US and Canada Daily Snow
By Joel Gratz, Founding Meteorologist Posted 5 years ago March 18, 2019
Some snow this week, better chances next week
Summary
The western US has a near record amount of snow on the ground thanks to the last 6 weeks of storms. For this week, we’ll see a break in the storms for most areas, then the action will pick up during the final week of March.
Short Term Forecast
Deep Snowpack & Blue Skies
Thanks to consistent and powerful storms during February and early March, the snowpack across the central-western United States is well above average.
Check out this graph from Powderhorn, in western Colorado. The orange line (this season’s snowpack) was trending near or close to average (the black line) for the first half of the season, and then boom, up it goes, to near-record levels (dashed line) now in mid-March!
Stormy periods do not last forever, and now we are heading into a calm pattern for about one week. That’s ok, though, as it gives us a chance to dig out and enjoy the blue skies above and a deep snowpack under our feet.
The Forecast for Monday 3/18 – Friday 3/22
I am keeping an eye on two areas for snow potential during this week.
Over the southwest, a warm and somewhat weak storm should bring the best chance of snow to Arizona, southern Utah, southern Colorado, and New Mexico. What this storm lacks in strength it could make up for in moisture, so higher-elevation snow totals could be significant on Thursday and Friday.
The other area of interest is in New England, where cooler air on the backside of a late-week storm could bring light snow totals on Thursday and Friday.
The Forecast for Saturday 3/23 – Sunday 3/24
Looking ahead to the upcoming weekend, the northeast could see continued chances for light snow as cool air hangs over the region. And out west, the big story will be a likely return to storminess for the central west coast and the central Rockies.
Extended Forecast
The Outlook for Monday 3/25 – Friday 3/29
For about the past 7 days, we’ve been looking ahead to the final week of March as the time when powder could return to some parts of the west. The longer-range outlook still shows this as a likely scenario, so be ready for more powder during the last part of the month!
Thanks for reading and look for the next forecast on Thursday, March 21.
JOEL GRATZ
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