North America's 26-27 ski season is underway with Colorado's Arapahoe Basin opening at 11am this morning, local time.
After temperatures dropped in the Rockies earlier this week, the centre had been giving increasingly positive statements over the past few days about the amount of snow it had manufactured and yesterday said groomers were now spreading this out on the trails. The resort says its Black Mountain Express and High Noon lifts are operating.
Other Colorado areas that are aiming to open as soon as they can include Loveland, Wolf Creek (which reported 50cm of snowfall from a storm earlier this week) and Keystone. Two other resorts, Breckenridge and Copper, have said they aim to open on 6th November in just over a week's time.
Parts of Colorado are in the 'sweet spot' for being beneficiaries of the current Super El Nino which is forecast to peak in November and December and is expected to bring above average precipitation and below average temperatures to states in the southwestern corner of the US. So far there has not been particularly cold temperatures nor excess precipitation.