The action has really picked up this week for the Rockies. In the past week 1-2 feet has fallen over most areas with 3 feet at Jackson and 4 feet at Steamboat. Steamboat actually set a 24 hour snowfall record on Monday with 27 inches. Things
are winding down today and after a break on Friday things will pick up again over the weekend.
There are just some lingering snow showers today in Colorado and Wyoming and then high pressure briefly moves in on Friday. That will make for a bluebird day to go out and find some of the hidden stashes. The next storm moves into the Pacific NW on Saturday and spreads snow across the Northern Rockies. Then the snow spreads South into Colorado by Sunday.
This is not a big storm but it will be cold so ther snow ratios will be high. The storm should drop around 6-12 inches near Jackson and 3-6 inches down into Colorado. Here is the total precipitation forecast through Sunday showing enough liquid for 6-12 inches of snow in the blue shaded areas 3-6 in dark green.
There will be a weak system working in across Tahoe and Salt Lake on Monday bringing only a dusting to those areas. As the storm moves over Colorado it should begin to pull in some more moisture from the Southern jet. This could turn out to be a nice little storm for colorado with over a foot of new snow. We will have to keep an eye on that one.
The next storms moves into the West Coast next Wednesday. The exact track of this system is still uncertain. The question will be if the snow focuses more on the Northern or Southern half of the Rockies. It’s a little early to looks at snowfall totals, but right now it looks like 6-12 inch range up near Jackson and down into Colorado. If the storm comes in further North we will have to shift the highest amounts North.
Utah looks like they will miss out on a lot of the snow this weekend and early next week with maybe a few inches from each system. The storm for next Thursday may have a better chance of bringing more significant snow. Current forecast models show up to a foot possible with that storm.
Over the coarse of the next week it looks as if Steamboat could be the winner again and maybe Vail. If the forecast models verify they could see another 2+ feet of new snow by next Thursday. Here is the total precipitation forecast through next Thursday off the GFS forecast model showing the potential for 1-2 feet in NW Wyoming and over 2 feet in that yellow dot near Vail.
In the long-range the pattern looks to stay active with possibly some bigger storms coming into the West Coast and then through the Rockies. These storms may come in a bit further South and help to get Utah some better snow. BA