Recent Snowfall

Some of the deepest snow reports recently have been found in the Northeast, thanks to a strong storm over the weekend and additional snow showers in the days to follow. Vermont ski resorts including Stratton, Stowe, and Sugarbrush received the deepest totals, while heavy snow fell as far south as West Virginia as well.

In the West, an early week storm brought heavy snow to parts of Montana, with Showdown Mountain picking up two feet of snow. Colorado and New Mexico also saw a good storm with reports of up to 11 inches as of Tuesday morning, but those numbers will rose once Wednesday morning's snow reports are released.

Check out the deepest reports over the 5-day period from Friday, Jan 15 – Tuesday, Jan 19. Also, be sure to check out our 5-day Powder Finder that is updated daily once ski areas have submitted their latest snow reports.

Forecast for Wed, Jan 20 – Thu, Jan 21

The next two days will be relatively quiet across most of the country, though a couple of weak storms will result in additional snow showers across the Appalachians and New England. In the West, the next storm will arrive on Thursday afternoon with light snow developing across portions of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Forecast for Fri, Jan 22 – Sat, Jan 23

Snow showers will continue across the Northeast on Friday and into early Saturday. In the West, the Northern Rockies and Southern Cascades will see snow on Friday, then the storm will strengthen as it progresses farther south with moderate to heavy snow developing over parts of Eastern Nevada, Utah, and Colorado. The Southern Sierras and Southern California Mountains along with Northern Arizona are likely to get in on the action as well.

Forecast for Sun, Jan 24 – Mon, Jan 25

Snow will continue across the Four Corners Region on Sunday with heavy totals possible in Southwest Colorado, Southern Utah, and Northern Arizona. Meanwhile, the next storm will move down the West Coast on Monday with snow falling from British Columbia to California. A storm is also possible in the East on Monday, but confidence is low regarding the storm track, snow potential, and precipitation types. 

Outlook for Tue, Jan 26 – Sat, Jan 30

The Sierras and Central/Southern Rockies will be the most favored early in this period before the storm track slowly gradually lifts north by later in the period. A relatively active pattern will remain in place across New England as well with additional storms possible.

Thanks so much for reading! Check back for my next post on Friday, January 22nd.

ALAN SMITH

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