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Significant Moisture Aimed At the West With Some High Elevation Snow Possible Friday-Monday.

Originally posted on Powder | Last updated 4/23/24

It is that time of year when you can ski, bike, chase a bit of powder, and repeat. Last weekend Eldora near Boulder grabbed 10 inches of powder for a grand finale weekend of sun and pond skimming on Sunday. This weekend sees a return to unsettled conditions in many areas of the west as an early spring atmospheric river brings moisture to the west.

A broad trough will move into the west spreading high-elevation snow (Snow levels generally 7500-8500) favoring the Rockies. The Sierra will get teased as early as Friday morning with some light snowfall above 6500 feet. Slightly higher totals might land near Mammoth but overall it's mainly a 2-4 inch event. The Rockies will see higher totals.

The Rockies stand decent odds of 5-11 inches of snowfall from Friday to Sunday. Favored locations are the northern Teton Ranges, Southern Montana, and many areas in Colorado by Saturday/Sunday.

Peak snowfall for the Wasatch Range will be on Friday with most models showing 3-7 inches of higher elevation snow (Higher totals might fall east of the Wasatch over the Uintas). Additional light snow is likely Friday night with storm totals in the 6-11 inch range. The models are still not in full agreement.

Temps at 10K feet late Friday night are 24F (-4C) in Utah extending north into Idaho and even colder in the PNW and Canada. Warmer conditions exist in Colorado initially with gradual cooling by late Saturday or Sunday (8-9K foot snow levels).

University of Utah ensembles for the upper Cottonwoods in Utah (LCC) increasing Friday with perhaps 4-7 inches (mid or upper Cottonwoods) by later that evening (GFS). The European models not shown are pointing to higher totals (6-12 at the peaks). Overall there is high confidence of snowfall Friday/Saturday with some models pushing the higher totals east of the Cottonwoods. NW flow Friday might land some upside.

The University of Utah ensembles for Vail Pass showing a wide array of solutions this Weekend (April 27-28) with a range of 6-17 inches possible. We find these ensembles often a bit bullish and with the widely spaced lines (Wide array of solutions within the models) are estimating totals in the 5-10 inch range above 9,000 feet. Much less snow will fall at the bases. Decent totals will also fall along the Divide and north favoring Rocky Mountain National Park.

Very cold air is entering Canada and the Pacific Northwest by late Sunday and early Monday. This cold front will kick off snowfall for the Cascades and areas of Canada (Alberta might be favored) early next week. Snow levels will be low with some impacts possible on the passes in Washington State.

7-day total snowfall through Tuesday, April 30th. You can see light snow in the Sierra (Later this week), decent totals in Wyoming (High snow levels), and northern Utah (GFS shown favors the Uinta Range vs. the Wasatch). Colorado will see the highest moisture totals, however, warm temps will keep those very high totals at the upper mountain ranges possibly outside the ski area terrain. It's too far out for accuracy at this point being 5 days away and models will likely downtrend a bit as we get closer.

Bottom Line: Snow will be falling at many ski area locations this week above 8,000-9,000 feet (Slightly cooler in Utah than Colorado). Amounts will be variable elevation- dependant. Some resorts in the west will exceed 4-8 inches primarily by Saturday in Utah and perhaps higher totals in Colorado by Sunday. We need to watch Canada and the Cascades of Washington and Oregon, especially early next week with the colder temps (Snow levels near 3,000).

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Check your resorts before venturing out to make sure they are still open!

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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