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. Snow report on the official site ↗
| Date | Weather | Snow (cm) | Low / high (°C) | Wind (km/h) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov | Clear | 0 | 1 to 10 | 8 |
| Tue 10 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | 1 to 8 | 14 |
| Wed 11 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | −1 to 8 | 16 |
| Thu 12 Nov | Partly cloudy | 0 | −1 to 11 | 12 |
| Fri 13 Nov | Cloudy | 0 | −2 to 8 | 12 |
| Sat 14 Nov | Snow | 7 | −2 to 5 | 16 |
| Sun 15 Nov | Snow showers | 1 | −8 to 2 | 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
Purgatory Resort, in United States, runs from 2,696 m at the base to 3,291 m at the top. Its mapped area is about 5.3 km across, with 89 marked runs and 14 lifts (about 67 km of piste in all).
Over the last twelve winters the ERA5 weather model gives it 215 cm of snowfall a season, 995th (tied) of 3,069 worldwide and 78th 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 runs and lifts drawn on OpenStreetMap, within the boundary of the ski area. These are not the resort’s own published figures.
88% 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.
Footage remains the copyright of each operator. JAPANSNOWLINE neither stores nor redistributes it.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durango Nordic Center | 3.4 km | 216 cm | 988 |
| Kendall Mountain Recreation Area | 26.0 km | 217 cm | 978 |
| Telluride Ski Area | 32.0 km | 189 cm | 1248 |
| Silverton Mountain | 32.0 km | 200 cm | 1149 |
| Chapman Hill Recreation Area | 38.0 km | 109 cm | 2250 |
The most snow falls in March. March brings as much as January, or more. In amount, March brings 57 cm, more than the median of 30 cm.
Across the 12 winters measured, the average is 215 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 ↗
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