Heavy Snow Continues in British Columbia and Alaska

The storm train continues in British Columbia and Alaska with large amounts of moisture coming in the way of atmospheric rivers. Snow totals so far this week have been the biggest accumulations so far this season. Check out the snow accumulations over the past 5-days across BC and the Northwest.

The big winner looks to be Bella Coola Heli Sports with 6 feet of snow in the forecast over the next 5-days.

Storm systems will continue to bring snow to BC on Friday and through the weekend. Strong bases are underway!

Forecast for Fri (Nov 10) to Sat (Nov 11):

The storm train in Alaska and British Columbia will swing to the south and continue to bring heavy snow through southern British Columbia. Moisture will reach the Northwest as well, with deep totals in the northern Cascades, and a sharp decline into Oregon. 

Some moisture will reach the Northern Rockies as well but will produce only light snow accumulations. 

A weak disturbance moving up from Mexico will bring light snow accumulations through New Mexico.

A storm system in Eastern North America will lift to the north and bring cooler air that will develop a few lake effect snow showers around the Great Lakes and into New England.

Finally, a storm in the southeast of the US will extend precipitation into the southern Mid-Atlantic with high-elevation light snow in West Virginia.

Forecast for Sun (Nov 12) to Mon (Nov 13):

The storm train will weaken in BC and the Northwest with only a few waves of precipitation bringing light to moderate snow accumulations. 

The weather will be relatively quiet across the US and Canada. A weak storm will bring light snow to the northern Great Lakes and a few snowflakes to northern New England. 

Forecast for Tue (Nov 14) to Wed (Nov 15):

A large upper-level disturbance will dip from Alaska to California. As this storm strengthens, it will separate itself from the polar jet stream and interact with a weak subtropical jet stream. It will become a cutoff low, which means there will not be strong winds to steer it.

This has significantly put the hype train in jeopardy and we might be off the rails in terms of Sierra snowfall. If this storm does move precipitation into the Sierra on Wednesday, November 14th, it will be light. The storm system still has a chance to move precipitation into the West Coast later in the week. 

Other waves of precipitation will move snow through Alaska, the Northwest, and the Northern Rockies. A few snow showers are possible in the Northeast. 

Outlook for Thu (Nov 15) to Tue (Nov 19):

The storm system off the California Coast will continue to be the main attention for the extended outlook. There is new model uncertainty regarding whether this storm system will keep spinning off the coast, or if it will slowly move inland into California.

• If the storm stays off the coast, mostly scattered rain will affect coastal areas
• If the storm moves slowly inland, expect light to moderate precipitation with high snow levels

Depending on whether the storm does or doesn't impact the Sierra will have a large effect on the weather in the western US after Friday, November 16th. If the storm impacts the Sierra, some moisture will move inland otherwise it will be dry. 

As this storm impacts the Western US, the Midwest and Northeast will turn dry with above-average temperatures. No snowmaking is in the forecast for central and eastern resorts in North America.

Below is a look at the precipitation anomalies from Thursday, November 15th through Thursday, November 19th.

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Monday (Nov 13).

Zach Butler