Weather Guy: A Freaking White Christmas!

I hope you all get new snow gear for the holidays…’cause we are going to have a lot of snow coming down over the next week.

We just had a nice storm system batter the West Coast dropping 3-4’ of snow across most of the Sierras from Southern California all the way up through Oregon/Washington and British Columbia (isn’t that the 52nd state or something yet?...just kidding, all you Canadians can save the death threats for another time). Anyway that storm had pushed off the east and has been dumping all sorts of snow across the Northeast US.



Even some of the other FUEL.TV bloggers have been posting about the snow that fell last week. Check out this update from Mt Bachelor in Oregon. 3-feet of freshies!

http://fueltv.fuel.tv/FUELTVED/blogs/view/4874?item=35020&type=Blog

The best news is that Mother Nature isn’t taking much holiday time off…if anything she is just taking a couple of short days to reload the storm track. Already we are seeing another cold front moving in from the Gulf of Alaska and more warm moist lows moving up from around Mainland Mexico. The result is a bunch of unstable air moving over the US West Coast that is already starting to drop new snow on the Sierras. HIDEF (High-Def yo!) radar is already seeing some action.



This new storm will dump anywhere from 6-8” of new snow for most resorts in the affected areas on Monday and into Tuesday. Oregon Resorts like Mount Hood will actually get the brunt of the storm and current forecasts are calling for nearly a foot to a foot and a half of fresh powder over the next couple of days. Here are a few of the top West Coast resorts and how they fair for the first part of our holiday vacation.

West Coast Resorts

Mammoth Mountain
Base: 38-72”
New Surface: none yet
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 4-6”

Heavenly Mountain Resort
Base: 26”
New Surface: wait for it
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 6-8”

Mt Hood
Base: 17-24”
New Surface: hurry up will ya
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 10-15”

Whistler / Blackcomb
Base: 29”
New Surface: 6” it is snowing right now eh!
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 1-3”

The storm eventually moves out over the Rockies and sort of bunches up over Idaho and Wyoming, while Colorado sees a new front from the South start to energize some of the snowfall on the Eastern Side of the Rockies. Looks like the heaviest snowfall hits on the Western ranges of the Rockies but I would expect a decent drop all across the mountains from CO up into Canada.

Check out the NW Forecast for Tuesday (Which is when the storm really moves into the area).



Rocky Mountain Resorts

Sun Valley
Base: 14-22”
New Surface: Snowing!
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 6-10”

Jackson Hole
Base: 34-41”
New Surface: none yet
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 10-15”

Aspen / Snowmass
Base: 20-30”
New Surface: 1 angry inch!
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 6-10”

Eventually this storm pushes further east and helps stoke up more Lake-Effect Snow…and helps to dump a lot more snow across the Northeast outside of the (totally shafted) lake areas.

East Coast Resorts

Whiteface
Base: 24-30”
New Surface: 8”
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 4-6”

Sugarbush Resort
Base: 20-56”
New Surface: 9”
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 6-8”

Black Mountain
Base: 15-36”
New Surface: 8-10” John Holmes style!
Snow Forecast Next 2 Days: 6-10”

Long-Range Outlook

While this week’s snowfall is looking good…it isn’t the end…we still have a couple of new storms brewing in the pipeline. In particular there is another, strong-looking, low-pressure that is going to pull together just off the Pacific NW/California Coast right around Christmas and move onshore later as we head into the weekend following Christmas. Right now I am expecting at minimum another 6”+ of new snow (and probably much more) from this system as it moves over the Sierras…and lots more for the resorts further eastward as it eventually moves that way before the new years.

Anyways that is what I got for the winter forecast…I’ll be back next Monday with the new update. In the meantime…Let it snow!

--Adam Wright
Professional Surf / Snow Forecaster

For more detailed weather check out my SURF blog here
Check out my SNOW blog here