Reminder: This season is starting with a much lower snowpack compared to the average and compared to last season, and the ski area is not yet open. Telluride is planning to open on December 2, 2023.

On Thursday night into Friday morning, the storm is still to our west and we have seen only clouds and a few flakes, with no real accumulation at mid-mountain.

On Friday morning, I expect the light snow to continue with minimal accumulation.

From Friday midday through Friday night, waves of 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 moderate or even significant snow totals.

On Saturday, the wind direction will be more favorable, blowing from the west and northwest, yet moisture will be decreasing, and this combination should yield snow showers that deliver a few inches of additional accumulation.

For total snowfall, I will stick with a 5-9 inch range, largely based on my concern that the unfavorable wind direction on Friday afternoon adds uncertainty to the forecast. That said, many of the more recent higher-resolution forecast models show snowfall around the 10-inch mark, so I am cautiously optimistic. Again, we could be on the lower end of the range 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.

Temperatures will be chilly, with 20s on Friday, teens on Saturday and Sunday, and then 20s next week. These cooler temperatures will help keep the natural snow from melting and will allow crews to make snow on most days.

The longer-range forecast is for dry weather from Sunday through Thursday, and then we will have a chance for our next storm sometime in the December 1-3 timeframe. After that, there will likely be additional chances for snow during the first third of December. Our snowpack is unlikely to rise back to average during this time, but we should be going in the right direction, with the mountain hopefully opening on December 2nd.

Thanks for reading!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Friday morning

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

New snow upper-mountain:
* 0” (24 hours Thursday 500am to Friday 500am)
* 0” (Overnight Thursday 400pm to Friday 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:
* 38%