Summary:

Chance for light rain Friday.  Sunny weather for the weekend.  Then a cold system approaches for next Tuesday and Wednesday.  This one could bring some snow to the mountains.

Details:

So I have started to cut back to posting every other day with the ski season winding down and the lack of snow in the forecast.  The forecast models are showing some systems for next week.  This time of the year I won't get very confident on a storm until it is within the 1 week window.  The last couple of posts I have mentioned the models showing the ridge retrograding this weekend and the possibility of some systems.  We are within 7 days of one of them so we will start to watch more closely.

The mean ridge position is off the coast and will retrograde out to around 150w by Thursday.  A system is going to move into British Columbia and the Pacific NW Friday.  The latest runs of all the models have us on the Southern edge of this system.  We should see some clouds Friday and we could see some light precip with mostly rain and high snow levels.  Amounts look very light if we do see some rain showers.

Then we clear out for what is closing weekend for many ski resorts, with highs back where they have been the past week.  The ridge stays out near 150w and a trough looks like it will try to dig down the West Coast next Tuesday-Wednesday.  The GFS and European runs have been pretty consistent in showing a cold system pushing in with this trough with snowfall for the mountains.  The Euro is a bit further North than the GFS on the track.  Not a big system but maybe some accumulating snow on the mountains.  This system is only 7 days out now so we will have to start watching more closely.  The next post Thursday will be within 5 days and if the storm is still on track we can look at potential snowfall amounts.

Long-Range:

The storm door may stay open through the end of next week with the ridge remaining well off the West Coast.  The long-range of the model runs does show the potential for another system towards the end of next week.  This one is definitely low confidence being more than a week out.

Squaw, Alpine, and Kirkwood are going to be open through the 27th so there is still a chance we see another day or 2 of fresh snow.  Alpine is saying weekends into May.  So fingers crossed we can see a little more snow before we completely end the ski season.

Stay tuned.....BA