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Snowboarders keen to shred local ski hills may not have to wait that long.
While an atmospheric river brought buckets of rain down at sea level, North Shore mountains have been seeing healthy dumps of snow.
Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver had received 28 centimetres of snow in 12 hours as of Friday while West Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain Resort had received 26 centimetres in a day.
Friday’s warmer weather brought rain to the mountains but temperatures are expected to drop again on Saturday night, followed by heavier precipitation by Sunday, which would bring more snow to local ski resorts.
“The forecast continues to look promising,” said Madelaine Twomey, spokesperson for Grouse Mountain.
Local ski hills are hitting the weather jackpot with a third La Niña season in a row – which generally brings cooler temperatures and more snow to the south coast of B.C.
Both Cypress and Grouse, which have snowmaking equipment, have already fired up their snow guns and are expecting to do that whenever overnight temperatures dip low enough.
Typically, local ski hills open anytime between early November and early December, depending on snow conditions.
Last year, Grouse and Cypress ski hills opened on the weekend of Nov. 19. Typically Mount Seymour, which does not have snowmaking equipment, opens a little later.
Ski hills received their first dusting of snow this year on Oct. 21.
Snow is also a possibility at lower elevations beginning Saturday night into Sunday morning, when the freezing level is expected to drop.
Cooler temperatures could also bring snow to the North Shore later next week, particularly at higher elevations, according to Environment Canada.
