Summary:

High pressure continues to dominate the region with warm temps in the high elevations and sunny skies.  Valley haze is on the increase with cooler temps trapped in the basins.  Perhaps a chance for a storm in the long-range.

Details:

Sunny and warm.  That's the forecast for the next few days as high pressure continues its firm grip on the western portion of the country.  Inversions are in place and because of it, air quality in the valleys is deteriorating.  Even if you're a powder hound, now is a good time to be in the mountains simply for some fresh air and vitamin D.

The ridge will weaken this weekend as a couple weak systems push through.  These systems look to mainly stay to our north and the main effects will likely be a cool down, some breezes and some clouds.  Can't rule out a snow showers or two, but certainly nothing of note.  The ridge will re-strengthen early next week.

At this point, models continue to agree that the ridge axis will shift west over the eastern Pacific middle of next week.  This will allow an interesting scenario to develop.  A cold trough will drop down out of the northwest.  At the same time, it looks like sub-tropical moisture could be pulled up out of the southwest.  These two features converge over the intermountain west.  This could bring us a chance for a storm February 18-19.  This is still 9-10 days away, so details are vague and confidence is still low -- but it's something to watch.

In general, it looks like we will slowly transition back to a more typical El Nino pattern by the end of the month.  That means the southern storm track will once again be favored.  Current March outlook shows the following:

Above normal precip for Cali and the desert Southwest.  Utah is more on the fence.  If this image looks familiar, it's because cause it is.  This is essentially the same as the seasonal forecasts at the start of the season -- heavily El Nino influenced.

Plenty of action left before this season is over.

Evan | OpenSnow