Meteorologist Shannon Brady gives insight into where all the mountain snow is this year
Shannon Brady
It has been nearly a week after the expected opening day and Mt. Bachelor and this year is off to a slow start. The current base depth reads at just 2 inches.
Mt. Bachelor had an incredible 2024-2025 season. The resort opened early, on November 15th, which was the earliest open in 26 years. Don’t worry, because the four out of five of the last opening days were “late starts”. Mt. Bachelor shared with KTVZ the opening dates since 2020 and most were in early December.
The Climate Prediction Center forecasts a warm and wet Northwest through at least mid December. unfortunately, that pattern isn’t conducive for those “big dumps” we love to see. Temperatures are pushing 10-15 degrees above season averages into next week. The forecast calls for mostly rain and a wintry mix across the mountains which means totals won’t amount to much. You can expect 0-3″ by the end of the weekend. We will pick up more snow next week but it still looks pretty wet versus wintry.
Courtesy: Climate Prediction Center
Mt. Bachelor also shared with KTVZ average snowfall totals for the months of October through December. As expected, December usually pulls in the most snowfall, with an average of 88″ over the course of the month. The average total snowfall the mountain receives in a season is 410″.
Take a look below at the season snowfall totals for the last 10 years. The 2015-2016 season, the 2016-2017 season, the 2022-2023 season, and last year were all years the mountain received above average snowfall.
We are in a weak La Nina pattern which often provides above average snowfall across the Cascades. Last winter started as a weak La Nina but the event didn’t last long enough to be considered a La Nina winter.
El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a climate pattern defined by departures from normal in sea surface temperatures. La Nina is the cold phase, when sea surface temperature over the tropical Pacific Ocean are cooler than average and usually hint at a wetter and cooler winter in the PNW.
Courtesy: NOAA
There have been 25 La Nina winters since 1951, ten of those have occurred since 2000 but not every one has produced above average snowfall. ENSO Neutral is forecasted most likely in January to March 2026 which leads to pretty typical winter patterns and doesn’t hint at the forecast leaning any specific way.
This winter was forecasted to likely have a good snowpack with La Nina in place, but this season is slow to kick into gear. There is still time, but the region will need a few significant snow events to make up for it. Skiers and snowboarders will have to hold out on that opening day for a little while longer.
Don’t forget to download the Local Alert Weather App to stay connected with our team of meteorologists.
You can get access to LIVE radar and receive urgent weather alerts so you’re always prepared.