Summary:

Breezy on Tuesday with a few showers, then a few inches of snow on Wednesday with cooler temperatures. The next storm will bring snow to most mountains on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with Sunday and Monday being potential powder days with double-digit snow totals. Stay tuned!

Details:

The big story today, Tuesday, will be the winds which will kick up in the afternoon and evening. They will blow from the southwest, so it's likely that they will bring in dust from Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. A few showers might pop up later Tuesdsay into Tuesday evening, but these showers will only hit a few mountains here and there.

Tuesday morning satellite annimation showing the center of the storm swirling west of Seatle in the upper-left part of the image. Source: Weathertap.com

A cold front will move across Colorado on Wednesday morning, and the colder air behind the front will support midday and afternoon snow showers with a few inches of accumulation.

Then Wednesday night, Thursday, and Friday will be dry with the real fun arriving over the weekend.

Long Range:

I'm confident that we'll see a slow-moving storm this weekend with snow falling above 8,000 feet on Saturday, Sunday, and potentially into Monday as well. Sunday and Monday could be powder days at the resorts that are still spinning lifts, so you might want to trade your bikes for your skis or snowboard. Storm totals could be 10+ inches.

I'm not confident of the timing and location of the heaviest snow. When storms slow down and take a wobbly path, they are much harder to predict than when they move quickly along a more direct path. I don't think the forecast models will come into agreement until Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, so check back for updates as I'll be posting daily through the week.

JOEL GRATZ

-----

I wrote two articles you might find interesting:

Where will the snow fall next season: http://opsw.co/RuMpRL

Two pieces of gear that changed my skiing: http://opsw.co/1lfY8fz