From the north to the south, snow is starting to cover Okanagan ski hills.
In the South Okanagan, Apex Mountain Resort had its first significant snowfall of the season, with some sections seeing 7-10 cm (three to four inches).
However, Apex general manager James Shalman said local skiers and snowboarders shouldn’t get too excited yet, as above-zero temperatures are expected in the short term.
“Three or four inches of snow might not stay around for the long term,” Shalman told Global News.
“But another week or two, and any snow that we do get usually stays around for the whole season.”
In the Central Okanagan, webcams at Big White Resort showed a light dusting at lower elevations to five cm (two inches) at higher elevations.
In the North Okanagan, SilverStar Resort also had a varying amount blanket the mountain.
“We had a dusting a week or two ago, but this is the first time this season we’ve seen a good accumulation from the village level right up to the top,” said SilverStar marketing manager Doug Chimuk.
“It’s still good for this time of the year and it’s great to see it carpet the entire mountain, and not just the top.”
Both Shalman and Chimuk said the timing and amount of this week’s snowfall are roughly average.
“Last year, we had 3.5 feet of snow on Sept. 27-28-29. So compared to last year, this is actually late for a significant dump of snow. But the previous year, it was more towards the mid-to-end of October.
“So, it’s always around this time, and, to be perfectly honest, I don’t get too excited until we move to the end of October, when we snow actually staying.”
Said Chimuk: “It’s coming right about when we expect it. We start to see the bigger accumulations start in October; sometimes we’ll it see it as early as late September, but usually early to mid-October is when we start to see the bigger snowfalls.”