Good morning Powder lovers, this is Powderchaser Steve with a quick update and post for an extension of winter for at least another 5-7 days. Not only is it nearly April, we are about to get slammed with more snow in the west, it will be more of a typical January storm with cold temps, and blower. The Sierra just scored up to 30 inches (Mammoth for the win), Utah with 15 inches overnight Wednesday, and the PNW about to get hammered late this week into Saturday. The next 7 days looks epic.
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For chasing powder, your best bets are Utah In the next 24 hours with storm number 1 departing Thursday morning and a second colder system, due for Thursday night to Friday. This will bring 12-20 inches of additional snow, colder density to a wide area of the Utah mountain ranges, especially those favored by NW flow (Canyons side of PCMR, Powder Mountain, LCC with BCC not far behind). Colorado will grab moderate leftovers Friday favoring areas from Steamboat to Snowmass extending into Telluride (Does well with NW winds). CB is a wildcard. The core of I-70 might grab 5-10 while areas further west or just south of I-70 see higher amounts.
The PWN will cool Friday with snow showers turning heaviest late PM into Saturday. Stevens Pass, I-90 resorts, and Mt Baker will see 12-18 inches with areas south towards Crystal a bit less. Westerly flow will keep snow going over most mountains on Saturday. Oregon will also score well into the double digits with this storm. Whistler will also do well with this storm system for a powder day Saturday.
The cold system over the PNW will move east over interior Idaho late this weekend and pump ample moisture into Selkirk Powder Guides (There are some cat seats available next Tuesday). Northern Idaho, central Idaho and especially the panhandle will get clobbered especially Saturday/Sunday with some snow lingering into Monday. You can't go wrong chasing powder in Idaho this weekend.
Cold and unstable air moves east over the Tetons and southern areas of Montana Friday/Saturday with peak intensity likely Saturday/Sunday. The Teton range is favored over Montana, however areas near Big Sky will still score. We can explain this as slow freight train that keeps pumping moderate snow over these ranges every 6-12 hours slowly building to several days of snow. We expect totals by early next week to range in the 3-4 foot range, however 24 hour total might not exceed 12-15 inches in any 24 hour period. Conditions will be all time especially in Wyoming.
Utah begins to fire again in the Saturday PM/Sunday range and peaks on Monday and Tuesday. Additional feet of snow is likely once again late this weekend and early next week for the Wasatch Range. Colorado grabs leftovers early to mid next week with an early estimate of another 9-14 inches at some point for many resorts in the central or northern ranges (We can address in a future post).
BC finally gets into the action early next week with some decent totals for the interior noted later this weekend into next week.
The Sierra will benefit again with moderate or heavy snow early next week bit amounts will be higher in the Rockies and PNW.
Below: Storm #2 hitting the Cottonwoods Thursday night into Friday (10-18) with a break noted until sometime early next week. Snow showers may begin again as early as Sunday. Next week should bring another 2 feet plus to the Wasatch Range.
Below: The Teton Range is likely to nab 40 plus inches over a long duration storm through at least April 5th. There might not be any single epic 10-20 inch 24 hour dump, but we could see double digits at some point Saturday or Sunday. This is a long duration event.
Below: Stevens Pass should score at least a foot primarily late Friday to Saturday with higher amounts possible. Oregon will score very well with this storm as well as moderate totals for coastal BC. Baker, I-90 resorts and Crystal (Strong wildcard) will do well.
Below: Total snowfall through Tuesday night for the west. There are very few losers with these systems. Cold air will keep quality high and amounts are likely to exceed what is shown at 10:1 snow ratios. You ca ride powder nearly every day in the next 7 days. Please join our concierge program for custom chase guidance.
We will be issuing another forecast on Thursday night or early Friday to address further details.
Powderchasersteve. Follow on Instagram @powderchasersteve
