Unfortunately, this season is starting with a much lower snowpack compared to average and compared to last season, and the ski area is not yet open. Hopefully, if the next storm comes through, Telluride will open on December 2, 2023.

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

Then we will see snow from Friday through Saturday.

On Thursday night and Friday morning/midday, I expect lighter snow showers.

Then from Friday midday through Friday night, we should see waves of more intense snow hit the mountain. During this time, the wind direction from the south and southwest will not be favorable for a lot of snow, but there will be a lot of moisture and storm energy over the mountain, and these factors can overwhelm the less-than-favorable wind direction and help to create a decent amount of snow.

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.

I think our snow total will be in the 5-9 inch range. We could be on the lower end if we miss some of the more intense showers on Friday night, or we could be at or above the higher end if we get all of the showers on Friday night and see snowfall continue on Saturday.

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 of 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:
* 0” (24 hours Wednesday 500am to Thursday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Wednesday 400pm to Thursday 500am)

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

Last snowfall:
* 6” Saturday Night to Sunday (Nov 18-19)

Terrain
* 1 of 17 lifts
* 0 of 147 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 40%