900 Club Possible for Alta

Posted April 5, 6:50 am MT 5:50 am PT

Snow Stake Cams

MSLP Surface Chart

All Snow GFS

Temperature (Click to Animate)      ECMWF Meteogram

Forecast Discussion

This incredible season continues as Alta is reporting 28 inches in the last 24 hours bringing their yearly total to 873, just 27 inches away from 900, shattering the previous record of 748 that goes back 43 years.  

The snow will move out of Utah this morning, and Colorado by tonight.  Utah and Colorado will have break in between storms that hasn’t occurred since the first cycle.  Meanwhile, back in the Pacific Northwest, the next system begins in the northern Cascades Tomorrow.  This system will dive south, reaching Lake Tahoe and then veer back northeast sliding across the US/Canadian border.  

The animated GIF below shows the next storm system diving, then sliding across the CONUS, followed by the next big storm system, carving out a nice trough over Utah and Colorado. The next system is way out, 222 hours, we don’t normally post something this far out without knowing that it will likely happen.  The LRC Model showed this storm back in February.  

Forecast

Pacific Northwest

Scattered snow showers this afternoon in the northern Cascades, but the main energy from this storm will hit tomorrow, where Washington resorts Crystal and Mt Baker can expect about a foot of snow between tomorrow thru Friday.  Southern Cascade resorts Mt Hood, Mt Bachelor and Hoodoo can expect totals in the 3-5 range with most of that falling overnight Tomorrow.

Temperatures will be in the mid 30’s Thursday, with snow levels rising to around 5500 feet for the northern Cascades and 6500 feet for the southern Cascades.  Winds will be between 15-25 mph with gusts in the 30’s at base level.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe gets going Tomorrow night.  This is not a big storm, but it will be a nice refresh.  There are 5 Tahoe resorts in the 700 club (Boreal, Sugar Bowl, Kirkwood, Mammoth and China Peak) with Palisades and Sierra at Tahoe on the cusp of 700. Expect 4-8 for resorts along the northern crest.  

Temperatures will be in the lower 30’s, at base level, with moderate winds between 15-20 with 30 mph gusts.  

 

 

 

Thanks for reading the blog, as always if you have any questions feel free to comment below, or send me an email to Mike@FutureSnow.CO

Snow Rescue at Mt Baker

This has been making the rounds on social media the last week.  If you haven’t seen it, it is an incredible rescue and it shows how you can get sucked into a tree well.  Mt Hood has it on their front page so I thought I would post it as well.  https://youtu.be/wQ8Kgb_XUkk

Mt Hood Meadows has an account from Francis Zuber and KOMO news that you can read here.

 

 

 

 

Forecasted Areas

Pacific Northwest Cascade Mountains

Crystal Mountain, Mount Hood Meadows, Timberline, 49 Degrees North,  Bachelor, Mt Baker,

Lake Tahoe Sierra Mountains

Heavenly, Palisades Tahoe, Kirkwood, Dodge Ridge, Donner Ski Ranch

Utah Wasatch Mountains

Alta, Park City, Deer Valley, Brighton, Snowbird, Brian Head

Colorado Rocky Mountains

Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass, Vail, Beaver Creek,  Winter Park, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Powderhorn, Ski Cooper, Telluride, Crested Butte, Silverton, Wolf Creek, Eldora, Loveland

–