Thursday – Friday:
We are starting off the day with lighter winds and inversions Thursday. We will warm into the 40s for highs along with mostly sunny skies.
That weather continues for Friday with the exception being increasing winds from the southwest, gusting up to 50-60+ mph over the ridges by later in the day.
Friday Night – Saturday System:
Snow showers could reach the mountain around 8-10 PM Friday evening, and then possibly continue into Saturday morning before clearing out later in the day. The forecast models are struggling with where a band of steadier snow sets up on the east side of the low as it moves north to south through CA, and with how much snow could fall.
We could see gusty northeast winds set up for Saturday afternoon as well, with ridgetop gusts up to 40-50+ mph. That could affect some exposed upper mountain lifts. Highs in the 20s up top and 30s at the base.
Here is my updated snowfall forecast for potential snowfall totals by Sunday morning.
- 1-2 inches at the base.
- 1-3 inches at mid-mountain elevations.
- 1-4 inches up top.
We’ll continue to watch the trends and fine-tune the forecast as best as we can over the next few days.
Sunday – Monday:
High pressure builds back in briefly Sunday into Monday. Highs warm into the 30s for Sunday and 40s for Monday under mostly sunny skies.
East winds could still be gusting up to 40-50+ mph over the ridges Sunday morning, and then come down through the day. Monday starts with lighter winds but then they shift to the west ahead of the approaching trough from the north, and increase through the afternoon with ridgetop gusts up to 60-70+ mph by the end of the day. That could affect some upper mountain lifts.
Tuesday Cold Front:
A cold trough digs into the West Tuesday with a chance for snow showers with the front. Right now it looks like maybe a dusting up to a couple of inches of snow at best with the front Tuesday. Then much colder air moves in into Wednesday. Highs only into the 20s on both days.
Long Range:
The cold trough shifts east by next Thursday into Friday the 17th. That should continue the dry pattern with a slight warmup of high temperatures.
Going into President’s Weekend, the long-range models continue to show another cold trough digging into the West. This time becoming much broader and sticking around into the last week of February. The flow from the north on the east side of the high-pressure ridge will help to drive colder air into the trough with below-average temperatures expected into the last week of February.
Storms can track south into the west side of the trough but would most likely be tracking down over land and not the ocean where they pick up moisture. Right now the models only show chances for weak systems dropping down from the north with light snowfall amounts if we see any.
We’ll continue to watch the trends and will let you know the first sign of more snow or a more significant storm.
BA
