It's Saturday mid morning, with snow falling once again in the Tetons, albeit lighter than the Friday event that brought 34 inches to Jackson Hole and 22 to Targhee. There were surprise dumps in Colorado with Vail scoring 8 inches overnight and another 2 since the lifts opened on Saturday. Vail miss reported 13 new overnight Friday where some was actually while the lifts were open (3-5). Regardless, conditions will be deep, soft, and fluffy. Other resorts along I-70 stayed in the 5-9 inch range with high quality.
For chasing pow, the top areas to watch are the Pacific Northwest and northwest Montana. The Tetons and extreme Northern Colorado are wildcards, A vigorous system will drop into WA primarily impacting the central and north Cascades. Stevens Pass and Snoqualmie should set up for a convergence zone late Saturday into Sunday. Baker, Stevens, Alpental, Snoqualmie are all chase worthy for late Saturday and early Sunday. Ride late Saturday and early Sunday.
Below: Northern and central Cascades of WA score high quality deep freshies Saturday into Sunday. A convergence zone might favor Stevens Pass, or the resorts along I-90.
For Montana, there is high confidence of 12-17 inches for the the ski areas east and north of Missoula from Saturday to Sunday. The western central panhandle of Idaho will also score deep snow. The Tetons are in position for storm skiing Saturday and some additional snow for Sunday morning (5-10 totals). In Colorado the only zone that could score more than 5-7 inches is Steamboat for Sunday. Most of the moisture will impact northern Colorado, and shunt east of many of the ski areas (1-4 elsewhere along I-70 for Sunday).
Below: Total snowfall Saturday to Sunday favoring the western central Panhandle of Idaho, Eastern Montana, and to some extent the Tetons.
Announcement:
If you are looking for a fantastic experience in Alaska, small group Heli skiing, top service, and powder, consider booking a trip with our partner Alaska Backcountry Guides. They still have some seats open for 3/15 to 3/21 (5 seats) and 4/5 to 4/11 (6 seats). Powderchasers is also giving away a free mid level Concierge membership to all folks that team up with Alaska Backcountry Guides to be used this or next season.
Enjoy the powder everyone!
Powderchaser Steve
