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 | Clear | 0 | 3 to 15 | 15 |
| Tue 10 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 7 to 15 | 11 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Rain | 0 | 6 to 13 | 14 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Drizzle | 0 | 0 to 7 | 12 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Snow showers | 0 | −6 to 0 | 9 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Snow showers | 0 | −7 to 0 | 11 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | −8 to 5 | 8 |
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
Cataloochee Ski Area, in United States, runs from 1,362 m at the base to 1,583 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 1.4 km across, with 17 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 3.6 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 51 cm of snowfall a season, 2,812th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 515th in the United States. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2020/21 (74 cm), brought more than twice as much as the leanest, 2014/15 (32 cm). January is usually the snowiest month, with about 23 cm.
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.
79% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east; plenty of the terrain faces the sun as well, so the lean is modest.
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.
This ski area does not put a camera on its own slopes. What follows are nearby cameras, not the pistes themselves.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
Some cameras here are provided by Windy.com. Footage plays in Windy’s own player; we do not store it. Windy.com
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ober Mountain | 45.0 km | 44 cm | 2853 |
| Sapphire Valley Ski Resort | 49.0 km | 22 cm | 2963 |
The most snow falls in January. March brings 26% of January’s snowfall. That is a steeper fall than the median for ski areas in the United States (85%): the snow here is concentrated early in the season. In amount, March brings 6 cm, less than the median of 30 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 51 cm, and 6 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2014/15 with 32 cm; the biggest was 2020/21 with 74 cm (2.3 times as much). For 33% of the 534 ski areas in the United States the leanest winter was 2015/16; here it was a different one.
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 ↗
Japan vs elsewhere · 5 Sep 2026
Which Famous Ski Resorts Get the Most Snow? 24 Names, MeasuredNiseko is 526th in the world for snowfall. Zermatt is 554th, Jackson Hole 924th, Aspen 1,201st. Measured identically across 3,069 ski areas, the names everyone books and the places it actually snows turn out to be two different lists.
Japan vs elsewhere · 28 Aug 2026
A Black Run in Colorado and a Black Run in Austria Are Not the Same Thing. The Maps Prove It.Japan vs elsewhere · 11 Aug 2026
Niseko vs Whistler