A view of Arapahoe Basin, Colorado, on October 11, 2017.

(Arapahoe Basin)

At a Glance

The first ski area in the Rockies to open for the 2017-2018 season will do so Friday in Colorado.This opening date is only days later than Arapahoe Basin's earliest of record.

A Colorado ski area will be the first in the Rockiesto open for the 2017-2018 season Friday, only days from its earliest opening day on record.

Arapahoe Basin, located about 45 miles west-southwest of Denver, it will open for the season Friday at 9 a.m.

The Black Mountain Express high-speed quad will be open, however, no beginner (green) runs will be available, according to .

This opening day is eight days earlier than its2016 opening date, andjust four days later than itsrecord earliest opening date of October9, 2009.

As of Wednesday morning, A-Basin reported a mid-mountain snow depth of 18 inches, typically the threshold used for opening for the season.

A cool, snowy stretch since late September has produced both natural snow, and has kept temperatures cool enough to allow snowmaking to build enough of a base for opening.

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Nearby Winter Park, typically open by mid-November, picked up 19 inches of snowfall over a roughly two-week period since September 24, according to the National Weather Service.

"Our snowmaking efforts have gone very well with cold temperatures and high streamflows," wrote Alan Henceroth, chief operating officer for A-Basin, in an .

Just a few miles away, has not yet announced an opening date, but was in the process of snowmaking. Loveland andArapahoe Basin have a long-standing, friendly rivalry competing to be the first to open each season.

Assuming optimal weather for snowmaking or early-season snowfall, a number of ski areas around the country typically open for the season in November, particularly during Thanksgiving week in the Rockies, Sierra, Cascades, Upper Midwest, Appalachians, Adirondacks, Green and White Mountains, according to .

We previously reported A-Basin would be the first ski area in the U.S. to open for the season, but that was incorrect. Oregon's , located near the top of Mt. Hood, opened for the season on October 8. Timberline is known for having the longest ski season in North America.

We'd like to thank for pointing out this error.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on and .