Yosemite Ski Area Opening Delayed, but 50+ Inches of Snow Is In the Forecast

Yosemite National Park’s ski area, Badger Pass, is in for a heck of a week!

Like many other parts of northern California, Badger Pass has seen a slow start to the 2025/26 winter season. Originally, the ski area planned to open fon December 13, however that opening day was pushed back to the 19th, and subsequently the 26th, due to lack of snow. On December 10, the date was pushed back again to January 2, 2026, but with the update that ski patrol training was underway in anticipation of opening day.

While the planned opening on January 2, 2026, currently remains the same, a massive winter storm is headed towards the area. Significant amounts of precipitation have hit Washington and are now moving down to Oregon and eventually, California.

For Bader Pass specifically, the storm is expected to hit warm and in the form of rain for Saturday, December 20 and Sunday, December 21. Temperatures will drop a bit at the start of next week, and a ‘wintry mix’ is forecasted for December 22, 23, and into December 24.

Things should improve by the evening of the 24th, with Snow-to-Liquid-Ratio (SLR) and temperatures dropping a fair amount. Then, between Christmas Day and the end of December 26th, Badger Pass is forecasted to get nearly 30″ of snow. In total, forecasts are calling for 57″ of snow between Christmas Eve and December 27th.

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Badger also recently upgraded their webcams, which now have a wider and more high quality view of the base area. With Badger Pass relying on entirely natural snow, hopefully the upcoming storm gets them to opening day. The ski area was sadly unable to open over the 2024/25 season due to a lack of early season snow.

The Lake Tahoe area is also expecting fairly significant snowfall over the next week, with several resorts hoping to get impressive totals. Notably, between December 24th & 27th, Kirkwood is forecasting 73″, Homewood could get 45″, Palisades Tahoe is looking at 56″, and Sierra-at-Tahoe and Sugarbowl could both see up to 60″ of snow. Hopefully, this next cycle gives California the snow it needs to kick off its ski season.

Related: Is the Ski Season Saved? Massive Snowfall Inbound for California and More