Should I get a winter cover? (heavy snow area)

[NewWorldViking]

I'm a 1st year pool owner and I'm not sure if I should get a winter cover. This forum has provided great advice and I'm looking for it again!

I'm in the Utah high-altitude desert. I'd like the cover for general safety and debris protection but I don't have any children or dogs to worry about. My primary concern is snowfall. I average 80" per winter. It's not at all unusual to have 2-3' on the ground at any given time, possibly more in a high snow year. I'm looking at a black mesh cover to solar melt and drain snow ASAP (the sun does a good job of melting snow on dark surfaces here, even below freezing) but is this still not enough to handle back-to-back-to-back 1-2' snowfalls?

The previous owner only covered the pool with a floating solar cover. When I acquired the house in the spring there was a lot of leaf & pine needle debris in there but the water was still clear with no algae (and almost no FC either). I'd like to avoid that spring clean out but that's better than having a new winter cover ripped by heavy snow and I'm certainly not going to walk on the cover to clear snow off all the time.

What do all of you think I should do? Winter cover, solar cover or just go naked ?

 

[ajw22]

I use a solid Meyco Pool Covers - Everyone Trusts the Original over my pool and spa for the winter for 18 years. I have had 3 to 4 feet of snow on it. It has held up well. I have two sharp 90 degrees corners pointing in towards the pool. The snow weight pushing down on the covers wore holes where those two corners are. I patched them and I now put folded towels under the cover on those sharp corners so they don't wear through.

I think a cover really helps minimize the spring opening cleanup. Your water doesn't have algae problems at opening because the water stays cold between closing and opening.