Update on skiing in New England

Mid-November is typically the time of year when ski areas in New England begin to open. Not so much this year. 

Killington, typically the first ski resort in New England to open each year, was slated to open tomorrow, November 14th, but it had to delay its opening due to a severe lack of snow. After some minimal snow coated the mountains of New England last week, temperatures sky-rocketed over the weekend and into the start of this week, halting any efforts for ski areas to open. Here's a look at what the slopes are looking like right now:

(Stowe)

(Erik Osterland/Jay Peak)

  

(Stratton)

Put simply, things are looking bleak for skiing in Vermont and New England. At this time in a typical year, several ski areas would have already opened, but we essentially have no snow at the moment. When could things change? Things look decent for a pattern change within the next 10 days. Here's the CPC 6-10 day temperature outlook:

(NOAA/CPC)

The CPC is indicating a >50% chance of below normal temperatures during the period from November 10 to November 23. Hopefully this will verify and ski areas will be able to fire up the snow guns. But for now, with the new rise in COVID-19, it may be for the better to not have the ski areas open, as it'll prevent people from congregating together. We shall see.