Western snow conditions progressed from poor in mid-November to well above average in most regions by mid-December. Since then strong high-pressure systems have blocked out big storms from most of the West, so by mid-January most regions are back near average or below.
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 202 inches (139% of normal), Kirkwood 266 inches (141%), Squaw 211 inches (115%) at upper elevations and 99 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. Since New Year's it has been warm with occasional low elevation drizzle. The base remains a deep 4-9 feet, but with spring and variable surfaces below 9,000 feet. 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 11, Northstar 10, Heavenly 6.
Pacific Northwest: The Northwest received mostly rain the first week of January. Surfaces over the 4-10 foot base improved with a foot of new snow last weekend. Whistler's alpine snowfall total is now 207 inches, 110% of normal.
RSN December Snow: Mt. Bachelor 149.
RSN January Snow: Mt. Bachelor 8.
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 on 4-7 foot bases since before Christmas. 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. Like the Northwest the Kootenay region had first rain and then a foot of new snow in January. Lake Louise's snowfall is 93 inches (87% of normal). Recent new snow has improved the surface at the Banff areas after a dry holiday season.
RSN December Snow: Fernie 103, Red Mt. 64, Sunshine 42.
RSN January Snow: Fernie 24, Red Mt. 17, Sunshine 23.
U. S. Northern Rockies: Jackson Hole's season snowfall is now 154 inches (87% of normal) and it has been in 100% operation (including the Hobacks) since Dec. 19. Grand Targhee has a 30-80 inch base. Big Sky and Bridger are in full operation. Schweitzer is in full operation on a 53-97 inch base with recent rain from the Northwest and Sun Valley is in full operation with 97 inches season snow, 110% of normal. Big Mountain's season snowfall is 143 inches at the peak (95% of normal) and 80 inches at the base, also in full operation.
RSN December Snow: Big Sky 33, Bridger 57, Targhee 82, Schweitzer 120
RSN January Snow: Big Sky 12, Bridger 16, Targhee 15, Schweitzer 10
Utah: Alta's snowfall since Nov. 1 is 235 inches (107% of normal) and the base is 64 inches. All 4 Cottonwood areas remain in excellent shape. 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. Utah received only a foot of snow since Christmas, so there are some spring conditions at low elevation or in sunny exposures. Brian Head missed the big November storms and thus just reached full operation by New Year's.
RSN December Snow: Snowbird 84, Solitude 82, The Canyons 50, Brian Head 45.
RSN January Snow: Snowbird 8, Solitude 4, The Canyons 3, Brian Head 3.
Northern and Central Colorado: This region is experiencing its normal pattern of ongoing small snowfalls, with gradual opening of more terrain in January. Vail (158 inches snowfall, 100% of normal and Steamboat (137 inches snowfall, 84% of normal) are in full operation. Winter Park (147 inches snow, 93% of normal) is mostly open except for the hard-to-cover Vasquez Cirque. Breckenridge (91.5 inches snow, 76% of normal) is 95% open and Copper is 73%open. Keystone is 88% open on 65 inches natural snow, Loveland is 91% open and A-Basin is 44% open.
RSN December Snow: Copper 60, Loveland 43.
RSN January Snow: Copper 30, Loveland 25.
Southern and Western Colorado: Wolf Creek's season-to-date snowfall is 128 inches (86% of normal) with only few inches since Christmas. Telluride is close to full operation including the new Prospect Bowl on 31-35 inches. That base depth lends credence to a recent report of numerous obstacles at nearby Durango. Elsewhere expert terrain remains limited. Thus since December 15 Crested Butte has been 50% open (but no North Face) and Taos is 49% open. Aspen/Snowmass is about 3/4 open with mostly intermediate terrain. There have been a few small storms in January.
RSN December Snow: Telluride 64.
RSN January Snow: Aspen 18, Crested Butte 17, Telluride 3, Taos 18.
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. A few decent January storms plus ongoing cold weather have brought major Vermont areas to 90% operation. 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 18, Jay 45, Stowe 34, Sugarbush 27, Killington 29, Stratton 29, Mt. St. Anne 4, Mt. Tremblant 12.