Seasonable temperatures to close out the work week with some breezy conditions as a weak cold front approaches.  This front will push through on Friday night into early Saturday and could bring a few showers to Northern Utah.  Temperatures will drop 15 degrees or so from Friday to Saturday and snow levels will drop -- perhaps as low as bench areas along the Wasatch Front.  A cool day on Saturday with a slightly warmer day on Sunday.  

Early next week we see a bigger warm up with temps rising to above normal values.  Highs in the valleys could hit 70 with 50s in the mountains.  While Utah weather will be relatively benign, the Pacific northwest is getting active.  This is the first real series of winter-like storms to hit the continental U.S. so far this year.  Everything so far has been, more or less, a one-off event.  The high elevations of the Cascades should see decent accumulations during the upcoming week -- as noted in the below OpenSnow Powder Finder map: 

You can see that amounts up to 2 feet are likely in places in the Cascades.  For northern Utah, an inch or two is possible with Friday night's cold front.  This active pattern in the PNW is important because this is often the first step as the jet strengthens and then sags farther south -- two things that are critical for winter to bring copious snowfall.  It's starting to look like Utah will eventually get in on the action late next week.  

Later next week (Oct 19-21), a more amplified trough is forecasted to impact at least the northern half of the Great Basin, including the Wasatch Mountains.  Both the GFS and the Euro show us getting at least a halfway decent shot of mountain snowfall.  There are differences in the timing and structure of the system that will need to be ironed out over the next few days.  However, at this point it's looking more likely that we will see a more substantial shot of snowfall late next week.  Whether that means a few inches or a foot remains to be seen...  Stay tuned as we watch this pattern develop.  

Evan | OpenSnow