Wednesday Snow Showers:
Snow levels are starting out around 8000 ft. early Wednesday morning and the winds aren’t that strong yet. We will see the winds increase during the day and colder air will slowly move in through the end of the day. Highs in the 30s. Ridgetop winds gusting up to 60-80+ mph by midday and slowly falling into the evening.
We will see showers move through between late morning and Wednesday evening and then clearing Wednesday night. Snow levels look to fall to around 7000-7500 ft. by late morning and 6000-7000 ft. by evening. The falling lower as the system clears Wednesday night.
We could see a few snow showers down to the base by evening but not expecting more than a coating of snow. On the upper mountain, we could see 1-2 inches of new snow.
Thursday – Thursday:
We have high-pressure building in as we head into the last weekend of the month, and pretty strong by Sunday. That will bring mostly sunny days through the period, but we could see some clouds, especially on Sunday and Monday, as there is still a very active storm track into the Pacific NW.
Highs warm into the 40s for the lower elevations starting Thursday and then 50s by the weekend into next week, with 40s for the higher elevations above 8000 ft.
Dry Pattern Could Continue:
The high-pressure ridge is forecast to build farther up the coast by the end of the month, on its way to eventually shifting towards Alaska during the 1st week of March.
That should continue our dry pattern into at least the first couple of days of March and drier up the West Coast. Some models show a cut-off low meandering around SoCal around the end of the month. We’ll keep an eye on that to see if it materializes and tries to bring a little precipitation somewhere in CA.
Long-Range Forecast:
The long-range models show the mean ridge position up near Alaska by the 3rd through at least the 7th of March. That will help to drive some colder air back into the West. It could also open us up to some weak storms returning. The ensemble mean models show precipitation increasing a little bit during this period.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this period to see if some colder air and a little snow could return. We are also keeping an eye on the 2nd week of March to see if we stay in this weak system pattern, or if the pattern could open us up to wetter storms as some of the longer-range models have been suggesting.
BA
