Guía de Duck Creek
Live depth from the federal snow station on the mountain, the NWS forecast for the ridge, and fifteen winters of context so you know whether this week is normal.
On the mountain right now
Typical values for this date from fifteen winters of station data; live readings load in a moment.
Snow depth at 10,040 ft
…cm
NRCS SNOTEL Brian Head, on the mountain above the Giant Steps base
Temperature at the sensor
…°C
Hourly reading, always shown with its time
Typical depth for today
…cm
Median of 15 seasons, with the middle-half range
NWS forecast for Brian Head (grid point at about 10,200 ft)
Next 24 hours, hour by hour
Depth and water content from NRCS SNOTEL site 1154; forecast from the National Weather Service. The resort's own report adds 24-hour snowfall, base depth at three stakes and lifts open: brianhead.com conditions.
De un vistazo
Resort snow reports tell you what fell in the last 24 hours. This page tells you what is on the ground, what the air is doing up there, and what the same date looked like in fifteen other winters. The depth and temperature come from the NRCS SNOTEL station that sits on the mountain itself, roughly three hundred feet above the Giant Steps base, and refresh every time you open the page. The forecast is the National Weather Service grid cell for Brian Head, which sits at about 10,200 feet, so it is a forecast for the slopes rather than for the valley.
A good snow day at Brian Head is a hard drive day on the road to it. Before you commit to the winter drive from Duck Creek (an hour and a quarter by Mammoth Creek Road when it is passable, 1 hr 35 by Cedar City when it is not), check the live SR-143 cameras and the drive page, which explains the Parowan Canyon traction law.
The resort publishes a 24-hour, 48-hour and 7-day snowfall total, a base depth, and the number of lifts and trails open, measured at three stakes: the Giant Steps base at 9,800 ft, the summit at 11,000 ft and a snow stake at 10,000 ft. Those are the right numbers for "was it a powder day" and "what is open". Snowfall is new snow before it settles, and it is read by people who want you to come, which is fine, but it is not the same thing as depth.
The SNOTEL station measures settled depth and the water locked in it, every day, with no marketing department. Its depth will always read lower than a fresh snowfall total because new snow compacts within hours. Use the resort for what fell overnight and what is open, use the station for whether the pack is real, and use the forecast for whether the drive home will be a problem.
The one trap: the station’s daily value is the midnight reading. A storm that started at breakfast will show in tomorrow’s number, not today’s. The hourly temperature above carries its reading time for the same reason.
Three things come out of the 15-season record. Opening weekend is early: the median depth at the station on November 6 is a few inches, so opening day is a snowmaking achievement rather than a natural one, and early-season terrain is limited. The pack does not get genuinely deep until January. And it tops out in the middle of March, when a median year has about 50 inches on the ground; seasons peak on different dates, so the median season’s own high-water mark is higher, 64 inches, reached around March 18. Then it drops away fast. The median season holds 24 inches or more for 132 days, from about December 18 to about May 2.
Season to season, the peak has ranged from 38 inches (winter 2013-14) to 108 inches (winter 2022-23). A thin peak and a short season usually arrive together, so a poor year is poor in both depth and length. Last winter, 2025-26, peaked at 60 inches on February 20 and held 24 inches for 72 days. If your trip has to be a ski trip, February and the first half of March are the weeks that have held up best across the record.
The mid-month median at the station, the middle-half range across fifteen winters, and the deepest day ever recorded in that month. Lifts need less than this to run, because the resort makes snow on its core runs; tubing needs more.
| Month | Mid-month median | Middle half of years | Deepest day on record |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | 8 in | 1 to 11 in | 24 in |
| December | 20 in | 15 to 25 in | 41 in |
| January | 32 in | 24 to 38 in | 62 in |
| February | 46 in | 32 to 52 in | 74 in |
| March | 49 in | 42 to 57 in | 98 in |
| April | 41 in | 25 to 55 in | 98 in |
| May | 6 in | 0 to 29 in | 61 in |
Medians are the value at the weekly point nearest the 15th; the record column is the deepest single day in that month across water years 2012 to 2026. Convert at 2.54 cm per inch.
NRCS SNOTEL site 1154 was installed on Brian Head in 2011 and has recorded snow depth, snow water equivalent and temperature every day since, as part of the federal network that forecasts the West’s water supply. It sits at 10,040 ft, between the resort’s base stake and its summit stake, on the same mountain. It is public domain, keyless and reachable from a browser, which is how this page stays live without anyone at the inn updating it.
The village in Duck Creek has its own version of this on the Duck Creek snow report, which reads the two stations that bracket the village at 7,800 and 9,830 ft and carries a 47-year archive. Comparing the two is the honest way to answer “is there more snow at Brian Head than Duck Creek”: usually yes, by a lot, because the station is 1,600 feet higher.
October 2026
Depth, water content and sensor temperature are fetched live in your browser from the NRCS AWDB API for station 1154; the forecast and alerts come from api.weather.gov for the Brian Head grid point. The curve and season bars are computed from the station’s complete daily record for water years 2012 to 2026 and refreshed each summer. Resort snowfall totals, base depths and lift counts are the resort’s own and are linked, not copied.
Answered from the station record rather than the brochure.
The live strip at the top of this page shows the settled depth at the NRCS station on the mountain as of its last daily reading, next to the typical depth for today across fifteen winters. If the live number is blank, the station feed is down and the typical value is the best guide.
Some, and the resort makes the rest. The mid-November median at the station is 8 inches, with the middle half of years between 1 and 11. Opening day has been as early as November 6 (2026), on machine-made snow over a thin natural base, so expect limited terrain and no tubing until later.
Usually yes by the holidays. The mid-December median is 20 inches and the pack first reaches 24 inches around December 18 in a median year. Christmas week has had thin years; check the live number before promising kids a tubing day.
March is the deepest month: the median peak of 64 inches lands around March 18, and mid-March medians sit near 49 inches. April still holds 41 inches at mid-month in a median year, and the resort has run into mid April most seasons; the pack then collapses in the first two weeks of May.
The resort’s published average is 360 inches of snowfall. The deepest settled pack the station has measured is 108 inches (April 3, winter 2022-23) and the thinnest peak was 38 inches. Snowfall and depth are different numbers; depth is what you ski on.
On brianhead.com under Weather, Conditions and Webcams: 24-hour, 48-hour and 7-day snowfall, base depth at three stakes, lifts and trails open, and the resort webcams. This page links to it rather than copying it, and adds the federal station data and the NWS forecast the resort page does not show.
The forecast on this page is the National Weather Service grid point for Brian Head at about 10,200 feet, refreshed each time you load it, with any active NWS alerts for the zone shown above the tiles. It is a mountain forecast; Cedar City in the valley below is routinely 20 degrees warmer.
The two-bedroom condo we co-host across the street from the Giant Steps lift, plus the honest trade-offs of sleeping in Brian Head, Duck Creek, Parowan or Cedar City
See where to stay Eight chairlifts, 72 runs and nothing below 9,600 ft: terrain by lift, opening day, kids ski free, lift ticket patterns, night skiing and rentals
See skiing & snowboarding Tubing sessions at the Giant Steps base with the tube included, ages 4 and up, hours and holiday blocks, sledding, and the outdoor rink in town
See snow tubing & ice skatingStay 61 miles down the mountain at Duck Creek Village Inn, or in the condo we co-host across from the Giant Steps lift. Rooms fill fast after a storm.
