Good storm for New England over the weekend

New England saw a welcome round of snow over the weekend with moderate to heavy snow totals across Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Quebec. Ski resorts with the deepest preliminary snow totals as of early Sunday included Stratton, Killington, Bolton Valley, Jay Peak, Cannon Mountain, Saddleback, and Mont Tremblant. Here is a shot from Jay Peak during the storm on Saturday.

Forecast for Mon, Jan 18 – Tue, Jan 19

The Northern Rockies will see some lingering snow from a storm exiting the region on Monday morning, then the next storm in the West will bring moderate to heavy snow to Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico on Monday night and Tuesday. Snow shower activity will continue across the East on Monday and Tuesday as well. Alaska and Northwest British Columbia will see heavy snow on Monday and Tuesday but the storm will weaken as it moves farther south and east.

Forecast for Wed, Jan 20 – Thu, Jan 21

A series of disturbances will continue to bring snow showers to the Northeast on Wednesday and Thursday. In the West, the pattern will generally be quiet aside from some light snow across Interior BC and the Alberta Rockies early on Wednesday, and some leading-edge snow possibly reaching the Cascades late on Thursday.

Forecast for Fri, Jan 22 – Sat, Jan 23

The next storm in the West will bring snow to the Sierras and Southern Oregon Cascades on Friday. Snow will then fall across Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming on Friday night and Saturday as the storm progresses eastward. The Northeast will pick up more snow on Friday and Saturday as well as an active pattern remains in place. 

Outlook for Sun, Jan 24 – Thu, Jan 28

The storm track will favor California and Tahoe the most during this period, while the Central/Southern Rockies including Utah and Colorado could also pick up good snow depending on how well storms hold together as they move inland. An active pattern looks to remain in place across the Northeast as well, so New England should pick up some more snow as a result. 

OpenSnow Forecast Data Update

On Tuesday (1/12), we began updating the automated forecasts on OpenSnow with a proprietary blend of data from the GFS (American), GDPS (Canadian), and ECMWF (European) weather models.

Previously, we combined information from our local forecasters, the National Weather Service (NOAA), and data from the ECMWF (European) weather model. This method only provided hourly data for the United States and relied on a single model to produce our snow forecasts for the next 10 days.

Why is this new forecast data better than the old forecast data? The benefits include:

• Blending multiple global models increases accuracy and confidence in the forecast.
• Hourly data for any location in the world.
• A proprietary snow-to-liquid calculation to improve accuracy, especially in colder environments.
• An improved method for calculating the snow level (elevation that separates rain from snow) to provide a more realistic forecast, especially at the beginning of storms and during times of intense snowfall.
• Ability to create a forecast for any location and elevation to ensure that we are forecasting conditions on the mountain and not for a nearby town.

We also plan to add even more global and high-resolution models into our proprietary forecast blend over time. Our goal is to create the most accurate snow forecast and we're just getting started.

The data can be viewed as hourly forecasts for the next 5 days and daily forecasts for the next 10 days. Available data includes:

• Chance of Precipitation
• Day & Night Snow Forecast
• Day & Night Snow Level
• Daily High & Low Temperature
• Hourly Temperature
• Hourly Wind Speed
• Hourly Wind Gust
• Hourly Cloud Cover %

This new blend of forecast data is available on OpenSnow for over 2,000 locations around the world and we are adding new locations every day.

Explore Locations → OpenSnow.com/explore