A weather-model figure, worked out the same way for every ski area, and lower than what actually falls. Use it to compare ski areas, not against the resort’s own totals. How we measure →
Updated: 10 Nov 2026, 12:15
We do not show a snow depth here. The weather model we use reports snow lying on the ground — it knows nothing about grooming or snowmaking, and it is not the base depth a ski area publishes. In Japan we can check our figures against 234 weather stations. Outside Japan there is nothing to check them against, so we do not print a number we have not verified.
| Date | Weather | Snow (cm) | Low / high (°C) | Wind (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 5 to 11 | 25 |
| Tue 10 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 2 to 13 | 18 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 4 to 11 | 19 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Drizzle | 0 | 4 to 8 | 16 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Snow showers | 2 | 0 to 4 | 19 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Snow showers | 0 | 0 to 2 | 21 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 0 to 5 | 21 |
The five add up to the 100-point Powder Score: more fresh snow, more on the way and colder air all push it up. How we measure
Big Bear Ski Resort, in United States, runs from 214 m at the base to 391 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 1.6 km across, with 17 marked runs and 6 lifts (about 5.3 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 83 cm of snowfall a season, 2,549th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 425th in the United States. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2014/15 (116 cm), brought more than 4 times as much as the leanest, 2015/16 (25 cm). March still brings 20 cm on average, close to January, its snowiest month.
Counted from the runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
99% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. Those slopes get the least sun, so the snow lasts longer.
See past trail maps on Skimap.org ↗
Source: OpenSkiMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Vertical is the difference between the highest and lowest points of the mapped runs and lifts.
Modelled from weather data the same way at all 3,069 ski areas we cover. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Within 50 km in a straight line. Ski areas in the same weather-model cell (about 30 km across) get the same figure.
| Ski area | Distance | Seasonal snowfall | World rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Villa Roma Ski Area | 27.0 km | 91 cm | 2469 |
| The Hideout | 30.0 km | 88 cm | 2500 |
| Skytop’s Ski Hill | 36.0 km | 89 cm | 2492 |
| Pocono Ranch Lands Ski Mountain | 41.0 km | 79 cm | 2595 |
| Saw Creek Estates Ski Area | 44.0 km | 81 cm | 2572 |
The most snow falls in January. March brings 91% of January’s snowfall. That is in line with the median for ski areas in the United States (85%). In amount, March brings 20 cm, less than the median of 30 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 83 cm, and 5 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2015/16 with 25 cm; the biggest was 2014/15 with 116 cm (4.6 times as much).
Snowfall each winter (December–March total). The dashed line is the average; the numbers mark the leanest and the biggest winter.
The weather map, and where it sits among nearby ski areas.
Other booking sites: Booking.com ↗ · Agoda ↗
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