We started Friday with 1 inch of fluffy snow, saw another 1 inch during the day, then quickly picked up 4 inches around and just after sunset. Those additional 4 inches around sunset were a high-side surprise and should create softer-and-fluffier-than-expected conditions on Saturday morning.

The mid-mountain snow stake (below) is cleared around 400pm so it shows just the 2 inches of snow that fell on Friday night.

Saturday will start cold with on-mountain temperatures around 0°F as the sun rises. Saturday afternoon's temperatures will rise in the teens with sunny skies.

For Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, we'll see dry weather with warmer temperatures that rise into the upper 20s to low 30s. Skies will be mostly sunny on Sunday and Monday and then more high clouds will filter the sunshine on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Starting on Wednesday night or Thursday, a snowy weather pattern will begin. If the forecast works out and with just a little luck, we could see snow nearly every day from Thursday, December 23 through the new year. I have moderate confidence that the first focus of this snowy period could be around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (December 24-25). After that, I have too little confidence in the forecast details to isolate the next times of deeper snow.

If this snowy period comes to fruition, as multiple models have signaled it will, then snow conditions during the final 7-8 days of December should get better each day with a lot more terrain opening, too.

Thanks for reading and please check back each morning for daily updates!

JOEL GRATZ
Meteorologist at OpenSnow.com

Snow conditions as of Saturday morning

New snow mid-mountain:
* 5” (24 hours Friday 500am to Saturday 500am)
* 2” (Overnight Friday 400pm to Saturday 500am)

Last snowfall:
* 6” Thursday Night & Friday (Dec 16-17)

Terrain
* 13 of 21 lifts
* 33 of 166 trails
* Latest update

Snowpack compared to the 30-year average:
* 74%

By the way…

The significant changes to OpenSnow that I've talked about for the last week are now live. If you're an All-Access subscriber (thank you!), you'll see no changes. If you are not an All-Access subscriber, here is an FAQ with more details about the upcoming changes, and we hope that eventually, we'll earn your support. Also, you can watch 2-3 minute videos about these changes made by myself, our Tahoe forecaster BA, and our Utah forecaster Evan. And finally, check out our Utah forecaster Evan's Twitter thread showing exactly how he uses OpenSnow's All-Access features to track powder.