Ski resorts across North America have been celebrating fresh snowfall in the past 24 hours.
The snow – the first significant falls for the best part of a month for many – is particularly welcome at resorts in areas along the Pacific Coast that have had to delay opening due to warm weather and no snow.
Heavenly and Kirkwood in California both announced they would now be opening this weekend, noting that along with fresh snowfall the cold weather had allowed their snowmaking teams to go in to action.
Snow was also reported in major ski states like Colorado and Utah where most areas are open but have so far only been able to open much more limited terrain than usual due to the conditions.
The snowfall has also arrived over on the East Coast where again 4-8 inch totals were reported so far but with the snow continuing to fall.
Back in California Mammoth Mountain, which has managed to stay open since it opened early in October and has the most terrain open in the US, reported one of the bigger falls in the past 24 hours, with nine inches of snowfall so far.
After the dry and warm weather of the past month for much of North America the latter half of December is looking much better with more cold weather and snow-bearing fronts forecast to move across the continent over coming weeks.