Today will be another mostly sunny day up in the mountains with valley fog and haze.  Air quality has been degrading at lower elevations so it's certainly a good day to head to elevation and enjoy the sun while saving your lungs.  

A more active pattern kicks off on Tuesday as a parent low pressure system off the California coast will spin up waves of energy out of the southwest.  The first wave of energy will be later in the day on Tuesday into Tuesday night.  At this point, this one is relatively weak, but we should see some high elevation snow showers and perhaps a few inches of fresh snow by midday Wednesday.  

The much stronger push of energy will arrive on Thursday in a strong SW flow.  This SW flow will bring snow to the region during the day Thursday and then as the trough itself moves overhead, we will see the flow turn westerly Friday night, then northwesterly into Friday.  Snowfall totals should pile up.  Friday and Saturday look to be very good ski days. 

We are seeing a bit more consistency in the ensemble plumes today.  This one is for Ben Lomond Peak just northeast of Ogden: 

QPF range between 1.2" and 3.5".  Ben Lomond has a tendency to see a lot of precip in the right storm, so they could be looking at a hefty dump up there.  

From a skier/snowboarder's perspective, we could have a few fresh turns on Wednesday.  Thursday should get better at the end of the day but could be windy.  Friday will be a powder day. And it all culminates with clearing conditions on Saturday with all the fresh snow to be had.  

GFS has a break on Saturday and Sunday before another system pushes in on Monday. Euro keeps us dry until later on Monday then has a very weak brush-by system. In general, I think the Euro is more likely to be right in this scenario. High pressure will be building rapidly into the area after MLK weekend as we transition to a west coast ridge / east coast trough pattern. Looking like a period of mostly dry weather to end January.

Evan | OpenSnow