NORTH POWDER — The potential for an earlier-than-usual start to the ski season at Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort continues to grow with each successive wintry storm.

The ski area in the Elkhorn Mountains, about 35 miles northwest of Baker City, had three inches of new snow Sunday night, Nov. 17, and reported a base of 20 inches on Monday morning, Nov. 18, said Chelsea Judy, the area’s marketing director.

Workers were on the slopes with groomers to spread and pack the new snow, Judy said.

A series of freeze and thaw cycles the previous weekend helped solidify the base, which sets up the slopes for future storms.

“We definitely have a great start up here,” Judy said on Friday morning.

Another storm brought several inches of snow over the weekend, and the National Weather Service has forecast more storms through this week. Although warmer air will accompany a storm late this week and potentially change the snow to rain at lower elevations, Anthony Lakes, with a base elevation of 7,100 feet, is likely to continue to get only snow.

Elsewhere in Oregon, Mount Hood Meadows and Mount Bachelor ski areas opened Friday, Nov. 15, and Timberline, also on Mount Hood, opened earlier in the month.

Judy said Anthony Lakes could potentially open on Saturday, Nov. 30, during Thanksgiving weekend, but that will depend on the weather over the next 10 days.

The ski area typically needs around 2 feet of snow to have even a limited opening, although at that depth many runs aren’t skiable due to rocks.

Check the resort’s website, www.anthonylakes.com, for snow reports.