After a snowy Christmas Eve forecast ended up being a bust, powder is on its way to Utah’s mountains.
As of Friday afternoon, all but three of Utah’s ski resorts were welcoming visitors, and those that were open were quickly bringing more terrain on line as fresh snow began to blanket the mountains, offering a break from the unseasonably warm weather that hit the state this holiday season.
Snow was expected to hit the western Uintas and Utah’s southern mountains on Christmas Eve. At ski resorts near Salt Lake City, anywhere from a dusting to a foot was expected.
That didn’t happen, though. Most locations instead saw rain, according to meteorologist Sam Webber with the National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office.
Webber said the holiday storm brought rain to unusually high elevations — up to 9,500 to 10,000 feet — with only limited snow. Those conditions, he said, are “exceptional” for this time of year.
Still, Webber said a new storm system expected Friday through Sunday morning, coupled with temperatures dropping into the low 30s, could bring some relief to Utah’s 15 ski resorts after winter’s warm start.
“That’s going to bring us another shot of mountain snow, this time coming in a lot heavier, a lot colder,” Webber said. “This event, our snow levels are starting right around 6,500 feet, so, much lower elevation that’s going to allow snowfall, really across most elevations in the mountains.”
Webber said mountains across Utah are expected to receive 6 to 12 inches of snow over the weekend, with heavier totals of 20 inches to 2 feet possible in the higher elevations of the Cottonwood Canyons and the northern Bear River Mountains.
Alison Palmintere, spokesperson for Ski Utah, said resorts are waiting for the right temperatures to make lasting snow and open more terrain, with safety remaining the top priority.
“It’s definitely a slightly more disappointing start to the season than we would have hoped,” Palmintere said, “but we’re at the whim of Mother Nature, and the snow will come eventually.”
Three ski resorts — Beaver Mountain and Cherry Peak in Cache County and Nordic Valley near Ogden — have yet to open.
All three said despite the snow in the forecast, they do not have any expected opening dates.
Cherry Peak officials said the resort is at the mercy of “Mother Nature,” while Nordic Valley officials noted that although temperatures are dropping over the weekend, warmer weather is expected next week, and the resort is waiting until it can make snow that will last.
In a Tuesday Facebook post, Beaver Mountain said it is “doing everything possible to baby this meager snowpack to allow us to start spinning lifts as soon as possible.”
The resort added that it remains optimistic about the season despite a delayed start.
“We have been blessed through the years with very consistent snowfall at our location and that will continue,” the popular family-friendly ski destination wrote. “Some of the later openings we have experienced transformed into super good years. It will get better.”
Reached by phone Friday, a Beaver Mountain representative said the weekend forecast had not changed the resort’s opening plans.
Here’s which resorts are open and how many runs are available:
• Alta Ski Area: 58 of 118.
• Brighton Resort: 25 of 76.
• Brian Head Ski Resort: 20 of 72.
• Deer Valley Resort: 24 of 202.
• Eagle Point Resort: 5 of 43.
• Park City Mountain: 12 of 348.
• Powder Mountain: 4 of 172.
• Snowbasin Resort: 9 of 115.
• Snowbird: 18 of 149.
• Solitude Mountain Resort: 7 of 82.
• Sundance Mountain Resort: 1 of 45.
• Woodward Park City: 6 of 14.