This season is starting with a much lower snowpack compared to average and compared to last season, so there are only a handful of lower-mountain trails open at the moment.

Thursday will be dry and mostly cloudy with a high temperature in the 30s.

Then we will see snow from Friday through Saturday.

From Thursday night to Friday morning/midday, I expect just light snow, then from Friday afternoon through Friday night, we should see a few intense waves of snow as the storm moves overhead. And on Saturday, snow showers should linger with a few inches of additional accumulation as the wind direction becomes more favorable yet the moisture decreases.

In total, I'll stick with my 3-6 inch forecast, though we could go a little higher than this range if the intense showers later on Friday deliver more snow than expected, and/or if Saturday's favorable wind direction brings a little more snow than is in the forecast. This new snow should create softer (powdery?) conditions on Saturday, and it could help the mountain operations team open a little more terrain over the weekend and into early next week.

The temperature forecast is looking favorable for the snow cover to stick around and for snowmaking to continue, with high temperatures in the teens during Saturday and Sunday, and high temperatures in the 20s for all of next week.

The longer-range forecast is for dry weather for next week, and then our next chance for a storm could be around next weekend, December 2-3. We need multiple significant storms to deepen our base and open a lot more terrain across the mountain, and while this will not happen by early December, with some luck, perhaps we will see multiple storms and significantly more terrain by mid-December.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Thursday morning

New snow mid-mountain (from the snow stake):
* 0” (24 hours Wednesday 500am to Thursday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Wednesday 400pm to Thursday 500am)

New snow summit (from the snow stake):
* 0” (24 hours Wednesday 500am to Thursday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Wednesday 400pm to Thursday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 6” Saturday Night to Monday Night (Nov 18-20)

Terrain
* 1 of 23 lifts
* 7 of 181 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 48%