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Climate & Environment

California ski season opens this week, but SoCal slopes will have to wait

Chairlifts, lightly dusted in snow, hang on a wire over a white ski slope. Obscured by falling snow in the distance is a line of pine trees.
A view of an empty ski chair lift at Squaw Valley Resort on March 14, 2020, in Olympic Valley.
(
Ezra Shaw
/
Getty Images
)

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Topline:

Mammoth Mountain postponed its opening day to Saturday in anticipation of a winter storm this week that could dump as much as a foot of fresh powder.

Background: Resort officials initially planned to welcome the 72nd winter season Friday but announced Tuesday that the season season is postponed.

How much snow is expected? The peaks in the Eastern Sierra and Mono are likely to see at least a foot of snow above the 9,000-foot level. “There's a pretty decent shot at Mammoth seeing upwards of maybe a foot of snowfall between probably early Thursday morning into Thursday night,” Tyler Salas, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told LAist.

Where can you get tickets? Mount Baldy, Big Bear Mountain and Mountain High are expected to announce their winter season dates in the coming weeks. The resorts already are offering ski lift tickets.

Will SoCal see snow? No, we’ll mostly see heavy rain dropping between 1 to 2 inches across much of L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Some mountain communities could see as much as 4 inches of rain. Here’s a closer look at the upcoming storm.

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