I'll just do a brief overview of the setup today, with a more detailed forecast on Wednesday ahead of the storm arriving at night. First, we have a series of upper-level disturbances moving through the Andes for at least seven days starting on Wednesday. Watch them come in from the west and progress through the region until the end of the GIF, which is the middle of next week.

It looks like four systems to me, with the first and fourth tracking farther north, with the second and third staying farther south. This would favor the central zone overall, but at least bring some accumulating snow to the northern zone at the beginning and end of the period. The third and fourth storms are more than seven days out so the storm tracks could still change a bit.

Next, I will show the temperature anomalies for the same period. Lots of red in the region to start the GIF, which is the warm weather we'll see through Wednesday. Then, we see some blues and eventually green colors, representing below average temperatures, arriving Wednesday night and sticking around for the majority of the next seven days. 

We're getting late in the season, so the normal temperatures aren't as cold as they are earlier in the Winter. Still, these temperature anomalies give me confidence that these storms won't be bringing dense snow. However, the winds look really strong, especially from Friday and beyond, which could result in a less optimal snow quality. 

This setup has the potential to bring an extended period of moderate to heavy snow, with some locations not seeing much of a break during this time. There should be many powder days during this time, with some heavier snow coming down Wednesday night, Friday night, and during the day on Monday. 

I'll get into more detail regarding snow totals on Wednesday, but throughout the period the central zone could easily see over 1 m (39 in), with amounts approaching 1.5 m (59 in) in the cards. The deepest totals are expected on the Chilean side of the central zone around Pucon, Antillanca, Las Araucarias, and Nevados de Chillan in the northern part of that zone as well. Totals will drop a bit to the east in the Argentinean Andes, and quite a bit farther north. Cerro Bayo, Cerro Catedral, and Chapelco will still see consistent snow and solid totals, though perhaps not as consistently heavy.

The ensembles keep things generally active in the 10 to 14-day timeframe, so additional snow is possible to close out the month. We saw some of the best snow of the season in September last season, and this month has the potential to provide another powdery end to the season.

Next update on Wednesday.

Thanks for reading the South America Daily Snow!

Luke Stone (@imlukesnow)
Forecaster, OpenSnow

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