Chase Powder Daily Snow

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By Powderchaser Steve, Forecaster Posted 3 years ago February 19, 2021

60 Hour Interodge hits a home run!

Summary

My head is still spinning after what seemed like powder jail to one of the best scores of the season. Inerlodge lifted on Thursday after 60 hours of staring out the window to amazing rewards by 11 AM with empty slopes.

Short Term Forecast

Some lucky folks that got trapped in Little Cottonwood in Utah since Monday night grabbed nearly 50-60 inches of powder (100 inches over 7 days), as both Alta and Snowbird opened around 11 am Thursday. It's ironic that our inter lodge of 60 hours pretty much matched the storm totals. The road remained closed Thursday morning, so the only folks skiing were the lucky souls that were in the lodges. It's like "Ullr" the snow god said, "These guys deserve it" just as some of us were going stir crazy. Luckily for me, I spent the entire time in my room working remotely and actually got more real work done in that period than a normal day (10 hours per day behind my computers). Meanwhile, in other areas of Utah, deep snow was being reported from the Logan Valley, Park City, and to a higher extent Solitude and Brighton on Tuesday and Wednesday. My gut was dropping seeing some of the snow totals each morning as my workdays in my room at the Cliff looked like this below. The best thing you can do is avoid social media, TV, and suck up the reality that this decision to risk an extended Interlodge might hit a home run. Did I ever expect the road to remain closed just as the Ski Area's reopened? No! A home run accomplished. Thursday was great!

HATS OF TO SKI PATROLS IN LITTLE COTTONWOOD that completed routes on the mountains each day along with multiple road mitigation shoots. 

Below: My Interlodge at the Clif Lodge for 60 hours. 

Here is the part might get your stomach churning since most of you reading were not there. 

Below: 1st Tram at Snowbird Thursday morning after 80-inch storm totals. @powderchasersteve via IG

I had a short day due to work commitments quickly punching out Regulator, Upper Peruvian (Opened on my 2nd tram), secret stash off of Mid Cirque, and a blissful Baldy hike. Then back to work! Was it worth the wait? 100% yes. The snow was deep, a bit compacted in the lower layers but a feeling of bottomless surfing float, let it rip no bumps and face powder on every turn. Pure White Room and no crowds. One of my best days in many years especially with the Bluebird start in the morning.  

Below: Where is this guy's car? Little Cottonwood Canyon- @powderchasersteve via Instagram

Let's get on with the weather forecast! 

Looking at models and snow data on Friday morning it appears that the Tetons are once again scoring powder. 7 inches has fallen at Targhee as of 7:30 AM, and slightly lower amounts at JHMR. Snow will continue lightly for the Tetons for most of Friday (Additional 3-6). 1st and last chairs Friday will be good. Mt Baker in Washington scored 9 inches of cold pow last night with Stevens Pass near 7 inches (Warming trend). 

The system from the PNW moves over the central panhandle of Idaho (Lookout Pass) Friday afternoon, pushing south bringing some moderate snow to the McCall area mountains as well as Sun Valley (3-7). This transitions east over the Tetons and Wasatch for Friday night. Expect 8-10 inches additional for the Tetons for Saturday morning and 6-11 (Terrain dependent) inches for some areas of Utah. With westerly winds, all-mountain ranges stand a decent chance of a good powder day in Utah Saturday morning. There might be some surprises even north of the Salt Lake Valley. Snow continues into Saturday for the Wasatch Range with some additional light or moderate snow during the day bumping totals up a bit. 

Below: Low confidence (Widely spaced lines) on anywhere from 8-14 inches for Alta by Saturday morning with multiple ensemble runs. 

Colorado grabs powder during the day Saturday through Sunday morning. It's a quick-moving system that could spread 5-9 inches over most of the northern and central mountains (Orographics aside from moisture with West or NW winds could ramp up what the models are showing). This will freshen up the slopes over I-70 south to Aspen, and north to Steamboat. While previous storms favored the western slope and southern mountains, this seems to trend further east from the Continental Divide, along I-70, Berthoud Pass, Loveland, WP, the Boat, and through to Aspen. Not a big storm but snowing on Saturday and early Sunday. 

Sierra powder for Friday night into Saturday showing 5-10 inches for the Tahoe basin, cold temps which might favor the northern regions of the ranges. Good quality, but not overly deep. 

Extended Forecast

The extended continues a wet pattern for the PNW with a warming trend for the weekend. A very cold airmass will approach the PNW and Rockies by Tuesday or Wednesday bringing a good chance of decent dumps midweek. 

Below: 10K foot temps (C) are fairly warm by late this weekend and Monday. 

Below: Much colder air accompanied by snow by Tuesday for the northern Rockies that will push south by midweek. 

Enjoy the powder everyone! 

Powderchaser Steve 

About Our Forecaster

Powderchaser Steve

Forecaster

Powderchaser Steve has over 45 years of experience chasing storms based on his weather and local knowledge of resorts on both the East and West Coasts. His snow intel will likely land him at the deepest resort and almost never missing "First Chair" in the process. Follow "The Chase" on OpenSnow to find out where the deepest snow may be falling.

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