Montana Daily Snow
By Bob Ambrose, Forecaster Posted 4 years ago April 19, 2019
Pond Parties Weekend Forecast…and some POW surprises!
Update
FREE skiing AND a Pond Skim Party at Lookout Pass on Sunday!
WEST of the Continental Divide:
Another reminder that Lookout Pass Ski Area will offer FREE skiing to everyone this Sunday, April 21stto mark the final day of an epic season that dropped 460 inches of snowfall! Also, Lookout is having a Sunday Pond Skim party as well being the only place spinning lifts on the Westside. Friday will largely be overcast with rain showers, especially numerous during the afternoon with temps (5000’) in the mid-50’s. The clouds and showers will stick around into Saturday with a few possible sunny spells as the day progresses with high temps in the mid 40’s. For freebie Sunday and the huge party and pond skim, blue skies will reign with lots of sun with high temps in the mid 50’s, absolutely perfect pond-skimming weather! Another note, Sundays low temp will be just below freezing that should make the spring corn conditions pretty darn good for the last day’s celebration.
EAST of the Continental Divide:
Over at Big Sky, Friday will bring spring-like conditions with beautiful sunny skies through most of the day with clouds building during the mid-afternoon hours. Expect high temps of 50 at 8000’. A SW flow of warm moisture pushes through Friday night with a few rain/snow showers that should persist into Saturday morning before changing over to all rain showers up to 9000’. For one of the West’s biggest Pond Skim parties at Big Sky, Saturday now looks to offer mainly overcast skies with widespread rain showers throughout the day with highs (at 2:30pm) around 45 at the skimming pool on the Ambush Headwall. Over at Great Divide, Saturday looks to be a mostly rainy day unfortunately with highs at 7000’ around 42. Red Lodge also looks to be a rainy Saturday but perhaps more showery in nature with daytime highs around 50 at 8000’. A robust cold front moves into the Eastside Saturday night into Sunday changing all those rain showers to snow with 4-8” cumulative through Sunday afternoon at Big Sky, 5-9” likely at Red Lodge and 1-3” at GD. Sunday highs at 8000’ at Big Sky and Red Lodge will be in the low to mid 30’s, with GD at 7000’ in the upper 30’s to around 40. The spring skiing and the coverage is awesome at ALL these places so get on out there and support these great late-season Montana resorts/areas! I’ll be back one last time next week for my final Montana snowpack report and will hopefully know if Great Divide will extend into the last weekend of April… Thanks for reading!
Announcements
Montana Ski Areas/Resorts & Geographical References (and Closing Dates)
WEST of the Divide:
Discovery Basin – Closed
Lookout Pass (MT/ID) - Open 5 days a week/ closed Tuesdays/Wednesdays. Closing April 21st
Whitefish Mountain Resort - Closed
Lost Trail Powder Mountain – Closed
Montana Snowbowl – Closed
Blacktail Mountain – Closed
Turner Mountain – Closed
EAST of the Divide:
Big Sky Resort – Open Daily/ Closes April 21st
Bridger Bowl - Closed
Red Lodge Mountain - Bonus Weekend Sat & Sun April 20thand 21st(closing day)
Great Divide - Open Sat & Sun/ OPEN until the snow melts!
Showdown – Closed
Maverick Mountain – Closed
Backcountry Reports:
West Central Montana Avalanche Center
Flathead Avalanche Center
http://www.flatheadavalanche.org
Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center: