There is no new snow to report and the forecast for the rest of the week is mostly dry and sunny, so let’s get to some fun pictures.

A reader sent me this photo of Winter Park, taken from a commercial airliner.

If my wife or friends are flying over the mountains, I enjoy when they send me untagged photos of ski areas and I have to guess the name of the mountain.

Now over to Copper, where they are getting ready to open on Friday, November 8th. The image below is a still frame from a short video that they posted to Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/B4bCkcuF8DG/).

And a little to the south at Snowmass, there is powder to enjoy if you want to earn your turns! This photo was also posted on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/p/B4djTfjlteA/). Nice shot GR and Jeremy!

If you enjoy lift-accessed skiing, below is the current status across the state.

Open Every Day:
* Arapahoe Basin
* Eldora
* Keystone
* Loveland
* Winter Park

Upcoming Openings
* Breckenridge (starting Fri, Nov 8 and every day after)
* Copper (starting Fri, Nov 8 and every day after)
* Monarch (re-opening Fri, Nov 8 – Sun, Nov 10)
* Wolf Creek (re-opening Sat, Nov 9 – Sun, Nov 10)

Weatherwise, I don’t have much to share. Temperatures will be in the 30s for highs and lower 20s for lows and there should be no precipitation for most mountains this week. These temperatures are cold enough for snowmaking to continue at night.

The only action will be a weak system that may provide a few flakes around Wolf Creek and in the northeastern mountains on Wednesday night into Thursday, though again, it’ll likely be just a few flakes if that.

For the next seven days, the multi-model forecast from the University of Utah shows very little snow for Vail Pass in the northern mountains.

You’ll notice a little glimmer of hope around Sunday to Monday, November 10-11. A storm will just miss Colorado as it stays to our northeast, though if we’re lucky, maybe the northern mountains will see a little bit of accumulating snow, and temperatures should drop by a few degrees on Monday.

Otherwise, we were hoping for a system around November 14th but the latest models have backed off that scenario. There’s always a chance that a storm edges into Colorado while the storm track is just northeast of the state, but overall, I would expect mostly dry weather for the first 2-3 weeks of November.

I am cautiously optimistic that the end of November and early December will swing back toward more active weather, and I say that because patterns can change after a few weeks, and the longer-range models also hint at some sort of change. But accuracy in 10+ day forecasts is quite low, even in terms of generalizes forecasts like "colder or warmer than average", so in reality, we just don’t know.

For perspective, the multiple feet of snow we had in October was wonderful, some mountains are open, more will be open soon, and if we can get a few storms in late November into early December, terrain options will quickly expand. So don’t worry too much about 2-3 weeks of dry weather in early November.

And finally, I’ll repeat: Neither a snowy October or a dry early-mid November can tell us anything about snowfall during the next five months of the season. We'll take each storm as it comes and enjoy the ride.

Thanks for reading!

My next update will be on Wednesday morning.

JOEL GRATZ

PS – See below for seven upcoming talks over the next six weeks. Hope to see you there!

Upcoming talks

These talks are usually 45 minutes and allow me to show a little of the science behind snow forecasting, have some fun, and answer lots of questions. I’ll post details about each talk as they are available.

* Frisco: Nov 8 @ Highside Brewery
600-700pm: Happy Hour
700-800pm: Presentation
More details

* Nederland: Nov 12 @ Salto Coffee / Tin Shed Sports
* Denver: Nov 14 @ Denver Athletic Club
* Wheat Ridge: Nov 19 @ Downriver Equipment
* Evergreen: Nov 21 @ Boone Mountain Sports
* Breckenridge: Dec 6 @ Colorado Mountain College Breckenridge
* Basalt: Dec 12 @ Bristlecone Mountain Sports

Geography Key

Northern Mountains
Steamboat, Granby, Beaver Creek, Vail, Ski Cooper, Copper, Breckenridge, Keystone, Loveland, Abasin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass, Eldora, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Along the Divide
Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass

East of the Divide
Eldora, Echo, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Central Mountains
Aspen, Sunlight, Monarch, Crested Butte, Irwin, Powderhorn

Southern Mountains
Telluride, Silverton – north side of the southern mountains | Purgatory, Wolf Creek – south side of the southern mountains

Along the Divide
Loveland, Arapahoe Basin, Winter Park, Berthoud Pass

East of the Divide
Eldora, Echo, Rocky Mountain National Park, Cameron Pass

Central Mountains
Aspen, Sunlight, Monarch, Crested Butte, Irwin, Powderhorn

Southern Mountains
Telluride, Silverton – north side of the southern mountains | Purgatory, Wolf Creek – south side of the southern mountains