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The pre-season in the Northern Hemisphere, Oct to Nov, has so far been mixed. Some places have lots of snow, while others have none.

Overall, the pre-season has been average to perhaps slightly below-average.

Here is a summary of global snow conditions, from West to East...




Canada: West Canada has excellent snow conditions. Lake Louise is roughly 65% open. East Canada is a little behind, with few resorts open.

USA: The Midwest has had a great early season. Big snow in Oct helped a lot. Alta in Utah is 100% open. Idaho and Washington State have seen huge falls. California, in the West, is still suffering. Mammoth is only 5% open. Conditions in the East remain poor. Killington started late and is just 10% open. Stowe is 5% open. Appalachian in North Carolina is 20% open.

Scotland: A promising early dump looks largely to have melted. Cairngorm Mountain managed to open 2 of 10 lifts today.

Scandinavia: A reasonably good pre-season in Norway, Finland and Sweden this year. Most resorts, such as Are in Sweden, are 5 - 10% open.

Andorra: Very little snow. No major stations open. Worst start for a few years.

Spain: Limited snow. No major resorts open, either in the south or north.

Mediterranean: Resorts in Portugal, Corsica and Cyprus are closed. Unlikely to open much before Jan.

France: Modest pre-season. Coverage perhaps down to 1500m, but depths are thin. Temps have been mostly above-average. Val Thorens opened late. Val d'Isere and Tignes are roughly 5% open. Most others start up in Dec.

Switzerland: Limited coverage. Snowline seems around 1800 - 2000m. Temp are high -- it was 10c in Zermatt (1600m) at midday today. Saas Fee is a creditable 20% open.

Italy: Patchy cover. A few glacier stations running, but little else. Cervinia is about 5% open up top.

Germany: Limited snow. Garmish is 5% open, mostly on the glacier.

Austria: Big snow a few weeks ago has been replaced by high temps. Some coverage is still hanging around down to 1000m. Soelden has the most terrain, with 20% open. Obergurgl is partially open on manmade. St Anton looks like it might be able to run only a handful of lifts next weekend.

CE Europe: Limited snow across Poland, Czech Rep, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Turkey. Temps are high. No major stations are believed to be operating.

North Africa & Middle East: Few stations, in places such as Lebanon and Morocco, are likely to be open much before the end of Dec.

India: The first major snowfalls have only just hit the north of the country. No major resorts known to be operating today.

China: The first major snowfalls have only just hit. Up to 3 feet has been seen in the top half of the country. A handful of resorts, such as Yabuli in the Northeast, should be able to open in the next few days.

South Korea: The season has not yet kicked off. Major stations, such as Yongpyong, are indicating that snow may arrive in the next few days.

Japan: No major resorts appear to be running. Some have delayed opening. Niseko in the north has 10cm in the village and 30cm on top, but not enough to get the lifts fired up.


FORECAST: The 10-day weather forecasts indicate perhaps more of the same. Healthy snowfalls in Midwest North America. Warm in Eastern USA. Above-average temps and modest snow across most of the Alps.

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