After nearly 2 weeks without significant snowfall we are finally going to see a decent dose of the freshies for the northern mountains of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and  the Sierra Nevada. The winds will be from the West significantly favoring the Northern mountains such as Snowbird,Alta, Steamboat, Vail, Beaver Creek  and perhaps the Divide. Amounts will be in the 8-12 inch ranch with a duration of 12 hour light density snow to freshen things up! 2-4 inches fell in some spots of the Wasatch today as well as the Sierra Nevada today so hopefully this storm will shape things up under those nasty layers that have kept me off the slopes. The time to chase is now and my favorite picks for amounts are both Alta/Snowbird in Utah and either Beaver Creek or Steamboat in Colorado that love Westerly flow!  Here are the details

Happy holidays everyone as I hope to bring some optimistic news about a pattern change starting on Wednesday and continuing through next weekend. The good news is that we will be under a Northwest Flow for much of the latter half of the week which should favor the Central and Northern Rockies where snowfall has been below average in the past month. Finally we will see additional snow in the Vail Valley, Steamboat, Snowbird, and the Tetons! Steamboat managed to squeeze out over 10 inches in the past 3 days purely from a cold front that produced the orographics that often blesses them for the epic powder they are famous for! . The midweek period looks most favorable for both Wednesday and on New Years Day (Northern areas favored)  however light snow could continue between the storms so stay tuned for any updates which will be issued by Tuesday should things hit the powder warning criteria (8 inches or more in 12 hours-24 hours). . I think by the end of the week we should see decent amounts especially with the continued northwest flow. The front range was a definate winner last week with the southwest storm that left nothing more than 7 inches in the San Juans but more than a foot in areas North and East of Denver. I took advantage of some epic snowshoeing and skate skiing and called off the chase to Wolf Creek!   The low skirted a bit too far south and winds shifted to the East and North  bringing some enhanced snowfall to the front Range and shutting things down over the 4 corners.

Powderchaser Steve

                                                                                               Baltimore 2009 Blizzard

While the East Coast set records for single day snowfall (16 inches at Dullas International for December) and bases in the 60-70 inch ranch at Ski Resorts in North Carolina New England got skunked as the storm took the coastal scenic route. Welcome to the shortest day of the year and at last a Powder Warning for the West! EL Nino is in full swing according to NOAA as the next storm drops down from the Northwest along the California coast before turning inland taking the southern track across the Rockies Tuesday/Wednesday. The Sierra will only see 9-14 inches by Tuesday night however the Southern Rockies could see more as moisture taps   Login to read more http://powderchasers.com/login

 into front from the south. The Wasatch could do well

This pic comes from the snowcam at Snowbird where this is what fell in just 8 hours (Sun). Total snowfalls in Utah were approx 24 inches in Park City area to as high as 48 inches at 

Brighton and 39 at Alta in just 2 days! I was at Snowbird joined by thousands of locals who packed the 3 tram wait during the day! Rumor on the street is the opening of Upper Peruvian Cirque on tuesday afternoon!  Other noteworthy dumps of the week include Crested Butte who saw over 30 inches closely followed by Wolf Creek. Many mountain locations West of Vail picked up good numbers including Aspen Highlands with over 18 inches in the bowl which is OPEN! Jackson Hole also did well with 22 inches in the past 2 days (limited lifts).

FUTURE POW? The pattern has shifted back to the Northwest where several low pressure systems will bring moderate to heavy snow every other day this week into the weekend. Places like Crystal should see 2-5 Feet of new snow this week with snow levels running near the surface (4,000 Feet).  The northern sections of Idaho and Wyoming will also see moderate snow this week and perhaps Colorado and Utah getting the leftover snow showers by Wednesday or Thursday.  A strong ridge of high pressure will be over the Rockies until at least Monday next week where perhaps a pacific storm will break things down but still too early to get optimistic. I will remain optimistic for powder towards XMAS.

Who has the best conditions right now?  Very subjective but overall in following the reports closely and knowing what is open I would put  the following on the short list for the Rockies

1)Wolf Creek

2)Silverton

3)Crested Butte

4)Aspen Highlands

5)Solitude

Powderchaser Steve