Photo: Big White

Big White Friday afternoon.

While Big White opened with some of the best conditions the resort has ever seen last week, the Okanagan has been pretty dry of late. And little precipitation is expected in the coming days.

The local ski resort opened a week early on Nov. 19 with a 121-centimetre base and 11 cm of new snow. But little snow has fallen since then, just six cm in the past seven days, and the resort's base has since dropped to 100 cm. SilverStar, outside of Vernon, and Sun Peaks, north of Kamloops, has seen similar conditions. 

Meteorologist Doug Lundquist says there's a chance of flurries at higher elevations tonight and again on Monday, but powder hounds shouldn't get their hopes up for any significant accumulation.

“We have a system on the Central Coast that might give us some showers or flurries tonight and early tomorrow, but not a lot. And over the high terrain, only a few flurries at best," Lundquist said. 

“Next week we're setting up into a really strong ridge of high pressure. It's that type of situation where we get low cloud in the valley here, but its sunny over the high ground ... For Big White it will be primarily sun.

“But at least we have a base, so when we get back to snow later in December we at least have some.”

Big White is making the best of the conditions though, with plans to open the terrain park on Saturday.

“With the season's early snow, the TELUS Park crew is starting the first build of the year,” said Flynn Seddon, director of terrain park and outdoor events at Big White. “We're looking to have a killer set up for you this Saturday.”

The resort is also offering two new food trucks on the hill – Kelly O's at the Ridge Day Lodge and Broken Anchor at Black Forest.

Masks that cover the mouth and nose are still required for all skiers and riders at the hill.

At the Valley bottom, from Penticton up to Vernon, temperatures are forecast to be a little higher than seasonal next week as the high-pressure ridge moves in, hitting upwards of 4 C.