This post was updated at 3:15 p.m. Nov. 14:
Those who operate Bogus Basin ski area say they're now "in wait-and-see" mode. Snow totals have been on the low side of forecasters' predictions for the mountain.
General Manager Alan Moore says the ski hill needs three or four more inches of packable snow in order to open a limited number of runs this weekend.
"At this point, without more snow, we're not opening," Moore said Friday afternoon. "And as of right now it's not snowing."
Forecasters had been predicting up to 20 inches for the mountain, but snowfall so far has been less than half that.
Moore said Thursday that with enough snow, the mountain could be open for a limited amount of skiing and snow boarding as soon as Saturday. Now, he says the chances of opening then are "slim".
"It's impossible to forecast weather," Moore says. "There are just too many variables."
Original post: Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in Boise think Bogus Basin could getas much as 20-inches of snow before the current system moves out of the region Friday. If totals like that materialize, the ski mountain's general manager, Alan Moore, says some runs could open as soon as Saturday.
Moore cautions any opening this early in November would be a limited one. He says the focus would be on getting a few areas of the mountain open for downhill and Nordic skiers, as well as snowboarders. There would be no tubing.
Even a limited opening, though, would be historically early. Moore says in the last 45 years, the earliest Bogus Basin has opened was November 17. Records before 1969 aren't available.
Web camerasshowed only light-dusting of snow at the mountain's base. But forecasters say Bogus could see up to three inches by the end of Thursday, 10 inches overnight, and up to seven inches more Friday.
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