Old Man Winter takes it coast to coast!

We are going to have a good week of winter weather across the US brining new snow to almost every resort region and some potentially heavy dumps of new powder across the NE states and along the West Coast.

Check out the current NOAA national weather map…you can see the first couple of low-pressures that are doing the initial snowmaking.



Over in the NE states we have a nice solid low pressure that is pulling a grip of moisture out of the Great Lakes and dredging up a bunch of warmer (and more dynamic) energy from the SE states. It is getting pushed along by mild but building ridge of high-pressure along the Midwest…so while it won’t stick around long it is going to be pretty energetic. Current forecasts are showing it dropping nearly 2-feet of new powder for many of the resorts in the area and potentially larger snowfalls in a few select areas.

Here are a few of the resorts in the area…and the snowfall that is expected for the next couple of days.

Whiteface: 6-8"

Sugarbush Resort: 8-12"

Black Mountain: 10-15"

Long-range it looks like the weak high-pressure in the middle of the country is going to break down pretty fast and let a mix of new storms move through the mid-latitudes by Wednesday, which will continue all the way up through next weekend. It means that ski resort conditions won’t be stellar but there will be some consistent new snow (just adding to everyone’s base and potentially extending the ski/snowboard season)…and some potentially heavier activity as we head into next weekend (beginning of March).



Over on the West Coast we have some lovely storms lining up “out-back” in the Pacific…in fact one of them is starting to edge over California/Pacific NW today. We can expect this new storm to send heavy rains to the Oregon/California border, more normal rain throughout the rest of the region and new snow to the Sierras.

Current forecasts are expecting some decent snowfall totals for the next couple of days. Mammoth, for example, is going to have another 5-6” through Mon-Tues.

The heaviest snow for the West Coast from this storm looks like it is going to center around the spots near Tahoe and further up toward Shasta. At this point it looks like they could have another 8-10” of new snow and potentially larger totals by midweek as another couple of fronts follow this first system.
The Rockies look like they will be doing pretty well too…we should have new storm action moving out of the Pacific NW on Monday/Tuesday that pushes over Idaho/Montana/Wyoming resorts through the middle of the week. There will also be some lower latitude energy that moves up out of New Mexico and drags new snowfall across Colorado. Looks like Western Wyoming will get a shot of that guy as well so look for heavier snowfalls around Jackson Hole and the northern Utah resorts as these storms pass.

Further out the storm track is going to stay nice and active through the week so I expect basically back-to-back storms sliding over the country, with the next one starting to move over the west coast by midweek and yet another as we head into next weekend.

West Coast Winter Storm

The snowfall on the Sierras here in February 2009 has been silly…and it looks like the west coast is about to get another solid dump as a new winter storm moves in over the next 24 hours.

Just to put it in perspective...we have already seen several feet of snow all over California and Oregon over the last couple of weeks. Mammoth for example has had nearly 70” of snow so far this February, which equals what they are reporting for all of January 2009. The total base for the mountain is averaging between 10-15 feet.

We have already seen several inches of new snow over the last couple of days but the real storm is just starting to arrive and the current forecasts are calling for nearly 1-2 FEET of new snow throughout most of the California Sierra Nevadas over the next 24 hours. Check out the latest National Map from NOAA and the National weather service…just a quick FYI…it is never good to see “red” colors on these maps.



NERD Alert – (skip this part if science and weather stuff gives you a headache). This storm is another one of those cold/wet – warm/wet mixes that I have talked about over the last couple of months. Basically you are getting a nice cold low from the North and a very warm, moisture laden, low-pressure from the mid-latitudes. When these two mix it is like throwing gasoline onto a fire…all the latent heat energy from the warm storm cools rapidly and the air looses its ability to hold water vapor…and bingo, shit (rain, snow, hail, smog) starts falling from the sky. When we have a really dynamic mix of those two storms (like we do right now) over the mountains it cools and lifts so rapidly that it snows, a lot, like “holy crap” a lot. Check out the water vapor image…that is the storm just off the coast.



Anyway…So with this new storm we can expect at minimum 6-10” for most west coast ski resorts.

Snowfall in California looks like it will be heavier since the lows are mixing right around central California. Southern California ski areas can expect nearly 10-15” of new snow. So can Mammoth and other Central California areas. Northern Cal around Shasta and the Oregon border will have similar snowfall totals…but it may be a bit lighter in the Tahoe area for some reason. With this much snow getting to the mountain and the actual “ski conditions” are going to be pretty nasty for the next couple of days. We may want to hold off till midweek, or at least until the heavy part of the storm blows through.

Oregon resorts like Mt Hood and Mt Bachelor have seen nearly 20”+ of new powder since last Tuesday…and they have more scheduled for the next 24-36 hours. It won’t be as heavy as California but those regions can expect another 5-10” as well.

Eventually this storm does move out east and drops some snow on the Rockies…I actually expect more snow in Colorado and Utah from this bad boy…but Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming should all see some new powder as well.

The East Coast/Great Lakes region will have some of this storm later this week…closer to Wednesday/Thursday for the GL…and Thursday/Friday for the NE…but the majority of the energy is going to get pushed up into Canada and so it won’t do as much damage as we are going to see out west.

Long-range is showing another low holding off the West Coast later this week…maybe even another mix of warm/cold lows. The current forecast isn’t very clear on when it will actually start to make landfall but we could see some more new snow early next week.