[Forecast courtesy of Powderchasers.com]
SUMMARY: Significant moisture is aimed at most of Oregon, southern or central Washington, and the panhandle of Idaho. Models are blowing up showing a nearly constant stream of snowfall for these areas over the next several days that might not end until the weekend only to open up the firehouse again next week? I completed a rare 3 State chase where I landed 15 inches at Stevens, 30 inches at Squaw, and 13 inches at Snowbird in 3 days. I essentially chased the same storm over 3 days and landed 58 inches of powder all thanks to my associate chaser Luke Stone who made the logistics happen. We trucked through 13 inches of wind drifted snow on Little Cottonwood Canyon last night at 1 AM in his trusty Subaru as our final chase point.
FORECAST:
Snow is moving into the Pacific Northwest currently. Light to moderate snow will fall tonight over the Oregon and Washington Cascades turning heavy by Tuesday morning. A wide area 7-15 inches will have fallen by mid day Tuesday from Crystal Mountain through most of the Oregon by last chair. 5-10 inches will fall over areas north of Crystal in the central Cascades. “Storm ski Tuesday” Snow levels will start very low and end at 3,000 feet for many areas (A bit upside down but still decent quality). If you chasing to the Pacific Northwest this week you can’t go wrong with Mount Hood and all areas on the west side of the Cascades. Bachelor will grab decent amounts but lower than the western neighbors. Storm totals in OR will exceed 50 inches over the next 3-5 days! Storm totals in the south Washington Cascades will slightly less (2-3 feet) but much less up north (1-2 feet likely from Stevens Pass through to the I-90 corridor).
The Idaho panhandle grabs the leftovers with 3-7 inches nearly every 24 hour period this week. Some highlights might include Tuesday night and Wednesday where heavier snow will fall along Interstate 90 and points south of Spokane (Schweitzer sits north but will still fare decent). Central Idaho will also see moderate snowfall through the week with occasional heavy amounts at times mid week. Sun Valley will score some snow but is on our wildcard list currently with higher amounts just north. There is a ton of small hidden gem ski areas in central Idaho so seek out those resorts and start chasing. Temps in central or southern Idaho will be warming this week (6-7,000 snow levels). where colder temps will remain up north!
The Tetons who got teased last week (3-8 inch events) will continue to be on the storm track through the end of the week. Some models are showing 10-20 inches through the end of the week.This will fall over several days so expect snow reports of 2-5 inches nearly every day this week with higher amounts Wednesday and again Friday (3-8). Those might be good chase days? Temps will be warming this week so periods of heavier snow may be accompanied by less quality on lower slopes but good choices at upper elevations.
Extended Forecast:
The pattern might take a brief break early this weekend only to be followed by another strong low pressure system aimed at the Cascades early Sunday. It’s still too far out to make any reliable predictions. The Tetons might score again as the moisture continues it’s northern progression over the Rockies.
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