Snowfall Reports:
12 inches of new snow fell on the mountain in the past 24 hours as of 5 AM Wednesday. We saw wind gusts up to 100+ mph on Tuesday which may be affecting the measuring station. Nearby ski areas are reporting 16-22 inches of snow, so you may find many spots on the mountain deeper than a foot.
Wednesday:
We have partly sunny skies Wednesday morning behind the cold front that moved through on Tuesday. The strong winds have dropped off. The center of the low-pressure system off the CA coast will move through to our west through Wednesday evening. That should bring a chance for more snow showers Wednesday afternoon-evening.
Highs into the 30s at the base and 20s up top with the winds continuing to fall through the day. Snow levels below the base. We could see an additional coating up to 3 inches of snow by early Thursday morning from the snow showers moving through the region.
Thursday – Friday:
Partly-mostly sunny skies on both days with highs into the 30s. We could see a few scattered snow showers pop up each afternoon-evening, but only a dusting of snow is expected at best. Lighter winds continue.
WinterWonderGrass Weekend:
The latest model runs are farther north with the Saturday system. They show another day with partly sunny skies with a few snown showers possibly popping up Saturday afternoon-evening. We could see a dusting to an inch of snow from the snow showers. Highs into the 30s. Ridgetop winds gusting up 60-80+ mph from the WSW which could affect some upper mountain lift operations through the weekend.
We could see similar weather during the day on Sunday with partly sunny skies and some snow showers popping up during the afternoon. Then Sunday night into Monday morning a weak system moving through could bring steadier snow showers with several inches of snow falling Sunday night.
Snow levels could hover near the base Saturday and Sunday afternoon, with some rain mixing into any showers that pop up not out of the question. Snow levels fall well below the base both Saturday and Sunday night, with powdery snow possible Sunday night from the system moving through.
Here is the updated weekend snowfall forecast for totals by early Monday morning. Around 1-6 inches of the forecast is expected to fall Sunday night with a dusting to an inch possible both Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
- 2-6 inches at the base.
- 3-7 inches at mid-mountain elevations.
- 4-8 inches up top.
If you are planning to attend the WinterWonderGrass Festival Friday through Sunday at the base, you’ll want to dress warmly and prepare for some snow to be falling while you are watching the concerts during the evening.
Long-Range:
The snow showers from the Sunday night systems could linger into Monday and then clearing later in the day. Cold with highs in the 20s up top and 30s at the base. The winds should drop off as well.
The latest forecast model runs are split on the forecast for Tuesday through the end of next week. Some show a strong storm Tue-Wed, some show several weak systems, and some are pretty dry through the rest of the week. We’ll continue to watch the trends. The models struggle more during the spring with the change in the season.
By Easter Sunday, and going through the 2nd week of April, the ensemble mean models continue to show high-pressure building over the West Coast. That could bring the first prolonged drier and milder pattern since I can’t remember when. We have had only a few days of dry weather at best most of this winter. We’ll have to see if this forecast holds, but it still looks promising.
BA
