While the northern rockies gets raked with Pacific moisture (i.e. SNOW!) rather consistently between Thursday and Saturday, there will be two distinct periods of heavy snow with vastly different characteristics.

The first storm packs its punch on Thursday but is relatively warm with temperatures at 10,000ft (mountain top) in the low to mid 20s. This means heavier, thicker, denser snow. The map shows the coldest temperatures over eastern Canada and west of British Columbia, leaving warmer air for the northern rockies.



However the second storm on Friday night into Saturday is much colder, with mountain top temperatures getting down to 5-10 degrees. This means ligher, fluffier, and dare I say face-shot-worthy snow on Saturday for WY and MT. Notice the difference in temperatures between the map below (Saturday morning) and the map above (Thursday morning), especially over ID/WY/MT.



Chasing powder is a fun game because there's a lot that can go wrong with each storm. So when you actually do hit the right day with good moisture and cold temperatures, it makes it all the more special. We're going to test out Jackson Hole on Thursday and Grand Targhee on Saturday. Hopefully the storm chase yields favorable results!