Recent Snow Totals:

Multiple storms have impacted the West this week, and our new Weather Stations Map Overlay is a great tool to see where the heaviest snow has fallen. You can view new snowfall over the past 6 hours, past 12 hours, past 24 hours, and all the way out to the past 5 days.

Note this feature is available on the web currently, and will soon be available on the app.

The image below shows 3-day snow totals as of Thursday afternoon. Many areas picked up over a foot of snow from Monday through Thursday across the Sierra, Cascades, and Central/Northern Rockies. The Tetons in Wyoming have received the deepest totals with over 2 feet of snow in 3 days.

The snow stake cam at Grand Targhee is cleared at 9 am each morning, and the deepest period was on Thursday morning when about 15 inches of snow had added up, most of which fell after lifts closed on Wednesday afternoon.

Thanks to our new Powder Vision feature, you can now view hourly snow totals as captured by snow stake cams. This is a great way to track a storm while it's happening!

Forecast for Fri (Feb 16) to Sat (Feb 17):

A storm will gradually start to wind down across the West on Friday snow tapering off across the Oregon Cascades early in the day, and across the Central Rockies by later in the day. Saturday will be dry for most of the West, but light snow showers will reach Oregon and Northern California by late in the day as the next storm approaches. 

The East will stay active as well with a weak storm moving across New England early on Friday, while a stronger storm will bring snow to the Mid-Atlantic on Friday night and Saturday. West Virginia will be favored for the deepest totals. Light snow showers will also reach New England on Saturday. 

Forecast for Sun (Feb 18) to Mon (Feb 19):

Two storms will impact the Sierra during this period with moderate to heavy snow totals adding up over time. Residual moisture and energy will also extend east and north of the Sierra with periods of snow across the Central/Northern Rockies and the Cascades.

A disturbance will track across the Northeast with snow showers favoring the lake-effect regions, while Northern New England will also pick up some snow showers. 

Forecast for Tue (Feb 20) to Wed (Feb 21):

Storms will continue to favor the Sierra Nevada Range and Tahoe before weakening inland with frequent shots of light/moderate snow for the Northern Rockies. Light snow should also reach the Northern Cascades and Southern British Columbia. Alaska will also get back in the game with a storm expected.

Outlook for Thu (Feb 22) to Mon (Feb 26):

A storm is expected to exit the Sierra and take a more progressive track across the Central Rockies on Thursday (Feb 22), then most of the West will see a drying trend late in the week. An active storm track is then expected to take hold across Western Canada in the Pacific Northwest late in this period.

The East will continue to see an active pattern with additional snow chances favoring the Northeast. However, temperatures will be trending warmer so rain could be more of a factor at times.

Thanks so much for reading! Next update on Monday (Feb 19).

Alan Smith 

NEW: Purple Forecast Signals Mixed Precipitation

You might have noticed a new color in our snow forecast summary and 10-day snow forecast graphs. OpenSnow previously only had blue to show snowfall under 6 inches and orange to indicate snowfall over 6 inches.

We recently added purple to signal the chance for mixed precipitation (snow/rain) in the forecast.

1. Go to the Favorites screen and tap the "Locations" tab.
2. Tap the "Snow Summary" chip.
3. Tap the "Snow Forecast" chip
4. Tap into any location screen and scroll through the data.

Get all of the details about how we calculate the snow summary and the variables behind our 10-day forecasts by tapping the link below.

Learn More → Tap Here