US and Canada Daily Snow
By Luke Stone, Forecaster Posted 10 months ago January 10, 2024
Massive Storm Cycle Continues for Much of the Western US
Summary
The combination of a bomb cyclone and an atmospheric river continued to bring heavy snow, strong winds, blizzard conditions, power outages, and road closures in the Pacific Northwest over the last two days. Strong winds and heavy snow have moved inland to Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah and will continue to spread southeast through the central Rockies. Three storms in total will keep the snow going.
Short Term Forecast
Game-changing Snow Totals for Much of the West:
The Pacific Northwest has seen massive snow totals over the last few days, rapidly sending the snowpack to something closer to average. Washington and Oregon have received the deepest totals so far with northern Idaho getting in on the action as well. Huge gains in snowpack are being made and will continue to be made over the next five days. Some of the recent totals are below (will be updated after morning reports).
- Mt. Baker: 25"
- Stevens Pass: 36"
- Alpental: 26"
- Crystal Mountain: 26"
- Mt. Spokane: 10"
- 49 Degrees North: 10"
A series of storms will bring several more feet of snow to the Northwest, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado, and solid snow totals to California, Arizona, Montana, and New Mexico as well. Below is the snow forecast for the next five days.
Forecast for Wed (Jan 10) to Thu (Jan 11):
The storm that just dropped several feet of snow in the Northwest is now moving into the central Rockies, bringing heavy snow to Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, California, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. The next storm to impact the Northwest, dropping down from the Northwest Territories, will arrive on Thursday resulting in another round of heavy snow. This storm will bring cold, arctic air to much of the western US and western Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. The rest of the west will get cold as well, but not quite as intense as the areas along the continental divide and east.
A storm will deliver moderate totals to the Great Lakes and heavy snow to northern New England and Southern Quebec as well. In New England, warm air will result in a changeover to rain, limiting significant accumulations to northern New Hampshire and northwestern Maine. Even these areas will likely transition to rain after a solid thump of snow, though a brief changeover back to snow is possible at the tail end of the storm. Winds will be strong with this storm likely impacting lift operations.
Check out these Daily Snows from our local forecasters for more details:
Forecast for Fri (Jan 12) to Sat (Jan 13):
The storm in the Northwest will produce more snow on Friday, spreading to Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The deepest amounts are again expected in Washington and Oregon, with some impressive amounts in Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming as well. Yet another storm will move into the Northwest on Friday night that will add to the already insane snow totals in that region. There is still some model disagreement on the track of this storm, however, so the biggest winners are yet to be determined. Still, this storm will bring additional snowfall to Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado later on Saturday.
Once again, the previous storm that impacted the western US will bring a similar snow-to-rain scenario in the Northeast with more snow for the Great Lakes.
Check out these Daily Snows from our local forecasters for more details:
Forecast for Sun (Jan 14) to Mon (Jan 15):
Snow will continue for the central Rockies, with heavy snow in Utah and Colorado and solid additional totals in Wyoming as well. This has the potential to bring a lot of snow to Utah and Colorado through Sunday, though a warm-up is possible before the final cold front in this storm cycle.
The storm track remains similar with the latest storm tracking toward the Northeast again. The latest guidance has this storm a bit farther south bringing more snow to most of New England and less to the Great Lakes.
Extended Forecast
Outlook for Tue (Jan 16) to Sat (Jan 20):
The models finally appear to bring the west out of the stormy pattern with the jet stream shifting farther east. This will shift the lobe of coldest air away from the West as well, bringing anomalously cold are to the central and eastern parts of the country. Ridging is expected to develop over the western US with the storm track through the central US and up through the Northeast.
Thanks so much for reading! The next update is on Friday (Jan 12).
Luke Stone
Forecaster, OpenSnow
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