Heavy Snow in PNW, Sierra and Wasatch

Daily Snow Stake

GFS Surface

All Snow HRRR (high resolution)

Forecast Summary

Heavy snow today in the Cascades and Sierra as this massive storm off the coast moves ashore. The storm has already produced double digits in British Columbia and the Cascades, now California is about to get blown up again. Heavy snow in the Sierra today thru Sunday night. It is possible that the Lake won’t see the sun this week. The best chance is on Wednesday. The models have a break in between waves, but I think the storm will intensify and that break will evaporate.

I posted these two surface charts yesterday. You can see the difference between this and last cycle. The High-pressure area (circled) is in a different spot and the storm is actually more organized this time around. The jet stream is at its strongest strength, so even if we didn’t have good teleconnection help, it would still be a good storm.

Last Time Thru

Present Storm

Utah will have another round of snow this morning, around 11 am, with heavy snow expected in the afternoon and into the evening. The snow continues thru the night and early Sunday morning. There will be some breaks in between bands on Sunday as the bulk of the storm moves southeast. Snowbasin looks to have the highest totals.

Finally, Colorado will have partly sunny skies today, except for the divide. The system that is in Utah will slide east into Colorado this afternoon for western Colorado and reach the central and northern ranges after the lifts close. Not much precipitation is expected tonight, most of the snow will fall during the day tomorrow.

Forecast

Colorado

Today

Sunny to partly sunny for most of the day, as the next system approaches Sunday night. Temperatures will be in the upper 20’s to lower 30’s with moderate winds between 15-25 mph with gusts around 40 mph. Tonight, after the lifts close, the part of the storm from Utah arrives. There won’t be much precipitation expected, maybe 1-3 inches overnight.

Tomorrow

The storm gets cranking around mid to late morning tomorrow. Cold windchills in the negative single digits. Expect strong winds between 25-30 mph with gusts up to up to 50 mph.–dress warm. The winds die down in the evening, likely after the lifts close.

Monday

Scattered snow showers throughout the day with the sun poking through. Temperatures will be much nicer, in the upper 20’s with moderate winds between 20-25 mph with gusts in the low 40-s.

Next Wave Tuesday

Lake Tahoe

Hour by Hour HRRR Chart

Wind (click to animate)

Surface Wind

Ridgetop Wind

Today

Heavy snow and Winter Storm Warnings. I posted an hour-by-hour high resolution map showing what to expect. Remember, all of the times are ZULU, in the upper right corner, meaning London time. If it is 2 pm in London it is 6 am in California.

Strong winds at base level between 35-45 mph with gusts as high as 60 mph. Ridgetop winds near 100 mph so upper mountain lifts will be closed. Temperatures will start out in the low 20’s and quickly fall to the mid-teens.

Sunday

Heavy snow continues with strong winds from the southwest from 35-45 mph and gusts up to 60 mph. Temperatures in the mid-teens with wind chills in the negative single digits. Ridgetop winds too high for upper mountain lifts, like you would want to go there anyway. Whiteout vertigo is real!

Monday

Monday will be the best day to ride. Temps in the high teens with light winds 15-20. Snow will continue throughout the day, but totals should be light.

Utah

Today

Snow throughout the day today with moderate winds and cold wind chills. Expect the heavy snow to last until 2-3 o’clock today, then scattered showers until evening. Temperatures will be in the low 20’s with wind chills near zero.

Saturday

Saturday will start out dry as the next system moves in around 10 am. Cold temperatures and strong winds remain with windchills again near zero. Winds in the 15-25 mph range with gusts around 30 mph.

Sunday

Snow continues throughout the morning with light totals expected. Temperatures will be in the mid 20’s with moderate winds between 15-20 mph.

Pacific Northwest

Today

Heavy snow in the Cascades today with another 5-10 inches expected at Crystal Mountain. In the southern Cascades, expect 4-8 for Mt Hood Meadows and Timberline. Timberline has had the better snow loading this year, compared to Meadows, due to the direction of the storm tracks. That will likely continue today.

Temperatures in the upper 20’s to around 30 at base level. Moderate winds between 15-25 mph.

Sunday

The next wave moves in during mid-morning for the northern Cascades and around 11 for the Oregon resorts. Expect another 2-4 throughout the day for both Washington and Oregon resorts.

Calendar Update

I have had a few inquiries about our March calendars, specifically about how the calendars relate to the Long-range forecast predictions. One reader pointed out a flaw that I have corrected for the Colorado calendar. March 12th should have been dark blue, and March 31st should have been light blue. That has been corrected.

The calendars have a few changes on some specific dates that are different than the official prediction chart. You may have noticed on the LRFPC (Long-Range Forecast Prediction Chart) that storms have been showing up, consistently, a day early. With that in mind, I have adjusted some dates forward on the calendars to reflect that difference. I do not ever change the LRFPC, because once those predictions are made,

I would love to add a whole bunch of data to the calendars but simply don’t have the time. Hopefully, I will be able to get things in place for the April, May and June calendars for select Colorado resorts that stay open late. Below is the Colorado calendar before and after. Thanks for reading the blog, as always, if you have any questions please feel free to comment below or email to Mike@FutureSnow.co.

Before