How long will the snow last? And when can we go skiing?
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IDAHO FALLS — As parts of eastern Idaho witness the first snowfall of the year, the question on everyone’s minds is, will it last? How much will we see? And when will I get to use my new ski poles?
Unfortunately for the snow lovers, it looks like Tuesday might be the only day we see an ample amount of new flurries.
Greg Kaiser, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pocatello, says most of eastern Idaho will see up to two inches as we approach Wednesday night, but the likelihood of it reaching more than that is unlikely.
“That’s probably the highest you’re going to see,” Kaiser says. “Friday into the weekend, it’s going to probably get too warm, so it will generally be mostly rain at lower elevations or too warm to accumulate much.”
Places like Rexburg and Pocatello could see snow on Tuesday night, and potentially on Friday, but as temperatures rise into the high 30s and low 40s, it’s not expected to stick around for long.
“Later on, it’s just going to be mountains that see the snow into the weekends,” Kaiser says.
As for whether we can expect to see a white Christmas leading into the holiday season, Kaiser says it’s too soon to tell.
“It’s hard to predict exactly as we go through the month,” Kaiser says. “It looks like we’re going to head into a pretty warm period.”
Many local ski areas are seeing the effects of this warm period, with places like Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Jackson, Wyoming, being forced to delay their opening day from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4 for the ski and snowboard season.
“Jackson Hole Mountain Resort will delay the opening of the 2025-26 winter season, due to unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of snowfall,” says a Facebook post from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. “We have received 26 inches of snow mid-mountain through November, and warm conditions have affected snowmaking efforts, resulting in insufficient coverage to open terrain.”
Grand Targhee Resort in Alta, Wyoming, also had to delay its season opening until Dec. 5, citing the need to use snow guns due to unseasonably warm winter weather.
“Targhee’s motto used to be ‘snow from heaven, not hoses.’ We retired that tagline after we installed a few snow guns, but we are still largely reliant on Mother Nature to open up the resort,” says a Facebook post from Grand Targhee Resort. “We are going to delay the opening until it is cold enough to blow snow or we get enough precipitation to open up the resort safely.”
Click here for more information about winter weather from the National Weather Service.
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