Jessica Peterson
It’s the last month of 2022 and the race is on to see how many ski days we can get in before the new year. After seeing significant snowfall across most of the West earlier this week, we’re pleased to share the forecasts that should be bringing more powder to ski resorts through the weekend.
Thursday, Dec. 1 had high winds with top-ridge gusts gaining up to 70 mph for Colorado, according to OpenSnow. These winds were a bit of a precursor to Friday’s weather, where predictions for a stormy day with serious snow have held up. As of 6 a.m. Crested Butte had the highest total for new snow with 3” since it largely benefited from the wind coming from a west and southwest direction.
Over the next three days, Snow-Forecast.com is projecting these Colorado resorts will see the most snowfall with an estimated 7.9” at Steamboat, 8.3” at Crested Butte and a whopping 19.7” at Breckenridge.
In California, Mammoth Mountain saw 23” at their Main Lodge base area and 30” at the summit per the Open Snow report. They’ll also be seeing another storm come in from Saturday to Monday with strong winds and low temperatures. Meteorologist Mike Korotkin predicts an additional 15-20” at the Main Lodge and 22-28” at the summit. Snow-Forecast.com backs this prediction with a projected 22” at Mammoth over the next three days.
Idaho is the other state out west whose snow totals for the week we’ll shout out. A heavy storm that lasted from Tuesday to Thursday added 1-3’ of snow to the base levels of Schweitzer and Sun Valley. The cold temps continue with their next storm to move through on Sunday bringing a projected 3-7” for Central and SW Idaho. After the weekend is when resorts will see more accumulation, with projections over the next 3-6 days being 6.3” for Silver Mountain, 4.7” on Lookout Pass and 3.1” on Bald Mountain.
Whenever you do make it to the slopes, tag us on Facebook or Instagram with #ToTheMountains for a chance to be featured in an upcoming Friday Freshies post. Hope everyone has a happy weekend filled with pow and short lift lines!
