I always thought this storm had the potential to favor just a small part of the Andes, and that has turned out to be true. Earlier this week the models started to come into better agreement that this heavier snow would fall around Nevados de Chillan, and as of Thursday morning over 55 cm had fallen. 

Las Lenas received 5 - 25 cm from bottom to top in addition to the 15 cm from earlier in the week when this storm was moving from east to west across the Andes. Elsewhere in the north, Valle Nevado logged 13 cm over the last few days with just a few cm at Portillo. Without any official reports, from the OpenSnow estimate and photos it looks like the rest of the northern part of the central zone saw between 10 - 20 cm. 

Snow showers will linger in this area on Friday but additional accumulations will be minor. A ridge will move in later on Friday and stick around through Sunday, keeping things dry during this time. The models continue to bring a weaker storm over the southern part of the continent Sunday night through Monday. This could bring a quick 5 - 15 cm in the southern part of the central zone and the southern zone. Temperatures will warm up a bit during this storm but snow levels should at or just above the bases.

We'll see another short-lived ridge from Sunday night through Wednesday with the next system arriving on Thursday morning. The latest guidance shows another closed low moving through the northern zone with primarily easterly winds that would favor the Argentinian side of the Andes, at resorts like Las Lenas. It doesn't look like a huge storm but 10 - 20 cm looks possible with a bit more at Las Lenas.

In the GIF of the upper-level pattern below, you can see the events of the next week play out. As the latest storm moves you, a ridge, indicated by the yellow covers, lingers over the region for a few days. Next, a low-pressure system tracks over the southern part of the continent, indicated by the blue colors. Finally, at the end of the GIF, the next storm approaches later next week.

In the long-range, the models show another ridge developing next weekend, bringing a break in the action. This ridge may not stick around for long though, with more storms possible around the start of next month.

Next update on Monday.

Thanks for reading the South America Daily Snow!

Luke Stone (@imlukesnow)
Forecaster, OpenSnow

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