This Year, Ski Season Will Come with a Whimper, Not a Bang

Over the past few days I've been looking at the medium range ensembles and, although I don't see a storm in the next week to get excited about, there is a series of modest events that should slowly but surely add to our non-existent to meager snowpack.  We start with last night's precipitation (upper-elevation snow only), see a bit more today and tonight (with lower snow levels), and continue with a couple more storms over the next week.

Source: weather.utah.edu

Water and snowfall totals presently being advertised by the models for the next week are not game changers, except perhaps for the wettest, snowiest ensemble members.  Looking beyond the 1-week period presented above, there's hope of continued activity, but I don't like to talk about details in such long-range forecasts.  

Thus, it looks like this ski season will come in with a whimper, not a bang.  We'll get a little here and there.  Resorts may open a trail or two with snowmaking during the Thanksgiving weekend (no promises as we don't have snowguns in our models).  Backcountry skiers will be teased, not satiated.  It is what it is.