Utah often has skiing weather by Thanksgiving. But this year it’s been closer to shorts weather, thanks to unusually high temperatures that dragged on even into the final week of the month.
“Temperatures have been well above normal,” says Mark Struthwolf, a National Weather Service forecaster. “Looks like we will break a record for the month of November for warm temperatures.”
Unseasonably warm temperatures continued across Utah today. Here's a list of today's records! #utwx pic.twitter.com/oHcNbxwWyK
— NWS Salt Lake City (@NWSSaltLakeCity) November 27, 2017
Struthwolf points out that daily temperature records were expected to topple statewide over the weekend. And, even in the mountains, temperatures have stayed unusually high – too high for the ski resorts to make snow.
Snowbird opened Wednesday, then closed because of the warmth. Three other resorts stuck it out through the weekend, but they weren’t running many chairlifts.
A little rain is forecasted for the week ahead, and temperatures are expected to drop to normal levels, just as three more resorts are scheduled to open. But Struthwolf’s looking out a little farther.
“There is some promise on the horizon,” he says. “That would be this coming weekend, Sunday into Monday.”
That’s when the pattern looks likely to make bigger changes, he says.
More precipitation would be especially welcome. That’s because Salt Lake City’s had less than half of its usual rain and snow since the “water year” began in October.
