A narrow band of heavy snow is going to impact extreme Northern California and is extending into southern Idaho and the Tetons Tuesday. Significant totals are possible in some areas by Wednesday.
Powderchasers just completed a 4 State chase in 6 days with over 80 inches of powder. We avoided the Sierra due to the closures and sent our concierge members to ski areas that were deep an open. Our concierge program is an inexpensive way to get 1:1 snow forecasting to nail the best conditions anywhere in the world.
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The chase for us started in Utah early last week (Snowbird) moving onto Washington (Crystal), Wyoming (JHMR X 3 days) and ended on Monday at Aspen Highlands with deep blower and light winds.
Total snowfall for the 6 day chase was around 80 inches. Wind was an issue on some of these chases, however if you knew where to ride it was less impactful This chase did not come without hiccups as issues in the west were widespread across the west.
In fact, on Saturday last week we think there were more closed resorts in the west (Rockies included) than any other single day period that we can remember (Powder Mountain, Targhee, JHMR (All upper lifts), Most of the Sierra, and and most areas at Snowbird).
1) Extreme wind at Snowbird on chase day 1 (75 MPH gusts)
2) Tree across the road (On top of a logging truck ironically) near Crystal
3) Full closures at Grand Targhee Saturday and all upper terrain at JHMR.
Could you only imagine if that storm cycle had light winds how epic things would have been, with the Sierra likely remaining open through the entire event. Wind is one thing you don't want to chase!
Below: The final day of the chase on Monday- Aspen Highlands with 15 inches of dry density blower (Likely the best of the week). Photo: @Powderchasersteve via instagram. Justin Morgan just dropping at the top @jmosends
We are issuing a powder alert for the Northern California region (Mt Shasta) extending into southern Idaho and Tetons. Significant snow totals will be found in these regions over the next 24 hours.
Below: Snow is currently falling over Northern California, southern Oregon (Ashland) and extorting into Hailey Idaho with the southern edge over Sun Valley currently. Snowfall will ramp up in the Tetons (11-17) Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday. Southern Montana will sneak out 4-8 inches (Big Sky).
Areas south into the Wasatch get scraps of light snow Tuesday night/Wednesday with an increase for Thursday. One exception Wednesday morning might be Beaver Mountain in the far northern area of Utah with better odds of moderate snow just above the Utah border into Idaho (Pocatello resorts). The Boise area mountains should also do well primarily on Tuesday.
The Wasatch shows some moisture feeding up from the south on Thursday with 5-9 inches likely for a wide area of the mountain ranges (PCMR). The Cottonwoods could be deeper with some models showing 9-14 inches (storm ski) Thursday.
Colorado will continue to see convective snow showers with cold unstable air. In the past 48 hours Steamboat has seen over 20 inches of snow. An 8 inch surprise hit them on Monday night. Vail snuck out another 5 inches for fresh turns Tuesday.
Colorado will see light snowfall this week, increasing for Thursday/Friday. Some models show decent totals possible for the I-70 resorts including the Front Range (Boulder County) with a cold front due late Thursday. Our best guess is deeper snow might be found from Summit County extending into resorts closest to the Divide. We will fine tune this on our next post.
Meanwhile in the Lake Tahoe Region patrols are getting an upper hand on opening terrain at most ski areas. KT 22 opened at Palisades on Monday. Winds on Tuesday are still in the moderate ranges at the summits (30-45 MPG Gusts) but will decrease significantly for much of the mid to later week ranges. Our guess is that most terrain at ski areas will be open by Wednesday or Thursday. What a storm cycle!
Below: Winds at the upper peaks of the Sierra (Map is 10K) are much less than what we have seen in previous periods during the storm, but still a bit strong for the upper most elevations on Tuesday. These will decrease significantly by Wednesday.
Extended:
The extended period shows a deep trough digging into BC by the weekend. This system will bring very heavy snowfall totals to the western BC resorts as early as Saturday/Sunday. The Cascades will fire up by Sunday night or Monday with decent odds of some very deep dumps. This includes Northern Idaho and perhaps the southern BC interior (Fernie, Red Mountain, White). Some models show multiple feet for Whistler.
Below: Low pressure focused on Canada and the PNW as early as Friday/Saturday this week. This will bring a longer duration event into this region into the early part of the following week (March 11/12).
Below: 3-day snowfall totals ending next Monday, March 11th (AM) You can see upwards of 3-4 feet for western Canada and healthy totals for the Cascades of Washington. Some of these numbers will increase beyond the date shown.
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Powderchaser Steve (@powderchasersteve)
