The Northwest has been dry for a lot of October, but that has now changed as a series of storms is bringing snow to Washington State and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

The deck cam at CMH Bugaboo Lodge at 5,000 feet shows an early-winter scene.

Further west at Silver Star, also in British Columbia, the pow cam notes that 4 inches of snow have accumulated. I love (and agree) with the inch markings as over 12 inches does mean that you should “drop everything” and go ski pow.

And closer to the west coast of British Columbia is Whistler, where the upper mountain is now coated in snow.

The snow forecast for this week, Monday, October 29 to Friday, November 2 brings the deepest snow across British Columbia and Alberta in western Canada and then south through Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.

This same weather pattern will generally persist through the weekend of Saturday, November 3 and Sunday, November 4 with only a slight jog north in the storm track.

The series of storms like this is not unusual for late October and early November and I hope that the snow from these systems will be the start of building this season’s base.

The longer-range outlook from Monday, November 5 to Friday, November 9 does not move the weather pattern very much.

Systems might track a little further east than they did during the previous week, and this would put the Rockies on the western edge of the storm track with an improving chance for the Northeast to see colder air and snow.

Thanks for reading and look for the next forecast on Thursday, November 1.

JOEL GRATZ

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