A major winter storm is hitting the Andes mountains of South America right now.

The Argentine Meteorological Service has issues many alerts and warnings for the Andes from Tierra del Fuego to Mendoza.  Big snow and strong winds are forecast.

Below, we have outlined how much snow each major ski resort in South America is forecast to see, exactly when they open, and a bit about just what’s going on for reals at each spot.

Las Lenas, Argentina

• 32″ of snow forecast
• Opening Date:  June 17th

Las Lenas didn’t have hardly any snow yesterday.  Today, the place is looking good.  This coming snowfall should help enormously.  Not much is forecast to open on Saturday, but this storm may help them get more open soon.

Valle Nevado, La Parva, El Colorado, Chile

• 60″ of Snow Forecast
• Opening Date:  Late May

This area of the Andes was blessed with big early season snowfalls and they’ve been open since late May.  This new snow will make conditions absolutely excellent for this early in the season.

Cerro Catedral (Bariloche), Argentina

• 21″ of snow forecast (another 12″ forecast next week…)
• Opening date:  June 17th pushed back to June 24th

Catedral has very little snow and they had to push back their opening date one week – which isn’t all that rare.  This snowfall should help them get open next week.  Fingers crossed.

Cerro Castor, Argentina

• 0″ of Snow Forecast
• Opening Date:  June 23rd

Castor has one of its worst seasons ever last year…  This season is already doing better.  They got some snow last week and temperatures look to stay cold most of this week.

Nevados de Chillan, Chile

• 38″ of Snow Forecast
• Opening Date:  June 22nd

video of snow last night in Chillan

“The Mt. Baker of the Southern Hemisphere” has big snow forecast this week.  This should help them have a solid opening day next week.  Big rain is hitting the resort right now, but that will be followed up with big snow, Baker style.