Ski Utah will give away free "Vote Super El Niño" lawn signs on Friday, Oct. 2, at its Salt Lake City office near Cottonwood Heights.

The signs read "Vote Super El Niño 2026-27. The Greatest Snow on Earth." They are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2749 E. Parleys Way, about a five-minute drive east of Cottonwood Heights along Interstate 215.

"I think people are so over politics," Ski Utah President and CEO Nathan Rafferty told the Deseret News. "We're just trying to provide a little levity and hope."

Ski Utah, the nonprofit that promotes the state's 15 ski and snowboard resorts, burned through 100 signs the weekend before Thursday, Sept. 24, and plans to order several hundred more. Billboards are also part of the campaign.

Last season's snow drought

The 2025-26 season hit Cottonwood Canyon resorts hard. Alta measured 319 inches of snow, well below its 10-year average of 547 inches, according to the Deseret News. Statewide, skier days fell 26.5% to 4.8 million. Skier spending dropped 17.8% to $2.1 billion, according to a Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report released in August.

Brighton, Solitude, Alta and Snowbird all depend on storms funneling up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.

What forecasters say

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) puts the probability of El Niño conditions at 100% through at least the February-to-April 2027 window. NOAA gives a 75% chance that the October-through-December period will produce a historic event exceeding the strength of all previous El Niños on record, according to the Deseret News.

Ski Utah forecaster Evan Thayer wrote on the organization's blog that the Cottonwood Canyons picked up 800 to 900 inches during the 1982-83 El Niño season. That winter was often cited as Utah's snowiest on record until 2022-23.

Still, a strong El Niño does not guarantee deep snow. OpenSnow meteorologist Sam Collentine noted that of the four strongest El Niño episodes on record, two produced above-average western snowpacks and two produced below-average snowpacks. Thayer also noted that El Niño winters in northern Utah historically start slow, with storms picking up from January through spring.

How to get a sign

Signs are free, first come, first served, on Friday, Oct. 2, at Ski Utah's office at 2749 E. Parleys Way in Salt Lake City.