As the mountain air turns crisp and the Lizard Range caps itself in white, Fernie’s collective stoke is firing up for another deep winter. And this season’s outlook has powder hounds grinning: the climate signals are pointing to a stormy ride, with odds tilted toward above-normal storm frequency, especially through December and January.

The setup is classic. A weak La Niña combined with a negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) favors repeated storm deliveries from the Gulf of Alaska—exactly the kind of pattern that has built Fernie’s reputation for bottomless days. Expect atmospheric rivers to swing snow levels at times, but the cold fronts following them should reset the mountain with right-side-up snow, stacking quality on top of quantity.

Best chase windows? December and January look primed for frequent frontal cycles, the kind that load the bowls and reset them again and again. And if La Niña hangs on, late February could stay plenty productive.

The confidence in this forecast is medium to high, which at the ski-town scale is about as good as it gets. Fernie has always thrived when the Gulf doors are open, and this year, the signals say they’re swinging wide.

So wax the boards, tune the edges, and get ready to pull the trigger when the storm cycles line up. The Fernie stoke meter is climbing fast—winter is almost here, and it’s shaping up to be a good one.