Update: Snow-starved Ski Bluewood closes down until flakes fly again

Update: Ski Bluewood announced Monday evening that it had 3 to 5 inches of fresh snow around the ski area. It plans to reopen on Thursday, Feb. 12.

“Thanks for sticking with us and doing your snow dances during this unpredictable season,” it said in a message to skiers.

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Ski Bluewood in the Washington Blue Mountains announced Friday evening that it will temporarily close until new snow arrives.

Officials there are hoping that will be soon, allowing the ski area to reopen as soon as Thursday or Friday.

A dry warm January has left the Western United States with the worst snowpack in decades, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The ski area, about 80 miles east of the Tri-Cities, is in Columbia County where NOAA said that the precipitation in the last 30 days has been half or less than normal and the snowpack is also less than 50% of normal.

Then Thursday night temperatures were warmer than expected, exposing some ground spots that had low snow coverage.

It was a visible difference from Thursday to Friday, said Pete Korfiatis, general manager in a letter to skiers.

The difficult decision was made to suspend operations because the ski area could not provide a fun and valuable experience, he said.

However, there is good news.

A storm system could drop 3 to 7 inches of snow on the mountain Sunday night into Monday, according to the National Weather Service forecast as of Friday night.

The ski area expects to provide an update Monday evening on whether it may be able to reopen Thursday or Friday.

“Let’s hope the polar vortex breaks its cycle and decides to head our way, not just for Bluewood, but for our farmers, our wildland firefighters and all other industries that depend on winter snowpack,” Korfaiatis said.

In the meantime, Ski Bluewood’s Skyline Rail Jam, set for Saturday, will be rescheduled.

People who have already purchased tickets to ski this weekend can change their date through their Bluewood account. For help doing that, email support@bluewood.com.

This story was originally published February 7, 2026 at 5:00 AM.