Deep in California

When nature turns on the snow machine in California, totals can get deep in a hurry. Just before Thanksgiving, there was no snow on the ground. And then seven days later, 41-95 inches of snow accumulated on the upper mountains. Wow!

Forecast for Thu, Dec 5 – Fri, Dec 6

The forecast for Thursday and Friday will finally deliver a break to California. Elsewhere, western Canada will see light-to-moderate amounts, as will Utah and Colorado in the Rockies, and the northeast will continue to see snow showers thanks to lake effect and also a weak system passing by late in the week.

Forecast for Sat, Dec 7 – Mon, Dec 9

On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, a strong storm will bring 1-3 feet of snow to California. Elsewhere around the western US and Canada, expect more moderate snowfall in the 4-10 inch range.

Outlook for Tue, Dec 10 – Sat, Dec 14

Unfortunately, the storm that will deliver deep snow to California over the weekend will take a track through the midwest on Tuesday. This track will bring 1-2 days of warm air and rain to much of the east coast on Tuesday into Wednesday. On the backside of the storm, the upper midwest could see double-digit snow totals.

Once the warm system departs on Wednesday, we’ll see cold air and snow showers return to the northeast late in the week. Over the west, the storm track should favor coastal Alaska and British Columbia down through the spine of the Rockies, though with a more over-land storm track (less moisture), snow totals will likely be on the low-to-moderate end of the spectrum.

Outlook for Sun, Dec 15 – Thu, Dec 19

Looking out to the middle of December, most models agree that the coldest air will likely stay over the eastern half of North America. This storm track would most strongly favor the midwest and northeast, and some snow could also fall over western Canada as well as the spine of the Rockies (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado).

Thanks so much for reading, and check back for my next post on Monday, December 9th.

JOEL GRATZ

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