Welcome to the 2021-2022 Northwest Daily Snow! It's been an active and a very wet start to the fall for the PNW and that doesn't look to change anytime soon.

Over the next several days, we will be in a warm pattern with rain falling at ski resort elevations rather than snow. However, that will begin to change by the end of the week...

Forecast for Monday 11/1 - Wednesday 11/3

A series of warm and weak systems will impact the Cascades early this week with rising snow levels and primarily rain for ski resorts. The Inland Northwest could see some light precipitation on Monday night, but otherwise will be in a drier pattern during this period.

As of late Monday morning, radar shows a band of showers located over NW Oregon and SW Washington moving to the north/northeast.

Western WA & OR will see widespread showers on Monday and Monday evening with snow levels rising near or above ski area summits. 

Another weak storm will arrive on Tuesday along with a warm front, leading to a further increase in snow levels. However, this storm will be centered farther off the West Coast with the Olympic Peninsula receiving most of the precipitation, while the Cascades see lighter precipitation. 

On Wednesday, we'll be in between storms with drier conditions, but could see some light showers over the Olympics and Cascades on the back end of Tuesday's storm and out ahead of the next approaching storm. Snow levels will remain high.

Forecast for Thursday 11/4 - Friday 11/5

A stronger and more progressive storm will arrive on Wednesday night and Thursday with heavy precipitation possible for the Cascades and Olympics and light to moderate precipitation for the Inland NW.

 

Snow levels will start out high but a cold front will arrive on Thursday afternoon/evening with snow levels falling to 4,500 feet or so on Thursday night (near mid-mountan for many ski resorts).

On Friday, another cold front will arrive with snow levels falling below 4,000 feet and eventually dropping to base areas at most ski resorts. Friday's frontal system will be lighter in terms of precipitation but ski areas in the Cascades should pick up some accumulating snow through Friday night.

In addition to reading the Northwest Daily Snow, be sure to check out our individual ski resort pages for more precise snow levels and snow forecasts, as our new forecast blend of global and high-resolution models factor in terrain and do a great job of highlighting localized differences:

Washington Ski Resort Snow + Weather Forecasts

Oregon Ski Resort Snow + Weather Forecasts

The medium to long-range outlook is looking great in terms of potential for base-building snow. A very active storm track looks to remain in place over the Northwest with frequent storms heading into the second week of November, and temperatures will also be colder with lower snow levels.

The next storm is projected to arrive on Saturday or Sunday with some model discrepancies, as one would expect this far out, but confidence is fairly high that snow will be favored at most ski areas rather than rain. 

It looks like we will continue to see near-daily storms thereafter through at least the middle of next week with snow levels near base areas of ski resorts throughout the Northwest.

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Wednesday (11/3).

ALAN SMITH