Deep forecast for the San Juans in Colorado

The pattern this weekend and early next week is setting up to favor the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado most of all where snow will likely be measured in feet. The University of Utah has a great product that shows a range of individual model projected snow forecasts for specific mountain areas, along with overall averages (what we refer to as forecast "plumes").

Check out the snow forecast model "plume" for Wolf Creek in Colorado (who is open, by the way) through November 12th, where snow totals are projected to range from 30-70 inches!

Forecast for Fri, Nov 6 – Sat, Nov 7

The first storm will initially bring snow to the Cascades and Northwest Rockies on Friday. Snow will then spread south into California and the Tahoe region on Saturday with heavy snow also beginning in Southwest Colorado.

Forecast for Sun, Nov 8 – Mon, Nov 9

Sunday will be the deepest day across the Western U.S. with the first storm ending in the morning and a second storm arriving late Sunday and continuing into Monday. Southwest Colorado and Western Montana will be the most favored on Sunday and Monday, but most areas in the West should do quite well.

Forecast for Tue, Nov 10 – Wed, Nov 11

Lingering snow will taper off early on Tuesday in Colorado. Then, the next storm will drop in from the northwest sometime on Tuesday, bringing more snow to the Pacific Northwest and Northern/Central Rockies with low snow levels thanks to cold air in place.

Outlook for Thu, Nov 12 – Mon, Nov 16

An active pattern across Western North America is expected during this period with frequent storms moving in from the Pacific while colder than average temperatures also prevail. British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, Tahoe, and the Northern/Central Rockies could all do quite well in this pattern. Great news as most ski areas are scheduled to open later this month!

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

ALAN SMITH

NEW: Avalanche Forecast Integration!

Many people have requested this over the past year and we're excited to now show avalanche forecasts for regions across North America.

These forecasts are provided by regional avalanche forecasting centers and sometimes it's a little bit of a pain to figure out where to get the forecast especially if you're traveling out of your home zone.

Now you can use our map view to see a quick overview of the avalanche forecast conditions (which are mostly "grey" right now since there is no rating in the early season) and you can also go back in time for the last week to see how the forecast avalanche conditions have changed by using the slider at the bottom.

Then you can click on a region and you'll see a forecast as a pop-up along with a link out to that local avalanche center.

Also, we integrated the avalanche forecast into each mountain's page under a new tab called "Avalanche Forecast".

The avalanche forecasts are freely available and are the foundation of any backcountry experience. Please check these forecasts each time you head out of controlled terrain!

You can view the avalanche forecasts now on our website and they will be live on our iPhone and Android apps very soon.