The PHAT POW is in the Northwest as Mount Baker has the deepest early opening in the history of the resort with a current base of 68 inches! Whistler has had over 50 inches of POW this week! The Northwest has beat all odds of EL Nino thus far!  Significant snow will move into the Rockies in the next 24 -48 hours!  Light to moderate snow is continuing over Colorado on Friday with the heaviest amounts expected Saturday night and Sunday especially in the southwest mountains.

Saturday:  Light snow develops over the Wasatch of Utah by mid morning turnining heavy by late afternoon (3pm) with the passage of a quick moving cold front. Snow totals expected to range in the 7-12 inch range by Sunday morning. Northwest flow could keep lake effect bands continuing into Sunday.

Saturday night/Sunday Snow moves into all mountains of Colorado with heavy snow expected primarily south of I-70 (Saturday night) where some resorts near the 4 corners could see 12-18 inches by Sunday afternoon.  Eventually the front range will pick up heavy snow in the foothills especially south of I-70 (6-10).

High pressure builds in quickly on Monday with the next decent storm expected next weekend!

Get out and enjoy the Freshies !

Powderchaser  Steve

Just when you were about to give up on some fresh turns before Thanksgiving it appears very likely that a 10-18 inch dump  will blanket much of inter mountain west with a track over Northern Utah digging south into central and southern Colorado (Good for most of the mountains of Colorado) by Thursday afternoon. The snow will start in Utah sometime on Wednesday night (High snow levels around 8K) continuing into Thursday with lowering temps and snow showers continuing. Colorado will see a swath of snow starting on Thursday and continuing into Thursday night. The wind patterns in my opinion will favor most areas of Northern UT (Big Cottonwood 10-18) and by the time it tracks into Colorado seem to be a good hitter for most of the State with my guess at better accumulations from I-70 South (9-14 inches plus). My powder pick of the week will be Brighton in UT followed by Aspen in Colorado. Snow will taper off on Friday quickly followed by a second and weaker system which will spread additional light snow to the West on Saturday/Sunday. Put the bikes away as by this weekend we will be playing in the white stuff again!  Think Deep!

WHO HAS THE BEST SNOW RIGHT NOW?

After looking at data from snowtel sights and reports from the West it appears that the Pacific Northwest is doing pretty well with early openings at Crystal Mountain  and a report from BC of over 120CM at Whistler in the past week. PICS from the NW look deep in the last week with over 3 feet of medium density snow even at lower elevations.

Synopsis:

What happened to winter? The powerful and epic front range storm blasted Colorado last week with up to 40 inches reported in Connifer and 30 inches at Eldora Ski area gave Colorado front rangers an epic opporunity to snow shoe and cross country ski downtown! Warm temps and high winds have completely melted all snow at lower elevations and left a good punch of wet snow at upper elevations. Spring like temps will continue to influence the intermountain west until Sunday when a cold storm will brush the Northern Rockies. Snow is expected to return by late in the weekend with the favored areas being extreme northern Utah which might drop into Northern and Central Colorado by Sunday night/Monday. It looks like most of the precip will me light to moderate in nature however any change to a more winter like pattern would be welcome. High pressure returns by Tuesday next week.

Extended Model POW forecast

Wednesday-high pressure with warmer temps mountains (48-52)

Thursday- Saturday- high pressure continues in the Rockies with clouds increasing by Saturday afternoon

Sunday/Monday  Snow developing in the extreme northern sections of Utah on Sunday with a better chance of moderate snow in Colorado by Monday morning

Tuesday- Lingering snow showers Colorado/Clearning Uah and Wyoming

Powderchaser Steve

Heavy powder warning issued for a complex storm system just now entering the northern mountains of Utah. Very strong southwest prefrontal winds blew last night at Alta with 50 MPG gusts seen around 2am and warm temps that have just dropped 15 degrees in the past several hours with the wind shift to the West and snow beginning this morning. This storm will come in 2 distinct pieces with the first occurring with the cold passage which will bring 2-3 inch per hour snowfalls for several hours before tapering off late this afternoon in UT (5-11  inches). Colorado will see snow begin late Tuesday especially in the northern and central mountains where 5-9 (Aspen, Telluride, Central mountains) inches will occur tonight as the front quickly drops to the 4 corners region.  The second event will feature a stalled front in Southern Colorado which will allow heavy snows to redevelop on Wednesday with a Northeast  to Northerly flow contributing to very heavy snow along the eastern slopes of the divide (12-24 inches) of the Colorado cental and southern mountains. Utah will see snow redevelop early on Wednesday where several more inches could fall in areas favored by Northerly flow however most of the action will be confined to areas south of the Salt Lake Valley.

Powderchaser picks?

The initial front and very cold air today and tonight will favor the Northern Mountains with the Wasatch favored for some lake effect snow tonight bringing totals to near 12 inches by Wednesday morning. Colorado picks will include Snowmass, Telluride, on Wednesday as the cold front slams through to the 4 corners however most of the heaviest snow totals won't be seen until Wednesday night when the front range of Colorado could see 20 inch totals or more in certain upslope locations. My pick for Wednesday night/Thursday where snow will continue is Loveland, Winter Park and Eldora!  Urban areas south of Denver will have the highest impact. This would have been the perfect storm to chase with a start in UT on Tuesday, Ski Snowmass on Wednesday and then hit Loveland on Thursday where I believe snow will be still falling until late in the morning. This will at least give us a white Halloween in most areas including the urban corridors so get the X Country and snowshoe gear ready for some fun!

Light snow likely late this weekend or early next week

Powderchaser Steve