It’s all smiles (and powder) in the Pacific Northwest as more snow will accumulate this week. Sunshine Village, in Alberta, Canada, has announced that they will open earlier than expect, starting on November 3. It looks like full-on winter:

To put Sunshine Village’s early-season snowfall in perspective, right now, their base depth is about 192% of average, and their base depth has been above average since early October.

This graph for Sunshine Village can be seen by OpenSnow All-Access users and is available for nearly every ski area in the western US and Canada. We source the data from automated backcountry weather stations and then average nearby stations to interpolate what conditions look like at certain ski areas, snow cat operations, and heli-skiing operations.

Looking ahead, the snow forecast for the next 5 days shows two primary areas of accumulation. Colorado and perhaps northern New Mexico will see snow from Friday through Sunday. This storm will be warm, so only the mountains above 10,000 feet will receive snowfall.

And, as has been the case each week of this early season, the Pacific Northwest will continue to get flakes, with 3-5 feet of snow accumulating from Whistler east through British Columbia.

The weather pattern is going to be in limbo during the second week of November. Most of the US and Canada will experience near-to-above average temperatures and little to no fresh snow. The Pacific Northwest will continue to be the exception as some snow will keep accumulating.

There are signs that this warm weather pattern will change starting around the middle of November, and it’s possible (likely?!) that much colder air pushes into North America starting sometime during the second half of November into early December. Let’s hope this occurs!

Thanks for reading, and look for my next update on Sunday, November 6th!

JOEL GRATZ