Rogues night out.

Rogues night out.

The the winter season at Killington unofficially kicked off Saturday night with the 46th annual Wobbly Barn Halloween party. The Wobbly Barn was filled to capacity with revelers listening to Joey Leone and the Chop Shop belt out an eclectic mix of favorites from the last 40 years of rock and roll.

While the winter season has unofficially started, we are still waiting for winter to make an extended appearance so the ski season at Killington can begin. The cold weather that signaled the end of the fall season gave way to some warmer weather this last week. While temperatures were a far cry lower than a full fledged Indian Summer, they were not suitable for the resort to make the snow that they desperately need to offer top to bottom skiing. Of course the warm weather has made it easier to complete outside tasks...but the time is now to "get this party started".

Weather forecasts for the coming week are a shoppers paradise. Pick your favorite weather report and run with it. Todays forecasts from Accuweather and Weather.com paint a bleak picture for snow making conditions thru this week. If you were to rely on these forecasts, we may see some snow making during some of the nights, but it will be problematical during many of the days this week. Next week looks decidedly better...but can you believe a forecast out 10 days when tomorrow is usually a question mark?

A little known weather site that I like to follow, snow-forecast.com, is much more optimistic about weather possibilities for the coming week. Their current forecast models for Killington show below freezing conditions on much of the mountain starting early Tuesday morning. If you decide to buy into this forecast, get your equipment ready, because the start of the season is later this week.

And finally, in homage to U.S. Taxpayers, there is the National Weather Service. Their current forecast, as of this afternoon, basically split the difference between the vox populi of Accuweather/Weather Channel and the obscurity of Snow-Forecast.com. The fact that the National Weather Service is splitting the difference gives me a sense of optimism. With the caveat that I own a small business which makes me an optimist by nature.

At the end of the day, forecasting the weather at Killington during the change of the seasons is as much a black art as it is science. It is easy to say it is going to be cold the last 2 weeks of January, or warm during the month of July (well usually anyway). But the cusps of the seasons, where it is hard to tell the difference between Fall or Winter keep us all looking out the window, reading our thermometers, shopping weather forecasts on the internet, and generally chafing at the bit to be able to "Point em down hill".

The winter season unofficially kicked of with a great party at Killington last night. Mother Nature if you are listening...it is time to make it official!.....Let it snow!