During the third week of October a widespread western storm hit many regions of the West with up to 3+ feet of snow. No areas opened to the public from this storm, but the base from it will be helpful if another storm comes fairly soon. The weather models look promising for Nov. 8-10 but that's too far way to have much credibility now. For areas where most of this October snow melts away, I will not count it in season totals later. For a few areas I have base depths and note they are well below the snowfall totals.
California: North Tahoe had some of the most snow, with 37 inches at Squaw Valley which opened a couple of runs for a one-day
private event. Farther south Kirkwood got 24-31 inches and Mammoth 17 inches. Mammoth is making snow on top of that and should have
more runs than usual for its Nov. 8 opening.
Pacific Northwest: Whistler is currently sticking with its scheduled Nov. 22 opening. Mt. Baker reported 10 inches snow
last week and Mt. Bachelor 14 inches.
Canadian Rockies and Interior B.C.: October snow has fallen over most of these areas, topped by Revelstoke's 69 inches, some
of which was in September. The base there is 23 inches. Other snowfall totals in inches: Lake Louise 23 (base 14-18), Sunshine 30
(base 18), Fernie 25 (base 15), Whitewater 13, Red Mt. 14.
U. S. Northern Rockies: There has been at least some snow over most of the region: Targhee 39 inches (base 20), Jackson 26 (base 9-14),
Schweitzer 11, Brundage 21 (base 6).
Utah: The northern areas in Utah got the most snow, 45 inches at Powder Mt. and 36 at Snowbasin. Farther south 16 inches at the Canyons
and 23 at Brighton with a 14 inch base. No snow totals from Alta/Snowbird but the Collins snowplot base depth is only 5 inches.
Northern and Central Colorado: Loveland and A-Basin opened their first snowmaking runs in mid-October,
and have not expanded from there. Loveland has had 10 inches of October snow and Steamboat 14. October natural snow will not be a factor
anywhere in Colorado for the upcoming season.
Southern and Western Colorado: The Gothic Snow Lab between Crested Butte and Aspen (snowier climate than either) had
10 inches in October, less than half its long term average. Wolf Creek's webcam shows bare ground at the base with snow on its upper ridge.
Northeast: Hurricane Sandy was all rain in New England and eastern Canada so Sunday River missed a Halloween opening for the first time
in 5 years. Killington was open 2 days earlier in October but then closed. The snow from Sandy was in the Appalachians, where 2 North Carolina
areas have opened with snowmaking assitance but none in West Virginia where over 2 feet of snow fell.
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