Snow coverage increasing across the West

A series of cold storms over the past 7-10 days has resulted in an early taste of winter across mountainous regions throughout the West. Check out our snow depth map as of Thursday, October 14th, and zoom in on the interactive version to see how the snow coverage is looking around your favorite area(s).

The heavy early season snow has many skiers and riders hunting for early season turns already. Skiers/riders have been earning their turns in the Wasatch over the past week, and Wolf Creek and A-Basin have announced plans to open this weekend!

Forecast for Fri 10/15 – Sat 10/16

Lingering snow will taper off early Friday morning across the Rockies and conditions will dry out heading into the weekend. Two more storms will impact British Columbia on Friday and Saturday but snow levels will be on the rise with heavy accumulations limited to the higher terrain.

Forecast for Sun 10/17 – Mon 10/18

High elevation snow will linger across BC and Alberta on Sunday and Sunday night with heavier snow farther north in Alaska. Meanwhile, a fast-moving storm will bring a round of snow to the Cascades, Sierra, and western portions of the Rockies on Sunday night and Monday. There is still quite a bit of uncertainty on the northern vs. southern extent of the storm track, so this is a low confidence forecast.

Forecast for Tue 10/19 – Wed 10/20

The storm will continue to move east across the Rockies on Tuesday with moderate or even heavy snow possible for some areas near and east of the Continental Divide – right now the Snowy Range in Wyoming looks the most favored, but this could change given the uncertainty of the storm track and the fact that we're still several days out.

Another weak system could bring some snow to parts of the Cascades and Sierra on Wednesday but snow levels will be high with warmer air in place. Farther north, Southeast Alaska will continue to pick up heavy snow.

Outlook for Thu 10/21 – Mon 10/25

The storm track early in this period will favor the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada with heavy precipitation possible though snow levels will start out fairly high. By later in the period, California will see increasing potential for heavy precipitation and storms will eventually start to progress inland.

Temperatures should also trend colder across the maritime ranges by later in the period with falling snow levels.

Looking beyond the 25th, there is relatively strong agreement that the pattern will continue to turn more active across the West with increasing snow potential for many areas. 

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Monday (10/18).

ALAN SMITH