Western snow conditions progressed from poor in mid-November to well above average in most regions by mid-December. Snowfall was modest at best from Christmas to mid-January but then picked up again, particularly in the Northwest and Northern Rockies.
Only a few areas post season-to-date snowfall on their websites. At the end of the regional sections, I list selected RSN month-to-date snow totals for other resorts, making educated guesses as to which resorts have supplied complete data for the month.
California: Season snowfall: Mammoth 228 inches (116% of normal), Kirkwood 295 inches (114%), Squaw 244 inches (97%) at upper elevations and 119 at the base. Squaw's KT22 and Heavenly's Mott Canyon opened by December 7. The Sierra had the best holiday conditions with 3-4 feet of new snow. Most of January was dry, but 2-3 feet of new snow late in the month restored the surfaces over a 5-10 foot base. See Current California Ski Conditions for more details on Southern California and Mammoth. Natural snow dependent areas in Arizona and Southern California are not yet open.
RSN December Snow: Northstar 122, Heavenly 117.
RSN January Snow: Alpine Meadows 59, Northstar 44, Heavenly 38.
RSN February Snow: None
Pacific Northwest: The entire region built a deep base with heavy snowfall from late November through mid-December. The Northwest received mostly rain the first week of January, but since then Washington and Oregon have averaged 2 feet new per week, building the base to 6-14 feet and producing several outstanding powder weekends. Whistler received about half as much January snow, but conditions are still excellent with total alpine season snowfall of 252 inches, 104% of normal and a 91-inch base.
RSN December Snow: Mt. Bachelor 149.
RSN January Snow: Mt. Bachelor 106.
RSN February Snow: Mt. Bachelor 14.
Canadian Rockies and Interior B.C.: Big White had the earliest natural snow skiing in North America, opening October 27 with 2 high speed lifts over 20% of the terrain. Sun Peaks and the Okanagan areas have been in full operation since before Christmas and base depths are now 5-8 feet. Red's Granite Mt. and Fernie opened Dec. 7 with better conditions than they had all last season and maintained 6-foot bases through the holidays. In a similar pattern to the Northwest the Kootenay region had rain in early January and snow every week since then. Lake Louise's snowfall is 124 inches (92% of normal) with 3 feet of new snow since mid-month.
RSN December Snow: Fernie 103, Red Mt. 64, Sunshine 42.
RSN January Snow: Fernie 101, Red Mt. 40, Sunshine 61.
RSN February Snow: Fernie 15, Red Mt. 8, Sunshine 7.
U. S. Northern Rockies: Jackson Hole's season snowfall is now 212 inches (98% of normal) with 5 feet of late January snow but just a few inches in the past week. Grand Targhee has a 47-102 inch base. Big Sky and Bridger are in full operation. Schweitzer is in full operation on a 93-135 inch base with recent snow from the Northwest. Sun Valley is in full operation with 117 inches season snow, 100% of normal, but none in the past week. Big Mountain's season snowfall is 233 inches at the peak (119% of normal) and 148 inches at the base, with snow every week since mid-January.
RSN December Snow: Big Sky 33, Bridger 57, Targhee 82, Schweitzer 120.
RSN January Snow: Big Sky 43, Bridger 82, Targhee 85, Schweitzer 84.
RSN February Snow: Big Sky 2, Bridger 9, Targhee 3, Schweitzer 13.
Utah: Alta's snowfall since Nov. 1 is 297 inches (104% of normal) and the base is 6-7 feet throughout the Cottonwood Canyons. The Park City region received about 10 feet of snow in late November/early December, so all 3 areas have been in full operation on 5-foot bases since the second week of December. Snowbasin is also 100% open. The Wasatch was mostly dry from Christmas to mid-January with variable conditions, but is in excellent shape now after a 2-3 foot dump at the end of January. Brian Head missed the big November storms, just reached full operation by New Year's, and remains thin as January storms mostly stayed north.
RSN December Snow: Snowbird 84, Solitude 82, The Canyons 50, Brian Head 45.
RSN January Snow: Snowbird 74, Solitude 62, The Canyons 41, Brian Head 24.
RSN January Snow: None
Northern and Central Colorado: This region experienced its normal pattern of ongoing small snowfalls in January, with gradual opening of advanced terrain. The high snow areas of Vail (197.5 inches snowfall, 97% of normal) and Steamboat (191.5 inches snowfall, 90% of normal) have been in full operation since before Christmas. Winter Park (177.5 inches snow, 87% of normal) is now completely open except for the hard-to-cover Vasquez Cirque. Breckenridge (116 inches snow, 74% of normal) is in full operation and Copper is 95% open. Keystone is 94% open on 76 inches natural snowfall, Loveland is 92% open and A-Basin is 67% open.
RSN December Snow: Copper 60, Loveland 43.
RSN January Snow: Copper 46, Loveland 33.
RSN February Snow: None
Southern and Western Colorado: Wolf Creek's season-to-date snowfall is 170 inches (87% of normal) after a 2-foot storm in late January. Crested Butte's North Face partially opened in mid-January, bringing the area to 80+% operation. Telluride has been close to full operation including the new Prospect Bowl since Christmas and Aspen/Snowmass now report full operation, but a 3-4 foot base there are surely considerable obstacles on the steeper runs. With a similar base Taos is now 90% open with expert runs open on a rotating basis.
RSN December Snow: Telluride 64.
RSN January Snow: Aspen 48, Crested Butte 29, Telluride 21, Taos 43.
RSN February Snow: None
Northeast: A record heat wave closed most areas the first week of December. The weather finally turned cold for the rest of December. For the holidays most areas were only 20-40% open and even at snowmaking leaders about 50-70% of runs were open. Significant natural snow during December was confined to far northern Vermont. Conditions steadily improved through January, with excellent conditions over the MLK weekend. The Northeast then had a January thaw followed by some rain/snow mix, but the major areas remain 80+% open. Maine and Quebec held up the best the last 2 weeks. I strongly recommend checking Scenes of Vermont Ski Page or First Tracks Online Ski Magazine No-Bull Ski Reports for up to date information in this region, where both weather and surface conditions can change so rapidly.
RSN December Snow: Sugarloaf 19, Wildcat 17, Jay 63, Stowe 50, Killington 20, Stratton 17, Tremblant 20, Snowshoe 11.
RSN January Snow: Sugarloaf 41, Jay 86, Stowe 77, Sugarbush 51, Killington 50, Stratton 45, Mt. Tremblant 18.
RSN January Snow: Sugarloaf 8, Jay 9, Stowe 17, Sugarbush 5, Killington 8, Stratton 4, Mt. Tremblant 5.