Early season snow conditions in North America are some of the most mixed up and confused they've ever been in autumn.
On the one hand some ski areas have been reporting very high October and/or November snowfall, but on the other resorts have been delaying opening due to lack of adequate cover and planned World Cup races in both Canada and the US have been cancelled. Most recently the FIS announced at the weekend that World Cup racing planned at Beaver Creek has been switched to Val d'Isere.
Yet World Cup racing organised for Killington in Vermont, which has had little natural snowfall, is (currently) to go ahead.
North American media has been struggling to get a grip on what's happening, trying to credit/blame the La Nina weather system.
On balance the conclusion seems to be that things aren't great, especially with the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up this week, and the main ski states of Coloradio and Utah not having had much snow at all.
Good signs:
Mammoth opened with top to bottom skiing and a snowbase of over 1m in early November.
Revelstoke reported 2.4m of autumn snowfall by Oct 31st – double the average.
Whistler to open a day early this week.
Sunshine near Banff had earliest opening in 30 years in early Nov with more than 70cm natural snow base.
Boreal at Lake Tahoe in California reported 35cm of fresh snow in 24 hours up to this morning, pictured above.
Less Good Signs:
High altitude Colorado resorts that normally open late Oct/early Nov postponed opening, with the exception of Arapahoe Basin.
World Cup races cancelled at Lake Louise and Beaver Creek.
Other ski areas across the US that had expected to open last weekend, or for the coming Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend have announced they are having to delay opening due to warm conditions.