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
Elevation of the ski area’s centre point, taken from a digital elevation model. It is not the base-to-summit range.
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. Snow report on the official site ↗
| Date | Weather | Snow (cm) | Low / high (°C) | Wind (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov | Clear | 0 | 3 to 12 | 14 |
| Tue 10 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 3 to 11 | 16 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 2 to 11 | 16 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Partly cloudy | 0 | 2 to 14 | 12 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 1 to 11 | 12 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Rain | 0 | 0 to 7 | 16 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Snow showers | 1 | −6 to 5 | 10 |
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
Durango Nordic Center is a ski area in United States, at about 2,680 m. Its mapped area is about 2.5 km across.
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 216 cm of snowfall a season, 988th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 75th in the United States. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2022/23 (369 cm), brought more than 3 times as much as the leanest, 2025/26 (101 cm). December brings as much snow as January here (52 and 50 cm on average).
Counted from the marked runs and lifts on the map, within 1.7 km of the centre of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
Source: OpenStreetMap (ODbL 1.0). How finely ski areas are drawn varies by region, so treat the counts as indicative. Difficulty uses the European grades, which do not map onto North American green / blue / black.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purgatory Resort | 3.4 km | 215 cm | 995 |
| Kendall Mountain Recreation Area | 23.0 km | 217 cm | 978 |
| Silverton Mountain | 29.0 km | 200 cm | 1149 |
| Telluride Ski Area | 30.0 km | 189 cm | 1248 |
| Chapman Hill Recreation Area | 40.0 km | 109 cm | 2250 |
The most snow falls in March. March brings as much as January, or more. In amount, March brings 59 cm, more than the median of 30 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 216 cm, and 8 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2025/26 with 101 cm; the biggest was 2022/23 with 369 cm (3.7 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.
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