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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 10 Nov | Snow showers | 0 | 0 to 6 | 6 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Partly cloudy | 0 | −2 to 9 | 6 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 1 to 10 | 7 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Partly cloudy | 0 | 0 to 10 | 7 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 3 to 9 | 5 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Drizzle | 0 | −2 to 6 | 5 |
| Mon 16 Nov | Drizzle | 0 | −3 to 8 | 7 |
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
Los Penitentes, in Argentina, runs from 2,584 m at the base to 3,210 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 2.8 km across, with 12 marked runs and 5 lifts (about 10 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 300 cm of snowfall a season, 482nd (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 9th in Argentina. It swings a lot from year to year: the biggest winter, 2026 (664 cm), brought more than 4 times as much as the leanest, 2019 (134 cm). Snowfall days average −2.2°C at mid-mountain, and its snow-quality score ranks 2nd of 13 in Argentina.
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.
Only 14% of the vertical on the runs descends to the north or east. The most common direction is south (80%).
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.
The tick marks the median across every Japanese ski area we measure. All four bars run the same way — longer is better.
The quality score leaves out how much snow falls (it uses temperature, frequency, rain and wind).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Puquios | 5.3 km | 314 cm | 430 |
| Ski Portillo | 27.0 km | 326 cm | 378 |
The most snow falls in June. September brings 79% of July’s snowfall. That is a gentler fall than the median for ski areas in Argentina (61%). For skiing, though, the amount matters more than the share: September brings 45 cm, less than the median of 56 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 300 cm, and 7 of them fell short of it. The leanest was 2019 with 134 cm; the biggest was 2026 with 664 cm (5.0 times as much). For 62% of the 13 ski areas in Argentina the leanest winter was 2016; here it was a different one.
Snowfall each winter (June–September 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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