Deep powder for the west, especially California

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 4 years ago March 12, 2020

Summary

While the east warms up, the west will be in the (powder) zone. On Friday, a storm will bring snow to the southwest. Then over the weekend and early next week, a multi-part, slow-moving storm should bring feet of powder to California and likely other western states as well.

Short Term Forecast

Full Moon

It’s always a treat to be able to ski or ride, and it’s even more of a treat to do so with only the light of a full moon to guide your path. This was the scene in the backcountry near Breckenridge, Colorado on Monday night as the clouds parted and the moonlight made the nighttime feel like daytime.

Forecast for Thu, Mar 12 – Fri, Mar 13

We will end the week with storms on the corners. The Northeast will see a warm storm on Friday with mostly rain, though snow could fall on the backside of the storm when colder air finally moves in. The Northwest and Northern Rockies will see light snow from separate weak storms. And the bigger event will be over the Southwest where there could be powder in Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado on Friday into Saturday.

Forecast for Sat, Mar 14 – Sun, Mar 15

All models agree that California will be in the crosshairs of a strong and slow-moving storm. Expect 2-3+ feet of snow from later Saturday through Sunday and likely continuing into early next week. There could also be significant snow for parts of Idaho and Wyoming but this is less certain.

Forecast for Mon, Mar 16 – Fri, Mar 20

The storm that will hit California on Sunday should bring additional snow to California early next week, and this same storm will slowly move east and likely bring a few days of snow to Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and maybe Montana. The forecast image below is the average of many versions of the American GFS forecast model, and I posted this more generalized image because there is still a lot of uncertainty about the details of next week’s forecast.

Extended Forecast

Outlook for Sat, Mar 21 – Wed, Mar 25

The map below looks like a copy of the map I posted last week. Indeed, the three major long-range models generally agree that most of the cold air and storminess will stay over the west as we head into the latter part of March.

Thanks so much for reading and please check back for my next post on Monday, March 16th.

JOEL GRATZ

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