GFS Surface Chart
All Snow Version
Forecast
Today
Snow continues to fall at Wolf Creek as this system works its way through today and exits around 2 o’clock. Wolf has received over 5 feet since last Sunday. Pack on another 3-5 today, with cold temperatures in the teens with moderate winds 10-15. Lift tickets under a hundred bucks (85).
Wednesday Alberta Clipper
A small clipper will drop down Wednesday passing through western Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. Most mountains will receive a 2-3, but the models are trending higher for the central mountains. Monarch is in the sweet spot now, let’s see if this trend continues.
Storm History
When these storms came through last, they were stronger due to the strength of the MJO (Madden Jullian Oscillation) and the AO (Artic Oscillation) NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) were deep in negative territory adding energy to the storm. Alta had 16 and led the Utah resorts. Colorados winner was Keystone with 5. For the clipper system, Utah’s Alta had 9, and Colorado actually out preformed Utah in this one, Beaver Creek had 12 and Arapahoe Basin had back-to-back powder days with 9 and 8.
Below are the current teleconnection charts for the AO NAO and PNA.
We talked about the MJO (Madden Jullian Oscillation) over the weekend, but I failed to mention that it appears that the MJO is on a 40-day cycle, over the last 4 months. If that continues, we should expect favorable MJO conditions around the first week of February. Storms 39 and 40, on the Long-Range Forecast Chart, are showing up. They are on the GFS “all Snow” above beginning at hour 100 (upper right corner). The models will change and get a better solution over the next few days,
Thank you for reading the blog, as always, if you have any questions, or need personalized info for trip forecasts, please email me at Mike@FutureSnow.co
Long-Range Forecast Predictions thru March
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