Snow farmers were rejoicing around Lake Tahoe and Jackson Hole last week as ski resorts piled up their best snow accumulations in years. In the northern Sierras around Lake Tahoe, resorts opened for skiing and riding Nov. 20 in the midst of one of the best pre-Thanksgiving storms in at least six years. A four-day storm subsequently dumped more than 100 inches, or 8 feet, of snow at the eight area ski resorts.


“I’ve been here for twenty years and I’ve never before seen a storm set up like this before Thanksgiving,” said Mike Livak, General Manager of Squaw Valley USA. “With snow totals predicted to total up to six feet at el. 5,500 feet, just imagine what great conditions we’ll have above our base area located at 6,200 feet.”


Squaw Valley was one of 15 of the state’s 25 resorts open by Friday.
In Wyoming, Jackson Hole expected to open Saturday with 129 inches of snow, the deepest ever for opening day. It has snowed six times this month at the resort compared to just once in November 2009.
In Utah, Alta reported a settled snow depth of 63 inches from 118 inches of snowfall – more than double the level a year ago.


In Colorado, early season snow allowed 17 of 26 resorts to open by Friday, according to Colorado.com. Winter Park and Vail got a foot of snow during the week, providing an abundance of acreage for the Thanksgiving weekend.


Less fortunate were the Northwest and the Northeast, where little to no snow fell in late November.