Southwest steals the show this week

US and Canada Daily Snow

Heads up, there may be fresher snow! Read the latest US and Canada Daily Snow

By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 5 years ago February 18, 2019

Summary

Only two weeks into February and California has topped 200 inches for the month! Looking ahead, the deepest snow this week will be in Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Colorado.

Short Term Forecast

Record-breaking February in California

Before getting to the forecast, take a look at how much snow has fallen in the Lake Tahoe region of California, thanks to this chart from our Tahoe forecaster BA. From February 15-17, some mountains reported three straight days with over two feet of snow EACH day! And you can see that the “Feb Total” now exceeds 200 inches at most mountains, and all of this snow accumulated in only 17 days. Wow!

Forecast for Monday to Friday (Feb 18-22)

The weather pattern during the upcoming week will be drier in California compared to what we’ve seen during the last two weeks, though there will still be some snow during the middle of the week. The region of deepest snow will be over the southwest, from Arizona to New Mexico and into southern Colorado. These areas could see 15-30+ inches total from a storm on Monday into Tuesday and another storm from Thursday through Friday night.

Forecast for The Weekend (Feb 23-24)

I am interested in two areas of snowfall over the weekend. The first region of potential powder is southern Colorado and New Mexico where a storm will deliver snow on Friday through Saturday. The second region of potential is over the northwest, though I have very low to near zero confidence about the details of this northwestern snow – the storm could come in stronger, weaker, or further north or south than the map shows.

Extended Forecast

The Outlook for February 25 – March 1

We will see somewhat of an adjustment in the weather pattern during the end of February and into early March. Instead of the main area of storminess sitting over the west coast, it should move to the east and be centered over the northern Rockies or even further east. What exactly this means for snowfall is unclear to me and there is no consensus in the longer-range models. Stay tuned.