hear it sneak into a lot of conversations this time of year as temperatures turn cold and talk turns toward potential opening day. There’s a lot of ‘knocking on wood’ as we voice our hopeful predictions and remind our friends not to ‘jinx it’.

With forecasters predicting up to a foot (yes really) of snow this weekend at the top of Brundage, that talk has reached a fever pitch. But there’s one sign on the mountain that the long-time weather watchers always keep a close eye on…the Western Larch needles.

These beautiful trees have popped into a blaze of color over the past few days, as if grabbing a baton from the waning aspens. But this display of gold and chartreuse serves as another sign: this weekend’s snow is not likely to stick around.

Why do we know this? The Legend of the Larch. The legend was passed to me years ago by a life-long local who’s followed such things closely. And in 15 seasons of watching, it’s so far proven true. The legend: any snow that falls before the larch have lost their needles will not stick around for very long. Definitely not long enough to be part of the ‘base’ we build for ski season.

So while we’ll definitely take this weekend’s snow as a hopeful sign, we’ll be keeping our eyes to the skies for future storms. And especially for the first big storm after these beautiful needles have hit the ground.

• April